General News about Key and his Staff

slugboy

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I do not know the situation with Long and don't really care if he stays or goes. But, it is $850K and had we placed that as a guarantee, Fritz would most likely have been selected. So, it's not immaterial.

Re your question, I was put in charge with 17 direct reports and corporate HR flew down to fire them all during the changeover. I said no ... asking, "Who is going to do the work?" So, I kept everyone ... moving some into different roles but it was the same faces. In Year 2, I replaced half of them and in Year 3, the rest. Easy.
That’s a really strong argument for leaving the defensive staff completely intact.

On offense, it’s scary to do a wholesale change and lose an entire year. If you replace Long in year two, do you have an entire season lost to an offensive transition then? If replacing offensive staff is minor surgery, put it off, but if it’s major then get it over with.

The $850k is a big hurdle. We need to figure out if we can clear it.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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OTOH, what would be the point of keeping someone around you don't even want on your staff just because they've got a guaranteed salary? Tech saved a boatload of salary and buyout money hiring Key. $850,000 is a small portion of it.

Agreed. It's an interesting scenario.

For all he was lambasted for, (and rightfully so), TStan had a good relationship with the donors and probably could have generated the extra revenue to augment staff under Key. JBatt is new, and still making those relationships, so we might be kind of "stuck" for a season or so while everything irons out.

Of course, it's also entirely possible that money is already being procured to augment the staff. We really don't know details of the contract just yet other than it was for 5 years.

Still a lot of info to parse over the next few weeks.
 

Vespidae

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OTOH, what would be the point of keeping someone around you don't even want on your staff just because they've got a guaranteed salary? Tech saved a boatload of salary and buyout money hiring Key. $850,000 is a small portion of it.
That's fine. You simply have to be comfortable burning $850K and getting absolutely nothing in return. And if Key is okay with that, rock on.
 

Novajacket

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My 2 cents:
  • David Turner – Assistant Head Coach (Defense)/Defensive Run Game Coordinator
  • New – Tight Ends
  • New – Defensive Coordinator
  • Travares Tillman – Defensive Backs/Defensive Pass Game Coordinator
  • New – Wide Receivers
  • New – Running Backs
  • New – Defensive Ends
  • Jason Semore – Linebackers/Special Teams
  • Chris Weinke – Quarterbacks
If we can get Pruitt or Kelly for DC that would be great. Think Weinke could be good OC. Maybe bring in Godsey as TE and co-OC, with Weinke. Long becomes OA for one year.

One thing I would add is to bring in an assistant/analyst with head coaching experience.
 

Vespidae

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That’s a really strong argument for leaving the defensive staff completely intact.

On offense, it’s scary to do a wholesale change and lose an entire year. If you replace Long in year two, do you have an entire season lost to an offensive transition then? If replacing offensive staff is minor surgery, put it off, but if it’s major then get it over with.

The $850k is a big hurdle. We need to figure out if we can clear it.
Alabama did something which I thought was brilliant. Every OC that comes in brings his own playbook, own terminology and players have to spend months learning it.

Saban dictated that the terminology would be standardized and that any new OC would have to adapt his playbook to Alabama rather than Alabama to his playbook. That's a big reason why Bama can insert OC's at will and be productive faster.
 

Sean311

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So do we think the staff hires will happen very quickly due to the transfer portal date or will it be a long process?
 

bobongo

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That's fine. You simply have to be comfortable burning $850K and getting absolutely nothing in return. And if Key is okay with that, rock on.
What you get is a new OC, unless Chip sticks around to be the highest paid crummy disgruntled tight ends coach in college football.
We need to be frugal but not cheap. Pinch pennies too hard and they'll pinch you back.
 

slugboy

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It’s a sunken cost at this point, and should not factor into keeping him or not. I guarantee Fritz, Chadwell, or O’Brien would not have retained him.
Long’s salary is a sunk cost, but a new OC is a new $750k-$1.2MM that you have to find. I think a lot of boosters want a better offense, so the question is “do they fund it?”.
 

Vespidae

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It’s a sunken cost at this point, and should not factor into keeping him or not. I guarantee Fritz, Chadwell, or O’Brien would not have retained him.
Actually, it is NOT a sunk cost. It hasn't occurred yet. If acted upon, it is a conscious decision to forgoe any future value or production but still pay out. Again, if Key is fine with it, it's $850K <poof>.
 

Vespidae

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What you get is a new OC, unless Chip sticks around to be the highest paid crummy disgruntled tight ends coach in college football.
We need to be frugal but not cheap. Pinch pennies too hard and they'll pinch you back.
I get it. And it's immaterial to me, it's not my money. It's the GTAA's. And if they HAD $850K, we would have had a different head coach.

If we are so callous about it, we should get rid of Chaney, Long .. .one or both.
 
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