HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[LawTalkin Jacket]

Apropos of absolutely nothing, but Wesley Fritz (Willie's son) who is Tulane's Director of Player Personnel is currently following quite a few of our recruits. Most interestingly, he's following our new 4 star QB commit of the 2024 class.

Could be just coincidence and he was following them previously for Tulane, but it does make you go "Hmmm..."

Does Tech have anti-nepotism rules which would make it difficult for Wes to get a job with his dad here ?

 

[Randy Carson]

(Of course, this could be the plan. You want to hire Key but you don't want to give the donors a win. So you pursue someone you can't close a deal with, hire the guy you wanted, but tell the donors, "This is on you, not me." Fourth-dimensional chess.)

Another chess reference. Love it.

But I think you have a really great take here. JBatt may have outplayed them all!

 

[Vespidae]

GOING to be?!?

I'm standing by my view that if it's Chadwell after all, NO ONE* is going to say boo until after the Chanticleers championship game. Same with Fritz (and BOB). In which case, the radio silence is understandable and laudable.

But if we're stringing Key along and end up whiffing on all three (four? five?) alternates and hiring BK, he's gotta feel like either the red-headed stepchild or the luckiest man alive.

And we've treated him very shabbily.

*One "tell" is the QB who just committed after visiting us and Coastal. Seems like odd timing and more than a coinky-dink to me.

I don't think it's Chadwell. There is no upside for him to take the Tech job, he already makes $3M a year, has 6 year contract, and Tech would be a far more difficult job.

Fritz does make sense, but as you pointed out ... he's out of reach until next weekend. I think Tech will cave on the time pressure. BOB is available today, has no buyout, and nobody is pursuing him. Key is just doing his job and waiting for the phone to ring.

 

[georgiatech22]

Here's the thing that sticks out to me. If it was going to be Key, there's no reason to wait to make an announcement unless Batt is wanting to take 48 hrs to let the dust settle from COFH to make the announcement. If it ends up being Chadwell like everyone has assumed, of course, there wasn't going to be an announcement until after the championship game. I feel like since Nebraska made their choice yesterday, all of the source sites and message boards were trying to make the GT hire yesterday too since us and Nebraska were the longest open jobs out there. If you don't hear anything out of Tech by Wednesday, I guarantee you it will be Chadwell with an announcement on Monday.

 

[Vespidae]

Does Tech have anti-nepotism rules which would make it difficult for Wes to get a job with his dad here ?

Good question. I don't think so but it's possible. Other coaches have hired their sons (and dads), which tells me its not a problem.

I think almost every team is tracking player commits to teams with a coaching change. You can bet that if it's not popular, the vultures are going to try to grab every single recruit.

I will ask my players today, but the take I had was that they were pumped to play for Kiffin, not so much for Hugh Freeze (if that's the hire). I would not be surprised to see the hotels fill with recruiters in the next few days.

 

[yeti92]

If only a few people know, where are the leaks coming from? Or are they like us and simply guessing?

It's all blind squirrels trying to find a nut amongst a pile of gravel.

 

[RonJohn]

I don't think he's screwing the search as much as he's screwing the actual hiring. The conversations and agreements on paper should have been made weeks ago, not days ago. If Fritz is his candidate, he is going to be very busy this week. Batt may very well lose Fritz if only because of that.

(Of course, this could be the plan. You want to hire Key but you don't want to give the donors a win. So you pursue someone you can't close a deal with, hire the guy you wanted, but tell the donors, "This is on you, not me." Fourth-dimensional chess.)

What I find amazing is that after a national search using Parker Executive Search, we ended up with the same three candidates virtually this entire board identified back in September. That's NOT a good sign.

I have thought for a while that the announcement needs to happen today. The portal opens up in a week. Early signing day is a few weeks out, but if we wait until next week to make an announcement there will only be two weeks remaining for that. It will seem like a waste to fire the coach early in the season, which gives you extra time to conduct a search, only to wait until after many other programs have fired and hired coaches to sign someone.

Regarding the executive search company: We don't really know who the candidates actually are at the moment. We don't really know who was contacted by the search company and weren't interested or were rejected before they reached Batt. Even if it is true that the remaining candidates are Key, BOB, and Fritz, they have likely been vetted much better than Collins was four years ago. Not you in particular, but people are upset at reported information that is sketchy, and then more upset that the sketchy information isn't true. We won't know publicly what work the search company put into the candidates, nor who or how many candidates they investigated. We won't know for sure who the next HC is until he is standing next to Batt at a podium. All of the consternation until that time is kind of pointless.

 

[Vespidae]

Here's the thing that sticks out to me. If it was going to be Key, there's no reason to wait to make an announcement unless Batt is wanting to take 48 hrs to let the dust settle from COFH to make the announcement. If it ends up being Chadwell like everyone has assumed, of course, there wasn't going to be an announcement until after the championship game. I feel like since Nebraska made their choice yesterday, all of the source sites and message boards were trying to make the GT hire yesterday too since us and Nebraska were the longest open jobs out there. If you don't hear anything out of Tech by Wednesday, I guarantee you it will be Chadwell with an announcement on Monday.

Guarantee?

I don't think so. Chadwell has been linked (and interviewed) for the VT job, Tennessee, South Carolina, and TCU. And didn't get a sniff at any of them. Auburn expressed interest, but declined to pursue.

I don't know about the others, but folks I know in the AD office here said that Chadwell has done great (no question about that) but ... against elite athletes and SEC defenses, he thinks the schemes don't work. CCU has not been in isolation ... teams have been dissecting its offense once it came on the radar screen and the novelty has worn off.

Could he be successful in the ACC? Maybe. SEC? No. (Besides, they just got rid of a very successful coach from Boise State who just couldn't translate his system to the SEC play.)

Given Chadwell's compensation, contract length, and having to have his system work at Tech tell me it's an uphill battle.

 

[georgiatech22]

Guarantee?

I don't think so. Chadwell has been linked (and interviewed) for the VT job, Tennessee, South Carolina, and TCU. And didn't get a sniff at any of them. Auburn expressed interest, but declined to pursue.

I don't know about the others, but folks I know in the AD office here said that Chadwell has done great (no question about that) but ... against elite athletes and SEC defenses, he thinks the schemes don't work. CCU has not been in isolation ... teams have been dissecting its offense once it came on the radar screen and the novelty has worn off.

Could he be successful in the ACC? Maybe. SEC? No. (Besides, they just got rid of a very successful coach from Boise State who just couldn't translate his system to the SEC play.)

Given Chadwell's compensation, contract length, and having to have his system work at Tech tell me it's an uphill battle.

That honestly sounds like the exact same thing people said about CPJ's offense.

 

[Vespidae]

All of the consternation until that time is kind of pointless.

All true.

Here in Auburn, they are feeling a bit like the guy who got the cheerleader's number, set a time for the date, got all cleaned up ... only to see her get engaged to her cousin. Cohen has damage control to do because like Batt, he has shut out the big donors and ... it didn't work out.

Batt has to manage the press (and the leaks) or it will give the impression of a search out of control. Ask Tennessee.

 

[stech81]

Just do some research. He comes into tough situations and wins. Period. Tulane was a total dump. Has had excellent assistants who have gone on to big jobs. Again, he wasn’t my first choice, and he may not even be in contention. But if he is, it won’t be a bad hire, at all.

6 years of bad and 1 year of good would not make me want to hire him. But if you are willing to wait more years of bad to get to 1 good year than you will be happy with him. Remember B** L**** had one good year that didn't work out too well. I just feel Key at this time is the right pick unless there is someone we don't know about.

 

[Vespidae]

That honestly sounds like the exact same thing people said about CPJ's offense.

There's a big difference. Auburn actually DID offer the HC job to CPJ.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I would not be surprised if all the chatter and rumors are coming from influential alumni who have been kept out of loop this time around but are using their media connections to try and indirectly manipulate ADJB into hiring the person who they want.

I do love the way so many fonts are getting riled up on what is basically internet rumors and stating how they will stop supporting Tech or want ADJB run out of town if he hires so and so when they know next to nothing as to who the best person for the job should be.

 

[SidewalkJacket]

6 years of bad and 1 year of good would not make me want to hire him. But if you are willing to wait more years of bad to get to 1 good year than you will be happy with him. Remember B** L**** had one good year that didn't work out too well. I just feel Key at this time is the right pick unless there is someone we don't know about.

Please research Fritz’s entire career and the jobs he walked into. Honestly that’s just a lazy take.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

The AD is in a tough spot. When CBK took over, I don't think anyone of us foresaw how the next 8 games would play out. I think the universal feeling was we will play out the streak and then clean house. I think it is in everyone's best interest to announce that Key has been removed from consideration if that is the case. Create some distance from the announcement of the new HC (if there is one other than Key) and this event. I certainly hope tht he is not being strung along as a second or even third choice candidate in the event that others turn us down. That's not a good start to things.

Other than who beat and who we lost, I thought we would end 4-4, so yeah this is how I thought we finish. I also thought anyone would have been better than Collins, so unless he won six games, the slight improvement was not going to move the needle for me. I do love how fans are acting like IHCBK has been Saban like in going 4-4 against an extremely soft schedule.

 

[malak05]

I would not be surprised if all the chatter and rumors are coming from influential alumni who have been kept out of loop this time around but are using their media connections to try and indirectly manipulate ADJB into hiring the person who they want.

I do love the way so many fonts are getting riled up on what is basically internet rumors and stating how they will stop supporting Tech or want ADJB run out of town if he hires so and so when they know next to nothing as to who the best person for the job should be.

We all really are living the best life aren't we...Open Riots from us on who should be the HC, High Paying boosters espionage and sabotage, AD being the new Caesar and telling the Senate to F off....God I love being a Tech fan.

 

[4shotB]

Other than who beat and who we lost, I thought we would end 4-4, so yeah this is how I thought we finish. I also thought anyone would have been better than Collins, so unless he won six games, the slight improvement was not going to move the needle for me. I do love how fans are acting like IHCBK has been Saban like in going 4-4 against an extremely soft schedule.

I really have not seen ANY references to "Saban like" in these threads but I confess to not reading every single one. Does the fact he went 4-4 with his 3nd and 4th string QB meany anything to you. Do yo believe that we have significant depth such that the 3rd and 4th teamers here are = the first string? I certainly don't.

 

[slugboy]

The wonderful thing about conspiracy theories is that people successfully identify 402 of the 3 things that actually happened.

But, some things have happened. We’re off schedule, and we planned to be done by now. The 11th hour rug pull blowing up a contract seems the most likely to me, but that may not be one of the three things that actually happened.

We have a group here that wants a clean slate and wants everyone gone. Who knows, Cabrera may be in that group. Batt needs to make the best hire and not alienate the majority of donors and fans. Annoying them is fine, but alienating is not. That may be the same with the search committee—building a majority may be impossible. Building a professional AA is a lot easier when you have a solid coach in place. Alabama already had Saban, so there was less that people could blow up. Plus, we have no wiggle room, and Bama did.

I think we’ll have Key with the Interim tag removed this week. I think Cabrera and Batt will need some substantial Quid for the Pro Quo they’re giving.

My, oh my, I’m taking a long stroll on conspiracy lane, aren’t I?

All true.

Here in Auburn, they are feeling a bit like the guy who got the cheerleader's number, set a time for the date, got all cleaned up ... only to see her get engaged to her cousin. Cohen has damage control to do because like Batt, he has shut out the big donors and ... it didn't work out.

Batt has to manage the press (and the leaks) or it will give the impression of a search out of control. Ask Tennessee.

You went straight past Alabama jokes and planted on an Arkansas joke.

 

[bobongo]

The AD is in a tough spot. When CBK took over, I don't think anyone of us foresaw how the next 8 games would play out. I think the universal feeling was we will play out the streak and then clean house. I think it is in everyone's best interest to announce that Key has been removed from consideration if that is the case. Create some distance from the announcement of the new HC (if there is one other than Key) and this event. I certainly hope tht he is not being strung along as a second or even third choice candidate in the event that others turn us down. That's not a good start to things.

As long as they're being honest with Brent Key about their thinking, that's all that matters.

 

[4shotB]

We all really are living the best life aren't we...Open Riots from us on who should be the HC, High Paying boosters espionage and sabotage, AD being the new Caesar and telling the Senate to F off....God I love being a Tech fan.

The riots are mostly peaceful. Peaceful as in no vandalism or looting although do I hope it escalates a bit. There is a new 75" Samsung TV at my local Target that I have had my eye on. Would look great under the Christmas tree.