HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

Augusta_Jacket

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I know it wasn't you, but I recall similar thoughts expressed about Scott Satterfield before he left App State (51-24, 38-10 in conference) to go to Louisville (20-22, 12-17 in conference). The best indicator of success in almost any position, is previous experience in that position. If we want a winning P5 coach, hire a coach who won at that level. Anything else is hoping.

Even hiring proven winning P5 coaches is a gamble. Every program is somewhat unique and many people who have won at lesser P5 schools have struggled at factories.

Our biggest issue with hiring P5 coaches is we are so low on the P5 totem pole that the coaches at winning P5 programs we would be interested in are likely being courted by the factories.
 

Techster

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Ok, I'm with you. I think it's another clear illustration that none of us have this thing figured out. They're all crap shoots, imo.

We can all make a case for the guys we like, but I sorta cringe when folks act like they have the blueprint.

That's not a shot at you and your Caldwell love, @Techster . Not that I'm scared to take shots at you, btw. Just not this time. :sneaky:

That's Chadwell, not Caldwell. Put some respect in your mouth with you say our (potential) future head coach's name!
 

slugboy

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When we look at coaches, people often look on how many wins they had. I was surprised that Satterfield has performed so poorly at Louisville—he’s got a great QB, lots of funding, and what would superficially look like a better environment than he had at AppState. But, he’s done worse.
It’s more important to look at the difference a coach has made at every stop they’ve had. AppState may have some great factors related to the school or to their Athletic Department (and maybe we want their AD more than their HC). People have said that Mullen isn’t a bad recruiter because his classes have been top 20, but what were the classes of the other coaches?
Listening to other coaches or to sportswriters is really misleading—many of them graded the Collins hire a “B”, for example.

I think this is one reason that we should let the search agency do their job, and that we should ruthlessly question their results to make sure that they’re grounded in reality.
We shouldn’t just ask whether they’re a good or great coach, but also what they need to succeed.

Also, from Alice and the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough"

We swapped from "doing more with less" to "NFL lite". Unless we've figured out where we're going AND it's a place that we should be going, then we'll churn through a lot of people until we luck into results.
 

Vespidae

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Even hiring proven winning P5 coaches is a gamble. Every program is somewhat unique and many people who have won at lesser P5 schools have struggled at factories.

Our biggest issue with hiring P5 coaches is we are so low on the P5 totem pole that the coaches at winning P5 programs we would be interested in are likely being courted by the factories.
Just recalling the recent firings, the factories are all recruiting new head coaches amongst themselves. I don't think Tech can get any coach from a Top 25 program, but things begin to open up after that.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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And most every successful one, too.

True. My post was meant to remind that hiring coaches always has been, and always will be, a gamble. Like most gambling outcomes, the losses often outnumber the wins. GT has been fairly successful until the last hire at avoiding losses. Let's hope that gets back on track for us.
 

jojatk

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It might have been me...I was actually a big advocate of Satterfield for GT. Hey, gotta own up to what you say!

Satterfield hasn't been awful at Louisville, he's been to 2 bowl games in 3 seasons. He definitely hasn't had the success at Louisville that he did at App State.
I was right there with you on advocating Satterfield.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Bryan Harsin will soon become available. I suspect Brent Key, if wins 3-4 games, will get the job.

Brent Key is obvious as he is the interim here, but he's currently not a proven P5 winning coach.

ATM, Harsin is 9-9 (.500) as a P5 coach, so hardly "successful" especially considering he's the HC at Auburn. After losses in the next two games (uga and Ole Miss), he's likely to be fired as a losing P5 HC.
 

g0lftime

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The new AD will have a lot to say about the next HC but Key can make it real hard not to choose him if he can win. Most AD's that come from FB backgrounds have a pretty good idea who they want to hire but it has to work both ways. I am sure BK wants the job. The next AD is a very important hire for us. We don't need a rushed decision if it can be avoided.
Would GT be willing to offer a one year contract to BK with possible incentives beyond that year? Give him a chance to have a recruiting cycle and full year to prepare his team with his own staff. I see some issues with that scenario but sometimes out of the box thinking is needed.
 

Vespidae

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Brent Key is obvious as he is the interim here, but he's currently not a proven P5 winning coach.

ATM, Harsin is 9-9 (.500) as a P5 coach, so hardly "successful" especially considering he's the HC at Auburn. After losses in the next two games (uga and Ole Miss), he's likely to be fired as a losing P5 HC.
I’m not advocating for or against Harsin. But he doesn’t run the football team. Jimmy Raine does. It’s a political mess.
 

leatherneckjacket

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The new AD will have a lot to say about the next HC but Key can make it real hard not to choose him if he can win. Most AD's that come from FB backgrounds have a pretty good idea who they want to hire but it has to work both ways. I am sure BK wants the job. The next AD is a very important hire for us. We don't need a rushed decision if it can be avoided.
Would GT be willing to offer a one year contract to BK with possible incentives beyond that year? Give him a chance to have a recruiting cycle and full year to prepare his team with his own staff. I see some issues with that scenario but sometimes out of the box thinking is needed.
If Key is successful enough to earn an offer, I seriously doubt it will be on a one year deal. No one would accept that.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Would GT be willing to offer a one year contract to BK with possible incentives beyond that year? Give him a chance to have a recruiting cycle and full year to prepare his team with his own staff. I see some issues with that scenario but sometimes out of the box thinking is needed.

Ik Key is successful enough to earn an offer, I seriously doubt it will be on a one year deal. No one would accept that.

@leatherneckjacket is correct. No coach would accept a one year deal to audition as a HC. If we think Key might be the answer, we will be extending a 4 year contract offer. I don't think he will get more than 5 offered even if the team wins 7 games this year.
 

lv20gt

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Can you name a successful P5 HC that you think we could land this cycle?

Bronco Mendenhall

Paul Chryst

Clay Helton

Gus Malzahn

Obviously depends on exactly how you define successful but all of them had records at P5 schools that I would call successful to some degree even if it wasn't the level of success the schools wanted.

Would GT be willing to offer a one year contract to BK with possible incentives beyond that year? Give him a chance to have a recruiting cycle and full year to prepare his team with his own staff. I see some issues with that scenario but sometimes out of the box thinking is needed.

We've had some questionable decisions regarding contracts but nothing that is in the same reality as that.
 
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