HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

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Techster said:
I wonder what's going on with Herman behind the scenes. Is there something going on that's not being reported? His only fault was he didn't win enough at Texas...but Texas has a LOT of drama going on behind the scenes with donors getting involved. Texas should be on 'Bama's level with all the resources they have, but they don't have the success and good coaches don't want anything to do with them.

I would take Tom Herman yesterday if he said he was willing to come here. In his 6 seasons as the HC (2 Houston, 4 Texas) he's never missed a bowl game, and his coaching win percentage is very high. His offenses put up points.

Oh, and he's also a member of Mensa. That would play well at GT.
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Success in college football is driven by the HC and the QB. If you have an HOF HC and a playmaker at QB, you'll be successful.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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Just throwing this out.

We acknowledge that there will be a game of musical chairs in coming months. Many of us seem concerned that the music will stop and Tech will be left without a decent coach to choose from.

But what about the other side of the equation? There will be several coaches in danger of being left with few good options when the music stops. I’m thinking that right now Tech may have as many as five decent coaches to choose from and be in a good bargaining position. I am including Key as possibly being in the mix.
 

kittysniper101

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Techster said:
I wonder what's going on with Herman behind the scenes. Is there something going on that's not being reported? His only fault was he didn't win enough at Texas...but Texas has a LOT of drama going on behind the scenes with donors getting involved. Texas should be on 'Bama's level with all the resources they have, but they don't have the success and good coaches don't want anything to do with them.

I would take Tom Herman yesterday if he said he was willing to come here. In his 6 seasons as the HC (2 Houston, 4 Texas) he's never missed a bowl game, and his coaching win percentage is very high. His offenses put up points.

Oh, and he's also a member of Mensa. That would play well at GT.
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He's apparently a huge jerk to work with. That was one of the big rumors on /r/cfb around the time of his firing from what I recall. The fact that he's not currently employed in football and wasn't retained even as an analyst when a new coach came into the browns doesn't really speak highly to his reputation in the industry. As much as I don't care if a coach is a bit gruff, he has to at least be able to entice a good staff to join him. GT isn't in the position to make the job any less attractive to the rest of the staff.
 

CEB

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Northeast Stinger said:
Just throwing this out.

We acknowledge that there will be a game of musical chairs in coming months. Many of us seem concerned that the music will stop and Tech will be left without a decent coach to choose from.

But what about the other side of the equation? There will be several coaches in danger of being left with few good options when the music stops. I’m thinking that right now Tech may have as many as five decent coaches to choose from and be in a good bargaining position. I am including Key as possibly being in the mix.
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slugboy

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OK, here are some names--did I get them all? Or at least, everyone you care about?
There are a lot of names, aren't there?
Let's think about how good they could be and how bad they could be.
  • Deion Sanders: Ceiling? 5* recruits, air raid offense, solid defense and grade-A secondary. Floor? all sizzle and no steak, and he retires or moves to another job. What's likely? depends on his assistants, but I'm thinking 7.5 wins.
  • Dell McGee: I'm thinking "Deion lite". Ceiling? second-best recruiting classes in Georgia, with a top 15 every now and then. Conventional offense and defense. Floor? Better than Collins. Inconsistency. How good of a coach is he? What's likely? I don't think he's "the one"--but I don't know enough about him.
  • Brent Key: Ceiling? Seems like the George O'Leary days. Floor? The occasional bowl miss, recruiting gets bad, offense gets too conventional. What's likely? I don't know yet--definitely better than Collins, and should have us back to above-average, but I don't know if he'll field a good offense.
  • Brian Harsin: Ceiling? Feels about the same as Key's ceiling. Floor? disinterested, not interested in being here. What's likely? If Key does well, I don't think he gets the job over him. If Key does poorly, he's a safe-ish choice.
  • Jamey Chadwell: Ceiling? The best years of Johnson. Floor? The offense doesn't work here, he's not a culture or environmental fit. What's likely? I think he's a good bet.
  • Ruggerio (Wake OC): I just added him, and I'm not sure if he would be a HC candidate. Ceiling? "Wake with better athletes". Floor? Not nearly as good as Wake, Clawson was the secret sauce. What's likely?
  • Jeff Lebby: Not doing well with Oklahoma athletes this year.
  • Sean Lewis <TBD>
  • Bill O'Brien: Ceiling: Not as good as Fridge. Floor: Consistent, good football. Steady. What's likely: A solid but uninspiring team.
  • Bill Clark (UAB): Program builder. Ceiling: Beating half of the ACC, but not top tier. Floor? consistent football.
  • Dan Mullen: Ceiling: Imaginative offense, passable defense, Mississippi State's brief time in the top 10. Floor? Bowl team. What's likely? probably not hiring Mullen.
  • Tyson Helton (Western Kentucky): Ceiling? Lots of passing, good offense, good defense, flex to fit personnel. Floor? not bad. What's likely? Probably a very good coach.
  • Brian Bohannon (KSU): Ceiling? Possibly better than Johnson. He's not locked into any scheme. Floor? Middle of the pack ACC. What's likely? Probably a really good team, but lots of 3* athletes. Defense would be the question.
  • Jeff Monken (Army): He's a fantastic coach. Could he get past Clemson? Probably not.
  • Mike Houston <TBD>
  • Curt Cignetti (GMU): He's done great things at George Mason. How much longer does he want to do that?
  • Jeff Traylor <TBD>
  • Gus Malzahn: Ceiling? 10-11 wins. Floor? We all hate each other. What's likely? Probably that we don't even interview him.
  • Lance Leipold: Ceiling? Wow, is that offense fun. Floor? A really good team. If he can make Kansas win, he'll do OK here.
  • Tom Herman: ???
 
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Northeast Stinger

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slugboy said:
OK, here are some names--did I get them all? Or at least, everyone you care about?
There are a lot of names, aren't there?
Let's think about how good they could be and how bad they could be.
  • Deion Sanders: Ceiling? 5* recruits, air raid offense, solid defense and grade-A secondary. Floor? all sizzle and no steak, and he retires or moves to another job. What's likely? depends on his assistants, but I'm thinking 7.5 wins.
  • Dell McGee: I'm thinking "Deion lite". Ceiling? second-best recruiting classes in Georgia, with a top 15 every now and then. Conventional offense and defense. Floor? Better than Collins. Inconsistency. How good of a coach is he? What's likely? I don't think he's "the one"--but I don't know enough about him.
  • Brent Key: Ceiling? Seems like the George O'Leary days. Floor? The occasional bowl miss, recruiting gets bad, offense gets too conventional. What's likely? I don't know yet--definitely better than Collins, and should have us back to above-average, but I don't know if he'll field a good offense.
  • Brian Harsin: Ceiling? Feels about the same as Key's ceiling. Floor? disinterested, not interested in being here. What's likely? If Key does well, I don't think he gets the job over him. If Key does poorly, he's a safe-ish choice.
  • Jamey Chadwell: Ceiling? The best years of Johnson. Floor? The offense doesn't work here, he's not a culture or environmental fit. What's likely? I think he's a good bet.
  • Ruggerio (Wake OC): I just added him, and I'm not sure if he would be a HC candidate. Ceiling? "Wake with better athletes". Floor? Not nearly as good as Wake, Clawson was the secret sauce. What's likely?
  • Jeff Lebby: Not doing well with Oklahoma athletes this year.
  • Sean Lewis <TBD>
  • Bill O'Brien: Ceiling: Not as good as Fridge. Floor: Consistent, good football. Steady. What's likely: A solid but uninspiring team.
  • Bill Clark (UAB): Program builder. Ceiling: Beating half of the ACC, but not top tier. Floor? consistent football.
  • Dan Mullen: Ceiling: Imaginative offense, passable defense, Mississippi State's brief time in the top 10. Floor? Bowl team. What's likely? probably not hiring Mullen.
  • Tyson Helton (Western Kentucky): Ceiling? Lots of passing, good offense, good defense, flex to fit personnel. Floor? not bad. What's likely? Probably a very good coach.
  • Brian Bohannon (KSU): Ceiling? Possibly better than Johnson. He's not locked into any scheme. Floor? Middle of the pack ACC. What's likely? Probably a really good team, but lots of 3* athletes. Defense would be the question.
  • Jeff Monken (Army): He's a fantastic coach. Could he get past Clemson? Probably not.
  • Mike Houston <TBD>
  • Curt Cignetti (GMU): He's done great things at George Mason. How much longer does he want to do that?
  • Jeff Traylor <TBD>
  • Gus Malzahn: Ceiling? 10-11 wins. Floor? We all hate each other. What's likely? Probably that we don't even interview him.
  • Lance Leipold: Ceiling? Wow, is that offense fun. Floor? A really good team. If he can make Kansas win, he'll do OK here.
  • Tom Herman: He reminds me of Tom Arnold.
Click to expand...
I hope people won’t get into endless nitpicking of your list and descriptions. Ceiling: Expert analysis.
Floor: a serviceable overview.

Step two in discussion for me is handicapping odds of who is available after other schools do their courting of candidates and who of that list we would be mostly likely to go after.

I said before that I actually think we are in a better place now. Key has shown that there is no reason for Tech to be at the bottom of the ACC. A confident and competent coach could come here and make some noises.
 

GoJacketsInRaleigh

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slugboy said:
OK, here are some names--did I get them all? Or at least, everyone you care about?
There are a lot of names, aren't there?
Let's think about how good they could be and how bad they could be.
  • Deion Sanders: Ceiling? 5* recruits, air raid offense, solid defense and grade-A secondary. Floor? all sizzle and no steak, and he retires or moves to another job. What's likely? depends on his assistants, but I'm thinking 7.5 wins.
  • Dell McGee: I'm thinking "Deion lite". Ceiling? second-best recruiting classes in Georgia, with a top 15 every now and then. Conventional offense and defense. Floor? Better than Collins. Inconsistency. How good of a coach is he? What's likely? I don't think he's "the one"--but I don't know enough about him.
  • Brent Key: Ceiling? Seems like the George O'Leary days. Floor? The occasional bowl miss, recruiting gets bad, offense gets too conventional. What's likely? I don't know yet--definitely better than Collins, and should have us back to above-average, but I don't know if he'll field a good offense.
  • Brian Harsin: Ceiling? Feels about the same as Key's ceiling. Floor? disinterested, not interested in being here. What's likely? If Key does well, I don't think he gets the job over him. If Key does poorly, he's a safe-ish choice.
  • Jamey Chadwell: Ceiling? The best years of Johnson. Floor? The offense doesn't work here, he's not a culture or environmental fit. What's likely? I think he's a good bet.
  • Ruggerio (Wake OC): I just added him, and I'm not sure if he would be a HC candidate. Ceiling? "Wake with better athletes". Floor? Not nearly as good as Wake, Clawson was the secret sauce. What's likely?
  • Jeff Lebby: Not doing well with Oklahoma athletes this year.
  • Sean Lewis <TBD>
  • Bill O'Brien: Ceiling: Not as good as Fridge. Floor: Consistent, good football. Steady. What's likely: A solid but uninspiring team.
  • Bill Clark (UAB): Program builder. Ceiling: Beating half of the ACC, but not top tier. Floor? consistent football.
  • Dan Mullen: Ceiling: Imaginative offense, passable defense, Mississippi State's brief time in the top 10. Floor? Bowl team. What's likely? probably not hiring Mullen.
  • Tyson Helton (Western Kentucky): Ceiling? Lots of passing, good offense, good defense, flex to fit personnel. Floor? not bad. What's likely? Probably a very good coach.
  • Brian Bohannon (KSU): Ceiling? Possibly better than Johnson. He's not locked into any scheme. Floor? Middle of the pack ACC. What's likely? Probably a really good team, but lots of 3* athletes. Defense would be the question.
  • Jeff Monken (Army): He's a fantastic coach. Could he get past Clemson? Probably not.
  • Mike Houston <TBD>
  • Curt Cignetti (GMU): He's done great things at George Mason. How much longer does he want to do that?
  • Jeff Traylor <TBD>
  • Gus Malzahn: Ceiling? 10-11 wins. Floor? We all hate each other. What's likely? Probably that we don't even interview him.
  • Lance Leipold: Ceiling? Wow, is that offense fun. Floor? A really good team. If he can make Kansas win, he'll do OK here.
  • Tom Herman: He reminds me of Tom Arnold.
Click to expand...
Curt Cignetti is at James Madison. I don't think George Mason even plays football. His father was a good coach and he's spent time working for Saban too. He's a no nonsense type coach from Western PA and his teams always seem to be built well from the inside out (good line play). He's got two offensive coaches that are really good too (Mike Shanahan and Tino Sunseri). No idea if he's looking to upgrade to the P5 or not but he would be really good.

JMU is ranked now and this is their first year in FBS. Really good program that was originally built by Mickey Matthews and continued by Mike Houston and now Curt Cignetti.
 
slugboy

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GoJacketsInRaleigh said:
Curt Cignetti is at James Madison. I don't think George Mason even plays football. His father was a good coach and he's spent time working for Saban too. He's a no nonsense type coach from Western PA and his teams always seem to be built well from the inside out (good line play). He's got two offensive coaches that are really good too (Mike Shanahan and Tino Sunseri). No idea if he's looking to upgrade to the P5 or not but he would be really good.

JMU is ranked now and this is their first year in FBS. Really good program that was originally built by Mickey Matthews and continued by Mike Houston and now Curt Cignetti.
Click to expand...
Yeah, listing more than 5 coaches was an invitation to make a boner mistake, and I did. Thanks for the correction.

Northeast Stinger said:
I hope people won’t get into endless nitpicking of your list and descriptions. Ceiling: Expert analysis.
Floor: a serviceable overview.

Step two in discussion for me is handicapping odds of who is available after other schools do their courting of candidates and who of that list we would be mostly likely to go after.

I said before that I actually think we are in a better place now. Key has shown that there is no reason for Tech to be at the bottom of the ACC. A confident and competent coach could come here and make some noises.
Click to expand...

I'm perfectly happy for nitpicking, as long as someone brings something to the party. I hope they use your ceiling of expert analysis and your floor of a serviceable overview.

I haven't watched a lot of those teams this year. I've watched some. It's hard to say what kind of coach Sanders is without watching a couple of Jackson State games. Mullen and Monken and Bohannon and O'Brien and Malzahn I know well. Leipold I know from watching the Duke-Kansas game (and Kansas was fun).
 
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bobongo

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slugboy said:
OK, here are some names--did I get them all? Or at least, everyone you care about?
There are a lot of names, aren't there?
Let's think about how good they could be and how bad they could be.
  • Deion Sanders: Ceiling? 5* recruits, air raid offense, solid defense and grade-A secondary. Floor? all sizzle and no steak, and he retires or moves to another job. What's likely? depends on his assistants, but I'm thinking 7.5 wins.
  • Dell McGee: I'm thinking "Deion lite". Ceiling? second-best recruiting classes in Georgia, with a top 15 every now and then. Conventional offense and defense. Floor? Better than Collins. Inconsistency. How good of a coach is he? What's likely? I don't think he's "the one"--but I don't know enough about him.
  • Brent Key: Ceiling? Seems like the George O'Leary days. Floor? The occasional bowl miss, recruiting gets bad, offense gets too conventional. What's likely? I don't know yet--definitely better than Collins, and should have us back to above-average, but I don't know if he'll field a good offense.
  • Brian Harsin: Ceiling? Feels about the same as Key's ceiling. Floor? disinterested, not interested in being here. What's likely? If Key does well, I don't think he gets the job over him. If Key does poorly, he's a safe-ish choice.
  • Jamey Chadwell: Ceiling? The best years of Johnson. Floor? The offense doesn't work here, he's not a culture or environmental fit. What's likely? I think he's a good bet.
  • Ruggerio (Wake OC): I just added him, and I'm not sure if he would be a HC candidate. Ceiling? "Wake with better athletes". Floor? Not nearly as good as Wake, Clawson was the secret sauce. What's likely?
  • Jeff Lebby: Not doing well with Oklahoma athletes this year.
  • Sean Lewis <TBD>
  • Bill O'Brien: Ceiling: Not as good as Fridge. Floor: Consistent, good football. Steady. What's likely: A solid but uninspiring team.
  • Bill Clark (UAB): Program builder. Ceiling: Beating half of the ACC, but not top tier. Floor? consistent football.
  • Dan Mullen: Ceiling: Imaginative offense, passable defense, Mississippi State's brief time in the top 10. Floor? Bowl team. What's likely? probably not hiring Mullen.
  • Tyson Helton (Western Kentucky): Ceiling? Lots of passing, good offense, good defense, flex to fit personnel. Floor? not bad. What's likely? Probably a very good coach.
  • Brian Bohannon (KSU): Ceiling? Possibly better than Johnson. He's not locked into any scheme. Floor? Middle of the pack ACC. What's likely? Probably a really good team, but lots of 3* athletes. Defense would be the question.
  • Jeff Monken (Army): He's a fantastic coach. Could he get past Clemson? Probably not.
  • Mike Houston <TBD>
  • Curt Cignetti (GMU): He's done great things at George Mason. How much longer does he want to do that?
  • Jeff Traylor <TBD>
  • Gus Malzahn: Ceiling? 10-11 wins. Floor? We all hate each other. What's likely? Probably that we don't even interview him.
  • Lance Leipold: Ceiling? Wow, is that offense fun. Floor? A really good team. If he can make Kansas win, he'll do OK here.
  • Tom Herman: ???
Click to expand...
I think a good question for anyone would be: If you had your pick of all these coaches and you had to pick one today, who would it be?
If I had to pick today, I guess I'd stick with Brent.
 
ilovetheoption

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GoJacketsInRaleigh said:
Curt Cignetti is at James Madison. I don't think George Mason even plays football. His father was a good coach and he's spent time working for Saban too. He's a no nonsense type coach from Western PA and his teams always seem to be built well from the inside out (good line play). He's got two offensive coaches that are really good too (Mike Shanahan and Tino Sunseri). No idea if he's looking to upgrade to the P5 or not but he would be really good.

JMU is ranked now and this is their first year in FBS. Really good program that was originally built by Mickey Matthews and continued by Mike Houston and now Curt Cignetti.
Click to expand...
My brother played for JMU under Matthews, and is strutting around today all super proud :)

They've been a REALLY tough FCS program for a REALLY long time. They're the kind of FCS team that nobody wanted to play because high-risk low-reward.

For those of us in Virginia, them being immediately successful in FBS is no surprise. They're a lot like Georgia Southern in that respect. When they showed up in FBS and day one were physical and nasty enough to compete, nobody in Georgia was surprised.

Mason has a club football team, but made the decision in the aftermath of the Final Four run to try to be a basketball school, and decided against building a stadium (the funding was apparently there), and then let Larranaga walk to Miami, and is only now really recovering under Kim English (whose name you'll be hearing for P5 jobs in the next couple years)
 
305jacket

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You absolutely have to make Deion and Chadwell both turn the job down before just giving to Key. They have to be 1a and 1b options.

Deion and Chadwell are the only 2 coaches that would be "program changers" going forward.
 

takethepoints

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slugboy said:
OK, here are some names--did I get them all? Or at least, everyone you care about?
There are a lot of names, aren't there?

  • Dan Mullen: Ceiling: Imaginative offense, passable defense, Mississippi State's brief time in the top 10. Floor? Bowl team. What's likely? probably not hiring Mullen.
  • Brian Bohannon (KSU): Ceiling? Possibly better than Johnson. He's not locked into any scheme. Floor? Middle of the pack ACC. What's likely? Probably a really good team, but lots of 3* athletes. Defense would be the question.
  • Jeff Monken (Army): He's a fantastic coach. Could he get past Clemson? Probably not.
Click to expand...
Mullen: On this assessment, he's the leader of the pack. I'm not sure why everybody here seems to be so turned off, given his proven record of success. "He's hard to get along with!" "He won't fit with the alums!" "He'll alienate the press!" "He isn't a great recruiter!" I mean, seriously now, are people thinking about the last four years at all? We used those criteria before and look where it got us. Besides, he knows how to build a program.

Bohannon: Yep. Right on all counts. Then we get to "lots of 3* athletes". So what? Here I have to remind people that no matter who we hire we will end up with "lots of 3* athletes". What we need is someone who can turn that into success. Like, say, Bohannon. Besides, he knows how to build a program. And from the ground up too boot.

Moncken senior: I wish we had hired him four years ago. We'd all be sitting around grousing about not going to a New Years Day bowl, not getting to the playoffs, and "accepting mediocrity" with 7 - 8 win seasons instead of discussing the possible demise of Tech as a P5 program. But he's now the second winningest coach in Army history and highly attached to the Point. I doubt he'd consider our offer now. Too bad. Oh, and he knows how to build a program too.
 
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