HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[Augusta_Jacket]

My only quibble with any of these current coaches is the December 1 signing date. We need to get some buzz before then.

Initial early signing date is December 21st.

NLI Signing Dates

www.nationalletter.org

 

[GoJacketsInRaleigh]

My only quibble with any of these current coaches is the December 1 signing date. We need to get some buzz before then.

It's December 21-23 and a second one in February

 

[orientalnc]

Thanks.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I see McGee and Deion both being part of the "Recruiting First" coach options, but I don't see McGee as being near the gamble that Deion might be.

I like McGee way more than Deion. I like that McGee is respected by HS coaches (and not just idolized).
I like that he's coached at literally the highest level of CFB and been part of a winning organization.
I like that he's recruited Georgia at both Ga Southern and UGA.
I like that he won't try to be the center of attention...I'm done with "Look at me!" coaches.

If either are successful we won't keep him more than four years tops.

I like everything you are saying but here’s the rub for me.

Some people don’t like Deion because his salesmanship and recruiting prowess reminds them of Collins.

And some people won’t like McGee because his excellent connections to the state and respect from HS coaches will remind them an awful lot of Chan Gailey.

So any argument we make, one way or the other, is little more than a platitude until we can get a coach on the flats and see if they can actually win at a high level in a unique setting like Tech.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I like everything you are saying but here’s the rub for me.

Some people don’t like Deion because his salesmanship and recruiting prowess reminds them of Collins.

And some people won’t like McGee because his excellent connections to the state and respect from HS coaches will remind them an awful lot of Chan Gailey.

So any argument we make, one way or the other, is little more than a platitude until we can get a coach on the flats and see if they can actually win at a high level in a unique setting like Tech.

I do not think anyone hates McGee because of "his connections to the state and respect from HS coaches." It is his lack of head coaching experience at the college level and his lack of experience (coaching and recruiting) at a school like Tech that is worrisome.

 

[yeti92]

He could fix a lot of the relationships with high school coaches in the state that collins messed up

I've seen this said by multiple posters now - can you elaborate on this? The story I remember being pushed was that CPJ didn't talk to many area high school coaches during his tenure, and how it was such a change of pace because Collins was coming in and building those relationships back up. Now that he's gone, people seem to be acting like he was destroying those relationships. Is there some sort of evidence of this?

 

[stech81]

I do not think anyone hates McGee because of "his connections to the state and respect from HS coaches." It is his lack of head coaching experience at the college level and his lack of experience (coaching and recruiting) at a school like Tech that is worrisome.

I don't hate him, hard to hate someone I don't know. Would like to see someone who has been a head coach other than high school.
And maybe I'm a funny person but if I was the AD I would want to know who the new head coach wanted for his coordinators and assistant coaches, that would mean more to me than who the head coach is the coordinators and assistant coaches are the real ones who coach.

 

[Towaliga]

What gets me about this is that this apparently wasn't obvious when he interviewed. I caught that vibe after a couple of weeks.

Still, you never know. Mike Leach is pretty squirrelly and he's a right good football coach. But Leach is squirrelly the right way and Collins wasn't.

I caught that vibe at the first fan day. My daughter and I were some of the first in line during the autograph session, and he barely acknowledged us. At the time I made the assumption that he didn’t really want to be there and was either bored or didn’t know how to interact with the fan base. You may be right in that his mind may have been racing 100 mph thinking about what his next big “cool” thing would be instead of being in the moment.

 

[ilovetheoption]

With Leipold, watching his team play this year is exciting. But, if we were looking last year I think most people would say “no”. His team passes the eye test with flying colors. He’s also got a losing record at Kansas and a barely over 500 record at Buffalo, and it took him 4 years to start winning at Buffalo.
The point of this isn’t to trash Leipold; it’s to say that there’s someone out there with Leipold’s stats from last year or from three years ago that we’re saying “H*** No!” to on this board. Kansas didn’t say that, and this year they’ve got one of the hottest coaches in football.
We might hire out of P5, but there’s a G5, P5 assistant, or FCS coach who is just about to be the next big thing, and most of us can’t spot that coach. Odds are, they haven’t been mentioned here.

Year	School	G	W	L	T	Pct	SRS	SOS	AP Pre	AP High	AP Post	Bowl	Notes
2015	Buffalo	12	5	7	0	.417	-5.40	-4.56
2016	Buffalo	12	2	10	0	.167	-18.24	-5.57
2017	Buffalo	12	6	6	0	.500	-2.92	-5.34
2018	Buffalo	14	10	4	0	.714	1.57	-5.29				Dollar General Bowl-L
2019	Buffalo	13	8	5	0	.615	1.44	-6.49				Bahamas Bowl-W
2020	Buffalo	7	6	1	0	.857	17.73	1.73		23	25	Camellia Bowl-W
2021	Kansas	12	2	10	0	.167	-11.12	3.47
2022	Kansas	8	5	3	0	.625	11.00	5.87		19
8 Yrs	Overall	90	44	46	0	.489	-0.74	-2.02				2-1
6 Yrs	Buffalo	70	37	33	0	.529	-0.97	-4.25				2-1
2 Yrs	Kansas	20	7	13	0	.350	-0.06	4.67				0-0

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 10/30/2022.

Not a good post.

GREAT post.

 

[BCJacket]

Chadwell is my first choice, because I think he has the fewest question marks on the attributes I believe a successful Tech HC needs to have. The one area where I question his experience is in recruiting - he's never coached at a P5 program even as an assistant. But with the right assistants and support that can be overcome. (He may well be a great recruiter, there's just not a track record to look at.)

I'm not sold on Dell McGee. I want a coach with head coaching experience. It's one thing to have relationships with HS coaches and be a great recruiter at UGA, where HS coaches are trying to sell their players to the UGA staff. It's a different ballgame to be at Tech and try to convince HS coaches to sell their kids on Tech. But people in the position to know seem to really respect and like him. If he sells ADJB on a plan for Tech - what his staff looks like, what Tech will try to be under a HC Dell McGee - I can definitely buy in. I do think a black head coach in downtown Atlanta could really create something special. Collins' 404 culture was all talk and silliness. If half of what's been said about McGee as a person is accurate he could build something truly special here. Would need strong experienced coordinators to help guide him through the HC growing pains, IMHO.

Fritz was on of my top choices 4 years ago. He'd have been a great bridge from CPJ. He'd still be a good hire, IMHO. He's done a good job at Tulane. They were absolutely terrible before he got there and it's been a long rebuild. But not so good that he's getting a lot of P5 attention. He probably should've stayed at GaSo and he'd have gotten a better job by now. He'd be a solid hire to come in and stabilize the program. Would likely be a 4-5 year project, get us to respectability and retire, leaving Tech in a much better place. We could do a lot worse.

I don't want Deion. There's too much real work that needs to happen to fix the program. Even if Deion has the energy and drive to make it happen, his celebrity is a distraction. If the wins and success don't happen right away the celebrity and flash stop mattering really quickly. And I don't see any coach coming in and winning right away.

HARD no to Mullen. Hiring him would draw a lot of negative media reaction. Tech needs to rehab its image as a football program. Trying to also be a coach's rehab stop would be a mess. I can't imagine players and assistants wanting to buy into a program that's looked at as hard to recruit and win at, with a coach who's reputed to be hard to work with and uninterested in recruiting. None of that may be true. But Tech can't weather the weight of more negative perceptions right now. (Which, I've been a Tech football fan long enough to recognize that this means we're probably announcing Mullen as the coach tomorrow.)

 

[85Escape]

HARD no to Mullen. Hiring him would draw a lot of negative media reaction. Tech needs to rehab its image as a football program. Trying to also be a coach's rehab stop would be a mess. I can't imagine players and assistants wanting to buy into a program that's looked at as hard to recruit and win at, with a coach who's reputed to be hard to work with and uninterested in recruiting. None of that may be true. But Tech can't weather the weight of more negative perceptions right now. (Which, I've been a Tech football fan long enough to recognize that this means we're probably announcing Mullen as the coach tomorrow.)

Sad, but true. I really try to shake off the 'We can't have good things' feeling, since I think it's bad ju-ju (who says an engineer can't be superstitious?) But that's exactly where my brain goes these days. Hopefully this time will be different as I line up to kick the football that Lucy is holding for me.

I agree on the HARD NO on Mullen. We can do better, with less baggage and more upside.

 

[bobongo]

Chadwell is my first choice, because I think he has the fewest question marks on the attributes I believe a successful Tech HC needs to have. The one area where I question his experience is in recruiting - he's never coached at a P5 program even as an assistant. But with the right assistants and support that can be overcome. (He may well be a great recruiter, there's just not a track record to look at.)

It seems to me that good recruiting could be done by a staff simply being good coaches. Players will see where a coaching staff (not just the HC but the assistants he brings in) is making a difference by putting their players in situations where they're going to succeed and training them well. Surely there's more depth to recruiting than salesmanship. A good coach will recruit well by just being a good coach, even if he's not a good recruiter per se. And while he, himself may not be a good recruiter, he could hire some. I think maybe the program will recruit itself just by having good coaches running it. Does that make sense?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Even if Deion has the energy and drive to make it happen, his celebrity is a distraction.

Honest question: Why would his celebrity be a distraction here but it hasn't seemed to hamper him in his current job?

 

[85Escape]

It seems to me that good recruiting could be done by a staff simply being good coaches. Players will see where a coaching staff (not just the HC but the assistants he brings in) is making a difference by putting their players in situations where they're going to succeed and training them well. Surely there's more depth to recruiting than salesmanship. A good coach will recruit well by just being a good coach, even if he's not a good recruiter per se. And while he, himself may not be a good recruiter, he could hire some. I think maybe the program will recruit itself just by having good coaches running it. Does that make sense?

Do you think we'd get a ton of negative recruiting related to the 'option' again? I don't think we need high-level recruiting, but we need to average two-to-three 4* types a year to be upper echelon ACC no matter how good the coach, I imagine.

That's my only worry about Chadwell...that it'll be an easy place to go for negative recruiting. It's what TFFG tried to overcome with all of his 'elite, developmental, pro-style' hype (and that didn't work after year one, it appears.)

 

[85Escape]

Honest question: Why would his celebrity be a distraction here but it hasn't seemed to hamper him in his current job?

I don't want a coach who feels like they are the stars rather than the student-athletes and the school. I want media coverage to be about how good the football team is, not how cool of a coach we have and, oh, the football team is pretty good too.

TFFG ruined me to narcissistic head coaches.

 

[bobongo]

Do you think we'd get a ton of negative recruiting related to the 'option' again? I don't think we need high-level recruiting, but we need to average two-to-three 4* types a year to be upper echelon ACC no matter how good the coach, I imagine.

That's my only worry about Chadwell...that it'll be an easy place to go for negative recruiting. It's what TFFG tried to overcome with all of his 'elite, developmental, pro-style' hype (and that didn't work after year one, it appears.)

It's enough of a hybrid that I don't think it will be much of an issue. They throw the ball 285 yards a game, and the offense isn't so radically different that it will hamper the defense. It seems a compromise between a gimmick and the mainstream. Just enough of a gimmick to give us an edge in scheme while not so much a difference as to have a negative effect on recruiting. Just the right spot, it seems.

 

[CEB]

Do you think we'd get a ton of negative recruiting related to the 'option' again? I don't think we need high-level recruiting, but we need to average two-to-three 4* types a year to be upper echelon ACC no matter how good the coach, I imagine.

That's my only worry about Chadwell...that it'll be an easy place to go for negative recruiting. It's what TFFG tried to overcome with all of his 'elite, developmental, pro-style' hype (and that didn't work after year one, it appears.)

Honestly, if you’re focused on limiting negative recruiting you’re not only fighting a losing battle, you’re in the wrong war. Negative recruiting is going to happen, period.
Kids are going to come play for a program and a staff they believe in. They’re coming for playing time, success and future prospects. Success is easy to sell no matter what others are saying about it. Let’s be successful and not worry about labeling the process.

 

[85Escape]

Honestly, if you’re focused on limiting negative recruiting you’re not only fighting a losing battle, you’re in the wrong war. Negative recruiting is going to happen, period.
Kids are going to come play for a program and a staff they believe in. They’re coming for playing time, success and future prospects. Success is easy to sell no matter what others are saying about it. Let’s be successful and not worry about labeling the process.

I agree that negative recruiting will happen no matter what. And that winning makes negative recruiting more difficult...perhaps limiting it to 'you'll not see the field for three years if you go to that school.'

It's just that all I heard from the recruiting geniuses during the CPJ era was 'too easy to negative recruit against the 3O.'

But I agree times have changed, and a modern 3O with the fact that it's in the NFL makes that talk about it being a Highschool Offense even more laughable now.

 

[bobongo]

I don't want a coach who feels like they are the stars rather than the student-athletes and the school. I want media coverage to be about how good the football team is, not how cool of a coach we have and, oh, the football team is pretty good too.

TFFG ruined me to narcissistic head coaches.

Deion just by his celebrity has created a recruiting mismatch at Jackson State that won't be replicated here, or at least not nearly as much
He can make it all about himself there because he's such a big fish in a small pond. Here, not so much.
But by saying that, I'm not saying he isn't a good coach as well. That I don't know, and I don't think anyone else does, either. Too much talent discrepancy at Jackson St. to know for sure.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I don't want a coach who feels like they are the stars rather than the student-athletes and the school. I want media coverage to be about how good the football team is, not how cool of a coach we have and, oh, the football team is pretty good too.

TFFG ruined me to narcissistic head coaches.

That's an understandable point of view, but it doesn't answer my question.