HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[bobongo]

Guys....

You guys have had exactly one top 25 recruiting class this century, and the guy responsible for it just got run out of town on a clown car.

You guys are Georgia Tech guys, you believe in numbers, and letting the data guide you. You guys ran the experiment with Jeff collins, you got the biggest best recruiter, the biggest best brander, the guy most focused on taking advantage of the Atlanta market, who loved tech, and who wanted to get it done through recruiting, and the result was today.

The idea that Deion Sanders who until a year and a half ago was a high school coach, is going to come in and make you what you're not is more than a little silly, to me.

Get a guy who can coach the living hell out of the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech, because the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech are the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech, and the kind of guys who don't go to Georgia tech are the kind of guys who don't go to Georgia tech, and that hasn't changed in a generation now, and it's probably not ever going to.

Because the last guy was a good recruiter and still stank, we shouldn't try to recruit? Collins didn't fail because he could recruit - he failed in spite of it because he couldn't do anything else, which ultimately thwarted even his recruiting ability. That we should eschew recruiting - especially in a recruiting hotbed - defies reason.

 

[slugboy]

I don't know if he's been mentioned yet, but I would personally like to do whatever it takes to get the HC from Kansas. It is harder to win there than just about any other school and he's got them at 3-0 right now. I looked him up, Lance Leipold is his name. Guy has been successful everywhere he's been and I can't imagine he would be hard to get. He has won 6 Dlll national championships, he's gotten to 100 wins faster than any coach in NCAA history, left Buffalo for Kansas and did so with a 6-1 record and a bowl win as well as having them in the top 25.

He’s being considered in multiple places. I’m sure we’ll call him if Nebraska doesn’t sign him first, or if Kansas doesn’t extend him for a decade with a huge buyout.

BTW, Kansas makes a lot of money in their athletic department through basketball. Like Kentucky, they can fund having a good football team and growing that fan base because basketball keeps them solvent. (For some reason, we didn’t try that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

 

[GoldZ]

id like to get a guy that a fanbase doesn’t want to lose. any bama fan you talk to, any thread you see on their forums, any thread on twitter/other social media everyone is begging for him to go. is it spoiled bama fans? absolutely. i just don’t love the idea of bringing in a guy a fanbase feels is actively holding the team back and is looking suspect at times with FAR superior talent than he has at tech.

chadwell and deion are my two favorites right now and i feel like both of them, while not without concerns, have way more upside and potential and could take our program further.

i think our program more than anything right now needs a hire that will energize the fanbase a little bit as people were getting soured at the end of johnson’s tenure and collins flat out ran everything in the dirt. i feel like we have to “win” the hiring process right now to earn some goodwill back and guys like o brien, dan mullen, etc., while prudent hires don’t excite the fanbase enough

Couldn't you take this entire post and just change the names to reflect how you felt at the time Collins was hired ?

 

[Jim Prather]

The problem is Collins did it way too late, he wanted to hire Long from the begging but the money wasn’t there for it. I’ll also say this, Collins wasn’t letting guys do their job for what they were paid to do. Collins was running the 2021 defense and this years defense, opposing coaches have said that, even tho it’s claimed Thacker was solely running last years defense. Collins also had a hand in the offense this year and wasn’t letting Long have an open book. Collins was dipping his hands in everyone’s position group and job instead of letting them what they

I’m not doubting you, but I’m curious how you know this?

 

[TheNaturalScientist]

Chadwells offense with Coastal Carolina type talent would make a bowl game in the acc and maybe have a shot of winning the coastal division. Dude can coach and acc is ripe for the taking

 

[Vespidae]

I don't know if he's been mentioned yet, but I would personally like to do whatever it takes to get the HC from Kansas. It is harder to win there than just about any other school and he's got them at 3-0 right now. I looked him up, Lance Leipold is his name. Guy has been successful everywhere he's been and I can't imagine he would be hard to get. He has won 6 Dlll national championships, he's gotten to 100 wins faster than any coach in NCAA history, left Buffalo for Kansas and did so with a 6-1 record and a bowl win as well as having them in the top 25.

He might be worth a look.

Scanning posts this am, we once again ... appear to be all over the map. Do we hire a good recruiter? Someone good at scheme? Would Tommy Tuberville give up his US Senate seat to coach again?

From my perch here in Auburn, Bryan Harsin is being eviscerated because he is a good coach but has no contacts in the areas where Auburn traditionally recruits. Total unknown and doesn't really relate well to them. (Fun fact: He's rumored to be a Scientologist, which was wrong in this area from the git-go.) So getting a coach like Lance feels to me like more of the same.

Here' my 7am Minute ...

• We need someone who knows Georgia. He has to be able to recruit effectively in one of the best recruiting areas of the country. Not only do we get talent (and I'm not even concerned about 4/5 stars ... just good solid players that can develop), but ... the more players we get from Georgia, the less the tuition-in-kind charge from the Hill. So, we can use more of Tech's resources beyond just non-cash charges. And we need money.
• We need someone who knows the NFL. We made a major bet that we could improve recruiting by creating an NFL-Lite strategy. We may as well stay the course and find the guy that can do that.
• We need someone who is innovative on offense. It's an offensive game today, so someone who is outstanding at play calling and game management will be needed.
• We need someone young, but not too young. Experience and contacts will help. Early 50's.

I would go after someone who played for an SEC school or grew up in Georgia, is or was an NFL offensive coordinator, and a track record of demonstrated success. That's my take anyway.

 

[kittysniper101]

they haven’t. it’s just empty platitudes of “he’s an x’s and o’s guy”.

he built a great charleston southern program that was so good he lost 18 wins for cheating by playing ineligible players. i guess in todays day and age that is “pure coaching”.

78-54 career record and has never made it to p5 football. i like the guy but he has a lot of red flags and question marks as the rest of the suggested candidates too. he is not clearly the best option in any rational person’s mind

Faulting him for an institutional failure is an interesting choice. They vacated wins across the 3 major sports for player eligibility. In a functioning athletic association that shouldn’t be the responsibility of the head coach and I think you’re attributing to malice what can easily be explained by incompetence at a school of Charleston southern’s stature.

 

[GoldZ]

Some in the Sun Belt are not impressed by him.lotliketheguyfrom

Sounds a lot like the guy we brought in from East Carolina in the mid 90s after he too had a great QB.

 

[bobongo]

If we bring in Chadwell, let's load him up with incentives:

Report: Postseason payouts for college football coaches

Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell’s incentive-laden contract puts him up there among the biggest postseason payouts.

www.wistv.com

"Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell’s incentive-laden contract puts him up there among the biggest postseason payouts. Chadwell netted $200,000 for the Cure Bowl win and another $250,000 for finishing in the top 50 of the USA TODAY Sports AFCA coaches poll and the AP poll. He only needed to finish in the top 50 of one to earn the bonus.

Chadwell also collected $150,000 to win at least six games and be eligible for non-CFP bowl games.

According to the USA Today, Chadwell’s $600,000 worth of bonuses ranks among the ten highest earned. Of course, his base pay for 2021 is substantially lower than the others, taking home less than $900,000."

Chadwell has a $950,000 buyout from Coastal Carolina.

 

[Techwood Relict]

4 years ago I would have told you you were insulting GT. Now? Well, now we're probably looking up at Vandy and Rutgers.

Can I split this one down the middle? Vandy is a nice campus, but Rutgers is in Jersey. We are better than Jersey.....

 

[GTCHAS]

I do not post on here much, but I enjoy reading the posts. I know the Chadwell family as well as the strength director. They both have houses down the street for me in SC. I think he and his staff would be great for the GT program. His OC and DC are pretty good. His offense is good and he makes the adjustments. He may not be the flashy guy that some want, but from a making GT relevant in wins, he could be the guy. Some say he have P5 head coaching experience, well everyone needs the 1st chance. He hasn’t taken other jobs because he wants to take care of his staff and there might have been some stipulations at other places where that was not possible. Maybe I have no idea what I am talking about, but he is stand up guy and would give his all.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Guys....

You guys have had exactly one top 25 recruiting class this century, and the guy responsible for it just got run out of town on a clown car.

You guys are Georgia Tech guys, you believe in numbers, and letting the data guide you. You guys ran the experiment with Jeff collins, you got the biggest best recruiter, the biggest best brander, the guy most focused on taking advantage of the Atlanta market, who loved tech, and who wanted to get it done through recruiting, and the result was today.

The idea that Deion Sanders who until a year and a half ago was a high school coach, is going to come in and make you what you're not is more than a little silly, to me.

Get a guy who can coach the living hell out of the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech, because the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech are the kind of guys who go to Georgia tech, and the kind of guys who don't go to Georgia tech are the kind of guys who don't go to Georgia tech, and that hasn't changed in a generation now, and it's probably not ever going to.

So, to answer your point on recruiting, I think Collins biggest mistake was in moving away from his strength so early in his coaching career. He is an amazing recruiter, and he showed us that in his first full year. His subsequent classes were ranked low but were quality classes. The were ranked poorly simply because the were well below the 20 recruit threshold to amass all the point needed for the algorithm. His 2021 and 2022 classes had 16 and 15 recruits. 8 of those 31recruits were 4*s. IMO, he should have recruited more heavily out of HS instead of hitting the portal so much. While a portal athlete from time to time has proven a great match for their new school, often they provide little more than depth, if that. I tend to agree with you that we need a scheme edge of some sort, but I have real trouble calling this experiment a failure when what failed was a coach not running the experiment as promised.

 

[JacketFan137]

Couldn't you take this entire post and just change the names to reflect how you felt at the time Collins was hired ?

it was an exciting hire in the sense that he wasn’t ken whisenhunt

 

[GTLorenzo]

Just talking about Collins and Stansbury. Collins came to tech about the job. Stansbury was dead set on hiring WisenHunt but boosters found out search Todd kept everything in that search close to himself and they were outraged. Collins then came to tech about the job. Stansbury had no backup plan for WisenHunt and he was caught with his pants at his ankles and his **** hanging out.

Why in the world would Stansbury do the search on his own??? Whisenhunt at least had some success and likely would’ve been another Gailey. Not that I would want him, but he’d probably have us competitive at least.

Stansbury never seemed like the sharpest knive in the drawer, with all due respect. This screamed for a search firm that knows various coaches, who would come here, who wouldn’t, not just Stansbury trying to hire an old teammate. Clearly, the search, the hire, the contract, “my man” double down are what have him out if a job. Just unfortunate.

 

[Vespidae]

Why in the world would Stansbury do the search on his own??? Whisenhunt at least had some success and likely would’ve been another Gailey. Not that I would want him, but he’d probably have us competitive at least.

Stansbury never seemed like the sharpest knive in the drawer, with all due respect. This screamed for a search firm that knows various coaches, who would come here, who wouldn’t, not just Stansbury trying to hire an old teammate. Clearly, the search, the hire, the contract, “my man” double down are what have him out if a job. Just unfortunate.

As I recall, TStan simply wanted Whisenhunt. So there really wasn't a search beyond that. There was a third in the mix (I can't recall his name at the moment), but once KW went into a stall, Colins made the mad dash for it and got it. Last man standing.

By contrast, Tennessee went through 8 before landing at Jones. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which the program was a dumpster fire then and NOBODY wanted the job. Heupal followed his AD at UCF to UT and shows no signs of wanting to leave.

Personally, I think the GTAA needs a search committee, an evaluation criteria, and a formal process. Guessing at who should be coach did not work before and there is too much at stake now. (Ironically, the Hill would NEVER allow the process used to select Collins to be used to select a professor. I've been involved in search committees for faculty and they are rigorous.)

 

[GTLorenzo]

As I recall, TStan simply wanted Whisenhunt. So there really wasn't a search beyond that. There was a third in the mix (I can't recall his name at the moment), but once KW went into a stall, Colins made the mad dash for it and got it. Last man standing.

By contrast, Tennessee went through 8 before landing at Jones. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which the program was a dumpster fire then and NOBODY wanted the job. Heupal followed his AD at UCF to UT and shows no signs of wanting to leave.

Personally, I think the GTAA needs a search committee, an evaluation criteria, and a formal process. Guessing at who should be coach did not work before and there is too much at stake now. (Ironically, the Hill would NEVER allow the process used to select Collins to be used to select a professor. I've been involved in search committees for faculty and they are rigorous.)

So we have hired a search firm. I presume we will have some sort of search committee as well that will get the recommendations, and then make the final decision. Will be interesting to see how the process plays out. We are clearly not in a great position right now, but do you have a little bit of time to make a good decision. I think the firm we hired is the same one that got the A.D. and coach at Tennessee. That seems to be working out well right now. Fingers crossed

 

[awbuzz]

I think it Tech wants to get serious, we need to abandon the “save money” route. It’s time to pony up or just expect to not ever compete again

Hopefully everyone has got their money trees in working order.

 

[g0lftime]

Not a great time to ask people to pony up bigger contributions in the current economy and a down stock market.

 

[Vespidae]

So we have hired a search firm. I presume we will have some sort of search committee as well that will get the recommendations, and then make the final decision. Will be interesting to see how the process plays out. We are clearly not in a great position right now, but do you have a little bit of time to make a good decision. I think the firm we hired is the same one that got the A.D. and coach at Tennessee. That seems to be working out well right now. Fingers crossed

I know Parker Executive Search. They are based in Atlanta in Sandy Springs and specialize in Higher Ed. They are pretty good. Lots of time spent on cultural issues (will the candidate fit in?).

 

[AugustaSwarm]

Chadwell is at the top of my list. But for the other fans of his - do you think he will be able to recruit enough?

He has shown loyalty to his staff - for better or worse. I imagine they would all come with him. Would he be willing to keep on, say, Kenyatta Watson to help the recruiting aspect?

Any ideas about whether Tashard Choice might return? He was a helluva recruiter and great coach. I was really disappointed to see him leave and I'd love to get him back in Atlanta.