HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[tmhunter52]

Did someone say Steve Spurrior?

 

[GT33]

I don’t know what you’re reading and hearing, and who you think #1 and #2 are.

Chadwell may be going somewhere else. He might have been our #1. He might have been our #1 with the right staff, but he didn’t have the right staff. There are rumors it was a done deal that fell through, and there are rumors he wants his defensive staff and we don’t.

I haven’t heard any other rumors of offers, unless Fritz had an offer.

But these are all rumors.

Top externals #1-4 in no particular order but likely order were Rhule, Chadwell, Fickell, O'Brien. Of course Key became a stronger candidate than anyone imagined. Fritz is at best option #6. This reeks of the Pastner hire. We whiffed on everyone, they used us as salary bait or we waffled at the price tag, take your pick. By the time we decided, they decided for us & the cupboard was bare. We ended up fighting for a sniff of the table scraps.

Maybe Batt has us all fooled? Hope so.

 

[GT_B]

I actually don’t mind this hire at least from a coaching standpoint. I don’t know how it impacts recruiting, but Fritz is a pretty good coach to me. I’m pretty sure he was coaching the southern team that had us beat at Bobby Dodd in 2014.

Chadwell was my first choice then key, but if for whatever reason it worked out the way it did, I actually don’t mind Fritz. If we get 7-8 good years from him, that would be just fine to me.

 

[Billygoat91]

Fritz is who I wanted after CPJ. 4 years too late but here we are. He is not Chadwell in terms of a splash hire, but a very solid coach, and we could use solid right now. Chadwell was my #1, Key my #2, but Fritz was my #3 this time around. It's clear that Batt wanted a clean break from the former staff and that is understandable.

I have the feeling that some think we need a splash hire that is going to be a messiah for the program. I think that mode of thinking is what got us into this mess in the first place. A foundation needs to be built first for future success to happen. Fritz can build that foundation for us. We are a few bounces of the ball away from being a one win team, our wins were closer than our losses. Fritz is a proven winner that has won everywhere he went. Not only that, the teams were always better off when he left vs when he started. He inherited a true dumpster fire at Tulane and have had them ranked this year with a win over a great Kansas St team. Most people will point to his record last year. They were destroyed by injuries and had the savant Chip Long at OC. So it was a down year.

Watch the Tulane fan reaction to news that he is gone compared to CGC. It will be night and day.

Go Jackets!

 

[TromboneJacket]

If the rumors are true that the donors wanted Key, and Batt truly has hired Willie Fritz to be our new head coach, then we had better be making bowl games immediately and be improving each year or having 8+ win seasons by year 2. Fritz (and the decision to hire him over Key) will not be given much patience.

 

[Lotta Booze]

Top externals #1-4 in no particular order but likely order were Rhule, Chadwell, Fickell, O'Brien. Of course Key became a stronger candidate than anyone imagined. Fritz is at best option #6. This reeks of the Pastner hire. We whiffed on everyone, they used us as salary bait or we waffled at the price tag, take your pick. By the time we decided, they decided for us & the cupboard was bare. We ended up fighting for a sniff of the table scraps.

Maybe Batt has us all fooled? Hope so.

Since when were Rhule and Fickell in the top 4? I've heard for weeks the names Chadwell, Fritz, BOB, Bill Clark floating around along with Key. Never once heard Fickell or Rhule

 

[g0lftime]

If it is Fritz he would likely stabilize the program for 5 years or so and retire. He is a solid football coach and should be able to assemble a good staff at GT. We need to get back to winning seasons and bowl games. He has turned a disaster of a program at Tulane into a competitive team this year. It has taken a while but in worse shape than here.

 

[Hjacket]

Wow. I wanted Key but Fritz has gotten Tulane to four bowls and a conference championship game. Having watched them and us, I believe they would beat us head to head even if they are not P5. Let’s save the damning for later, after he has at least lost one game.

 

[Ramble1885]

Fritz also kinda looks like Bill Curry. (Obviously I mean the younger version of BC) Idk what that says for us but it’s something I notice.

 

[mkemkay]

Since when were Rhule and Fickell in the top 4? I've heard for weeks the names Chadwell, Fritz, BOB, Bill Clark floating around along with Key. Never once heard Fickell or Rhule

Yes, on message boards. ADJB hasn't said anything publicly to confirm that list as the one he was working from.

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

If it is Fritz he would likely stabilize the program for 5 years or so and retire. He is a solid football coach and should be able to assemble a good staff at GT. We need to get back to winning seasons and bowl games. He has turned a disaster of a program at Tulane into a competitive team this year. It has taken a while but in worse shape than here.

I actually think this is probably the reasoning behind this hire. He’s here to create stability and get back to winning football while we’re still paying off CGC.

 

[mndojckt]

I think Fritz would have been a good hire four years ago as a bridge from the option but hiring a 62 year old who is 1-11 against the P5 and 1-12 against the top 25 now is so dissapointing

 

[forensicbuzz]

it may just me see thinks I want to see cause I like Key but they do look better each week after CGC left.

LOL! You quoted me but left off the part of my post where I said the same thing.

 

[Lotta Booze]

I've enjoyed a lot of what Key has done and still been hesitant about wanting him for the full time gig. Just thought that we shouldn't let ourselves get short sighted with some over performance in the interim stage that would prevent us from hiring a better long term option. And while I do think Fritz is a good coach he doesn't seem like the high upside long term coach that we would pass over Key for.

It does make me wonder how Key interviewed. If he sat in the interview and wanted to keep on trucking with the current staff mostly unchanged I think that would be cause for going with someone else. If he came in with a planned or staff and recruiting plan, etc. I'd be all for it. But who knows how it went

 

[LongforDodd]

nm

I hear you. But at this point it seems silly to go too far down the list given what we accomplished with Key. If the home run isn’t there I wouldn’t stretch too much past him since we’ve seen what he could do with a mess of team in 3/4 a season.

I agree with this. If we can't hit a home run by COB Wedneday, let's hitch our wagon to Key and get on down the road. We could do alot worse with those bad results beginning to show up within the next two months.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

I'll echo that Fritz was on my list after CPJ. If this rumor ends up being true, then good luck to Key at a G5 school, see you in 3-4 years hopefully.

 

[TheStolenT]

It just seems like now more than ever tech needed to make an exciting hire to get the fan base back into it, especially if the goal is raising funds to put us back on solid ground. Maybe this was the best we could get, but it gets increasingly harder to donate to an athletic program that continuously shoots itself in the foot. This hire isn’t going to fill seats or seal big donations.

 

[Ramble1885]

Word is that the boosters are trying to make a push for key as we speak.

 

[Mattmc10]

NC State has been really damn good under Doeren. He's won 8 or 9 games five of the last six seasons.

He’s finished 6-2 in the acc twice in 10 years. Those are his best years. We don’t have the same definition of damn good.

 

[bke1984]

Guess I am in the minority…I like the idea of Fritz. Experienced coach to lead us through the next few years and get our financial situation right for the next hire.

Well I think that’s clearly what they’re thinking if he’s their choice. Don’t go for the ten year hire right now, but instead take a route that buys you time. Then maybe you get Key in 3-5 years after he coaches somewhere else.