HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[Vespid]

Let's see.....

First, You have no idea what J Batt is doing, who he is hiring, or why he has not announced the new head coach. His job is to find the best coach for the job. If that person is making us wait a week to make the hire and J Batt believes the benefits of the new coach outweighs the cons of delaying the hire, then let him make that case. Until then, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, his job is not to cater to the whims of every player on the roster.

Second, You have no idea why Nate is leaving or whether any coaching announcement would have any impact on his decision. Anyone who thought the roster would remain intact if we just announced Key or another coach is kidding themselves.

Wrong thread.....this is the hand waving freak out knee jerk reaction thread.

 

[bikeseat]

The longer this goes, the more it feels like it will be AD hire 2.0 and someone from left field comes in. I would cry tears of joy for Garret Riley

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

What exactly is ADJB supposed to do?

Maybe accept the gift that IHCBK placed in his lap. A low cost hire that a big chunk of the players, donors and fans support. Would give him 2-3 years to structure fund raising and address systemic issues at GTAA before revisiting the FB coaching hire - and just maybe HCBK hits a home run. Instead, we're seeing a lot of unnecessary drama. Reeks of "resume building" to me - not what's best for GT.

 

[awbuzz]

I mean, is anything ever on Key?

not often when I attempt to sing...

 

[Hjacket]

Only a Tulane alum understands the depths of despair that Tulane has been through over 5 decades with only brief interruptions for limited success. Only when Tommy Bowden coached and then Willie Fritz did the program truly improve consistently. Tulane v. LSU was like GT v. UGA when I was there, but Tulane dropped out of the SEC and dropped LSU and became irrelevant in LA. They built an on campus stadium about 8 or 9 years ago (they played in the Sugar Bowl when I was there and packed 10,000 into a 70,000 seat stadium and then played in the Superdome and did worse). This was not a rebuild but a resurrection. Now, I am not saying Willie is the best option for GT (that's above my pay grade), but I will say he can coach, the players, the school and the city love him and were I his agent I would tell him to stay put. I am sure he aspires to see what he can do in a P5 conference. I would not bet against him. In a lot of ways he is CPJ 2.0 not Chan 2.0 but without some of the stubbornness and combative nature.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

For context, since 1999 after Tommy Bowden left Tulane, they have had 7 seasons with 6 or more wins. 4 of them belong to Fritz, the other three were in 2000, 2002, & 2013. Tulane football has been BAD, and Fritz has stabilized them and has them moving on an upward trajectory. He's not a homerun hire, but he's not a bad football coach either.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

He had 6 sub 500 seasons there and fortunately had a good season this year.

Fritz has only had three sub .500 seasons there. His first two where he improved on the record of the team he inherited, and then last season.

 

[Richard7125]

Sorry to butt in but to me that's a tough call. If Chadwell comes here and succeeds, he'd likely bolt to the Next Big Gig whereas I think we'd be the last stop on Fritz's career so could have him longer if he succeeds. Not sure there's a marked difference in Ability To Build A Program between the 2 though.
(flips coin)
I'll take Chadwell - younger and that might translate to better recruiting.

Do you think succeeding at a high quality academic school might be more difficult than succeeding at a less rigorous school?

 

[GTrob21]

Do you think succeeding at a high quality academic school might be more difficult than succeeding at a less rigorous school?

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

Have you seen this? I know that the Tech people will cry about how the rankings are biased, but there is a little school that is ranked 49th and our Institute is ranked 44. I wonder how they do so well.

Also, there are better football schools ranked higher than us. The elitism that Tech people have are the reason why we aren't very good. Its also the reason why we don't have side-walk fans.

 

[Vespidae]

[
Not even close to Collins. Tulane did not decrease in performance. They doubled their yearly wins. I agree that it’s hard to be excited about the record even though Fritz doubled their win percentage.

You could say Fritz decreased GSU performance, but not including their jump up in conference the year he arrived would be less than telling the whole story.

I don’t like that he hired Long as OC though.

Fritz is a good proven coach, just not a flashy record on till this year.

Fritz hired Chip Long to replace his OC, Willie Hall. Hall and Long are best friends and have the same offensive philosophy.

As to Tulane, it more or less makes sense. The facilities at Tulane are about on par with Tech's from 1980. That they win ANY games is a miracle.

 

[bobongo]

Instead of getting a guy that WOULD rally the troops as we all hoped a few months ago, we are getting something less than that

We have one who has already rallied the troops right now. All that is needed is to remove the "interim" tag from his title and give him some top-notch assistants. It's that simple.

 

[SunBum]

One way or the other, I hope ADJB has had fair and frank discussions with BK about where he stands and what his prospects are at GT. Other programs are moving forward and building new coaching staffs. Wouldn't be right to leave the man hanging where he might miss out on his next best gig.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The elitism that Tech people have are the reason why we aren't very good. Its also the reason why we don't have side-walk fans.

I keep hearing this, but as a sidewalk fan, I have yet to see it anywhere but on message boards with other die hard fans.

 

[D-man44]

Sure you are a big football expert Cheetah. Did you ever play?

Michael Jordan is the worst talent evaluator in the NBA

 

[Vespid]

I keep seeing it thrown out like it's a given. If fonts here think Key is so obviously the choice and going to be great, then surely he thinks that himself and wouldn't sell himself for cheap.

Problem is, Brent really has very little leverage at this current time in space. Of the remaining P5 jobs out there, I highly doubt any of them are courting BK for their HFC.. Impossible?....no. Highly highly improbable?....yes. Don't get me wrong, I really like Brent, I think he did an admirable if not incredible job as interim coach. But that's a very small sample, he really has zero to go on to justify the kind of money being floated around for mid level P5 jobs. I can't see anybody other than us even contemplating offering the position. I can tell you one thing, I would NOT want to be him going home to to the wife and baby trying to explain why I turned down 2.5 million a year for 5 years with incentive packages that could get us in the high 3 to low 4 million range just to go coach the Offensive Line at LSU or Ole miss for 800k.

 

[Vespidae]

We have one who has already rallied the troops right now. All that is needed is to remove the "interim" tag from his title and give him some top-notch assistants. It's that simple.

Personally, I agree. I think Brent Key make the most sense today as Batt has other issues to address (namely, revenue and NIL).

Still, Batt appears to be thoughtful. I am sure he called Alabama and probably UCF to speak to folks who might give him insight to Key. What got Frost fired at Nebraska as less X's and O's and more ... he sucked at virtually everything else. We don't know what Brent's shortcomings are ... all we can see is that he is probably a good culture fit and seems willing to make adjustments to fix problems.

So perhaps Batt just wants to sweep the Edge clean. Talks with BOB cooled once Fritz was mentioned, but I would not be surprised to see BOB back in the game.

 

[MWBATL]

Do you think succeeding at a high quality academic school might be more difficult than succeeding at a less rigorous school?

It's not just academics..in fact, that's probably the least of Tulane's challenges. It's a complete lack of resources. Tulane's Administration has been famously ignoring big time football for decades and the program had no practice facility, no stadium, no money, no fan base and very little to attract recruits with. Methinks THAT is why Fritz is being considered so heavily for our job, because while we are not as bad off as Tulane was, a lot of those same problems face our program, especially in the short term.

 

[GTRambler]

Here’s an ESPN article about Willie Fritz and his work at Tulane, as well as some of his career background as a coach. The more I research and read about him, the more I become impressed with him.

Following a hurricane-displaced 2021, Willie Fritz has rebuilt his rebuild at Tulane

The Green Wave won the American Athletic Conference and had their first 11-win season since 1998. And they're not done.

www.espn.com

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

Of the remaining P5 jobs out there, I highly doubt any of them are courting BK for their HFC..

I'd be surprised if BK doesn't have a HC job by Christmas. If not GT, then likely a G5 spot.

 

[Vespidae]

One way or the other, I hope ADJB has had fair and frank discussions with BK about where he stands and what his prospects are at GT. Other programs are moving forward and building new coaching staffs. Wouldn't be right to leave the man hanging where he might miss out on his next best gig.

You know where Brent will go? UGA. He'll join Kirby's staff as an analyst until he lands a long-term gig. They played at the same time and were at Bama together for a year. How will THAT look?