jgtengineer
Helluva Engineer
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The more I thought about this and digested many ideas from you guys... I really believe Jeff Monken or Chad Lunsford are the best way to go. Each offers a continuation of success and maintains the "option" identity, but in different ways.
Monken (Army)
Monken, no doubt, is a great coach and any school would be lucky to have him. What he has accomplished at Army is nothing short of a miracle. They won 10 games last year, have 9 wins this year, nearly beat OU in Norman, and play more sound football than maybe anyone else. Even compared to CPJ, the Army guys seem to execute better than the Georgia Tech guys. He also isn't afraid to throw the ball 20 times a guy when he has a QB capable of doing it, which he has this year. Hiring Monken would put GT on a path of continued "CPJ-style" triple option for the immediate and long-term future.
Lunsford (Georgia Southern)
Lunsford would be more of a risk because he isn't as experienced as Monken, but with Nate Woody on one side (defense) and Bob DeBesse on the other (offense), there would be plenty of experience around him. He also runs a different form of the option, run out of the shotgun with lots of different sets. He is from Georgia, recruited for Auburn, and has apparently engineered a quick turn-around in Statesboro. In his first full year, they went 9-3. They beat ranked App State, beat Arkansas State as well. Their defense only gave up 21 points per game with only 1-2 seniors in their defensive two-deep...
I think there are some other positives here, such as they operate out the shotgun and can pass more when they need to.. This will help recruit QB's... They also have a "feature back" instead of a committee, which would help recruit higher ranked running backs who wanted to be featured.. their starting RB has 177 carries, way more than anyone else. GTech QBs ran 337 this this year, but GASO ran their QB 166 times. Again, I think this is more attractive to running backs and quarterbacks.
Georgia Southern in Lunsford's First Year
9-3 record
#1 in the nation in turnover margin
#14 in nation in interceptions
#17 in fewest penalties per game
#28 in points per game (they give up 21 ppg)
Lundsford isn't leaving southern. That man breaths knats at this point.
