Some people have given information that they got from people at or associated with the AA. I’ll recap the exterior (fan-facing) hiring timeline from three years ago:
- Paul Johnson announces he’s retiring with plenty of games left in the season
- Some fans wonder whether he was pushed out. Most seem to be wondering who the next coach will be
- Few, if any, head coaching positions are open. Several sportswriters write that this is a good time to get a new coach.
- The AA starts a very quiet and close-to-the-vest search. Not much information is leaking.
- A small group of potential coaches start appearing. It’s not many—Whiz, Collins, Elliot, Monken.
- Louisville fires their coach and almost immediately hires Satterfield. No indication that Satterfield ever had interest in Tech
- Somewhere around here, interviews start.
- Suguira and others announce on social media that Whiz has been offered the job. The GTAA doesn’t really deny it, and doesn’t say much.
- This board is probably calmer than most (i.e. we’re hopping mad, but other places are even worse), and the pitchforks are out. Most people are highly upset, think that it’s “Chan 2.0” and that football will be boring on the Flats again.
- I think it’s about this time that Elliot pulls his name out of the hat, although it’s not clear how much it was in the hat
- Like I said, the pitchforks are out. I’m sure the AA heard from the fans in the seats that they didn’t like the (rumored) Whiz hire.
- Whiz announces he’s not interested in the job.
- In the meantime, a couple of other jobs have come open and hired their coaches.
- Interviews restart. A few names seem to pull out of the process. Key is one of the names bandied about.
- Collins negotiations start
- Collins hired. Starts arranging what looks like a good coaching staff, although some want a different OC.
- Collins is first choice for a few fans (back to O’Leary days). Most think he’s a fine second choice if their first wasn’t going to take the job
Other than Monken, who are these people? At the time, there weren’t many names coming up. You’d have to think that some of the issue was lack of interest.
Ken Niumatalolo doesn’t seem to be leaving Navy for Tech—or very many other places other than maybe out in Utah. Bohannon isn’t even at a G5 school. If you’re going to pluck from the CPJ tree, Monken or Niumatalolo are your top choices, and Monken was the one who’d been winning lately and, as I mentioned, Niumatalolo doesn’t really seem to be interested in moving.
If you’re interested in continuing the Flexbone, Monken is almost the only option. Reports were that he was interested. However:
- Johnson was the master of the Flexbone, and the last few years have been declining. Would one of his students do better than him? If not, why bother?
- The other coaches are either in service academies or lower divisions. Recruiting is still a big question at a P5 school
- Monken and Niumatalolo both had better defenses that CPJ, so it’s possible to have a good defense with the Flexbone.
A lot of the energy of the fan base had been sapped the last few years. It wasn’t just the $$$ donors who wanted a change.
I would have liked Monken, but I also think that would have slashed our fan base to just the Flexbone fans. So, yeah, I’d be watching.
Monken was the only real Flexbone coach in the mix, so there’s one coach who may not have been pursued. And he’s clearly a good coach. Who are the others?
I think Monken was on the edge of his list, but every AD had been getting an earful for years. Also, Stansbury’s mission was to grow the fan base and re-energize the program. A new Flexbone coach wouldn’t have done that.
The minimum you’re seeing in a contract for a new P5 coach hire is 5 years. Most fans thought 7 was excessive, but it’s two years extra, not an extra 6-7 years. Maybe a great negotiator talks him down to 6, but the important parts are the guarantees and not the length.
Regarding the other options, WHO were they? WHO was interested in Tech at that time that you knew about in 2019?
Coastal Carolina’s HC became their HC in 2019. He looks great now, but who had him on their radar in 2019?
Rhule was getting ready for his jump to the NFL.
Scott Frost went to Nebraska the year before. Were we getting UCF’s coach?
There weren’t many names being discussed on this board in 2019.
It’s interesting that a superbowl-winning OC wasn’t the guy for his alma mater. I don’t think he was going to fit, but it’s kind of surprising on the face of it.