UCF news thread

[Techster]

Just remember who TStan's mentor is ... Homer Rice. And Homer used to say, "Don't fire anyone until you have the replacement in sight." Tech cannot go on a coaching shopping spree with all the other teams also shopping. It's a guy either on staff now or someone they are already talking to.

Yeah, well TStan had a LOT of lead time to hire CPJ's replacement and we got...

 

[Vespidae]

I always find myself thinking that we had it all backwards.

Join the club. This is exactly why powerful boosters tried to get Harsin fired after Year One. They said, before NIL ... he was the right choice. With NIL, he's the wrong choice. The belief is, with enough NIL money, you don't need great (expensive) coaching and that's exactly what they were trying to do ... redirect the game from a coaching game to a money game.

 

[Vespidae]

IMO, Chip Long will not be the HC next year if CGC is fired. First, if TStan survives to make the next coaching hire, he is not going to stake his career on anyone tied to the CGC regime. He will clean house and start over. If TStan doesn't survive the 2022 football season, there is almost no way the new AD hires anyone attached to the current regime as HC to replace CGC. I don't see any way any assistant on staff now is our HC in 2023.

He cleaned house after CPJ. He can't clean house again. That's not a good look. He has to offer some kind of stability.

I'm thinking it must be bad ... I've received two calls since Thursday asking to renew my season tix. I think I'm up to 16 calls this year? Last year, I think it was 3 total.

 

[cthenrys]

In all honesty, if we need to make a change this season (during or after), why would anyone think ADTS gets a second chance at a HC search ?

 

[Techster]

IMO, Chip Long will not be the HC next year if CGC is fired. First, if TStan survives to make the next coaching hire, he is not going to stake his career on anyone tied to the CGC regime. He will clean house and start over. If TStan doesn't survive the 2022 football season, there is almost no way the new AD hires anyone attached to the current regime as HC to replace CGC. I don't see any way any assistant on staff now is our HC in 2023.

TStan will survive if even if he has to fire CGC. Outside of football, TStan has actually done a masterful job of fundraising and hiring for our other sports programs. He has a LOT of support at GT even though the CGC hire isn't working out.

Although TStan had the final say, the high level donors were the ones pushing for CGC (and other candidates with ties to GT) in the end. It's why GT's group of candidates for this job was small and very uninspiring. If TStan was guilty of anything, it was letting the donors basically dictate the hiring process. I guess you can say it was the politically astute thing to do, but the results were very uninspiring.

If TStan has to make another hire, hopefully this time he gets less input from donors and donors themselves leave TStan alone to do his job. TStan needs to find a Nell Fortner type coach for our football program.

 

[cthenrys]

TStan will survive if even if he has to fire CGC. Outside of football, TStan has actually done a masterful job of fundraising and hiring for our other sports programs. He has a LOT of support at GT even though the CGC hire isn't working out.

Although TStan had the final say, the high level donors were the ones pushing for CGC (and other candidates with ties to GT) in the end. It's why GT's group of candidates for this job was small and very uninspiring. If TStan was guilty of anything, it was letting the donors basically dictate the hiring process. I guess you can say it was the politically astute thing to do, but the results were very uninspiring.

If TStan has to make another hire, hopefully this time he gets less input from donors and donors themselves leave TStan alone to do his job. TStan needs to find a Nell Fortner type coach for our football program.

I don't really agree, but that's a good argument. Thanks

 

[stech81]

IMO, Chip Long will not be the HC next year if CGC is fired. First, if TStan survives to make the next coaching hire, he is not going to stake his career on anyone tied to the CGC regime. He will clean house and start over. If TStan doesn't survive the 2022 football season, there is almost no way the new AD hires anyone attached to the current regime as HC to replace CGC. I don't see any way any assistant on staff now is our HC in 2023.

that if TStan survives is a big IF

 

[Vespidae]

TStan will survive if even if he has to fire CGC. Outside of football, TStan has actually done a masterful job of fundraising and hiring for our other sports programs. He has a LOT of support at GT even though the CGC hire isn't working out.

Although TStan had the final say, the high level donors were the ones pushing for CGC (and other candidates with ties to GT) in the end. It's why GT's group of candidates for this job was small and very uninspiring. If TStan was guilty of anything, it was letting the donors basically dictate the hiring process. I guess you can say it was the politically astute thing to do, but the results were very uninspiring.

If TStan has to make another hire, hopefully this time he gets less input from donors and donors themselves leave TStan alone to do his job. TStan needs to find a Nell Fortner type coach for our football program.

Did the donors push Geoff? I recall that TStan was all in on Ken W and when that didn't work out, Geoff campaigned for the job with GOL support. Maybe you're right. I know they wanted CPJ out.

 

[GCdaJuiceMan]

This ain't news.

 

[Gtech50]

I hope Collins turns it around this year but if not I hope we get Jamey Chadwell or Deion Sanders

 

[Techster]

Did the donors push Geoff? I recall that TStan was all in on Ken W and when that didn't work out, Geoff campaigned for the job with GOL support. Maybe you're right. I know they wanted CPJ out.

That's the story that's been told by multiple fonts here, and that's what I heard from a high level donor that use to be client at a previous job. He's not someone I know well, but well enough to discuss GT sports whenever we do speak. I've told this story before, but when I discussed the job opening with that donor, I said I hope GT hires a CPJ type guy...not in the triple option sense, but in a "mastermind behind a system" sense. He told me not to get my hopes up because the next guy has ties to a previous HC at GT. I knew then that TStan took the safe way.

 

[JacketFan137]

IMO, Chip Long will not be the HC next year if CGC is fired. First, if TStan survives to make the next coaching hire, he is not going to stake his career on anyone tied to the CGC regime. He will clean house and start over. If TStan doesn't survive the 2022 football season, there is almost no way the new AD hires anyone attached to the current regime as HC to replace CGC. I don't see any way any assistant on staff now is our HC in 2023.

i don’t think it’s this black and white. there is definitely a time line where our offense improves a lot but our defense continues to be putrid. if long’s offense is putting up numbers and all of our losses are 48-35 type games we would be pretty stupid to get rid of the one thing that works on the team. at that point it would likely be up to long whether or not he’s with us or if he tries to go somewhere else.

long lines up with about the caliber of coaches we would be looking at anyway. p5 coordinators with major experience (long with ND) or up and coming g5 coaches.

 

[iceeater1969]

I don't see Gus leaving UCF ever. He has $20M and change from Auburn, a great lifestyle in Orlando, a college with an attractive recruiting base and lots of majors. I don't see him trading that for competing and struggling against UGA for talent, resources, etc. There's no upside.

Who would come coach to gt?
harder to get players - entrance , real classes only
no courses for non technical, limited curriculum - especially sports related.
$$ for tech grad is significantly higher for gt grads - injured guys just go ahead and get out = forever younger than other teams.

How do we get very good coa he's without paying way more?

 

[LongforDodd]

If we are looking for a new coach, TStan's opinion won't matter because he will not be here anymore. Unless that strategy comes from somewhere else within GT, we will likely be looking at any strategy possible. I actually have pity on all AD's and current/future coaches right now in college football. The landscape is changing so quickly that it has to be extremely difficult to navigate.

I always find myself thinking that we had it all backwards. A CGC style head coach should have been our hire in 2007/2008 when we weren't competing against NIL/blatant buying of players, while a schematic advantage (CPJ) should have been the hire we made with the really uneven playing field right now. Now the fanbase has soured on schematic advantage. We seem to be a little behind the 8-ball for an innovative bunch. Hindsight is 20/20 though

This is a good excellent take of the current landscape. I kinda' wish we could have a do-over. As much as I hated running an offense that was favored by many a HS at the time, I much prefer the success (however sporadic and with still fresh memories of the frustrations of having Sewak around) of that period of time than what we're experiencing now. We should soon know how effective these new chnages will be. I'm holding my breath with hopeful anticipation.

 

[Techster]

Getting back to this game: Another interesting game with a GT related twist. CGC was an assistant coach at UCF with O'Leary, and TStan was once the AD there.

Honestly, this is a scary matchup for us. Gus Malzahn is a good coach, and when he has a good QB, he can make a mess of your defense. He went away from "his system" towards the end of his tenure at Auburn, but it looks like he's going back to what made him an in demand coach. UCF also gets a LOT of good recruits and transfers. Honestly, they just might match up with us pretty evenly in terms of talent.

This is definitely a game that will come down to coaching. Will our defense be able to get and keep the UCF offense off the field? We'll see...

 

[Vespidae]

How do we get very good coa he's without paying way more?

You can't win an arms race. So, GT's options are to hire an unproven coach, a coach who has fallen from grace but could be useful at GT, a coach that is older than average and enjoys a less stressful (lower expectations) job. I would love to see a return to the days where HC's were promoted internally after getting familiar with the school, the donors, the academics, etc. Those days, sadly, are over.

This is one advantage of playing to a scheme. You can also use it to develop a coaching staff familiar with that scheme.

 

[YJMD]

Is Gus trying to replicate the tempo of Heupel's offense? If they can do so, then I don't think we'd be able to keep up.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

He cleaned house after CPJ. He can't clean house again. That's not a good look. He has to offer some kind of stability.

I'm thinking it must be bad ... I've received two calls since Thursday asking to renew my season tix. I think I'm up to 16 calls this year? Last year, I think it was 3 total.

If he survives, the only way he survives is to clean house.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

TStan will survive if even if he has to fire CGC. Outside of football, TStan has actually done a masterful job of fundraising and hiring for our other sports programs. He has a LOT of support at GT even though the CGC hire isn't working out.

Although TStan had the final say, the high level donors were the ones pushing for CGC (and other candidates with ties to GT) in the end. It's why GT's group of candidates for this job was small and very uninspiring. If TStan was guilty of anything, it was letting the donors basically dictate the hiring process. I guess you can say it was the politically astute thing to do, but the results were very uninspiring.

If TStan has to make another hire, hopefully this time he gets less input from donors and donors themselves leave TStan alone to do his job. TStan needs to find a Nell Fortner type coach for our football program.

I don't disagree. My post didn't say TStan wouldn't survive. It stated that if he did he wouldn't place his remaining chips on elevating an assistant coach.

 

[first&ten]

Getting back to this game: Another interesting game with a GT related twist. CGC was an assistant coach at UCF with O'Leary, and TStan was once the AD there.

Honestly, this is a scary matchup for us. Gus Malzahn is a good coach, and when he has a good QB, he can make a mess of your defense. He went away from "his system" towards the end of his tenure at Auburn, but it looks like he's going back to what made him an in demand coach. UCF also gets a LOT of good recruits and transfers. Honestly, they just might match up with us pretty evenly in terms of talent.

This is definitely a game that will come down to coaching. Will our defense be able to get and keep the UCF offense off the field? We'll see...

I don't see any way Tech can win this game. UCF offense will keep Collins and the defense confused , although the Tech offense will score it won't be enough to win. We don't do well against other teams that really have no entrance requirements, boosters with money, and head coaches that might bend the rules.