Man, I wish I knew! (long)
by Irish2003 (2020-05-24 18:33:30)
Edited on 2020-05-24 18:58:24

In reply to: Not sure what you mean.  posted by skeptic


We seem to be in a very weird sort of purgatory - we are now taking care of business and no longer losing the bye games like Duke and USF, but still can't take the final step. If it weren't for that demolition in Ann Arbor, I think an optimist could make a case for us being on that next tier below Alabama/Clemson/OSU with teams like OU/UGA (not sure where to place LSU) who've also been to the playoff but fallen short, but that game did occur and we are accordingly with Michigan, PSU, Wisconsin, Florida, etc. Texas utterly confounds me as one of the rare programs who makes us look poor, loaded recruiting area where they could literally fill their whole team in-state (USC, LSU, UF, FSU, maybe UGA as well) and not be at a talent deficit, strong history and success during recruits' lifetimes, great city, and a middling conference where the Red River Shootout should essentially be a play-in game for both them and OU as teams that are head and shoulders above their conference with aTm and Nebraska both gone.

On coaches, I am at an utter loss! I can't remember the exact quote about being better governed by the Mc section of the Boston phonebook vs. the Harvard faculty, but if Jack and the BoF were to ask the advice of a very average person like me, I think I'd go with:
-Character: As you could probably guess from my handle, I grew up with Lou as the face of our program, and who would have guessed a little fella with a lisp could command the sort of respect he did! We cannot have Barry Switzer type gunfights going on in the dorms, and while Meyer is central casting and my Catholic side wants a redemption story (and yes, selfishly he's a damn good coach), we'd have to have a zero tolerance policy on the shananigans.
-Proven track record: Yes, guys like Dabo and to a lesser extent Riley/Day have succeeded on their first try, but ND is a high pressure job and prior success working your way up the ladder like Saban would make me feel a lot more comfortable. Like we saw with Weis, there is also a difference between running one side of the ball and running a whole program too.
-Coordinator experience; Again, Dabo as the exception, but I do want a guy (heck, if there's a football version of Niele Ivey coaching Ja Morant, I'm all ears too!) who can roll up his sleeves and fix one side and bring in a great coordinator for the other. Orgeron seems like a guy who learned from his mishaps at Ole Miss, knew he was a better recruiter/motivator than an Xs and Os guy, but brought in a top staff with Aranda, Emsminger and of course the prodigy Joe Brady (on the opposite side of the circle of life & as an interesting aside, our old Southern Cal rival John Robinson is a "consultant" there).
-Recruiting: Don't need to say much here; you, me, or Snoopy the Beagle could coach Miami '01, but Rockne himself isn't going to beat Alabama with the Central Arizona roster.
-Elite experience: I'd love someone with an ND background who went elsewhere, learned, and came back, but nothing wrong with someone who succeeded at another top school. That said, I do think there is merit to having experience at a Florida over Central Florida or LSU over Louisiana-Lafeyette, and this will also likely help the networking for filling out a staff.
-Fit: Not as much of an issue, but pragmatically it may be a little easier for someone like Stoops or Meyer who grew up one state away to adapt compared to someone like Kirby Smart.

Post-Lou, it seems like we've managed to try multiple approaches, yet no success.
-Kelly: Successful run at Cincinnati, but never had the big school experience, and IMO this hurt with the staffing before some admittedly good recent hires like Lea and Balis. Those losses to Duke, Tulsa, and Southern Florida are still on the permanent record, but as mentioned, I think we are now kinda in that 10-2, top 10 level but don't have the horsepower to win 2 in January barring the QB version of Manti.
-Weis: Brilliant OC background, but looking back he also got a perfect storm working under 2 HOF Bill's and some Michigan QB who won a few games. Offensive scheme looked good on paper, but recruiting was a disaster for balance, and defensively I still remember the Tenuta/Brown error (sic) where I believe one side was playing a cover 2 and the other side was in a press man that promptly got diced.
-Willingham: On paper, he checked nearly all of my above "boxes" other than coordinator - former coach at a school that values academics, classy man without even a hint of scandal, nice story as a walkon who became a two sport standout at a quality school in Sparty, and while I would hope it is irrelevant in 2002 & 2020 for that matter, he was an African American in the highest profile college job in the country. The staff was um, lacking, but I am still flabbergasted & sad how fast it all fell apart.
-O'Leary: Oof. I think he would have been a high floor, low ceiling guy where we would churn out 10-2, 9-3 seasons with no major down years, but also wouldn't have the volatility. One of the posters here had some good insights on his staff, which seemed like may have been the actual version of what Weis promised.
-Davie: IMO, a backstabber, and 0-1 against hot dog machines. I genuinely wish him good health as I think he had a bypass last year, but also hope he goes 0-12 at UNM.

Where would I look?
-Shaw: I've always liked the guy, and if I were Jack I'd bet my job his style would win big and with very little downside. I am utterly confounded at his H2H vs Kelly, and he was fortunate to have a unicorn in Luck and the team Harbaugh built, but he's also done a consistently good job at a school that would rather build some damn app vs. watching a ball game, and ND may just give him the chance to finally win big. He is coaching at his alma mater, with one of the few other fanbases with deeper pockets than us, and in an area of the country people love, but by all accounts seems like a good man & coach.
-JT has forgotten more about football than I'll ever know, and while Kyle Shanahan would be a genuine gamechanger for us, that isn't happening. That said, Mike is a local Chicago guy whom would be a helluva 4-6 year coach if we were to be so fortunate, and IMO would both win big and put together a top staff given his great experience
-Stoops: He's actually a little older than I thought and completely see his perspective as his own dad died after coaching a HS game, but if we could do all we can to minimize his stress level....
-Meyer: I'll be contrarian here, and gladly take any empties thrown my way. The arrest situation at Florida and the wife beater assistant at OSU are massive red flags to say the least, and I cannot and do not want to defend them. That said, he seemed to run a clean program at Utah, and this could be a chance to show he can win and do it the right way after being at renegade programs. Zero tolerance policy of course, and I'd feel a lot better if we had an AD like Ned.

-Secondaries: Rhule has been at some bandit programs at PSU and Baylor, but supposed to be a decent guy. Chryst is a UW alum, but I believe his older brother was a QB for us, and that mauling offense would make people like ACross and myself very happy.
-Internally: Nope. Rees and Lea aren't ready, but go run a Miami-OH, then Indiana, etc, and they'd be worth keeping in the rolodex. I am not sure what happened with Tom Clements, but seems like that ship has sailed.

Edit - as for UM, they did get an absolute home run of a coach, and their failures have been as surprising as Texas. They had their 5 star transfer QB last year, OSU still in the early stage with Day, but they not only lost to OSU but also PSU and Wisconsin. Speaking of< Jack Harbaugh would have easily been on my list above 9 months ago, but Lamar Jackson changed that calculus.


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