Cronyism: The kiss of death for a head coach

[4skers89]

I like the thought, OP, but the word you're looking for is cronyism. Not nepotism.

Hmmm:

nep·o·tism[/size]

ˈnepəˌtizəm/

noun

• 
  
  
  the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
  
  https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=nepotism
  

Ah ha! I counter with:

cro·ny·ism

ˈkrōnēˌizəm/

noun

derogatory

• 
  
  
  the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.
  

I think he's got you Hujan. The "durogatory" in the definition of cronyism is more appropriate today.

 

[Hujan]

I like the thought, OP, but the word you're looking for is cronyism. Not nepotism.

Hmmm:

nep·o·tism

ˈnepəˌtizəm/
noun

1. the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
   
   
   https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=nepotism
   
   
   

Ah ha! I counter with:

cro·ny·ism
ˈkrōnēˌizəm/

nounderogatory

1. the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.
   
   

I like the thought, OP, but the word you're looking for is cronyism. Not nepotism.

Hmmm:

nep·o·tism[/size]

ˈnepəˌtizəm/

noun

• 
  
  
  the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
  
  https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=nepotism
  

Ah ha! I counter with:

cro·ny·ism

ˈkrōnēˌizəm/

noun

derogatory

• 
  
  
  the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.
  

I think he's got you Hujan. The "durogatory" in the definition of cronyism is more appropriate today.

Shee-it. I think you win, It'sNotAFakeID. Hat tip to you, sir.

 

[knapplc]

I was at a football forum and suddenly a thesaurus battle broke out.

 

[Hujan]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.

Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

I would actually argue that Pelini didn't do what you say he did. Most of the people on that staff were new to him, with the exception of Cotton, Brown, and Saunders.

Eckler and Papuchis were GAs or interns at LSU with Bo.

And Carl!

Yep. Bo had about as many buddies on his initial staff as Riley.

It's a totally normal thing to do. Just about every coach does it, and it's not going to stop when Riley goes. The next coach will bring in "his guys" as will the next.

The only time "hiring your buddies" is a problem is when your buddies don't get the job done, and you don't fire them. But that also seems to be a pretty common theme amongst coaches.

Fair enough. I guess my beef is that Riley seems to have guys who were simply his friends instead of finding "known" entities who happened to be high caliber. It's reasonable for guys to want to hire known entities that share their schematic goals, etc., but I'm not sure how common or acceptable it is to hire guys who are mediocre just because they're your friends. As someone else pointed out, Riley has a very wide network of coaches he "knows" and has some relationship with. Snuggling up to his woobie assistants just because they are his binkies is a bullsh#t, weak move.

The Nebraska job gave Riley the opportunity and, frankly, an expectation to push the reset button, and shift from the play-calling HC to a CEO HC who relies on coach-in-waiting type coordinators. Let's be honest: The one and only coaching qualification that Riley, at age 62, had for the Nebraska job was his demeanor. He's friendly, respectful, calming, nice to the media, etc. Fine. I get it. You want the Riley to rinse the taste of Bo out of the program's mouth. But if that's the plan, then if you're Eichorst, you tell Riley: "But your friends are coming with you. The checkbook is open. Go out and hire top-flight coordinators who can manage the Xs and Os while you be the face of the program. Don't just use this gig as an opportunity to bring your entourage up to the penthouse."

That didn't happen and now we have Mr. Rogers and his stoned, loser friends putting their feet all up on the couches and eating all our food and drinking all our drink with nothing to show for it.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.

Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

I would actually argue that Pelini didn't do what you say he did. Most of the people on that staff were new to him, with the exception of Cotton, Brown, and Saunders.

Eckler and Papuchis were GAs or interns at LSU with Bo.

And Carl!

Yep. Bo had about as many buddies on his initial staff as Riley.

It's a totally normal thing to do. Just about every coach does it, and it's not going to stop when Riley goes. The next coach will bring in "his guys" as will the next.

The only time "hiring your buddies" is a problem is when your buddies don't get the job done, and you don't fire them. But that also seems to be a pretty common theme amongst coaches.

Fair enough. I guess my beef is that Riley seems to have guys who were simply his friends instead of finding "known" entities who happened to be high caliber. It's reasonable for guys to want to hire known entities that share their schematic goals, etc., but I'm not sure how common or acceptable it is to hire guys who are mediocre just because they're your friends. As someone else pointed out, Riley has a very wide network of coaches he "knows" and has some relationship with. Snuggling up to his woobie assistants just because they are his binkies is a bullsh#t, weak move.

The Nebraska job gave Riley the opportunity and, frankly, an expectation to push the reset button, and shift from the play-calling HC to a CEO HC who relies on coach-in-waiting type coordinators. Let's be honest: The one and only coaching qualification that Riley, at age 62, had for the Nebraska job was his demeanor. He's friendly, respectful, calming, nice to the media, etc. Fine. I get it. You want the Riley to rinse the taste of Bo out of the program's mouth. But if that's the plan, then if you're Eichorst, you tell Riley: "But your friends are coming with you. The checkbook is open. Go out and hire top-flight coordinators who can manage the Xs and Os while you be the face of the program. Don't just use this gig as an opportunity to bring your entourage up to the penthouse."

That didn't happen and now we have Mr. Rogers and his stoned, loser friends putting their feet all up on the couches and eating all our food and drinking all our drink with nothing to show for it.

I understand the point you are making but I feel it is unfair and goes too far. We can't say all of the staff are doing that poorly frankly. There are some aspects of this team, despite the win/loss numbers stinking that are reasonably good. Overall, our tackling is better and there have been decent periods of O Line play. Our RBs are simply not great so we are not getting the something out of nothing runs we got so much of from Ameer last year. Those are hurting and are putting us in too many 2nd and 8 or more.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I think the thing I am struggling with is that the new coaching staff doesn't seem to be all that better than the last.

O line was supposed to be all Barney's fault. Well, it still is pretty bad under Cavanaugh.

People think the WR coach is amazing, but we are still seeing a lot of drops by the receivers.

The RB situation is a disaster, and they can't seem to figure out what they want to do there.

The defense has traded a poor run defense for a terrible pass defense.

 

[huskerfan92]

I think the thing I am struggling with is that the new coaching staff doesn't seem to be all that better than the last.

O line was supposed to be all Barney's fault. Well, it still is pretty bad under Cavanaugh.

People think the WR coach is amazing, but we are still seeing a lot of drops by the receivers.

The RB situation is a disaster, and they can't seem to figure out what they want to do there.

The defense has traded a poor run defense for a terrible pass defense.

Fixed that for you

 

[Danimal]

After watching buddy-hires hurt BC and BO we change HC's only to sit-back and watch more buddy hires occur. Those that don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

We need an AD that tells coaches Nebraska is not the place to hook-up all your pals with jobs. We have a built-in recruiting disadvantage and the S&C advantage is largely gone. We can't afford to have coaching weak-links.

 

[shyndy]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

well idk if this was a stranger BC maybe they had contacts but I think when Bill Snyder came back he hired the oc from Utah or Houston or something

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.

Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

For a guy who has been coaching for 40+ years, his network should be very large. I am sure Riley knows plenty of qualified coaches. He chose to bring a Defensive Coordinator who had not been performing well for years.

What boneyard said. He should know WAY more coaches and assistants that are a HELLUVA lot more capable than the crap he brought with him

 

[Hunter94]

Langsdorff has potential. Really don't think he has his personnel yet on the roster to show what he can do. Guy really helped Eli Manning in New York for the year he was there, and in the past has developed good QBs at Oregon State...

Banker....Banker is awful. Was wanted out at Oregon State for years. Got outcoached year in and year out against the same PAC teams over and over.

this..........

 

[GOAT]

The biggest warning signal to me was when Ed Orgeron made it publicly known that he was interested in a job at Nebraska, and Riley made zero effort to add him to his staff. You can't just let a recruiter of that caliber pass you by, especially when you KNOW he's interested. LSU was quick to snatch him up and now they have the #1 recruiting class in the country.

 

[southernoregonhusker]

I hate to be that guy, but it's why he's here. Banker, Read, and Cavanaugh were all on the chopping block at Oregon State. He had a choice, fire his good friends and stay in Corvallis or reunite the gang in Lincoln.

He never had to leave OSU. He had too many years left on his contract and OSU couldn't buy him out. He didn't have to fire anybody and had no plans to.

 

[Whs from cb]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.

Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

I would actually argue that Pelini didn't do what you say he did. Most of the people on that staff were new to him, with the exception of Cotton, Brown, and Saunders.

Eckler and Papuchis were GAs or interns at LSU with Bo.

And Carl!

Yep. Bo had about as many buddies on his initial staff as Riley.

It's a totally normal thing to do. Just about every coach does it, and it's not going to stop when Riley goes. The next coach will bring in "his guys" as will the next.

The only time "hiring your buddies" is a problem is when your buddies don't get the job done, and you don't fire them. But that also seems to be a pretty common theme amongst coaches.

Fair enough. I guess my beef is that Riley seems to have guys who were simply his friends instead of finding "known" entities who happened to be high caliber. It's reasonable for guys to want to hire known entities that share their schematic goals, etc., but I'm not sure how common or acceptable it is to hire guys who are mediocre just because they're your friends. As someone else pointed out, Riley has a very wide network of coaches he "knows" and has some relationship with. Snuggling up to his woobie assistants just because they are his binkies is a bullsh#t, weak move.

The Nebraska job gave Riley the opportunity and, frankly, an expectation to push the reset button, and shift from the play-calling HC to a CEO HC who relies on coach-in-waiting type coordinators. Let's be honest: The one and only coaching qualification that Riley, at age 62, had for the Nebraska job was his demeanor. He's friendly, respectful, calming, nice to the media, etc. Fine. I get it. You want the Riley to rinse the taste of Bo out of the program's mouth. But if that's the plan, then if you're Eichorst, you tell Riley: "But your friends are coming with you. The checkbook is open. Go out and hire top-flight coordinators who can manage the Xs and Os while you be the face of the program. Don't just use this gig as an opportunity to bring your entourage up to the penthouse."

That didn't happen and now we have Mr. Rogers and his stoned, loser friends putting their feet all up on the couches and eating all our food and drinking all our drink with nothing to show for it.

We have a loosing record to show

 

[VectorVictor]

Name one coach, anywhere, who after being hired at a new school has hired a staff of strangers. It doesn't happen. It was a silly gripe against Pelini and it's a silly gripe against Riley.

Coaches hire guys they know. That's fine. They need to be able to fire guys they know who are underperforming. If they can't or won't, that's not fine.

And we need to find this out sooner rather than later. Force the issue at the end of the season with Riley, and if he won't replace his coordinators (and DB coach, for that matter), then we'll know this is Callahan 2.0, and that we'd be better off washing our hands of this whole thing now, as there would be little chance of it getting better with the coordinators Riley has in place.