TonkaSker

I love talking candidates. It's all that gives me hope at this point.

My rankings and thoughts:

1. Urban - he's not coming. Notre Dame is going to cut bait and hire him first if he wants to come back to coaching

2. Stoops - If he wanted to coach in the big time again he'd be in lincoln next weekend. Not coming

3. Aranda - Not coming. He's paid what we can afford and he's going to be in the playoff every year when it expands.

4. Mark Stoops - I'd love it if he came but I think it's a long shot.

5. Bill O'Brien - He's looking for work. He would be an a-hole but the team would be tough and he can recruit. We'd have an 8-win floor shortly.

6. Campbell - Has built two solid programs that are tough and has shown he can sustain sucess.

7. Fickell - Not coming since he won't leave ohio. Has done a good job at Cincy and has the tools to succeed in B1G

8. Jim Leonhard - awesome coach. If we don't take him he'll kill us when he's coaching at Iowa

9. Kalen Deboer - Rising star with a good schematic identity. Coaches, develops, and builds good culture.

10. Sean Lewis - Kent State is a dogs#!t program (maybe the most in the FBS with ULM) and he's elevated them and made a tough team. He's young but he'll be a star.

11. Lance leipold: I think he's a little old but it seems like destiny. This man has ressurected KANSAS.

**Paul Chryst/PJ Fleck: I think you see if they want it

Hell nah (skeezers and scott frosts): Hugh Freeze, Jamey Chadwell,  Coach O, Dan Mullen, Mickey Joseph, Chris Kleiman

Not finna happen: Chris Petersen, Zac Taylor, Bill Belicheck, Nick Saban

Love to mix it up so lemme know your thoughts on any of these guys. GBFR

1 hour ago, SECHusker said:

Think Bryan Harsin would be a good hire.

Dude's a better coach than his time at Auburn indicates. He's fighting a war against the whole university there lol

6 hours ago, The Dude said:

Troy Calhoun.

Why? 

Just now, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Everyone's fried. Scott's young and he's driven, ambitious, and hungry. Life hasn't taken it out of him yet. He'll keep going, even if it's not what might be "mentally" best for him.

I agree, it just seems like the trend for buyout guys to take a sabbatical. Check out Dan Mullen's instagram lol.

Scott will be back, just seems like a year or two out of the spotlight helps his shot at getting more preferable work. 

6 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Even if fired today, Scott would fair better than Sun Belt. Everyone in the country knows there is something wrong with Nebraska that extends well beyond the head coach. He'd have offers from the ACC, PAC 12, or Big 12 the minute he was let go. I would be surprised if he isn't already fielding inquiries. - Scott, if things go south, would you be interested type questions. He's accomplished WAYYYYYYY more than Lane fricken Kiffen, and look how many chances that goof has gotten. 

I'm not sure it's true anymore that Nebraska is damaged goods. Giving frost additional time and resources has done a lot to be an attractive destination for a coach. It's pretty well understood that poor coaching and development has been the issue the last three years. Unless something wild happens (Harbaugh to the NFL, James Franklin leaving PSU, Saban retiring) this is probably one of the more turnkey jobs that will open up this year.

Steven Godfrey's a national guy and had a lot of really positive things to say about the program and he's as keyed into the coaching market as anyone who actually talks about it instead of just breaking news and getting clicks. The problems the program had when Solich and Bo were hired are gone and the perception is that we're aligned as an organization with a lot of great things to offer (NIL, facilities, conference alignment).

And as for scott taking on work, why? He seems fried. Guy needs to hunt elk and golf for a couple years.

2 hours ago, Undone said:

 

Welcome to capitalism. It has finally been fairly applied to the players in this grand moneymaking venture called college football.

I wouldn't say fair until the players are compensated in the labor market and the promotion market. All change is gradual but it's encouraging that it seems the former is coming soon.

21 minutes ago, PasstheDamnBallGuy said:

 

Yeah I like the sound of all that. Idk if he would leave Utah but I feel like Whittingham fits that mold. I def agree that recruiting is not easy here but not as hard as some people act like. Frost has been getting decent enough classes with no results at all. As long as a coach is willing to put in effort and the Admin isn't handcuffing them in that regard we should be pulling in the top classes in the west at least. 

We're easily the most talented roster in the West per 247, but the big ten is going to pod scheduling once USC/UCLA/Etc join so we need to really commit to locking down the area and developing if we want a shot to compete when that happens.

I love Whit and wish we'd hired him when he wanted the job in 2013, but a couple guys that would fit his mold are Jim Leonhard, Levar Woods, Matt Campbell, and Jeff Monken. Whit and these five guys fit my criteria and Trevs (per his comments in the last year)

- Power, Complementary football that plays well in the big ten.

- Emphasis on teaching and capitalizing on mistakes, not making them.

- Recruit to develop and develop well.

- Pro-Style offense that attracts NFL talent.

- Experience running a professional organization (or unit) and executes objectives. Consistency

Yes, Monken runs the triple but it's pretty well understood in coaching circles that he wouldn't do it at another job. It's just the optimal system at an academy where he's hamstrung by practice and academic rules. His brother cousin Todd doesn't run the triple at Georgia as OC. The job he's done in all other phases (D, ST, recruiting to ARMY, program-building) is really solid. He'd be too hard a sell so he'd never get hired here but I still think he'd do well anywhere in the big ten.

1 minute ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

This is my believe and I may be the only person but I just feel that he will turn it around. I don't know I haven't lost hope yet. 

What will it take for you to lose faith? I respect that you feel that way, just interested in your perspective. Personally the loss in Boulder did it for me.

1 minute ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

True but will Nebraska fans remember him more for what he accomplished has a player or his failure's as a coach??? That's the real question

I don't think we can answer until after the next coach's book has been written. Impossible to separate now.

I think a pretty interesting question is what happens to frost after he's gone.

Solich's legacy isn't failing to maintain NU, he's been vindicated and he deserves a statue for his job at Ohio. Hope he comes home to get honored during a TV timeout eventually, maybe it breaks the curse lol.

Scott is a likely candidate to hunt elk for a year or two, wash his reputation under Saban/Napier/Dabo and return as a G5 HC. I could see him running a solid program somewhere with rich recruiting ground and no media using lessons learned. Think Texas State/ Florida Atlantic/ Troy (lol)/ Eastern Carolina. Easy to recruit and low pressure. 

Real question is who makes the 12-team playoff first? Nebraska by clawing through the new-look big ten or Scott by going 11-1 in the Sun Belt?

2 minutes ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

Funny thing is that stupid athletic director isn't even a athletic director anymore. There is an article online how he ruined 2 programs not just ours. That is an truly epic accomplishment!!!! Thanks Steve Pederson for setting back Nebraska.

He had plenty of help along the way in Harvey Perlman.

Nice read for the day: https://dennispcrawford.medium.com/this-is-a-piece-i-wrote-after-last-years-purdue-debacle-11cec1d47c2a

1 minute ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Terrible reply, just as Nebraska of the 90s is not the Nebraska of today, the same is true of Bama and Rice. Bo and Dabo are contemporaries and will always be Bo and Dabo. Apples and oranges my friend.

Point taken, bad reply. Just trying to illustrate that head-to-head with a small sample is a bad way to compare coaches and programs. Dabo has an offensive background, is a recruiter first, and a lot of the 'support' he received from Clemson he generated himself - none of which was true about Bo.

Another key difference is that he develops coaches well. There isn't a Pelini tree out there but a lot of Clemson assistants over the years have done well. 

Grant, Vokolek, and Fidone in 12 might be the best personnel grouping we've put on the field in a long time assuming Fidone is as advertised.

29 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

You're right. Even their records against eachother aren't the same. Bo has a 1 and Dabo has a 0. 

And Rice is 3-0 all time vs Alabama

17 hours ago, Red Five said:

 

Full disclosure - all 7 of these recruits are from prime Penn St recruiting territory

 

5 star - VA

4 stars - PA, PA, NJ, NJ, NJ, MD

We play 1-3 games over there annually between rutgers, penn st, and maryland. This might not translate completely but it would be nice to get into that recruiting market since its in the big ten footprint.

On BOB and recruiting, bringing an operation that is operationally similar to alabamas would be game-changing. Nobody in the B1GW has a high-level recruiting operation. We could lock down the 500-mile radius with the right coach.

22 hours ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

With an admin that wasn't actively trying to sink him, that could be Nebraska and Bo Pelini. 

The only thing Dabo and Bo have in common are two letters.

12 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

 

You do realize there are some people who feel the same way about Frost? Folks where I live think he's a cowardly POS who hid in a closet while Lawrence Phillips beat up the girl. All of these coaches have one thing or another. Solich had issued. Even Osborne is ridiculed by some for steroids and partial qualifiers.

 

Finding a quality coach with no skeletons in his closet is like finding a needle in a haystack.

I'm not going to say that football coaches are model members of society. Urban Meyer has skeletons but I'd be happy to hire him. You don't need bring in a guy that runs a program full of crime, and I know that's not the argument you're trying to make. I don't care about having a clean coach, shoot I like Chadwell and he's probably going to be fined by the NCAA for being unable to run a program himself.

There's a class of scandals in college football history that have documentaries about them or could and the Baylor scandal will eventually. Briles wasn't just ignorant there, he was involved in covering it up. Details are pretty gruesome. 

Freeze's scandals at Ole Miss aren't really what I care about, I think they're kinda funny honestly. The guy's just a psychopath who can't let a single person say a bad thing about him. He's also surrounded himself with everyone involved in the baylor thing and has defended their actions on the record going so far as publicly confronting victims. 

You can win with a lot of coaches but you don't need to hire either of these two. If you could, they would be coaching somewhere other than Liberty.

23 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I still don't understand why this was the right call when you have a kicker that's putting it through the endzone.  Don't give them a chance at a return and start them on the 25.  I know we only gave up 5 yards on that, but, it could have been worse.

A squib from midfield isn't a bad call - practically or from an analytics standpoint. Gives you a small chance at a huge play and the field position risk is really low since you'll be touching back from about the same spot. He just executed poorly.

If the NW onside hadn't been a complete optics disaster this wouldn't even be a footnote from the game.

16 minutes ago, admo said:

Again, thank you for covering this 

 

It points out Chin's defensive scheme within the front 6/7.  Have said this a thousand times, but his defense is to "gum up the line" by the lineman, and allow LBs to make THE play.  Every play within 10 yard radius.

 

That's what Chins wants, and Dawson and Ruud oblige within their coaching & instructions. 

 

It's a bulls#!t scheme....and for 87 and 70 snaps a game - with coverage playing soft, no wonder the offense doesn't get the ball back, the LBs get busted up and injured, teams run through the line, pass the ball in the flat, and we hear about "we need to get some turnovers"..........

 

Yeah, because your scheme doesn't stop anyone from LOS penetration (without those super Husker seniors, in YEAR 4!) and a Nickel back (JoJo) a corner (C Taylor-Britt), and older safeties to help clean up the messes.  

 

Just keep everything in front of you, and tighten up when inside the 20 yard line (red zone).  But even that doesn't always work.  

 

Long drives and TOP is the same thing as a big play down field, which we do everything to avoid.

 

I think something has to change

"Bend but don't break"

It works well at the G5 when you can recruit the best DL in your conference and consistently get pressure with 4 because you can tighten down on short-yardage passing plays near the goal line and limit big plays outside the 20. It worked well last year because Domann was a stud and we actually had a great interior defense. In years where you're on the wrong end of the talent disparity it shows.

Really hope Frank is able to get back to Lincoln for a game and get his flowers. He deserves it and the program's repented, i think.

Scott's day will come too. Probably also after running a successful G5 program for 20 years.

34 minutes ago, M.A. said:

I think that there’s a decent chance of Jamey Chadwell being hired. It seems implementation of the offensive scheme was at least being explored. There was some degree of consultation about it anyway. I’m not in charge of terminations and hiring of coarse (Lol).
 

That’s speculation on my part. Again, I’d say there’s a good possibility of Chadwell coming and I think he’s a good option. He might’ve been one of the coaches being considered prior to Scott Frost ultimately being retained for an additional year with the restructuring of his contract. 

Good call - forgot about the rumors about bringing in Chadwells OC and McCall this offseason. You're definitely on the right track.

I feel like a lot of the arguments to bring in Chadwell are the same as the ones to bring in Frost. He runs an exciting option-style offense through an exceptional QB. Like Frost, I think his scheme exploits talent/discipline disparities that don't exist in the Big Ten. I like Chadwell but I would really, really rather bring in someone with a more pro-style scheme and experience recruiting nationally at the P5 Level. Coastal can recruit locally and doesn't need a large support staff to get it done. I'd rather hire a P5 coordinator before bringing in a coach that will try to run a G5 program, which is what we've got now.

Billy Napier represents what I'm talking about. He did well at a G5 but brought his Alabama experience to Florida and went on a massive hiring spree for administrators and support staff. The boring stuff is the difference between an effective CEO (Napier in this example) and entrepreneur (Chadwell). People out of the Saban tree do this exceptionally well.

39 minutes ago, Stumpy1 said:

Aranda will NOT be leaving Baylor anytime soon and that is because of his wife.  

 

I would go after Hugh Freeze.  He has baggage but the guy knows how to win.

Freeze and Art Briles are the two guys I don't want anywhere near the program. Scum

On the flipside, next year's depth gives the next guy a chance to overachieve while he gets his guys in

8 hours ago, Decked said:

I don’t see Luke Fickell or Matt Campbell coming to Lincoln. At all. 

Fickell, absolutely not. Guy has never played for nor coached a team outside the state of Ohio. Pretty widely accepted that the only job he leaves for is Ohio State when Day goes to the NFL. 
 

Campbell is a different story. It’s not by any means a lock but there’s a realistic chance. Here’s a great national podcast on the idea that’s aged pretty well: 

Couple things I'm hoping for:

- P5 + Top G5

- High seeds host until the final four.