caveman99

A lot of rumors of Lane to Auburn, but who knows at this point. It could still be Rhule since there had been talk of difficulties in getting a contract done due to the Panthers. Can’t announce a coach who doesn’t have a contract signed.

You would think it would have to be right after Iowa since the early signing period is right around the corner. I guess if the candidate is in a Conference Championship game that would be an exception?

Soooo Leipold is out?

Maybe, maybe not. I have said I am not all in on Monken anyways, I think there are several others I think would be successful, including Rhule. However blind “Monken sucks” retorts from people who haven’t actually done any kind of research on him does irritate me. We all want NU to be successful, we would be lucky to have a coach like Monken to do it.

You could say that since it is my Alma Mater. I honestly would prefer Rhule as I think he would bring similar traits and also not be as polarizing to the fan base, but having watched what Monken has done for my alma mater has been amazing. I am a fan of great leaders regardless of field or job and I spend time researching why they are successful. I think TA gets that also, heck his son is a West Point graduate so TA has an appreciation of what the academy is like and what Monken has to deal with.

That is a fair question, and honestly one that I have myself. That being said, the size and scope of the Army job is huge so I think he is actually probably better prepared for a job like Nebraska than most will give him credit for. They Army program is TOUGH to run. It is a HUGE roster, 158 on the roster plus another 40-50 at the prep school. There is no option to RS players, you only get 4 years, unless you get in trouble and another shot, so they have to leverage the prep school to be a 5th year. It is on WP campus now and Monken has to ensure that program is running well also. Academies don’t have scholarship limitations so they bring in 50 plus kids in each year. It is truly a development based system. Not to mention players have to meet military physical height/weight requirements and academic and military instruction trumps football every time. Overall you have players all taking 18-22 credit hours a semester at one of the toughest schools in the nation plus they have mandatory military instruction during the year and summer. Off-season workouts are limited. As a coach he has to manage a program schedule with more complications that any other in the country.

Wow super insightful retort, but I am not surprised. We can agree to disagree then.

Monken is having a down year by his standards this year for sure. He most likely will play Navy with a chance to finish 6-6 and be bowl eligible. If he does that then he will have guided Army to its 6th bowl berth in 9 seasons under Monken for a program that has had 5 bowl trips all time prior to Monken. Coaching at an academy is extremely hard. They don’t have the luxury of getting transfer players, they don’t get JUCO players, they don’t get anywhere near the level of talent that most FBS programs are getting (for most young men it is a non-starter to sign up to have a high probability of going to fight in a conflict). They also have severe height/weight standards that the players have to adhere to. It is truly a developmental program and if you have a bad run of injuries and some transfers out, that thins your depth pretty quickly. That is what happened this year for Army. Coming off a 9 win campaign, they lost a lot to graduation and are having to play a lot more sophomores than usual, usually the starters are almost all Seniors or Juniors, and it is showing. They have gotten better over the the season, but definitely a struggle of a year comparatively to the prior years. Every academy has these years, how they rebound is a telling sign on how good the coach truly is. Monken went 5-8 in 2019 after winning 11 games in 2018 and beating Houston in the bowl game. Same situation then, Army went on to win 9 games in 2020 and 2021.

Well the fact that Monken has done at a non-military academy as well with a very high level of success speaks to his ability to build a culture. However in response to your question about the ease of culture building at an academy, the answer is yes and no. It is true that in respect to discipline and culture Monken has a higher quality of clay to work with because the entire experience of the academy is doing the same and helping to condition the young men and women in a positive way. That being said, it actually isn’t that easy to build a culture of winning just through a military environment or discipline. I have seen plenty of units that were s-shows. Look at what Russia is dealing with currently. It takes a good leader to capitalize on that and realize the potential of his or her unit.

If you listened to TA’s summary of what he is looking for in a coach, Monken checks all of the boxes. He is a grinder who will emphasize development and culture. Nebraska needs a program builder right now, Monken is a proven program builder.

It isn’t cosplay when you get, or have been, paid to put the uniform on. Your childish insult aside, you do realize that the academies are probably the hardest jobs in FBS and Army is the hardest of the three? What Monken has done at Army is amazing. Oh and he just beat a bowl eligible UConn 34-17. What Monken would bring is leadership, an emphasis on culture and development, a tenacious approach to recruiting, and a tailored plan that would fit NU. People hear Monken or Calhoun and automatically think triple option, but I am pretty sure Monken would employ a power run first spread O with option elements to it, not the same O he runs at Army. Monken isn’t the offensive play caller for Army, nor is he married to their scheme. He has modified his offensive and defensive approach as needed over the years based on what he feels his talent available would succeed at. Monken is a program builder pure and simple, it is naive to blindly think of him as a triple option guy.

Definitely better resources than Wisconsin, their indoor practice facility doesn’t even fit a full 100 yd length field. They are looking to build a new $300mm facility to try and catch up. Wisconsin does have a bigger state population, ~6mm, to pull recruits from though so clear advantage there. https://madison.com/sports/college/football/a-300-million-indoor-football-practice-facility-at-wisconsin-is-closer-to-happening/article_7930114f-bdaf-538f-813c-9752798cd76d.html

Really in depth analysis there. Thanks for contributing to the conversation.

The point isn’t what they have done in the NFL, what matters is what they did at the college level as that directly correlates to WINS. The point of highlighting where those QBs got drafted after being low rated recruits is to show how good their development was and the fact that they were ballers at the college level. I don’t really care what Stick has done in the NFL, I care about that he was developed into a championship winning QB in college, to a level that the NFL wanted to draft him.

Fair point, but I want a proven program builder. Calhoun took over for the legendary Fisher Deberry, whom he played for and had his first coaching jobs under. The AF program took a bit of a dip at the end of DeBerry’s tenure, but the foundation was already there and it was really a lot to do with DeBerry’s energy to continue to grind like you have to at an academy, not a broken foundation. Monken has proven he can build a program at different levels of CFB. He guided Georgia Southern to the FBS level as HC after taking them to the FCS playoffs semifinals 3 years in a row. He did a total rebuild of Army from the ground up of every aspect of the program, recruiting, S&C, culture, etc., under the most restrictive conditions of any program period. That is why I would prefer Monken if you are choosing between the two.

Kiffen sucks, he is getting whooped by Arky 42-6. Take him off the board!!!! That is how this all works right?

I don’t want a splash hire, I want a hire who is successful. I trust TA to make a good hire using metrics that aren’t emotional.

Good news is that Monken probably wouldn’t run Triple Option, even though it is more of a flex bone O, at NU. He would modify it quite a bit I think to more of a power spread with option elements.

At certain positions for sure, but defensively I would strongly disagree with you, in addition I think they would do very well recruiting O-lineman and RB’s. I also think you can a very good at QB, think Ricky Dobbs at Navy, as well.

Calhoun is a good coach for sure, Monken has won 4 of the last 6 vs the zoomies. AF is also largely considered the easiest of the 3 academy jobs to win at for a variety of reasons, but largely tied to their recruiting advantage.

Some recent reports talking about the reasoning mentioned how unorganized Wisconsin is in their recruiting department. It seems Cryst didn’t have a good plan in that area. I think he is a very good XO’s coach and definitely understands development, I would want to know what his recruiting plan would be and what lessons he learned from Wisky? Does he truly understand what wasn’t done well and what it should look like? I wonder if going to another school, like Alabama, as a staffer for a year or two would do him well. That would give him insight as to what he was neglecting previously and what to do next time.

I don’t think people realize just how big of a job an Academy HC position is and how hard they are to recruit and win at. In addition it is important to truly understand what Monken did to turn Army around, if more people understood just how hard he and his staff work to recruit and the absolute size of his job, I am sure most would realize that two of the biggest detractions used against him, no P5 experience and lack of recruiting chops, are actually misguided. I would be very conflicted as I would be losing the best coach at my alma mater since Earl Blaik, but on the other hand I know my beloved Huskers would be in great hands with him. If I have time this weekend, I will try and put a summary together on Monken and what he would bring. Honestly I would prefer Rhule because I think he would also do a great job, but I would also feel great about Monken staying at Army.

This may be the most ignorant post I have read in a LONG time. You clearly don’t have a single clue to what it takes to win at an Academy.

No one is denying that BB is a top notch gameday coach and player developer, the question with BB is what happens in 2 years if his current recruiting results hold to trend. Reality is that he will have lessor talent to work with then, doesn’t matter how good of a talent developer your are as a coach, you still have to have enough raw material to work with. Based on his current recruiting trajectory at Illinois, it is fair to question they will look in 2-3 years if not sooner.