Huskers Hire Billy Devaney as Executive Director of Player Personnel

[teachercd]

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

[BigRedBuster]

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

 

I like this hire. But, I don't see how this could be a major factor next year in winning more games. If this bump is caused by anything happening in Lincoln, I would think it's that they believe our D line is going to be better with the new coach.

[teachercd]

 

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

 

I like this hire. But, I don't see how this could be a major factor next year in winning more games. If this bump is caused by anything happening in Lincoln, I would think it's that they believe our D line is going to be better with the new coach.

 

I should have put a smiley face. I was totally just joking around. I am not even sure if the win totals are out yet.

[Red Five]

 

 

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

 

I like this hire. But, I don't see how this could be a major factor next year in winning more games. If this bump is caused by anything happening in Lincoln, I would think it's that they believe our D line is going to be better with the new coach.

 

I should have put a smiley face. I was totally just joking around. I am not even sure if the win totals are out yet.

 

Yeah, and if they are out, NUs will not be a 9.5 unless there is big juice on taking the under.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

 

I like this hire. But, I don't see how this could be a major factor next year in winning more games. If this bump is caused by anything happening in Lincoln, I would think it's that they believe our D line is going to be better with the new coach.

 

 

Pretty sure that was a joke, but still a good point. I'm not sure the Devaney hire translates directly to the field this year, but I do think it sends a signal that Nebraska is thinking bigger and more professionally. It's a good message that a top football executive WANTS to come to Nebraska, respects the institution and accepts the challenge. It can assist recruiting obviously if you present a pipeline to the NFL, but it also sends a message to the coaching community and football media that hopefully has a ripple effect.

[teachercd]

 

 

 

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

I noticed that the Vegas win total went from 9.5 to 10.5 right after this hire...

 

I like this hire. But, I don't see how this could be a major factor next year in winning more games. If this bump is caused by anything happening in Lincoln, I would think it's that they believe our D line is going to be better with the new coach.

 

I should have put a smiley face. I was totally just joking around. I am not even sure if the win totals are out yet.

 

Yeah, and if they are out, NUs will not be a 9.5 unless there is big juice on taking the under.

 

I would guess when the line comes out it will be at 8.5

[Enhance]

I posted the following in another thread regarding both of these hires. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying he's a bad hire, but he is often given a lot of credit, rightly or wrongly, for tanking the Rams in 2010/2011).

 

The Devaney hire is certainly the most intriguing to me - he has a wealth of experience, and while he had success in his NFL career, he has also had some interesting hiccups. He helped draft Sam Bradford, hired Steve Spagnuolo to coach the Rams and, in his final two seasons as the Rams GM, they ended up going 3-29 in and he was ousted.

 

He was also a part of the management crew that drafted Ryan Leaf to the Chargers, and pretty much all those guys were sent packing.

 

That's a very 35,000 foot view of both situations - I only offer them as points of discussion. Hopefully, he has more success here.

[kchusker_chris]

For the last couple of years I've been suggesting on here that Nebraska steps outside the box and go with a guy like Moglia as HC, paid considerably less - then hire the 2 best coordinators in the game and pay them 1.5-2 million each with some spectacular assistants and a guy almost 100% dedicated to recruiting. My thinking is that the 9 assistants, and specifically the 2 coordinators have far more of an impact on our success (or failure) than a single individual in the HC position and recruiting is a full time gig. I think this is the closest I'm going to get to that...but I feel it's a pretty good setup with recruiting and that CEO level thinking in mind. If this guy can give Mike even 5 more hours a week to recruiting I think it will translate into 1-2 more highly ranked guys a year. Based on odds, that translated to 3-4 more impact guys in the starting lineup than we had before. It's the difference between an Ameer versus a Cross, or a Denard/Akumara versus Green/Jackson.

[C N Red]

I posted the following in another thread regarding both of these hires. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying he's a bad hire, but he is often given a lot of credit, rightly or wrongly, for tanking the Rams in 2010/2011).

 

 

The Devaney hire is certainly the most intriguing to me - he has a wealth of experience, and while he had success in his NFL career, he has also had some interesting hiccups. He helped draft Sam Bradford, hired Steve Spagnuolo to coach the Rams and, in his final two seasons as the Rams GM, they ended up going 3-29 in and he was ousted.

 

He was also a part of the management crew that drafted Ryan Leaf to the Chargers, and pretty much all those guys were sent packing.

 

That's a very 35,000 foot view of both situations - I only offer them as points of discussion. Hopefully, he has more success here.

 

Ya, the Rams have been so good since Warner left. I dont think he is solely behind the tanking.

Also, its not hard to kill a pro team. One or two draft misses can do it. Not taking into account injuries, etc that you have no control over.

We'll see how he does, but you definitely have a larger margin for error in college and 1-2 misses will not hurt as bad. He may thrive at this.

[GSG]

[Mavric]

Nebraska's newest football administrator will get paid like an assistant coach.

Billy Devaney, the one-time St. Louis Rams general manager, joined the NU football program this week. He'll make $300,000 per year as the Huskers' executive director of player personnel and the special assistant to the head coach.

It's a new position that athletic director Shawn Eichorst proposed. Coach Mike Riley was all for it. Devaney will directly oversee NU's recruiting department — but he'll be asked for his input on virtually everything else.

Devaney's spent his entire three-decade-long football career in the NFL, so Riley's eager to tap that knowledge base.

 

OWH

[EmeraldIngot]

I gotta admit, even if you don't like this hire, even if you don't think very highly of Mike Riley's skills as a coach... you have to admit that he and everyone else on this staff, from GA to AD, are at least putting some serious effort and cash towards building a winning program.

 

The new DL coach is a former Husker with a long career in the NFL, even if his coaching resume isn't the best. Even if he is a sub part coach, he at least knows the Nebraska culture. Even if he can't teach technique, he knows what it takes to play on both the college and NFL level. The results over the next few years will tell if he's a good hire at DL, but I've got high hopes.

 

Now, this DOPP... 30 years in the NFL is a long time. Despite some poor showings on two different teams, you dont have an NFL career that long if you can't do something right. Helping with roster management (which might also include working with the recruiting department to help identify positions of need...) will help this team. From possibly helping to schedule drill or rep stations to get maximum results for both starters and backups (which would help maximize the limited practice time the NCAA allows) to identifying and organizing lineups and two-deeps, which could help smooth out the substitution process. The less time HCMR, OCDL, and DCMB have to spend on subs, travel rosters, package management and so on is more time they can spend studying film and creating game plans. It's a lot of background work, so it wont directly impact the product on the field, but it should help the coaches focus on the Xs and Os. If we'd had a person in this position last year, maybe a few of those late-game losses could have gone out way... (Wisky, Illinois... those games had clock and substitution mismanagement all over, maybe a DOPP could have smoothed that out...)

 

So even if HCMR isn't a great coach, he's at least building a good support network around himself and doing everything he can to win games. Maybe he's not a great coach... but I think he's proving himself to be a good leader, and a B1G championship or CFP berth could make him a great leader.

[girlknowsfootball]

I gotta admit, even if you don't like this hire, even if you don't think very highly of Mike Riley's skills as a coach... you have to admit that he and everyone else on this staff, from GA to AD, are at least putting some serious effort and cash towards building a winning program.

 

The new DL coach is a former Husker with a long career in the NFL, even if his coaching resume isn't the best. Even if he is a sub part coach, he at least knows the Nebraska culture. Even if he can't teach technique, he knows what it takes to play on both the college and NFL level. The results over the next few years will tell if he's a good hire at DL, but I've got high hopes.

 

Now, this DOPP... 30 years in the NFL is a long time. Despite some poor showings on two different teams, you dont have an NFL career that long if you can't do something right. Helping with roster management (which might also include working with the recruiting department to help identify positions of need...) will help this team. From possibly helping to schedule drill or rep stations to get maximum results for both starters and backups (which would help maximize the limited practice time the NCAA allows) to identifying and organizing lineups and two-deeps, which could help smooth out the substitution process. The less time HCMR, OCDL, and DCMB have to spend on subs, travel rosters, package management and so on is more time they can spend studying film and creating game plans. It's a lot of background work, so it wont directly impact the product on the field, but it should help the coaches focus on the Xs and Os. If we'd had a person in this position last year, maybe a few of those late-game losses could have gone out way... (Wisky, Illinois... those games had clock and substitution mismanagement all over, maybe a DOPP could have smoothed that out...)

 

So even if HCMR isn't a great coach, he's at least building a good support network around himself and doing everything he can to win games. Maybe he's not a great coach... but I think he's proving himself to be a good leader, and a B1G championship or CFP berth could make him a great leader.

 

Spot on. And to add to that, we have the staff in place now. Several guys with NFL coaching experience. Several guys who relate well to players and put players in the NFL. Our biggest hurdle is recruiting. I see time and time again we go after the big talented guys, but if they live in LA and get an offer from ucla or USC, it's easy for them to drive 30min to check out the campus and those first schools they see usually stick with them and impact them. I see kids interested in us, say we are consistent and hot in pursuit, and then the Ohio State, SEC, USC, Oregon, Clemson, etc offers pour in and they get starry eyed and push our visit back and eventually out. The true fact is kids think Nebraska is a bunch of cornfields and hick white farmers in a freezing cold rural place and they don't find it attractive... Unless it's their best offer or one of their best offers, or unless we can get them on campus for a visit. The problem with the visits is many of these kids have already taken 4-5 unofficials their junior years to schools closer to home. They think they've sampled enough to have seen what's out there and they decide before we ever get a fair shot. So we never get to really see them in person. And the stereotypes persist. This is what we have to somehow overcome.

[84HuskerLaw]

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

Gotta disagree that its a splash hire. Last week nobody here would know the name Billy Devaney. Of course, a bunch of people will now claim "you have to be kidding me, I have know about this guy for years". We all know that isn't true. Poll a sample of the average college football. Let me know how many people know who Billy Devaney is.

 

 

I don't necessarily think 'splash' hire has to mean it's somebody everybody has heard of or a household name as such. It is important that the name be someone with a serious NFL or college football pedigree and tons of experience and known how that high school players and more importantly their coaches are familiar with and or have a reputation within the coaching community as such. Certainly Devaney will be well known to high and college and pro football people with this kind of history and resume around the country. I think he will be a great help in recruiting by helping to identify talent (whether its kids with many stars or no stars at all according to the gurus at this services). We need to find diamonds in the rough if we can't beat the big time programs that are the 'hot' ones these days. We will have to regain our status the old fashioned way - hard work, dedication and luck, in no particular order.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

If this isn't a splash hire nothing is.

 

Gotta disagree that its a splash hire. Last week nobody here would know the name Billy Devaney. Of course, a bunch of people will now claim "you have to be kidding me, I have know about this guy for years". We all know that isn't true. Poll a sample of the average college football. Let me know how many people know who Billy Devaney is.

 

 

The average college football fan might not be able to name a single athletic director, offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator outside their team, and perhaps no more than a dozen active head coaches. So the position itself never stood the chance of being a splash hire, but perhaps among the coaching, recruiting and administrative world it is a sign that Nebraska is upping its game.