Who should our next HC be?

[Redux]

On 9/12/2022 at 3:28 PM, The Dude said:

 

Is Matt Campbell Riley or Pelini?

 

Depends on his love for ice cream and screaming

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

8 hours ago, Lorewarn said:

 

 

I have no idea. But I'm also not thinking that we can go straight from the gutter to the moon.

 

If he can put together top 20 classes to start with, which I think he absolutely could and would, then start winning a properly proportionate amount of games with better development, discipline and psyche, that establishes a new base camp/foundation, and from there? Yeah, he could probably build on it and start getting top 15 and top 10 classes. 

 

The key word here is "probably." We can't afford to risk it on "probably." People thought that Riley would "probably" do well here due to the increased amount of resources at his disposal. I'm not sold on Campbell. He's had as many disappointing losses as he's had remarkable wins.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

8 hours ago, deedsker said:

Dude doesn’t have values. Other than self interest.

 

None of them do. This is big $ business nowadays and all that matters is winning and profits. If you're looking for a top-tier coach with strong morals and ethics, good luck.

[Huskerfollower4life]

28 minutes ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

 

None of them do. This is big $ business nowadays and all that matters is winning and profits. If you're looking for a top-tier coach with strong morals and ethics, good luck.

But we here at Nebraska have morals and values so our coach should too!!!! I don't care about that. Give us a coach that hates losing and is a grinder. Someone that will take us to the top where we belong and keep us there. College Football is all about money and how much are you willing to spend to be great. 

[thexyz]

8 hours ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

There is nothing more appealing then a 3 time national championship winner. Nobody period. Watch all you guys in favor for the border coaches will be let down when it takes another 3 or 4 more years to win and then we have one good year and then not so great year. Nebraska won't have sustainable success and then we will have marginal expectations that greatness isn't needed 8 wins is fine. Imho the border coaches won't have sustainable success bc like scarlet pimpernel said do you think they can get elite recruits here? I don't either they might get area recruits that are highly ranked but Nebraska will always need kids from all over the country to help them succeed. Rarely do we recruit Cali or Florida or even Texas anymore. They is talent all over the country but schools can only sign so many kids for their local schools in those big states. Nebraska needs to do better and be better in order to have sustainable success. 

I respect that you have an opinion. I’m not going to argue with you. I’ve upvoted every post with Meyer in a list. We’re all passionate fans wanting a solution and to back to winning again! I’ll hold firm that he isn’t the single option and, that others are better suited to represent our interests in the long term. 

[Huskerfollower4life]

3 minutes ago, M.A. said:

I respect that you have an opinion. I’m not going to argue with you. I’ve upvoted every post with Meyer in a list. We’re all passionate fans wanting a solution and to back to winning again! I’ll hold firm that he isn’t the single option and, that others are better suited to represent our interests in the long term. 

I get where alot of you guys come from with the Matt Campbell's or Lance Leipold. Good coaches that are slow program builders. Ones that are going to do things the right way. Solid coaching but not great. Knowing the Midwest for recruiting but not having a footprint in alot of popular places bc your not well known. Bringing your whole staff that are solid teachers but aren't great recruiters. Get your occasional upset and have good/ok years for the majority and occasionally when your senior class is good bc of development you compete for a conference title. That is what your going to get from the Matt Campbell's. Is that good enough to accept for a year to year basis?? Is that the acceptable standard for Nebraska and their fans? 

[Crusader Husker]

Have we ever truly done a National Search for Head FB coach?

 

Maybe when we got Callahan?

[thexyz]

15 minutes ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

I get where alot of you guys come from with the Matt Campbell's or Lance Leipold. Good coaches that are slow program builders. Ones that are going to do things the right way. Solid coaching but not great. Knowing the Midwest for recruiting but not having a footprint in alot of popular places bc your not well known. Bringing your whole staff that are solid teachers but aren't great recruiters. Get your occasional upset and have good/ok years for the majority and occasionally when your senior class is good bc of development you compete for a conference title. That is what your going to get from the Matt Campbell's. Is that good enough to accept for a year to year basis?? Is that the acceptable standard for Nebraska and their fans? 

I have reservations on Campbell as well. Ultimately, the decision will be made through Alberts.

The media would conveniently determine his fate if the selection doesn’t work. Nothing I say is going to determine who’s enlisted to represent the program. I hope that it’s a great fit and that we get back to football being much more enjoyable.

 

I’m remaining confident that good choices can be made and that we can again enjoy a great deal of success!

[TonkaSker]

11 minutes ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

I get where alot of you guys come from with the Matt Campbell's or Lance Leipold. Good coaches that are slow program builders. Ones that are going to do things the right way. Solid coaching but not great. Knowing the Midwest for recruiting but not having a footprint in alot of popular places bc your not well known. Bringing your whole staff that are solid teachers but aren't great recruiters. Get your occasional upset and have good/ok years for the majority and occasionally when your senior class is good bc of development you compete for a conference title. That is what your going to get from the Matt Campbell's. Is that good enough to accept for a year to year basis?? Is that the acceptable standard for Nebraska and their fans? 

 

My opinion on expectations and Nebraska's ceiling is that the 12-team playoff is something a program like ours should be competitive in entering. Maybe not every year unless there's real improvement in development that I can't account for, but given recruiting, schedule, and an improvement in development I can expect with a good hire we should be flirting with it after year 4, since that's about how long it takes for that development to show. 

 

Georgia, Ohio State, and Alabama are the only three programs capable of winning a national title in the next two years. Clemson and Texas A&M have worked towards it for half a decade and we haven't even started that process so we're at least six years away. That standard is completely unrealistic.

 

So yes, ten years from now assuming we're dealing with the same coach and nothing bad has happened, sure we should be highly competitive and in the playoff conversation every year. Iowa State is a bad, bad program. Worse than us in almost every way historically, financially, and politically. The fact that he had them in that 12-team group once is an absolute miracle. Sure, he's lost some games and I'm not completely sold on the guy, but he gets you there. 

 

Lance Leipold in four years had Buffalo winning like they never had before and has half their winning seasons in that short amount of time. I think he's pretty conservative in-game but he made an absolute monster program at Whitewater and revived Buffalo. He's currently reviving Kansas which was about to drop football completely before he arrived. They were on a 49 game road losing streak when he arrived and he's 2-3 on the road since. The man works miracles. He's also meticulous in process improvement which is the #1 thing that we have lacked in since Solich left. Read further into Leipold beyond his W/L and you'll be impressed. This roster is terrible and development needs to start from scratch and he's got a proven record of doing it.

 

Those two are not the only two that can get it done but they'd do it. If Urban Meyer, Dave Aranda, or Matt Rhule don't walk through the door, we still need to hire someone. I'm assuming those three are the first calls because yes, Urban Meyer will at least get a chance to say no.

 

 

[knapplc]

22 minutes ago, Crusader Husker said:

Have we ever truly done a National Search for Head FB coach?

 

Maybe when we got Callahan?

 

Depends how a person defines "national," probably. 

 

Riley would probably qualify. He was so "national" his hire shocked most everyone.

[Crusader Husker]

54 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

Depends how a person defines "national," probably. 

 

Riley would probably qualify. He was so "national" his hire shocked most everyone.

I guess, really used a firm and did a national search.  Riley was 1 man making a hire.

[sho]

18 hours ago, Hagg said:

 

He's 44 - 34 outside the conf Toledo is in, whatever it is.  Not as bad as SF's record outside the conf he was in before the Big Ten, but a wrong direction hire if I ever saw one.

 

 

Saban was 19-16-1 at Michigan St (16-18 the three years prior so he gave them very little bump) before going to LSU.   Record isn't, and should never be 'the end all be all' for a coaches performance.  Now look at Matt Campbell at Iowa St who is 44-34, 5 straight bowl games.  First year was 3-9 and has gone bowling since, including a Fiesta Bowl win.  The 3 years before he got there, Iowa State was 8 - 19 and no bowl games.  Hadn't had a winning season since in 6 years before he got there.  He's given them a bump and shown he can develop talent and recruit talent to compete in a P5 conference.    MC is a great coach, and you would see Nebraska as an annual threat to make the Big Ten Championship game and in the mix for playoffs more often than not if he takes over the helm.

[Hagg]

8 minutes ago, sho said:

Saban was 19-16-1 at Michigan St (16-18 the three years prior so he gave them very little bump) before going to LSU.   Record isn't, and should never be 'the end all be all' for a coaches performance.  Now look at Matt Campbell at Iowa St who is 44-34, 5 straight bowl games. 

 

I admit to putting a lot of weight on the W/L records of prospective coaches.  Nick Saban is something else again.  I'm looking at Nebraska's coaching history and see that our most amazing successes were coaches who were here through thick and thin and were then promoted to HC.  I don't think Alabama has the same culture as Nebraska at all;  it's smack in the middle of some of the greatest recruitment regions in the country.  Our player successes came from great Nebraskans and some brought out from the West Coast, etc. 

 

All arguments about W/L records rise and fall on what the coach did next, of course.  Some fine ones plopped at another school like cow flop.  Some piss ants flourished when brought to a better overall program.  It can look like a crapshoot, when analysing coach's histories.  But it ain't over the long haul for Nebraska.  Devaney's 35 - 10 at Wyoming was just good enough.  Then he came here where it does not rain inside the gym and flourished.

[TonkaSker]

Candidates and their games this weekend:

 

Leipold - Kansas at Houston

Campbell - Ohio at Iowa State

Deboer - Michigan State at Washington

O'Brien - UL-M at Alabama

Leonhard - NMSU at Wisconsin

Patterson - UTSA at Texas

Kleiman - Tulane at Kansas State

Aranda - Texas State at Baylor

 

Big stock moving week for Kansas and Washington.

[sho]

6 minutes ago, Hagg said:

 

I admit to putting a lot of weight on the W/L records of prospective coaches.  Nick Saban is something else again.  I'm looking at Nebraska's coaching history and see that our most amazing successes were coaches who were here through thick and thin and were then promoted to HC.  I don't think Alabama has the same culture as Nebraska at all;  it's smack in the middle of some of the greatest recruitment regions in the country.  Our player successes came from great Nebraskans and some brought out from the West Coast, etc. 

 

All arguments about W/L records rise and fall on what the coach did next, of course.  Some fine ones plopped at another school like cow flop.  Some piss ants flourished when brought to a better overall program.  It can look like a crapshoot, when analysing coach's histories.  But it ain't over the long haul for Nebraska.  Devaney's 35 - 10 at Wyoming was just good enough.  Then he came here where it does not rain inside the gym and flourished.

 

Except the only HC you referenced didn't do that.   it's more about fit than anything else.   You want a guy that can identify and develop talent.  And the one commonality between Bob, Tom, Bo, Frank was the emphasis on defense.  They were top 25 in defense something like 90% of the time.  Callahan's two best teams, he was top 25 in defense, his first year was the transition year, so you can understand the drop that season, his last season was a rebuild year and the defense just didn't have it.   Between Riley and Frost, the emphasis was on the wrong area.  Frost on offense and getting the ball back for his playstation system and Riley on being Mr. Rogers to build morale.    Campbell has a history of developing talent, has a history of identifying talent to compete and those are skills that translate regardless of school.  Too often people look at W/L and get enamored with that and don't realize he's not a good coach and that's why you see some of these splash hires flail.   Nebraska is no different, we don't need a home grown, developed in the system coach, you just need a coach that knows what he's doing and has a track record of being successful.   That also shows how good Bob and TO where, able to identify and develop their successor, but that isn't necessary, to be successful here.   Campbell, Liepold, Klieman, Fleck will all be successful here even if they aren't the splash hire that people want as they have proven at multiple stops they can recruit, develop and compete and those skills will translate to Nebraska.  

 

Urb would also be successful here too, but he's slimy in a slick used car salesman type of way.   Nebraska can reach the same levels without having to dip into the cesspool known as Urban Meyer.