Benning on Banker

Enhance89 said:
Hindsight is 20/20, but Riley trusted the coaches he brought with him. It may have been a stroke of naivety in regards to someone like Banker, or perhaps he trusted Banker to do a better job than he was doing. It's difficult to speculate.
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It was also as short a run for a new DC as I've seen. And we've got a pretty exciting new hire here now. Think we're in a pretty good place as a program. Every staff will have people who fail to live up to their billing or don't work out for whatever reason, even trusted guys. Banker at least was here as part of the transition and his short leash is an indication of the standards that are in place.

 
I heard this past off season that Stewart was not respected by the players, it doesn't surprise me to hear the secondary and Banker had a hard time achieving success and explains why Banker stepped in to coach the safeties, leaving Stewart with just the corners.

I tend to believe Devaney is the GM of this program, he has made the comment in the past about having 2-3 potential coaches on deck for Riley when a change needs to be made. His success will trickulate down through the program. Could explain why Riley put the OL and Cav on notice.

This story also goes further to explain one of Riley's answers to a media day question - "...what is the greatest difference you see in this team compared to 7 months ago?" A: "Trust between coaches and players." That's a glaring response which he didn't provide depth, only coach speak to not share specific turmoil within the program.

 
In fairness to Banker, he coordinated 2 top 30 defenses at Oregon State from 2008 to 2014, in terms of total defense. It probably wasn't total crazy to bring him along. I was not impressed with him and some of the things he said about his installation the first spring that made me concerned about teaching the thing. I have no problem with Riley bring some staff with him. I just don't see how you could expect him to hire a bunch of people that he had not ever worked with and expect for there to be any kind of cohesion in the coaching room. If somebody could point out a head coach who did that and was successful out of the box. Now, at least he is willing to chop people that aren't getting it done. I really liked one of the things that he said after firing Banker, that he was seeing the same mistakes.

 
The Banker hire is really weird. drfish says (correctly) that Banker coordinated two top-30 defenses in a six-year span leading up to Riley's hire at Nebraska. But Banker has also had trouble with Big Sky conference teams as LumberJackSker said. Riley, with his vast wealth of knowledge (ostensibly the reason he was hired) knew that.

So why bring Banker along?

1. Riley wanted to get his major staff in place right away for recruiting. However, Riley was hired on 12/4/14. Signing day 2015 was two months away, so it's not like he couldn't wait a few weeks to get a top-notch guy. Banker (and Cavanaugh) were announced as hires one week after Riley was hired.

2. Loyalty to a friend. They'd worked together for 12 years at OSU. Maybe Riley gives Banker a big payday.

3. Riley truly believed in Banker's system & wants to see what he can do with better players. From 2008-2014 Oregon beat OSU by an average score of 46-27. Last year, with NU's players, Banker "held" Oregon to 32 points - their lowest total against a Banker defense since 2007. BUT, that was a 4-8 Oregon team.

None of those are really compelling reasons, and I'm not sure if any of them are THE reason. What else would it be?

 
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It seems to me like Riley probably didn't realize the difference in scrutiny from OSU to NU. Banker's stuff worked here and there but not nearly as many cared as much when it didn't. He did have a couple good years. They were also #76, #101, #84 and #86 during that time so there was definitely more bad than good. Plus there wasn't an entirely large amount of defense played in the Pac-10/12 overall so it wasn't so much outside the norm.

I'm sure Riley realized it to some extent here but I really think having Devaney around made a huge difference in deciding to change.

 
Mavric said:
It seems to me like Riley probably didn't realize the difference in scrutiny from OSU to NU. Banker's stuff worked here and there but not nearly as many cared as much when it didn't. He did have a couple good years. They were also #76, #101, #84 and #86 during that time so there was definitely more bad than good. Plus there wasn't an entirely large amount of defense played in the Pac-10/12 overall so it wasn't so much outside the norm.

I'm sure Riley realized it to some extent here but I really think having Devaney around made a huge difference in deciding to change.
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I think when we look back on this time period in NU football history we will really realize what a serious impact Devaney had on this program. Guy has been Riley's confidant essentially since he was here. I don't know that Riley makes some of the moves he's made without Devaney here, whether you're talking hirings, firings, or schematic changes. Having BD here as essentially acting GM has been a major success and I hope he enjoys it enough to stay here for a long long time.

 
seaofred92 said:
Mavric said:
It seems to me like Riley probably didn't realize the difference in scrutiny from OSU to NU. Banker's stuff worked here and there but not nearly as many cared as much when it didn't. He did have a couple good years. They were also #76, #101, #84 and #86 during that time so there was definitely more bad than good. Plus there wasn't an entirely large amount of defense played in the Pac-10/12 overall so it wasn't so much outside the norm.

I'm sure Riley realized it to some extent here but I really think having Devaney around made a huge difference in deciding to change.
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I think when we look back on this time period in NU football history we will really realize what a serious impact Devaney had on this program. Guy has been Riley's confidant essentially since he was here. I don't know that Riley makes some of the moves he's made without Devaney here, whether you're talking hirings, firings, or schematic changes. Having BD here as essentially acting GM has been a major success and I hope he enjoys it enough to stay here for a long long time.
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I know how we could facilitate his continued stay here...

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Nothing we can do about the last two years. I guess I prefer to look at the positive. How much of an improvement could we see with only improved communication? I think it could be a lot.

 
knapplc said:
3. Riley truly believed in Banker's system
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Riley's comments when Diaco was hired made it sound like going to a 3-4 had been in the back of his mind for quite a while, maybe even before he came to Nebraska.

 
Banker wasn't a fan favorite at OSU either. I figure Riley believed a new team, better talent, change of scenary would be a good fit for Banker. It didn't work out. He saw lack of results, the window closing, stopped fighting for Banker and decided to make the change with the help of BD and SE.

 
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