who would we hire?

[Blackshirt96]

I hate the "No proven coach would take the job" line. It is not true at all. The problem is the University is not willing to pay what it takes to get a proven head coach. It took $5.7M to get Harbaugh to Michigan. That is $3M less then NU paid for Riley. Pelini, 7 years into his contract was only getting $3.1M. If you want a big name coach you have to pay big boy money.

 

[ZRod]

Great thread choice. The discussion so far has been outstanding. Not sure what we would have done without this. It's not like we could discuss all possible coaches in one thread but rather is much better if everyone who has a fleeting thought would start a new topic.

Glad you are agree and not at all in a snarky manner...

 

[JJ Husker]

Great thread choice. The discussion so far has been outstanding. Not sure what we would have done without this. It's not like we could discuss all possible coaches in one thread but rather is much better if everyone who has a fleeting thought would start a new topic.

Glad you are agree and not at all in a snarky manner...

I sure do miss that Whittingham thread.

Snarky is my middle name.

 

[NUance]

Really in hindsight any other coach that was younger than say 55 would be a great choice.

I guess we should have replaced 55 year old Tom Osborne in 1992, huh?

 

[StPaulHusker]

Cutcliffe (from Duke) would be a great hire IMO. He's done a great job at Duke in his tenure, and has made them relevant again. He took his team to the ropes with Northwestern. Think he would have been a great hire, though he might not want to leave with the program he is building there.

It's also easier to coach at Duke because there's zero pressure relative to a school like Nebraska. Playing in a bowl game is a successful season for Duke; here, people will start discussing replacing you after losing three of your first five games. Not all coaches are cut out for that kind of pressure and scrutiny.

to be fair....we didnt wait till 3 losses to start talking about firing him....there were many here calling for him to be fired after the first loss.

To be fair, people started talking about getting rid of him when he brought half of his Oregon St staff with him.

 

[StPaulHusker]

I hate the "No proven coach would take the job" line. It is not true at all. The problem is the University is not willing to pay what it takes to get a proven head coach. It took $5.7M to get Harbaugh to Michigan. That is $3M less then NU paid for Riley. Pelini, 7 years into his contract was only getting $3.1M. If you want a big name coach you have to pay big boy money.

I don't disagree with paying big dollars to get big coaches but I think you need to look at every situation individually. And Harbaugh to Michigan is very different.

 

[junior4949]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

 

[neepster]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

Absolutely correct. Mack Brown's biggest problem was that for years he had some of the best recruits in the nation and did very little with them. He managed to take excellent recruits and make them mediocre. Richt is exactly the same and not what you need. It's not hard to be mediocre with great material. It's hard to be great with mediocre material. That is why Urban Meyer was a great hire for Florida. They saw what he did at Utah with very little and projected what he would be able to do at Florida with a lot.

We need the same. That's why I like Harsin at BSU. Or anyone else like that... at a smaller school with lesser recruits but still wins a lot.... that's what turns into the next Sabin, Meyer, etc.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I find it interesting that Frost's name is mentioned in here. No, I'm not surprised. I just find it interesting.

The next few years for him are going to be very important to his career. Oregon is right now 3-2. How many more losses are they going to have this year? Maybe this is all or maybe this is a down year for them? It also looks like their defense is having a harder season than their offense. But, they were only able to score 20 against Utah.

His stock is going to be interesting to see where it is in a couple years.

 

[VectorVictor]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

Absolutely correct. Mack Brown's biggest problem was that for years he had some of the best recruits in the nation and did very little with them. He managed to take excellent recruits and make them mediocre. Richt is exactly the same and not what you need. It's not hard to be mediocre with great material. It's hard to be great with mediocre material. That is why Urban Meyer was a great hire for Florida. They saw what he did at Utah with very little and projected what he would be able to do at Florida with a lot.

We need the same. That's why I like Harsin at BSU. Or anyone else like that... at a smaller school with lesser recruits but still wins a lot.... that's what turns into the next Sabin, Meyer, etc.

Mack's biggest problem is that he kept on position and coordinators who weren't pulling their weight because they were buddies instead of getting coaches that could get the job done. Mack never was a quality head coach--he was a CEO and his strength was in delegation and coordination. And this refrain should sound familiar, because it's the same problem we have right now with Riley, the problem we had with Callahan, the problem we had with Solich...

That's why if the season goes to seed (as it appears it will), I'd rather we approach Riley with the decision immediately after this season to get quality coordinators and position coaches into the program, and if he balks, cut bait. We've already been through this s***show with Callahan, I'd hate to have our program repeat the mistakes of the past.

This way, Eichorst and Harvey the Wonder Chancellor can possibly save face with the Riley hire, and Riley can get coaches in that aren't fundamentally flawed and/or too entrenched in their ways.

 

[Kernal]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

Absolutely correct. Mack Brown's biggest problem was that for years he had some of the best recruits in the nation and did very little with them. He managed to take excellent recruits and make them mediocre. Richt is exactly the same and not what you need. It's not hard to be mediocre with great material. It's hard to be great with mediocre material. That is why Urban Meyer was a great hire for Florida. They saw what he did at Utah with very little and projected what he would be able to do at Florida with a lot.

We need the same. That's why I like Harsin at BSU. Or anyone else like that... at a smaller school with lesser recruits but still wins a lot.... that's what turns into the next Sabin, Meyer, etc.

Mack's biggest problem is that he kept on position and coordinators who weren't pulling their weight because they were buddies instead of getting coaches that could get the job done. And that should sound familiar, because it's the problem we have right now, the problem we had with Callahan, the problem we had with Solich...

You left off the poster child for buddy hires: Bo Pelini. Not only did he hire his hometown buddies, he also hired his brother and a bunch of GAs who then were promoted to position and coordinator jobs. Ironically, the golf coach he hired turned out to be one of his better hires.

 

[junior4949]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

Absolutely correct. Mack Brown's biggest problem was that for years he had some of the best recruits in the nation and did very little with them. He managed to take excellent recruits and make them mediocre. Richt is exactly the same and not what you need. It's not hard to be mediocre with great material. It's hard to be great with mediocre material. That is why Urban Meyer was a great hire for Florida. They saw what he did at Utah with very little and projected what he would be able to do at Florida with a lot.

We need the same. That's why I like Harsin at BSU. Or anyone else like that... at a smaller school with lesser recruits but still wins a lot.... that's what turns into the next Sabin, Meyer, etc.

Florida was absolutely stacked with talent when Meyer was hired. Why do you think he passed on his "dream job" at Notre Dame to go coach Florida? Easy, they were stacked with talent and Notre Dame wasn't. It's the same reason he came out of "retirement" to coach at Ohio State. Ohio State was absolutely stacked with talent, and he didn't have to tackle the SEC like at Florida.

Nothing against Boise's coach, but history just isn't on his side. Koetter was the one who really put Boise State on the map and directed the ship when they entered D1 ball. He went on to get fired at Arizona State. In comes Hawkins. He had outstanding seasons at Boise State only to move on to Colorado. Colorado may never recover from the damage Hawkins did. It's a little early to put Petersen who followed Hawkins as Boise's coach a bust at Washington, but he is currently 10-8 there which is almost an identical winning percentage as the coach he replaced there. Boise State coaches have not faired well at all when taking going up the next step.

 

[girlknowsfootball]

Great question, who would we hire If Mike wasn't the coach?

We have to think financially here as well as wins. I don't foresee Mike getting fired after next season. If you remember Bo's contract, we are paying him $128,000/mo or $6.54 million through Feb 2019. That's 1.63milliom/year we owe this former head coach.

Mike came on board and signed a 5 year contract, paying him $2.7 million/year.

So if we were to fire Mike, we would have commitments to $20million dollars in buyouts over the next 5 years... Do the math. That's 4.3 million a year for 4 years and then 2.7 million for the 5th year. The highest paid coaches in college football make $7 million (Saban) $5.6 million (Dantonio) $5.1 million (stoops) and $5.0 (Sumlin).

To bring in a high caliber, proven D1 FBS championship winning football coach who is also a well known recruiter we have to be able to pay $4 million (Richt makes $3.3 million) on top of our 4.3 million/year payout.

Now let's look at who those proven D1, available coaches might be. Tim Graham has done a heck of a job with Arizona state, would he come up to Nebraska? People have mentioned Mark Richt who appears to be in a hotbed with Georgia fans calling for his head and might look for a new landing spot soon. Charlie strong may need a new job in a couple of years. Then you have guys like Chip Kelly who may get fired from the Eagles and head back to college football. Who would be a big enough name to make our fans happy? Who could we afford? And who would want to come to a place where local talent is minimal and nation wide recruiting is essential? People say Scott Frost is the obvious choice, but what has he done at Oregon without Marcus Mariotta? He inherited a heisman candidate/high NFL draft pick/freakish quarterback. What has he proven with normal talent? What makes us think he would make a good HC?

I think we need to let Mike Riley feel out the big ten, recruit players for his system, overcome having to use walk on/true freshmen LBers and DE's, and develop players for a few years before we erupt into mass panic and scream the sky is falling. Give it some time guys... He's not Jesus, and quite frankly if he makes you so angry you gotta tear into people on this board, maybe Jesus would be a good solution for your needs.

 

[neepster]

I don't get all of the love for Richt. He has shown time and time again the ability to do less with more. In his past 14 recruiting classes, only four of them have been out of the top 10 per rivals with the lowest of those four coming in at 15. He's had some decent seasons with those great recruits, but he's had a lot of bust seasons with elite talent as well. 06-four losses 09-five losses 10-seven losses 11-four losses 13-five losses. He's shown the ability to lose a lot of games with elite talent. I'm not sure we can expect over 70% of his recruiting classes here at Nebraska to fall in the top 10. Just imagine how many games he could lose with recruiting classes in the 20-30 range.

He's also playing in the SEC against many other programs who finished just as high or higher in the recruiting rankings. Can't win em all.

No, you can't win them all. However, you should be able to win some of them. Richt manages to lose most of them. There's a reason the Georgia faithful want him gone. I highly doubt you will find many/any Georgia faithful who expected any different outcome against Bama last week than what happened. It's what Richt does. He completely craps the bed in big games. It's his MO. He would be a terrible hire here because he wouldn't be able to get the talent here that he does in Georgia. We would see even more embarrassing losses under Richt than we did under Bo. I'd put him in the same category as Mack Brown: great recruiter, not so great coach.

Absolutely correct. Mack Brown's biggest problem was that for years he had some of the best recruits in the nation and did very little with them. He managed to take excellent recruits and make them mediocre. Richt is exactly the same and not what you need. It's not hard to be mediocre with great material. It's hard to be great with mediocre material. That is why Urban Meyer was a great hire for Florida. They saw what he did at Utah with very little and projected what he would be able to do at Florida with a lot.

We need the same. That's why I like Harsin at BSU. Or anyone else like that... at a smaller school with lesser recruits but still wins a lot.... that's what turns into the next Sabin, Meyer, etc.

Florida was absolutely stacked with talent when Meyer was hired. Why do you think he passed on his "dream job" at Notre Dame to go coach Florida? Easy, they were stacked with talent and Notre Dame wasn't. It's the same reason he came out of "retirement" to coach at Ohio State. Ohio State was absolutely stacked with talent, and he didn't have to tackle the SEC like at Florida.

Nothing against Boise's coach, but history just isn't on his side. Koetter was the one who really put Boise State on the map and directed the ship when they entered D1 ball. He went on to get fired at Arizona State. In comes Hawkins. He had outstanding seasons at Boise State only to move on to Colorado. Colorado may never recover from the damage Hawkins did. It's a little early to put Petersen who followed Hawkins as Boise's coach a bust at Washington, but he is currently 10-8 there which is almost an identical winning percentage as the coach he replaced there. Boise State coaches have not faired well at all when taking going up the next step.

Ok, those are some good points. Koetter had a couple reasonably decent years at ASU but agree that he did not turn out that well as a HC. Colorado certainly did not do well with Hawkins.... so maybe Harsin is not the best choice.

Be that as it may though, I still maintain that these sorts of coaches (young, with a track record of success on a team a level down from the Power 5) are the best hires if you can find the right one. People keep talking about picking 'known good' coaches, but these are exactly the sorts that aren't going anywhere and Nebraska has zero shot at (for a lot of reasons - climate, location, $$$, etc.). The only one I can say would be a good option would be Tressel, but considering he hired Bo to Youngstown State, I seriously doubt he will be coming to Nebraska. The other proven NC caliber coaches are either in the pros (Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly) or otherwise taken (Sabin, Meyer, Stoops, etc.).

Hence why I maintain that Nebraska's best shot at getting back to NC relevance is carefully choosing an up and coming young firebrand of a coach (a future Urban Meyer - who when he was hired at Florida had a winning percentage of around .81). Not a 61 year old with a .534 record and not a middlin' coach from some other middle running conference school. Those sorts of people do not bring you national championships. They just don't.

 

[junior4949]

People who won't even consider Frost need to remember several things. First and foremost, he comes from coaching lineage. He was recruited and played for Walsh before returning to Nebraska. He played for TO. He was drafted and played defense in the NFL. If for no other reason to think he will more than likely be a great head coach, just look at the list of coaches he's been around as a player or coach: Bill Walsh, TO, Bill Parcels, Bill Bilichick, Jon Gruden, and Chip Kelly. There's a lot of Super Bowl wins with that list of coaches right there.

He's played both offense and defense at the college level. He played defense in the NFL. He's coached both offense and defense. In terms of being well rounded on both sides of the ball, he's about as good as it gets. I'm not saying we hand the keys over to him, but I don't understand why some are so unwilling to even think about him becoming our next head coach. In a perfect scenario, he would go be the head man at a mid-major. However, I highly doubt we're ever this lucky.