2022 Texas Coaching/Support Staff Thread

[RollingPresidential 633]

4 minutes ago, cafe society said:

Check their football history, pre-Saban they were mediocre most years until you go back to the 60s.  Gerry DiNardo reference makes me wonder if my sarcasm meter needs a tuneup.

They were absolutely mediocre - hence the “sleeping” part. Saban optimized the AD (and tax-shelter hospital scams or whatever) to wake that up. 2019 was the first time since the 2003 Saban team where they looked like they had a competent coach on both sides of the ball, and they won a title and played for another in the middle there. Kelly is a better coach than they’ve had since Saban. If he hires weak/conservative coordinators and doesn’t have the recruiters though then they’ll keep bleeding the North LA kids to Bama et al and he’ll wear out his welcome there fast. It’s an easy place to coach because the talent there is so rich and the people there (in the southern part of the state) will do anything - including funnel money through a charity hospital - for the team. Debating whether something was a sleeping giant pre-2003 seems odd given that since then, they’ve had two terrible coaches and won what, 9 games a year? Sleeping or not, it woke up.

[cafe society 2,872]

By the broad brush you paint with, who might not be considered a sleeping giant?  Washington won a national championship under Don James.  Georgia Tech, Colorado and BYU?  If Saban had taken the job almost anywhere, in retrospect they would have been a sleeping giant per your reasoning.

Edited December 26, 2021 by cafe society
autocorrect

[Hank_Hill 18,893]

2 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

In terms of coaching hires and coaching evaluations there isn't a better source than footballscoop. 

Their breakdowns on coach of the year awards are substantially better than other sites/sources. They actually justify their picks with advanced stats and other criteria. 

 

 

That’s great but providing their rankings as the only argument for the quality of a coach not once but twice is still funny.

[Hank_Hill 18,893]

2 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Hank_Hill

[LTtxfan 49,331]

1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

This. They won a national championships with with a functional regard and dude that regularly eats grass. 

[texasstrong12 4,668]

13 minutes ago, Hank_Hill said:

That’s great but providing their rankings as the only argument for the quality of a coach not once but twice is still funny.

I mean it wasn't the only argument. 

Juluke produced 2 NFL RBs at ULL and has a very good reputation in Louisiana which is great for recruiting. Sale is a stud OL coach. In 2020, his OL finished 10th in line yards and 4th in sack rate at freaking ULL. There's a reason he won OL coach of the year and schools like aggy want him. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by texasstrong12

[Fud 9,552]

Supposedly, shareholders at lsu would never hire Lafayette’s coach because they look down at the school 

[henrygandorf 29,194]

1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Maybe they watched him lose to Texas and thought he sucked. 

hurtful, but accurate. 

[cafe society 2,872]

20 minutes ago, Fud said:

Supposedly, shareholders at lsu would never hire Lafayette’s coach because they look down at the school 

 

[Professor Chesney 499]

20 minutes ago, Fud said:

Supposedly, shareholders at lsu would never hire Lafayette’s coach because they look down at the school 

This seems appropriately on brand.  ULL has roofs that don’t leak and libraries that are structurally sound.  This they aren’t committed enough to winning.

[golfclap 6,903]

I thought Napier should’ve been interviewed here but we anointed instead of actually interviewing so it’s a cows point. 
 

@closetojumping has better sources on this than me, so let him clarify if I’m wrong, but my impression is that Saban thinks Napier is THE guy of all his former assistant coaches. anyone who knows me knows I fucking hate the Gators but that was a great hire and it looks like they are saying yes to anything he’s asked for with the expansion in the support staff size and assistants salary pool. 
 

 

[cafe society 2,872]

2 minutes ago, golfclap said:

I thought Napier should’ve been interviewed here but we anointed instead of actually interviewing so it’s a cows point. 
 

@closetojumping has better sources on this than me, so let him clarify if I’m wrong, but my impression is that Saban thinks Napier is THE guy of all his former assistant coaches. anyone who knows me knows I fucking hate the Gators but that was a great hire and it looks like they are saying yes to anything he’s asked for with the expansion in the support staff size and assistants salary pool. 
 

 

I thought Napier was extremely impressive both before and after the game with us.   

[texasstrong12 4,668]

Napier is legit but it’s much better he’s at UF than LSU or OU. 

People are criticizing the Kelly hire but that at least makes a little sense to me based on his track record. No shot in hell I’m hiring Venables over Napier or Fickell. 

OU finds ways to make these hires work but I think they could have hired a much better coach this cycle. 

[GTX Horn 1,710]

2 hours ago, TheMailBox357 said:

Real talk, how come Napier wasn't hyped up as a potential big Head Coach hire until after he got the Florida job?

Maybe if he was hyped up throughout the season, LSU wouldn't have let him out Louisiana.

 

Woodward has always gone big game hunting for Head Coaches. If I remember correctly he was the UW AD when they finally were able to poach Petersen from Boise despite him having plenty of opportunities before. He also notoriously saved Jimbo from the hot seat at FSU by bailing him out with the ridiculous contract at A&M. He was always gonna try for someone like Lincoln Riley, Jimbo, Dabo, or Kelly. Napier wouldn’t have been “splashy” enough for them.

[quigley 1,563]

1 hour ago, RollingPresidential said:

They were absolutely mediocre - hence the “sleeping” part. Saban optimized the AD (and tax-shelter hospital scams or whatever) to wake that up. 2019 was the first time since the 2003 Saban team where they looked like they had a competent coach on both sides of the ball, and they won a title and played for another in the middle there. Kelly is a better coach than they’ve had since Saban. If he hires weak/conservative coordinators and doesn’t have the recruiters though then they’ll keep bleeding the North LA kids to Bama et al and he’ll wear out his welcome there fast. It’s an easy place to coach because the talent there is so rich and the people there (in the southern part of the state) will do anything - including funnel money through a charity hospital - for the team. Debating whether something was a sleeping giant pre-2003 seems odd given that since then, they’ve had two terrible coaches and won what, 9 games a year? Sleeping or not, it woke up.

 

1 hour ago, cafe society said:

By the broad brush you paint with, who might not be considered a sleeping giant?  Washington won a national championship under Don James.  Georgia Tech, Colorado and BYU?  If Saban had taken the job almost anywhere, in retrospect they would have been a sleeping giant per your reasoning.

RollingPrez is correct.

LSU had decades of mismanagement in the last century, and Saban organized it into a machine. The athletic department/bagmen smartly kept the "foundation" intact for a couple of decades, allowing Les Miles to back into a national championship in 2007. Les squandered talent and created scandals so they had to fire him, but he'd proven he was an idiot by 2009 or 2010.

Anytime someone says "trust the coaches," I think Ed Orgeron. Ed probably has CTE from headbutting players wearing helmets, but he parlayed a Cajun accent and big smile into $17m. The 2019 national championship was won by the people of Louisiana, who reared good kids who stayed home to play for State, and the LSU foundation who paid these kids what they were worth. Ed gets credit for none of this success because his a horny dullard.

I bring all this up to say that LSU may have made a mistake hiring someone who has as big an ego as Brian Kelly. Kelly's already proving he's going to try to do things his way. So far, he's run off their S&C coach, Tommy Moffitt, who came in 2000 with Saban, and ace RB coach/recruiter, Corey Raymond. Whether the foundation can still grease the high school coaches/handlers of Louisiana enough so that they see Kelly as part of the fam-A-LEE remains to be seen.

LSU may have been better off hiring a celibate figurehead who would go along and get along. This would allow the foundation of the football program to ensure the stable supply of high level talent that's been sufficient for a national championship despite having negatives at head coach twice already.

[Leanderman 2,276]

I suspect L$U will be our new main rival once we migrate over to the SEC.

[billfromlaketravis 11,522]

3 minutes ago, Leanderman said:

I suspect L$U will be our new main rival once we migrate over to the SEC.

OU, Aggy, and Piggy say sup.

[RollingPresidential 633]

17 minutes ago, quigley said:

 

RollingPrez is correct.

LSU had decades of mismanagement in the last century, and Saban organized it into a machine. The athletic department/bagmen smartly kept the "foundation" intact for a couple of decades, allowing Les Miles to back into a national championship in 2007. Les squandered talent and created scandals so they had to fire him, but he'd proven he was an idiot by 2009 or 2010.

Anytime someone says "trust the coaches," I think Ed Orgeron. Ed probably has CTE from headbutting players wearing helmets, but he parlayed a Cajun accent and big smile into $17m. The 2019 national championship was won by the people of Louisiana, who reared good kids who stayed home to play for State, and the LSU foundation who paid these kids what they were worth. Ed gets credit for none of this success because his a horny dullard.

I bring all this up to say that LSU may have made a mistake hiring someone who has as big an ego as Brian Kelly. Kelly's already proving he's going to try to do things his way. So far, he's run off their S&C coach, Tommy Moffitt, who came in 2000 with Saban, and ace RB coach/recruiter, Corey Raymond. Whether the foundation can still grease the high school coaches/handlers of Louisiana enough so that they see Kelly as part of the fam-A-LEE remains to be seen.

LSU may have been better off hiring a celibate figurehead who would go along and get along. This would allow the foundation of the football program to ensure the stable supply of high level talent that's been sufficient for a national championship despite having negatives at head coach twice already.

I’ll namedrop and say I went to HS at ULab with Nick Jr. and Kristen Saban (she’s quite crazy). Lived in BR from 2003-2008. Played HS basketball with the son of Dan Radakovich, new Miami AD, when Dan was deputy AD at LSU. TAF has that thing running on autopilot most of the time, that’s how bad O has been the last two years. I *wish* Texas donors were as committed to the team being good as TAF people are. Instead we have Dallas and Houston factions fighting each other for skybox space or dumb controversies about the school song. 

Washington’s not a sleeping giant because the State of Washington doesn’t produce the most NFL players per capita like Louisiana does (or is at least in the top 2-3). All the other giants are mostly woken up (except our beloved Texas Longhorns). 

[quigley 1,563]

1 hour ago, texasstrong12 said:

Napier is legit but it’s much better he’s at UF than LSU or OU. 

People are criticizing the Kelly hire but that at least makes a little sense to me based on his track record. No shot in hell I’m hiring Venables over Napier or Fickell. 

OU finds ways to make these hires work but I think they could have hired a much better coach this cycle. 

As a Sooner fan, I was hoping for Napier or Marcus Freeman.

I *think* OU looked at Fickell, Matt Campbell, and Dave Aranda. In my mind, of those three, Fickell > Aranda >> Campbell. This is mostly because I'm impressed by Fickell's success, which seems legit-not fluky (as a counterpoint, I viewed Herman's success at Houston as fluky). I'm also impressed by how quickly Aranda ditched his OC last year. Aranda also gives you a high floor on defense.

Neither Fickell nor Aranda may have shown interest in OU. Napier was already going to UF by the time OU opened up. At that point, Venables was a good option for Oklahoma. He knows OU, he knows what it takes to win ($) recruiting battles vs Bama, Georgia, UF ($), and you're going to be competent on defense at least. We'll see if Venables is good long term. I haven't been overly impressed by his staff hires so far, but I like what he did keeping the 2022 class together and the fact that he's dipping into the portal in ways I think are smart.

Freeman may have a much higher ceiling at recruiting to ND than Kelly for a few reasons. First, Kelly is obviously an ass. Look at him red-faced on the sidelines screaming obscenities at players and coaches alike. Who wants to play for that dude? Roster and staff stability after Kelly leaving speak to the fact that Kelly wasn't the draw for team to be at ND. Freeman appears to be the opposite of Kelly, charismatic and approachable. Secondly, if ND's sports admissions is like Stanford's and the Ivies, there are actually very few kids who are absolutely eliminated by poor high school scholastic performance. With schools now ditching standardized tests (which I view as a good thing), it may be even easier. Lastly, ND, like UT, wasn't fully invested in the bag-game. I think NIL opportunities for ND may be vastly underappreciated.

Edited December 26, 2021 by quigley

[quigley 1,563]

5 minutes ago, RollingPresidential said:

I’ll namedrop and say I went to HS at ULab with Nick Jr. and Kristen Saban (she’s quite crazy). Lived in BR from 2003-2008. Played HS basketball with the son of Dan Radakovich, new Miami AD, when Dan was deputy AD at LSU. TAF has that thing running on autopilot most of the time, that’s how bad O has been the last two years. I *wish* Texas donors were as committed to the team being good as TAF people are. Instead we have Dallas and Houston factions fighting each other for skybox space or dumb controversies about the school song. 

Washington’s not a sleeping giant because the State of Washington doesn’t produce the most NFL players per capita like Louisiana does (or is at least in the top 2-3). All the other giants are mostly woken up (except our beloved Texas Longhorns). 

My impressions are from a distance only. I'm an OU fan who has a general sense of college football. What is TAF?

Did I read the LSU situation correctly?

[TheMailBox357 213]

2 hours ago, cafe society said:

By the broad brush you paint with, who might not be considered a sleeping giant?  Washington won a national championship under Don James.  Georgia Tech, Colorado and BYU?  If Saban had taken the job almost anywhere, in retrospect they would have been a sleeping giant per your reasoning.

To me it's has to be program in the recruiting-rich state/region and their the #1 or #2 program in that region. I've always looked at UCLA & Georgia Tech as examples of "Sleeping Giants". Texas A&M has always been considered a sleeping giant. IIRC they're were rumors that Mack Brown wanted head coaching jobs at some of the ACC schools like UVA, VT, MD & etc. Because he considers them sleeping giants.

[TheMailBox357 213]

40 minutes ago, Leanderman said:

I suspect L$U will be our new main rival once we migrate over to the SEC.

 

37 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

OU, Aggy, and Piggy say sup.

I been wonder how the divisions are gonna shake out in the SEC. UT, A&M, OU, LSU, & Arky just seem like natural regional rivals.

[Vertigo 20,308]

55 minutes ago, Leanderman said:

I suspect L$U will be our new main rival once we migrate over to the SEC.

We are going to have plenty of rivals. We don’t need to create new ones

[Hank_Hill 18,893]

Only A&M considers A&M a sleeping giant. Oh and @George Clooney

[cafe society 2,872]

1 hour ago, quigley said:

 

RollingPrez is correct.

LSU had decades of mismanagement in the last century, and Saban organized it into a machine. The athletic department/bagmen smartly kept the "foundation" intact for a couple of decades, allowing Les Miles to back into a national championship in 2007. Les squandered talent and created scandals so they had to fire him, but he'd proven he was an idiot by 2009 or 2010.

Anytime someone says "trust the coaches," I think Ed Orgeron. Ed probably has CTE from headbutting players wearing helmets, but he parlayed a Cajun accent and big smile into $17m. The 2019 national championship was won by the people of Louisiana, who reared good kids who stayed home to play for State, and the LSU foundation who paid these kids what they were worth. Ed gets credit for none of this success because his a horny dullard.

I bring all this up to say that LSU may have made a mistake hiring someone who has as big an ego as Brian Kelly. Kelly's already proving he's going to try to do things his way. So far, he's run off their S&C coach, Tommy Moffitt, who came in 2000 with Saban, and ace RB coach/recruiter, Corey Raymond. Whether the foundation can still grease the high school coaches/handlers of Louisiana enough so that they see Kelly as part of the fam-A-LEE remains to be seen.

LSU may have been better off hiring a celibate figurehead who would go along and get along. This would allow the foundation of the football program to ensure the stable supply of high level talent that's been sufficient for a national championship despite having negatives at head coach twice already.

This is recency bias.  I suspect you have little knowledge of history.  Maybe I'm just an old.  But if LSU had been a sleeping giant then other schools with actual richer football legacies might have hit on three cherries.  For all of LSU's advantages, why couldn't anyone save the GOAT make it work?  Sure, after Saban planted the seeds even stumblebums like Les and Ed won.  But you are full of recency bias shit.

[quigley 1,563]

39 minutes ago, cafe society said:

This is recency bias.  I suspect you have little knowledge of history.  Maybe I'm just an old.  But if LSU had been a sleeping giant then other schools with actual richer football legacies might have hit on three cherries.  For all of LSU's advantages, why couldn't anyone save the GOAT make it work?  Sure, after Saban planted the seeds even stumblebums like Les and Ed won.  But you are full of recency bias shit.

You and I don't share an understanding of the concept of "sleeping giant." If you have a program with decades of success, that is a giant who is awake, not sleeping.

LSU has proven IT IS THE EXAMPLE of the "sleeping giant": a program that has the necessary resources to win, but but doesn't. "Sleeping" describes LSU from Billy Cannon to 2000.

"Giant" describes LSU since then. Saban's success coincided with the alignment of the triumvirate of admin/boosters/high school intermediaries. Take a listen to Skip Bertman talk about the admins commitment to the football program at the time Saban was hired. It may be a part of history you may not know and indicates Saban wasn't sufficient for the transformation of LSU (this may be obvious to some who understand the bag game). And Saban wasn't necessary to maintain the success of the program, as evidenced by the last 20 years.

Some of us also know history, and we also try to understand the concepts we're discussing.

[RollingPresidential 633]

I am in agreement with quigley. I think we are disagreeing on the nature of sleeping giant. LSU was a mess with potential to not be a mess, Saban got there, and it was no longer (as much of?) a mess. I do know a fair amount of the history and from basically what, 1971-2001 LSU was, at best, where Texas has been the last ten years? If not considerably worse. My first year living there was the Saban title and my last year living there was the Miles one. 

I appreciate your perspective, I think we are just disagreeing on semantics. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,447]

8 hours ago, TexasRenegade said:

He won't have that success.  Will he win games? Yes.  Will he win the SEC and make the playoffs 2 or 3 years? No.

 

For all the LSU is easy to win NC at with a good coach.... the years 1958-2003 need to talk to you.

Saban changed the perception of LSU for their instate talent. They used to not even receive a second look from kids like Warrick Dunn, Ed Reed, or Marshall Faulk. Pre-Saban, Louisiana kids left the state in droves and the SEC propaganda back then was non existent. The confluence of Saban having quick success at LSU, the lack of in-state competition, and the SEC becoming a destination for high school talent has all worked towards making most Louisiana kids look towards LSU first before looking elsewhere.  

Edited December 27, 2021 by Catdaddyhorn

[Hookem2147 21,348]

 

[LTtxfan 49,331]

On 12/22/2021 at 7:34 AM, closetojumping said:

Being “liked” means fuckall in Harris’ role. It was fine to just bullshit and play video games with recruits in his prior role, but there’s work to be done regarding actual relationship building in his current job. Overcoming objections, digging into the depths of what a recruit is really thinking and valuing, understanding where a recruit’s head is and where he’s trending, and finally, knowing what’s going on with the recruit, his parents and handlers, and other programs. Harris sucked at all of that. We knew D Miller was going to decommit before Harris did. He needs to get the fuck out.

It’s sadly obvious and shocking to me that a number of you guys have never managed people and talent in your life. Someone being “nice” or “liked” as the best attribute you can use for them in the workplace means the chair needs to be emptied. Up or out, motherfucker, and if you’re not making our org competitively advantaged and growing ahead of the competition, here’s a set of steak knives and don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya as you roll out of here carrying your big cardboard box. 

This is silly fan fiction at its worst. No one is going through that level of political gymnastics for a guy of Harris’ rank. Drayton has bigger things going on and is probably more overwhelmed as of right now than he’s ever been in his life. This story got pushed to reporters from the UT end, if anything. 

B.Harris may be staying ???

Just like CTJ, not a fan of him sticking around...

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by LTtxfan

[Hookem2147 21,348]

 

[golfclap 6,903]

[ATXbronco 4,084]

Well, if Xavier is happy.

 

I mean, you can't fix stupid but sometimes you can fix immature. 
Which while I have no knowledge beyond this forum, immaturity was Harris' number 1 issue?

[Teryor 4,476]

Ya I read Twitter too, Bruce

[RaysBoomBoomRoom 5,742]

TFB said definitively that he was gone. That’s an L for them.

Edited December 27, 2021 by RaysBoomBoomRoom

[Hookem2147 21,348]

It’s amusing to see the social media reaction to him staying. A lot of clueless people who are unaware how he cost us several guys this class.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Hookem2147

[taybo20 2,878]

Welp

[Bevo14 8,363]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

 

[BurntOrange&White 39,962]

Hopefully he’s demoted or something. Fuck

[taybo20 2,878]

Sark liked the Harris tweet…so there ya go

[Hookem2147 21,348]

I can stomach this decision as long as they beef up the recruiting department as a whole. Get another person or two who does Harris’ job at other schools. Or hire someone a level above Harris to manage the department and watch him like a hawk.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Hookem2147

[BurntOrange&White 39,962]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I can stomach this decision as long as they beef up the recruiting department as a whole. Get another person or two who does Harris’ job at other schools. Or hire someone a level above Harris to manager the department and watch him like a hawk.

Yeah he needs a demotion or someone hired above him. 

[UDontKnow 10,447]

5 minutes ago, taybo20 said:

Sark liked the Harris tweet…so there ya go

[Hookem2147 21,348]

Maybe getting actual recruiters at the RB and WR positions will take some responsibility off Harris’ plate. Carrington was always having to insert himself for position coaches who couldn’t recruit and I wonder if Harris was having to do the same and he isn’t as good.

[RabidM 2,668]

That ruined my night. I thought we were finally done with him...  FFS

[ztejas 43,528]

15 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Maybe getting actual recruiters at the RB and WR positions will take some responsibility off Harris’ plate. Carrington was always having to insert himself for position coaches who couldn’t recruit and I wonder if Harris was having to do the same and he isn’t as good.

Este. I'm cool with it if we get Marion on board. 

[FunkSoulBrother 931]

[Rickylovesweed 14,538]

It’s always funny to follow Twitter to see how out of touch the average fan is when it comes to recruiting. 

The reactions to Harris staying are how coaches like Carrington built such a reputation. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Rickylovesweed

[NoName 16,369]

13 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

OU finds ways to make these hires work but I think they could have hired a much better coach this cycle. 

like they said on the podcast (RGB maybe?) if Venables was the #1 choice they would have announced 24 hours after Riley left...

[Hank_Hill 18,893]

7 hours ago, RabidM said:

That ruined my night. I thought we were finally done with him...  FFS

If a recruiting assistant staying ruined your night it might be time to reevaluate some things