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SC got Shaun Nua from Michigan. He's probably their best defensive coach and a great fit there. The DL improved in recruiting and production while he was with the Wolverines, and he's American Samoan so may do well recruiting Polynesian players. Good recovery for Riley after losing Cain to LSU.

https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Article/Michigan-Wolverines-FOotball-updates-analysis-Shaun-Nua-USC-179879355/

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3 hours ago, quigley said:

SC got Shaun Nua from Michigan. He's probably their best defensive coach and a great fit there. The DL improved in recruiting and production while he was with the Wolverines, and he's American Samoan so may do well recruiting Polynesian players. Good recovery for Riley after losing Cain to LSU.

https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Article/Michigan-Wolverines-FOotball-updates-analysis-Shaun-Nua-USC-179879355/

Sounds like he's got the Polynesian ties.

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On 1/4/2022 at 12:45 PM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Can't say I would be surprised. Feels like right time if he's wanted to go back.

You wonder if he realizes getting to the playoff is as far as he (or any coach) will ever be able to take Michigan, so why not jump

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Interesting insight from our $9.95er on Chip's contract situation.  Fucking Sexton.  Dude thinks he has leverage he does not.  Chip has done absolutely nothing to earn a raise, yet has been offered one.  Sexton wants a bigger one, plus likely a bigger buyout than UCLA is willing to offer.  His record would have gotten his ass fired at more than 50% of the schools in FBS.  

Spoiler

When it comes to the contract negotiations between UCLA and Chip Kelly, most UCLA fans are looking toward Jan. 15th as the big deadline. That’s the last day of Kelly's fourth year of his five-year contract, and when the reciprocal buyout of $9 million expires. That means either UCLA or Kelly could walk away as of Jan. 16th and not be responsible to the other for that $9 million.

But from what I’m hearing, an equally significant date – or even more significant – is Jan. 10th. That’s the annual “Black Monday” for the NFL, the first Monday after the last regular-season game when there is a flurry of NFL coaching firings. After that date, insiders believe that everything will change in the negotiations between UCLA and Kelly – because the entire landscape will change. There could be upward of 8 or 9 NFL head coaching jobs open, and Kelly could get some legitimate interest. Or, maybe even illegitimate interest. Remember, Kelly's agent, Jimmy Sexton, is a guy who can fabricate interest in his clients through the media to attempt to leverage better current deals. So imagine what Sexton will attempt to do after Black Monday. Rumors could be floated tying Kelly to NFL head coaching jobs and even offensive coordinator positions. In the process, the UCLA program could be damaged considerably, with rumors being spread that UCLA isn’t a coach-friendly place, doesn’t pay market value for coaching salaries, doesn’t take football seriously, etc.

From what I’ve heard, there are on-going negotiations between UCLA and Kelly’s camp, including a decent amount of meetings. I can’t say specifically what is keeping the deal from getting done at this point. At one time I was told that UCLA had offered Kelly a decent salary bump and reasonable extension, one that industry insiders thought was appropriate for Kelly’s job performance at UCLA – or maybe even a little generous. I have heard the situation described as UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond sticking to his guns, and not willing to capitulate to any unreasonable terms. The feeling in the industry is that Sexton used the open Oregon job to try to leverage Jarmond, even though Kelly really wanted to remain at UCLA, and Jarmond weathered that.

An industry source thought that both sides have some leverage at this point. For Jarmond and UCLA, if Kelly wants to leave, the feeling is that there will potentially be worthy candidates for the UCLA job available, some in the college coaching ranks and some from the pro ranks, and he could fire Kelly anytime after Jan. 15th and it wouldn't cost him the $9 million buyout. From the Kelly camp perspective, it probably feels it has some leverage because of the looming threat of Black Monday. This industry source thought, then, that some kind of agreement would have to get done before Monday, the 10th, probably by this Friday or Saturday, or there’s a good chance it won’t get done at all and UCLA and Kelly could part. It’s thought that there is little to no chance that Kelly would coach at UCLA as a lame duck in his fifth and final year of his contract, that it's just an untenable situation from both perspectives of Kelly and UCLA and it’s something that just isn’t done within the industry.

Now, many of you might be skeptical that any NFL team would be legitmately interested in Kelly, but from the real world perspective within the NFL, Kelly is well-respected as a very good football mind and there could be an NFL owner that might want to hire him. For one thing, the NFL has changed a bit since Kelly was a coach. There are fewer head coaches that have complete, general-manager-like control, and many are mainly responsible for being essentially a coordinator for one side of the ball. In that model, Kelly might even be more attractive to an NFL owner, since Kelly has a reputation as a better offensive coordinator than a general manager. And let's face it, when it comes to coaches in the NFL, Chip Kelly is a much better, pure coach and offensive coordinator than many of the guys who currently have head coaching jobs.

A UCLA source we spoke with was still confident an agreement would get done between UCLA and Kelly. The industry source believes it’s likely something has to get done before Black Monday, so that means the clock is truly ticking on this, and that something could happen in the next few days. If it doesn’t, and we make it to Black Monday, everything could change between UCLA and Kelly.

Black Monday cuts both ways in my book.  There will be a number of high profile NFL guys looking for work after that as well.  Our roster is in good shape, and with the right NFLer, we might be able ot lure a few more transfers that would otherwise look elsewhere.  Jarmond can't blink.

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Wow. Supposedly a good recruiter and coach. How many options are better than him?

 

    Can confirm that Ohio State o-line coach Greg Studrawa is out in Columbus, per a source. @FootballScoop had it first.
    — Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 6, 2022

 

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2 hours ago, quigley said:

Wow. Supposedly a good recruiter and coach. How many options are better than him?

 

    Can confirm that Ohio State o-line coach Greg Studrawa is out in Columbus, per a source. @FootballScoop had it first.
    — Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 6, 2022

 

UCLA's Justin Frye a top candidate to replace him.  Would be a huge loss for us.

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1 hour ago, Parliament said:

Ohio produced four, 4* OL prosects last year.  We got ONE.  Across all position groups, Ohio OL is one of the better ones that we produce talent for.  Despite that, we haven't exactly killed it at OL recruiting.

Does Ryan Day have the same FOMO that Riley did at OU?

Riley sometimes favored national recruits with higher recruiting profile over in-state/regional recruits that profiled similarly.

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19 hours ago, quigley said:

 

These are usually very amusing. LSU's hire of He gave Brian Kelly an A.

What does Dennis Dodd know about anything?

 

 

BK to LSU is A GAMBLE for both sides, high risk/high pay.  It feels of to say that a coach with four consecutive 10 win seasons is a risk but in this environment he is.

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1 hour ago, quigley said:

Does Ryan Day have the same FOMO that Riley did at OU?

Riley sometimes favored national recruits with higher recruiting profile over in-state/regional recruits that profiled similarly.

I'd say he's pretty neutral.  Recruiting in-State is complicated. You gotta offer guys early, just to get in the door, and in-State guys tend to accept the offer real fast.  It's always a balancing act on WHEN to offer.  Still though.  

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Siap...   Mark Stoops is expected to turn to the family for his new linebackers coach

JOHN BRICE

10 HOURS AGO

Sources: Stoops expected to join ... Stoops at Kentucky

Mike Stoops, who played in the NFL after a star career at the University of Iowa and who has coached at some of college football's biggest programs, including Alabama and Oklahoma, is expected to return to the Southeastern Conference.

Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Stoops is slated to join the staff of his brother, University of Kentucky head man Mark Stoops, in a defensive assistant role working with the Wildcats' linebackers.

Mark Stoops, whose Wildcats just closed their second 10-win season in four years with a bowl triumph last Saturday against his alma mater, Iowa, has been seeking a replacement for Jon Sumrall.

Early last month, Sumrall, a fast-rising coaching star, was hired as head coach at Troy University, but Sumrall completed the task with the Wildcats and helped coach the Kentucky team to a narrow win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.

In Mike Stoops, Mark Stoops is poised to get a coach with whom he obviously is comfortable and who also has seen programs excel at the highest levels of college football.

During the first of two decorated stops at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops helped Bob Stoops and the Sooners to the program's 2000 national championship, and Mike Stoops also was an defensive analyst on Alabama's 2020 national title team.

Additionally, he has coached at Kansas State and most recently spent the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.

The Owls allowed 25.75 points per game -- a scoring defense that ranked inside the top 60 and ahead of such Power 5 programs as Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Texas and Tennessee, among others. 

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9 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Siap...   Mark Stoops is expected to turn to the family for his new linebackers coach

JOHN BRICE

10 HOURS AGO

Sources: Stoops expected to join ... Stoops at Kentucky

Mike Stoops, who played in the NFL after a star career at the University of Iowa and who has coached at some of college football's biggest programs, including Alabama and Oklahoma, is expected to return to the Southeastern Conference.

Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Stoops is slated to join the staff of his brother, University of Kentucky head man Mark Stoops, in a defensive assistant role working with the Wildcats' linebackers.

Mark Stoops, whose Wildcats just closed their second 10-win season in four years with a bowl triumph last Saturday against his alma mater, Iowa, has been seeking a replacement for Jon Sumrall.

Early last month, Sumrall, a fast-rising coaching star, was hired as head coach at Troy University, but Sumrall completed the task with the Wildcats and helped coach the Kentucky team to a narrow win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.

In Mike Stoops, Mark Stoops is poised to get a coach with whom he obviously is comfortable and who also has seen programs excel at the highest levels of college football.

During the first of two decorated stops at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops helped Bob Stoops and the Sooners to the program's 2000 national championship, and Mike Stoops also was an defensive analyst on Alabama's 2020 national title team.

Additionally, he has coached at Kansas State and most recently spent the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.

The Owls allowed 25.75 points per game -- a scoring defense that ranked inside the top 60 and ahead of such Power 5 programs as Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Texas and Tennessee, among others. 

Mike did a lot to hasten the end of Bob Stoops tenure at OU.

Looks like Mark's made enough money to feel like he can make a nepotistic hire now too.

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13 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

.

During the first of two decorated stops at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops helped Bob Stoops and the Sooners to the program's 2000 national championship, and Mike Stoops also was an defensive analyst on Alabama's 2020 national title team.

 

image.png.500412fc1bd831615cda3802d11a52b9.png

At UK?

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Siap...   Mark Stoops is expected to turn to the family for his new linebackers coach
JOHN BRICE
10 HOURS AGO
Sources: Stoops expected to join ... Stoops at Kentucky
Mike Stoops, who played in the NFL after a star career at the University of Iowa and who has coached at some of college football's biggest programs, including Alabama and Oklahoma, is expected to return to the Southeastern Conference.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Stoops is slated to join the staff of his brother, University of Kentucky head man Mark Stoops, in a defensive assistant role working with the Wildcats' linebackers.
Mark Stoops, whose Wildcats just closed their second 10-win season in four years with a bowl triumph last Saturday against his alma mater, Iowa, has been seeking a replacement for Jon Sumrall.
Early last month, Sumrall, a fast-rising coaching star, was hired as head coach at Troy University, but Sumrall completed the task with the Wildcats and helped coach the Kentucky team to a narrow win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
In Mike Stoops, Mark Stoops is poised to get a coach with whom he obviously is comfortable and who also has seen programs excel at the highest levels of college football.
During the first of two decorated stops at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops helped Bob Stoops and the Sooners to the program's 2000 national championship, and Mike Stoops also was an defensive analyst on Alabama's 2020 national title team.
Additionally, he has coached at Kansas State and most recently spent the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.
The Owls allowed 25.75 points per game -- a scoring defense that ranked inside the top 60 and ahead of such Power 5 programs as Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Texas and Tennessee, among others. 

Mike Stoops played in the NFL? Wait, what? Quick run to Pro Football Reference and, yes, Mike played three games for the Bears in 1987 … as a scab player during the player’s strike.
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Former Hawaii players, some parents and state senators blasted Hawaii head coach Todd Graham and UH officials on Friday night in a nearly three-hour Senate hearing on the state of the program, amid player departures and accusations of verbal abuse from Graham.

“He’s hands down the worst guy I’ve ever met in my life,” said defensive back Leonard Lee, who was recently removed from the team after previously speaking out about issues.

The hearing, in front of the state Ways and Means and Higher Education Committees, was called as player frustration with the culture under Graham has gone public. On Dec. 1, former players R.J. Hollis and Darryl McBride Jr. held a Twitter Space to discuss issues within the program amid player transfers. Recent and current players eventually joined the discussion and talked of Graham taking away their love of football through his verbal and mental abuse. From abrasive language to ignoring players who aren’t starters, they said the feelings were widespread. Similar sentiments came out in a San Franciso Chronicle article a few days later.

In total, 19 players have transferred out of the program, most notably starting quarterback and team captain Chevan Cordeiro, a Hawaii native who recently went to San Jose State. Athletic director David Matlin and Graham released statements on Dec. 28 about the portal losses, saying it had become a reality of college football.

 

On Friday, Graham and Matlin denied some accusations and said work was being done to fix the issues. Asked near the end of the hearing if he would fire Graham if the school could afford the buyout, Matlin said no, and that he believed in working through the problems.

State senators called the hearing because very little has come out publicly about what the school is doing to fix the issues. School president David Lassner, who was there in person, and Matlin, who attended over Zoom, maintained that work was being done.

“The absence of news does not reflect an absence of action,” Matlin said.

The committee members called up former players and parents to testify over video conference. Lee said he was kicked off the team because he spoke out about the issues on the original Twitter Space.

“Todd Graham likes to disguise it as discipline, the way he treats us and talks to us,” Lee said Friday. “The verbal abuse he has toward us, it’s stuff I wish I could share, but it’s too vulgar to share in this setting. Playing for him for two years was incredibly mentally draining. I’ve played football my whole life. I loved it as much as anyone. It was hard to wake up and go do something you love with a guy like that in charge. The only way to describe him is a tyrant.”

Lee said he only realized he had been removed from the team when he walked into the building a few days after the Twitter Space and saw his name wasn’t on his locker, along with being removed from the team group text chat. Coaches told him they figured he quit the team after his comments and when he failed to show up to practice, but Lee said no coaches called to check in on him.

Defensive end Derek Thomas, a California native, said players told the administration when former head coach Nick Rolovich left in 2019 that they wanted another head coach like Rolovich, one who understood the Hawaii culture and was personable. Thomas praised Graham’s passion for his Christian faith, but called the coach a hypocrite, saying Graham came in and promised not to change anything, but changed everything, and that his negative attitude drained the team.

“Coach Graham has truly has stripped the love and joy out of a lot of people for this sport,” Thomas said. “The transfer portal is blowing up. All of those guys are my friends. I know them, I talk to them, and there’s only one reason why they are choosing to leave this beautiful and incredible university; it’s because they cannot stand to have Coach Graham as the head coach any longer.”

USATSI_16646119-scaled.jpg
 
Starting quarterback and team captain Chevan Cordeiro, a Hawaii native who recently went to San Jose State, is one of 19 players who have transferred out of the program. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)

Thomas’ mother, Tina, later testified that she posted on Facebook how Derek was treated, after which Graham’s wife Penni messaged her, “I’m sorry that your son didn’t work hard enough.”

Tina said the family once bought Derek a ukelele for his birthday and he played it for family and friends the night before a game, but Graham and defensive line coach Dan Phillips told him to stop playing because “it’s effing annoying.” Tina also claimed Graham was overheard calling Hawaii a Third World country because a vending machine did not have Dr. Pepper.

Marie Eletise, the mother of Michael Eletise, an offensive lineman who medically retired after last season, said Michael has dealt with concussion issues. Eletise said Graham and the football program promised to help pay for treatment but haven’t responded to requests since then.

“When you come to a coach and say, ‘I am depressed,’ as an athletic department, we need to do better,” Eletise said. “We love this team, this island, and we don’t want to do anything to hurt the program. We believe in UH football. We’re proud Michael is going to be an alumni. But you’d think as a university, how many times do I have to beg for this football department to help our son? This is a lifetime of damage these players are going to experience. … After everything that happened this year, he doesn’t want anything to do with the game. It has changed him forever. We have begged for help from UH and gotten no response. We can do better as an island and as a university.”

Other people who testified included Hollis, McBride, former quarterback Justin Uahinui, Eletise’s father, Mililani High School head coach Rob York and local sports agent Michael Green. Almost all of the testimony was negative toward UH personnel. UH officials pointed out that open testimony was not supposed to be part of the hearing and said that it was “cherry-picked” testimony.

“I’m going to be honest, not everything that was said was true,” Matlin said.

Matlin said he began to hear about player morale issues toward the end of the season and that he held a players-only meeting that lasted four hours so he could hear their complaints. He heard legitimate issues and also cleared up false rumors, like the idea that Graham’s son Michael had been given a scholarship, which was not true. Matlin then had meetings with Graham to discuss the issues and said Graham agreed to change his language, create a player committee elected by the team to discuss issues and also help Graham get local mentors to help him understand Hawaii culture.

Graham was then brought into the hearing over Zoom, two hours after it had begun. He opened by explaining why he loved to coach and how much he wants to make a positive impact on players.

“I do not think we have a toxic environment in our locker room,” Graham said. “I am a demanding coach and I do that because I think our players deserve the very, very best. But obviously, there’s things that I’ve learned and there’s things you have to evolve, you have to get better at.”

Sen. Glenn Wakai then asked Graham to square the players’ comments about him being a tyrant with his own beliefs. When Matlin jumped in to say this was only a subset of players and expressed frustration that there was open testimony school officials weren’t told about, Sen. Kurt Fevella forcefully pushed back.

“It wasn’t a popularity contest,” Fevella said. “This was people who were complaining about disturbing things. … We have some mental health issues that none of you guys are understanding right now.”

Graham then said he didn’t believe it was an abusive culture and he could only speak to his experience. When Wakai asked Graham if he’s lost control of the team, given the number of transfers, Graham said he had exit interviews with all the players who entered the portal and there were several reasons why they left, including travel or better opportunities elsewhere. The transfer portal has impacted every school, and two UH transfers have landed at Power 5 schools.

Fevella said he was sent a letter that claimed Black and Polynesian athletes had racial slurs directed at them. Asked if he used the terms, Graham said, “Absolutely not. I would never do that.”

In the San Francisco Chronicle story in December, players said they’d decided to transfer because they believed the school didn’t have the money to pay Graham’s $1.275 million buyout, which is more than double what UH has ever paid to buy out a coach.

Wakai noted that Graham had not publicly apologized through the developing conflict and asked Matlin if he would terminate and buy out Graham’s contract if the school could.

“We have a plan to get better and we’re working on it,” Matlin said. “We’ve got people counseling and working with us. … To answer the question, no. I believe in people and I believe we need to continue to get better.”

State senators said the school’s Board of Regents should have been more informed about the issues and should take greater involvement.

All in all, Hawaii football remains in a tenuous place. The internal issues have spilled out into the public, and it’s not clear whether changes have had any effect, as players have continued to enter the portal since the season ended. The Rainbow Warriors (6-7) were supposed to play Memphis in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve, but UH had to pull out due to roster issues from COVID and transfers. A handful of players entered the portal after that.

Hawaii athletics has always faced difficulties due to its location and costs. Aloha Stadium was deemed unsafe, and the football team played this season in a makeshift, 9,000-seat stadium built around the track on campus. But the team morale issues under Graham are a whole new layer.

The state government is involved now, frustrated that more has not been done and that what has been done hasn’t been more public. It’s not often a coach continues when so much player discontent is known. But it doesn’t appear any wholesale changes are on the horizon, or if they’re even possible.

After the hearing, Lee tweeted, “Through out all of this, just know, this is happening because we love the University of Hawaii.”

The Senate’s stated description of the hearing was to discuss the University of Hawaii’s football program, but also “budget and cost related to coaching staff contracts” and “issues relating to the transfer of players,” which included written testimony from student-athletes in other university sports.

Board chair Randolph Moore was among the UH officials questioned. Fevella said he was also sent a letter from a women’s basketball player who alleged that she took mistreatment concerns to the athletic department but was retaliated against. Fevella used this for a greater conversation about mental health.

Matlin said the player’s allegation that she lost her scholarship was a complete falsehood. He said the department has invested in mental health issues, experimented with Talkspace online therapy and hired a part-time employee to conduct mental health appointments with student-athletes.

“It’s the one thing that keeps me up more than anything else, and during COVID, it’s gotten worse,” Matlin said. “We’ve invested a lot into that and we’ve spent a lot of time and I’m very proud of our medical team. There’s more work to do.”

The hearing ended with senators asking that the school put any coaching contract extensions on hold.

Fevella went on his personal Facebook page for a live video after the hearing and shared more thoughts about the athletic department and football program, saying he would start a petition to get the UH Board of Regents to “get rid of” Graham, Matlin and Lassner.

“The athletic program isn’t just burning down, it’s burnt down,” he said. “It’s zero. It’s done.”

 

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1 hour ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I honestly dont remember Orlando being fired by Riley. 

As soon as Riley was hired, he offered to bring the entire OU defensive staff with him to SC. Grinch immediately accepted and left with him on the plane to LA the next day. Orlando getting axed was, I guess, a formality at that point.

The SC defense will have subpar coaches in the secondary (Grinch, Manning--who's the worst) and at LB (Odom--who I doubt stays in LA long). Shaun Nua, from Michigan, will be a definite upgrade at DL. He's a good recruiter and developer, and will probably do really well on the West Coast. They may still have another hire on the defensive side to make.

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