2019-20 Coaching Discussion/Carousel

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#1      

Hoppy2105

Little Rock, Arkansas
I know it’s early in the season and we may (doubtful) turn it around but there has been a ton of discussion of possible coaches SHOULD we fire Lovie this year.

Since it’s all been in the EMU postgame thread, I figured a dedicated thread was warranted.

Lovie isn’t gone yet, and may come back next year, but let’s use this as a place to vent, speculate about other coaches/systems, and talk about firings/hiring regardless of whether it’s Illinois or not.
 
#2      

Deleted member 654622

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Going off Lovie's history here, lets just assume we end up with a mirror of last season's record and field performance.
Interested on what people would prefer in a new coach, someone looking for another shot at a Power 5 job or an up and comer, Xs and Os dude or Jimmy and Joes guy, mid west background or don't care?
Personally what ever happens, I hope Corey keeps a job here. Life isn't fair, but that would just suck for the players that followed him here to IL
 
#3      

Hoppy2105

Little Rock, Arkansas
I want someone with a proven track record of winning but, for me, a huge issue is the staff.

Both Tim Beckman (then Cubit) and Lovie went through weird staff hiring periods and replacements at the start of their time here...changing schemes a year or two in.

I want a coach who has won but also can say “And I’m bringing my OC/DC with me who are amazing at implementing my system and have been working with me for years” or “I’ve already got my guy for OC and he’s been cutting his teeth at a smaller school and has been great”.

I’d also take one of those coaches who controls the system and pretty much IS the OC.

No more prolonged staff searches where we don’t quite know what we are getting along with our HC.
 
#4      

Deleted member 649710

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It has to be someone who knows and has been successful in the college game. It has to be a staff that has shown it can teach fundamentals. No NFL retreads.
 
#5      
I want someone with a proven track record of winning but, for me, a huge issue is the staff.

Both Tim Beckman (then Cubit) and Lovie went through weird staff hiring periods and replacements at the start of their time here...changing schemes a year or two in.

I want a coach who has won but also can say “And I’m bringing my OC/DC with me who are amazing at implementing my system and have been working with me for years” or “I’ve already got my guy for OC and he’s been cutting his teeth at a smaller school and has been great”.

I’d also take one of those coaches who controls the system and pretty much IS the OC.

No more prolonged staff searches where we don’t quite know what we are getting along with our HC.

Now we're talking.

Our two biggest issues as things stand today are A: A lack of a higher end coaching staff below the HC and B: A lack of higher end talent acquired through recruiting.

So, that's it for me. You need to prove you can hire a qualified staff and you need have a proven recruiting track record. Everything else, where you're from, if you've been a HC before, what your background looks like, it all means very little to me.
 
#6      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
I want someone with a proven track record of winning but, for me, a huge issue is the staff.

Both Tim Beckman (then Cubit) and Lovie went through weird staff hiring periods and replacements at the start of their time here...changing schemes a year or two in.

I want a coach who has won but also can say “And I’m bringing my OC/DC with me who are amazing at implementing my system and have been working with me for years” or “I’ve already got my guy for OC and he’s been cutting his teeth at a smaller school and has been great”.

I’d also take one of those coaches who controls the system and pretty much IS the OC.

No more prolonged staff searches where we don’t quite know what we are getting along with our HC.

Trouble is, the better the staff, the more likely the previous school will offer a big promotion and raise to the crown jewel of it to stay as the head coach, who can then offer the coordinator job to his best position coach, etc.

Which of course happened to Beckman. But still, it's tough to explain what the heck happened in 2012. There was a ton of talent on that staff. Billy Gonzales, Chris Beatty, Tim Banks, Alex Golesh, these guys all escaped the wreckage here to become really highly regarded at big time jobs elsewhere.
 
#7      
Trouble is, the better the staff, the more likely the previous school will offer a big promotion and raise to the crown jewel of it to stay as the head coach, who can then offer the coordinator job to his best position coach, etc.

Which of course happened to Beckman. But still, it's tough to explain what the heck happened in 2012. There was a ton of talent on that staff. Billy Gonzales, Chris Beatty, Tim Banks, Alex Golesh, these guys all escaped the wreckage here to become really highly regarded at big time jobs elsewhere.

1 4* player in 3 recruiting cycles. Can't win in the Big 10 if you can't recruit.
 
#8      

Hoppy2105

Little Rock, Arkansas
Trouble is, the better the staff, the more likely the previous school will offer a big promotion and raise to the crown jewel of it to stay as the head coach, who can then offer the coordinator job to his best position coach, etc.

Which of course happened to Beckman. But still, it's tough to explain what the heck happened in 2012. There was a ton of talent on that staff. Billy Gonzales, Chris Beatty, Tim Banks, Alex Golesh, these guys all escaped the wreckage here to become really highly regarded at big time jobs elsewhere.

But it can be done and we’ve seen it elsewhere. I think the key is having enough in the tank after the head coaching salary to make sure the best assistants come with.

Also, and this is just my observation of the situation, it seemed that Beckman gave young Matt Campbell his big shot and it was a home run. But I’m not entirely sure MC wanted to hitch his wagon to TB any further than “getting a chance to prove himself.”

If we can find the staff that actually WANTS to work together and succeed together (at least for awhile) that would be best. How we find that is easier said than done.
 
#9      

Deleted member 652751

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Sadly, until the university has people in the top decision - making positions in admin and BOT who give a damn we have what we currently suffer with. It will not change. You have to have accountability as anAD but you also have to have support when you are trying to get student athletes into the university - both new admissions as well as transfers and building a winning program. This goes for both major revenue sports. Current leadership too worried about appeasing and impressing their academia colleagues. Better to be thought of by them as politically correct upper echelon academic public u than a powerhouse at both that and sports. All while examples of being great at both are all around us. Pathetic state of affairs.
 
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#11      
Jim McElwain definitely intrigues me. I'm gonna wait out the rest of CMU's season to see where I land on him but he has a large profile of hiring good assistants, recruiting good players and winning football games.

Another name that peaks my interested is Craig Bohl.
 
#12      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
1 4* player in 3 recruiting cycles. Can't win in the Big 10 if you can't recruit.

Well but a couple of those guys were only here for about 10 months. It's not so much the question of the Beckman era generally, it's 2012 specifically. That was a veteran roster with a bunch of excellent coaches who literally struggled to get plays in from the sidelines a lot of the time. Just totally befuddled no-shows week after week after week.

2012 and 2009 are the ones where there's just no way to make sense of what a disaster we were.
 
#13      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
When does it become cheap to let Lovie go?
 
#15      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
The one thing we have going for us that we did not the last "go-round" is that we finally have a B1G roster, or at least some semblance of one.
 
#18      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nc...contract-salary-buyout-and-bonuses/ar-AAHiydM

"The buyout plummets after the 2019 season and beyond"
2020: $2 mill
2021 & 2022: $1 mill

According to this article

$4 million this year, $2 million next year, and anything beyond that, we would need to be extending him and upping the buyout if we wanted to keep him in a viable recruiting state.

In fact, it's probably pushing it to even let it get to next year, especially if we're trying to keep this going at 5-7. He's the lamest duck in the world at that point.

$4 million is conservatively industry standard these days.
 
#19      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
$4 million this year, $2 million next year, and anything beyond that, we would need to be extending him and upping the buyout if we wanted to keep him in a viable recruiting state.

In fact, it's probably pushing it to even let it get to next year, especially if we're trying to keep this going at 5-7. He's the lamest duck in the world at that point.

$4 million is conservatively industry standard these days.
What is the optimal timing of a change, to get coaches coming on the market, and hit the recruiting cycle early enough to impact the coming year? December?
 
#20      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
What is the optimal timing of a change, to get coaches coming on the market, and hit the recruiting cycle early enough to impact the coming year? December?

As soon as possible. Early firings allowing time to get the search up and running have become the trend. Once you've made your decision, just do it.

I doubt Whitman would fire Lovie before the end of the season, but there's no time to wait after that.

One other problem with firing him before the end of the season is that he's also the DC, and his son and his buddy are two of the other staff members. How do we play a game without those guys?

This is not a position a major college football team should be in.
 
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#21      

Deleted member 654622

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I think I would lean toward getting a coordinator from a successful program. Hell the new thing is to grab an Alabama coordinator now! No thank you Steve Sarkisian. Plus I like Rod Smith and his offense. So Pete Golding.....uh nevermind

How much money would it take for Brent Venables to leave Clemson? I don't think we have a shot in hell at him. But that would be sweet
 
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#22      

Hoppy2105

Little Rock, Arkansas
As soon as possible. Early firings allowing time to get the search up and running have become the trend. Once you've made your decision, just do it.

I doubt Whitman would fire Lovie before the end of the season, but there's no time to wait after that.

One other problem with firing him before the end of the season is that he's also the DC, and his son and his buddy are two of the other staff members. How do we play a game without those guys?

This is not a position a major college football team should be in.

Yup. Like, Mike Thomas firing Ron Zook fast. (Which I think was the day after the Minnesota loss that completed the 6 loss end to the season)
 
#23      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
As soon as possible. Early firings allowing time to get the search up and running have become the trend. Once you've made your decision, just do it.

I doubt Whitman would fire Lovie before the end of the season, but there's no time to wait after that.

One other problem with firing him before the end of the season is that he's also the DC, and his son and his buddy are two of the other staff members. How do we play a game without those guys?

This is not a position a major college football team should be in.
There is the issue of the current recruiting class as well. Would be hard to get the signatures of a CJ Dixon or James Frenchie if they do not know who the HC is going to be.
But you could wait and they could just enter the transfer portal and lose them anyways....
 
#24      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
But you could wait and they could just enter the transfer portal and lose them anyways....

If we tried to trap kids in LOI's by delaying Lovie's firing there would be a richly deserved national media outcry and we would lose every last one of those players, deservedly.

So yeah, it's a tight window between our last game on 11/30 and signing day on 12/18.
 
#25      
There is the issue of the current recruiting class as well. Would be hard to get the signatures of a CJ Dixon or James Frenchie if they do not know who the HC is going to be.
But you could wait and they could just enter the transfer portal and lose them anyways....

Frenchie is more tied to Cory. We'd have to see how his status played out. I think Reggie is a solid in either way but i haven't been told that directly, just my hunch.

CJ is shaky regardless of who the head coach is.
 
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