Grade a Calhoun hire

Grade a Calhoun hire

  • Total voters
    107
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SDGopherFan said:
Calhoun is at a major disadvantage because of height and weight restrictions, few can get into an air force academy, football is truly 2nd or even 3rd in these players life (academics first and service to the academy 2nd). What football star wants to go to a college where they are required to serve their military after playing in college. He has won consistantly with highly intelligent, hard working overachieving football players brought out to play their best by their coach. We need a motivator and a coach who can pull the very best out of his players, Calhoun can do that.
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Agree there are disadvantages service academies have. However motivating players at a service academy isn't a huge challenge when compared to civilian schools. The service academy players are already motivated and they have the benefit of having above average intelligence. The idea of coaching up players relies on a coach being able to instill discipline and motivation into a group of socially diverse young men, something that is more challenging outside of the academies.

There are plenty of very good athletes that want to attend service academies and private schools like Stanford and Northwestern and there are recruiting battles between them. But what works in recruiting those players, doesn't work when recruiting others with different backgrounds.

Enough said, I like Calhoun, just feel like he's a B candidate behind Harbough, Patterson, Peterson, Richt or Belloti, who are my A guys, and Golden, Mullen and Hoke, who are my A- guys. Anyone of whom I'd be happy with, including Calhoun.
 

Players at the service academies may be more self-disciplined than are players at other colleges, but it is by no means all self-discipline. The service academies enforce discipline very heavily, and they wouldn't need to if it was all self-discipline.
 

I gave it a "B" and I personally would be happy with Calhoun. I would reserve an "A" for guys like Harbaugh, Patterson, Peterson, etc. Although I would personally be excited about Calhoun, I do think his name would fail to stir the wider Gopher Nation (which happens to be populated by a lot of fair weather fans) into rushing to the ticket office. Calhoun would have to place the cart behind the horse and do some impressive pulling before the seats would fill up again.
 

I'd rate a Calhoun hiring as a solid 'B', and then of course his results here will determine whether that grade moves upward or downward. I had him as #3 on my own personal coaching wishlist, so I'd be more than fine with a Calhoun hire.
 





FireDaveLee said:
Since the poll is whole letter grades, A would be too high, but a B would be too low for me. Right in the A-/B+ range for me. I'm a big Calhoun guy. I still remember watching the end of the 1st half of their bowl game last year against Houston just before leaving for the pregame scene at the Insight Bowl and watching Air Force, with no timeouts, tackled in-bounds, and then in complete unison, everyone running off the field while the FG team ran on to get a last second FG before the half and the complete discipline that was excuted. I remember screaming at the TV "I WANT THAT FROM MY FOOTBALL TEAM!" The question is: was that coaching or disciplined Air Force players that have been screamed at since the moment they stepped foot on campus in early July as freshmen reporting for basic training? I think the players have a lot to do with that, but I also think it can be done with the right football coach that preaches discipline.

A head man is only as good as his staff though. Hopefully he'd have the right staff. But I like Calhoun. I like him over Sumlin or Golden. My current top 4:
1) HR that nobody is talking about (still have a feeling of Gary Pinkel)
2) Mullen
3) Calhoun
4) Hoke
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What about Bronco Mendanhall via BYU?? 49 wins, 15 losses in his tenure at BYU.
 

I would give the hire an F, and that's not to say Calhoun is a terrible coach, just that the school needs to come up with a big time hire in this situation. If they simply cannot attract a successful coach from an AQ school, then Mike Leach needs to be seriously considered.

My main concern with Calhoun is he has essentially ZERO experience recruiting high end athletes. The staff he's worked with at Air Force have very little experience recruiting high end athletes. I don't believe he'd bring the Air Force offense to Minnesota (we'd see something closer to what he was a part of with the Texans), so I don't think we'd have to worry about the system. I just see a Calhoun hire (and many of the rumors that people seem to be taking seriously) as the right choice for Minnesota at this time. They bring no buzz to the program or any track record of success against high quality opposition. If the Gophers must go this far down their list, I would rather look at someone like Mark Stoops DC Florida State, Kevin Wilson OC Oklahoma, or Holgorsen/Malzahn, but I am little concerned about the latter two being ready to be a head coach. Please bring in a coach that knows what it is to compete (on the field and on the recruiting trail) against top notch competition.
 



Silvio said:
I gave the higher a B, but think it would probably be a b-/C+ type higher. In my mind Glen Mason would be a B grade for what he did here and Tim Brewster was a C-/D+ probably a D from the standpoint of a whole letter grade. I wouldn't be terribly excited with this hire as I think they still need someone that at least exceeds Glen Mason.

My Concerns:
1. Recruiting - Can he relate to athletes who are not at a service academy? I think that people who go to a service academy and skilled position players in Division 1 are different types of people, can he relate to the latter
2. Offensive Style - My understanding from this board is that he runs some variation of the option. Will that style work in the BigTen.

What I perceive as his strengths:
1. Ability to coach and lead young men - he is a graduate from the AFA and is able to lead and coach up his players who most likely have a limited skill set (compared to all of D1 football) and limited time constraints (extra requirement of the academy).
2. Understands who he is - He understands what type of offense his talent can run to be successful. He sticks with one philosophy and tweaks it to suit his players.


Overall I would be relieved but not excited by this hire and would be relying on hope for the next couple of years. I guess that would be the same no matter who they hire.
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Calhoun only runs the Triple option because it fits what he has for talent. He's a former NFL offensive coordinator, so you really can't say he's a one trick pony
 

Strictly speaking, the triple option is a play rather than an offense. It can be run out of a number of formations. Teams that run the option tend not to actually run the triple option play on most downs.

I'd love to see the option as a part of the mix of plays, if not the triple option, then a standard double option.
 

Calhoun is too risky of a hire. His success/system may not work well outside of a service academy.
 




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