Minnesota is on the cusp of hiring Cincinnati defensive line coach Chad Wilt

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Took a quick peek at the highlights from the Cincy/ BC bowl game. The Bearcats DLine got after it!
 




Gopherhole tweeted out that the hire is official.
 





Mitu said:
Fantastic hire. Came into a Cincinnati team that lost a ton of talent on their DL and still delivered. Bearcats line was a big part of their stout defense.
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We definitely could use some continuity at that position as I believe this will be the 4th coach in 4 years at the position. I am not too worried about him moving on because he left Maryland likely due to the coaching change (Edsall fired) and then stayed at Army for a reasonable period of time before taking a promotion to Cincy. Now he's taken another promotion, albeit after just one year, to the power 5. I think that's a reasonable career arc and not really indicative of a guy looking to jump around.
 



EG#9 said:
We definitely could use some continuity at that position as I believe this will be the 4th coach in 4 years at the position. I am not too worried about him moving on because he left Maryland likely due to the coaching change (Edsall fired) and then stayed at Army for a reasonable period of time before taking a promotion to Cincy. Now he's taken another promotion, albeit after just one year, to the power 5. I think that's a reasonable career arc and not really indicative of a guy looking to jump around.
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Even if he is a job jumper it's better to have a good coach for a couple of years than it is to have a mediocre one for 10. Especially if the DC is still around when he bails to help carry forward some of the good stuff. Best case scenario would be if he's good AND he sticks around I think ?

I'm not saying I think he will leave anytime soon though. Anyone's guess is as good as mine.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I wonder how much a DL coach can help a DL considering that in CFB land there are very few DL guys out of high school who can play really well and a lot of so so dudes.
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No DL coach -- and no position coach period -- can consistently perform magic.

If there were a set of magic drills that consistently turned so-so guys into war daddies, then everyone would do those.
 





PitinoFan said:
Don’t read too much into it. He likes the hire a lot.
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To me it was quite obvious, in the context that he was RT'ing the original Thamel report that the Gophers were "on the cusp":

Goblirsch knew it was a done deal, but he wasn't allowed to officially report that yet (at that time).
 

MplsGopher said:
No DL coach -- and no position coach period -- can consistently perform magic.

If there were a set of magic drills that consistently turned so-so guys into war daddies, then everyone would do those.
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Yeah I think that's the case.

When it comes to DLmen I think of what TC said a while back about there really only being a small pool of good DLmen out of high school, like way smaller than most other positions... so few that the blue bloods pretty much get them all and sometimes not even enough for them.

What you have to do is work with your LBs and find guys who can grow into the position and just do what you can and hope to get enough guys almost by luck.
 

Yeah, interior DL especially is an interesting position. You have to be large enough to play it, yet fast/athletic enough to have avoided being funneled into playing OL at some point.

I think it's a natural progression to take guys who played DE/TE well in high school, and move them inside to DT, bulk them up a bit.
 

bfriedrichs10 said:
Even if he is a job jumper it's better to have a good coach for a couple of years than it is to have a mediocre one for 10. Especially if the DC is still around when he bails to help carry forward some of the good stuff. Best case scenario would be if he's good AND he sticks around I think ?

I'm not saying I think he will leave anytime soon though. Anyone's guess is as good as mine.
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Agree - and if he gets offered a D Coordinator job somewhere, it probably means he did a kick-ass job with our D Line. Can't worry much about that - successful programs always need to replace/promote as coaches get hired in to bigger roles elsewhere.
 

BeerFueledFF said:
People seem to love this hire. He's been a special teams coach and a recruiting coordinator as well. My only concern is that he does jump around jobs a lot, but maybe we can convince him to stay for a bit at least.
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Any bit of advice he can give Rob Wenger would be nice. We could use some help there...
 

Hope he fits hand in glove with Rossi's scheme.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Hope he fits hand in glove with Rossi's scheme.
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I really only know two ways that a defensive philosophy can handle the DL generally speaking (and it can of course change play-to-play given the situation): have the DL try to get maximum penetration in the backfield, or try to have the DL absorb the most possible blockers/clog up the gaps as much as possible.

Would be curious which way Rossi prefers for a generic situation (say midfield first down).
 

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