Put Your Candidate To The Test

[Duluthguy]

For a different perspective on the coaching search, try this simple test: Imagine that your favorite candidate is hired, but four years from now the program is struggling and it's obvious things aren't going to work out. What weakness or negative did you overlook or rationalize? In four years could you be saying something like:

His inexperience was a huge factor afterall.
Well, I guess his short term success was a fluke.
I worried that his success at that level wouldn't tranfer to the Big Ten.
There was some doubt about his offense working here.
Defense was always his weakness.
He never had proven that he could recuit at this level.
His success appears to have been because he had so-and-so as a coordinator.
That situation impacted recruiting more than I thought. etc...etc...

Does your candidate pose unnecessary risks? Is there another candidate in your top 3-5 that fares much better? I know, every candidate carries risks, but one could argue that the best candidate carries the fewest risks. Who would that be?

 

[Buck the Fadgers]

Al Golden

Inexperience at head coach. Temple was something like 3-35 before getting Golden, and they have improved dramatically. In 2007 and 2008 he started more Freshman than anybody in the country.

Defensive Coach, but played on the offense in college. Should have great knowledge of both sides of the ball

Also known as a great recruiter

 

[Silvio]

Trestman (don't care about spelling)

There was no Canadian talent to build a pipeline to. The two players that came from the great white north didn't focus on academics and spent all their free time chasing members of the Woman's hockey team.

 

[Gopher07]

Bellotti

He may have lost the "fire" for coaching
We didn't give him enough money to hire the right assistants
He doesn't have the Midwest connections to recruit to Minnesota

 

[ruralgopher]

Leach

The only possible thing would be the negative impact on recruiting, but I don't think so.

Otherwise, lets go down the list:
Experience, check.
Short term success, Nope, success over 10 yrs as HC.
Success not translate to BT? I think B12 south is very comparable.
Offense not working here, maybe Q for some but think it would absolutely work here as a 180 from the other offenses in conference. Defense? repeated top 5 finishes in B12.
Recruit at this level? He has.
Success due to star coordinator? Nope.

 

[raindog]

Leach- In year one I was sure we had our guy when he wouldn't let Maturi out of the closet. Then in year two when he asked that his office be remodelled sacificing office space to accomodate his storage needs, and instead of specifying square footage he talked in terms of needing enough room to fit his offensive line, two deep. In year three he wanted TCF Bank Stadium upgraded to include a plank above the press box...

 

[Silvio]

I don't think the plank would be an unnecessary risk, in fact I think many people would like to see that in year one.

 

[Duluthguy]

I'll do my top two:

#1. Bellotti: I keep trying to push something he said recently out of my mind, but I can't ignore it. He said something to the effect that he liked his job with ESPN but the traveling was kind of hectic. What does that say about his enthusiasm for recruiting trips?

#2. Leach. Even if he was totally blameless in the James situation, no one can say with certainty that it won't hurt recruiting. Plus, if he is hired, every single radio, television, newspaper and internet report, both locally and nationally, will carry the words "alleged player abuse." Not a great start to a new era.

 

[GopherinPhilly]

I'll do my top two:

#1. Bellotti: I keep trying to push something he said recently out of my mind, but I can't ignore it. He said something to the effect that he liked his job with ESPN but the traveling was kind of hectic. What does that say about his enthusiasm for recruiting trips?

#2. Leach. Even if he was totally blameless in the James situation, no one can say with certainty that it won't hurt recruiting. Plus, if he is hired, every single radio, television, newspaper and internet report, both locally and nationally, will carry the words "alleged player abuse." Not a great start to a new era.

Better than what they said when Brew was hired..."Who?"