UCLA hires Foster

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ComoCraig said:
My argument was that it's a safe hire to which you commented on his "lack of experience in ... everything?"

Since you weren't capable of picking up on my sarcasm, I'll spell it out for you. Foster has experience working with the team, recruiting, and coaching at the same level. With all of this in mind, I think its silly to say he has no experience, and in fact I think he has enough experience for the hire to make sense.

It seems like by your logic, no head coach should ever be hired unless they have head coaching experience. That's kinda like needing 3 years of experience to get an entry level job... It doesn't make sense.
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I have no idea why you seem so agitated by my posts....

That guy's lack of experience relative to a big program HC position is no mystery.
 

ComoCraig said:
Seems like a safe play by the AD. Hometown guy, UCLA HOF member, solid pro career, and experienced with the program.
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Where have I heard something like this before...?

ComoCraig said:
He must've shown he makes up for his lack of experience in other areas.
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I think the AD was "blown away"...

ComoCraig said:
Have to imagine one of those areas is the fact that his resume demands less pay than an established HC.
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Again, where have I heard this before? lol.
 

ComoCraig said:
It seems like by your logic, no head coach should ever be hired unless they have head coaching experience.
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I didn't get that from Slab at all. I think the point he is trying to make is that this candidate probably needs more experience first, like say going from RBs coach to a coordinator at a G5 or lower school, then maybe coordinator at P4, then head coach.

And I'd agree with that. It doesn't have to be exactly that path, but a few more intermediate stops would probably yield a better first-time head coach.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
Where have I heard something like this before...?



I think the AD was "blown away"...


Again, where have I heard this before? lol.
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Correct! Schools do this all the time. The issue people in MN have is that many are scarred by the Tim Brewster hire and that allows the quick questioning of any coach that hasn't been a HC.
 

Kind of a ridiculous hire/promotion from any rational outside viewpoint considering never serving as a coordinator or head coach. A “who you know” hire?

AD Martin Jarmond himself had a bit of a meteoric rise through the ranks to Boston College then UCLA in 2020. He didn’t hire Chip Kelly. Kelly’s gone, Jarmond has made his choice. Will be interesting to watch.
 



ComoCraig said:
My argument was that it's a safe hire to which you commented on his "lack of experience in ... everything?"

Since you weren't capable of picking up on my sarcasm, I'll spell it out for you. Foster has experience working with the team, recruiting, and coaching at the same level. With all of this in mind, I think its silly to say he has no experience, and in fact I think he has enough experience for the hire to make sense.

It seems like by your logic, no head coach should ever be hired unless they have head coaching experience. That's kinda like needing 3 years of experience to get an entry level job... It doesn't make sense.
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It is highly unusual for a guy to be hired as a head coach that has never been a coordinator or head coach at any level before.
 

I can't believe a program as prestigious as UCLA didn't make a big splash hire! How could this be? It's one of the best jobs in cfb from what I've been told!
 




ComoCraig said:
Seems like a safe play by the AD. Hometown guy, UCLA HOF member, solid pro career, and experienced with the program. He must've shown he makes up for his lack of experience in other areas. Have to imagine one of those areas is the fact that his resume demands less pay than an established HC.
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Not only that, but he's already on staff so there is no buyout to pay.
 


GophersInIowa said:
It is highly unusual for a guy to be hired as a head coach that has never been a coordinator or head coach at any level before.
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Definitely, but I don't think the conventional hire is safer in this case. Hiring a coordinator from somewhere comes with it's own risks. An external hire probably wants to bring his own staff. Whole new staff runs the risk of a transfer portal purge.

Worst case scenario If Foster stinks is you buy yourself a couple years to actually search for the new guy, and you have the fact that you gave the golden boy a shot and didn't overpay working in your favor.

Truth be told, I have no idea if Foster will work out. No one does. Regardless, the safe play is to keep the program intact, tread water, figure out if Foster is the guy, and take your time to pivot if he isn't.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Correct! Schools do this all the time. The issue people in MN have is that many are scarred by the Tim Brewster hire and that allows the quick questioning of any coach that hasn't been a HC.
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Was he referring to Lindsay Whalen? If so, kind of, but she had no coaching experience.
Ben Johnson? Kind of, but not a hall of fame player and former professional player.

Closest I can think of here is Guetekeunst (sp.) but he was a coordinator. I'm not going to include Claeys, because I don't think he was ever intended to be more than a stopgap.
 



My take is they clearly wanted to go in a different direction than most others in recent years. Who knows, the contrarian approach might be just what is needed. My guess is there was alum support for going in this direction.
 

disco said:
Was he referring to Lindsay Whalen? If so, kind of, but she had no coaching experience.
Ben Johnson? Kind of, but not a hall of fame player and former professional player.

Closest I can think of here is Guetekeunst (sp.) but he was a coordinator. I'm not going to include Claeys, because I don't think he was ever intended to be more than a stopgap.
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I kinda thought the "I think the AD was "blown away"..." quote would have told who I was referring to.

I bolded it for ya....
 

Interesting hire, somewhat telegraphs they didn't have the money to attract an existing HC on their short list.

I do see the benefits, at least on the surface, of this hire. Already on the coaching staff, so there is continuity there and may mean less attrition from players transferring out. Played in the NFL, so that is a potential boost to his ability to recruit (obviously as the RB coach prior to his promotion he was already recruiting, but still). Was an All American as a player at UCLA, so that gets him some immediate brownie points with the fan base probably (though they will go away quick if he struggles).

Also, being a UCLA alum, it stands to reason that he might be less likely to bolt for "greener pastures" if he is successful as a HC. It's not a given, plenty of Head Coaches have left their alma mater school for a different job, but with UCLA joining the B1G if he is successful there may be very few greener pastures out there that aren't coaching in the NFL (which may or may not be an aspiration of his, we don't know).

This seems like a decent hire for them, but a bit of a gamble as well.
 

Taji34 said:
Interesting hire, somewhat telegraphs they didn't have the money to attract an existing HC on their short list.

I do see the benefits, at least on the surface, of this hire. Already on the coaching staff, so there is continuity there and may mean less attrition from players transferring out. Played in the NFL, so that is a potential boost to his ability to recruit (obviously as the RB coach prior to his promotion he was already recruiting, but still). Was an All American as a player at UCLA, so that gets him some immediate brownie points with the fan base probably (though they will go away quick if he struggles).

Also, being a UCLA alum, it stands to reason that he might be less likely to bolt for "greener pastures" if he is successful as a HC. It's not a given, plenty of Head Coaches have left their alma mater school for a different job, but with UCLA joining the B1G if he is successful there may be very few greener pastures out there that aren't coaching in the NFL (which may or may not be an aspiration of his, we don't know).

This seems like a decent hire for them, but a bit of a gamble as well.
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If he does well ... I assume he gets more resources so yeah they could keep him.

But I don't know of many real examples of "well he's an alumni so he will stay" situations. It's just not a career path where that happens much / that it is the smart choice.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I don't consider UCLA to be a top program anymore but for arguments sake I'll call them that ... for this post.

As far as a big program goes this has to be one of the weakest resume hires to a program like that in recent memory right?






Like THAT'S IT....
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I suppose for CFB but for revenue sports, we seem to be the trend setter in this department with the last two NCAAM and the previous NCAAW BB coaches.
 

disco said:
This doesn't really seem like a terrible hire. It's not flashy, it's not groundbreaking, but it's a safe hire in that it promotes continuity in the program (especially with the timing of Kelly leaving), and promoting a coach on staff is pretty common.
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Although he's from North Carolina, he went to HS in Orange County and went to UCLA. He has to have automatic inroads to H.S. In LA and San Diego. If he can assemble/ and or add to the current staff, it could work. Even Brewster did okay when he had one decent coordinator in Ted Roof (one year). Not sure about now, but many UCLA students did their first two years at California JUCOs/ Community Colleges. He might be able to plug potential holes in the roster with JUCO players.

With the right staff and personality, the Bobby Bowden style of coaching has and can work.
 
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I am sorry but if we pulled this move had Fleck left (maybe made Winston the head coach) most would not be saying it was a "safe" move. They would be ripping our AD for being cheap and rather lazy and how as a Big Ten school we should expect more.

I am not saying he won't be good but if I was a UCLA booster I would not be super jazzed over this and definitely would not be sugar coating it.

As for Fleck, I don't doubt they had him in mind, but we all knew they didn't have the money to make it work. Despite what some Eeyore's think that is just not an prestigious job.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Ask Dan Campbell and PJ Fleck
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Fleck was the head coach at Western Michigan. The unusual part is at the P5 level. Obviously Fleck was hired by WMU without coordinator or head coaching experience. That's a little more common at that level.

Dan Campbell was at least interim head coach for almost a full year at Miami.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Ask Dan Campbell and PJ Fleck
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Huh? I'm assuming you mean when PJ was hired at WMU. But hot "up and comer" position coaches get hired at G5 schools semi-regularly. However, at the P5 level, it's completely different. PJ did his time at a G5 school before getting an opportunity at a P5 school. G5 and P5 = apples and oranges and it's not even close.
 

Dave H said:
I am sorry but if we pulled this move had Fleck left (maybe made Winston the head coach) most would not be saying it was a "safe" move. They would be ripping our AD for being cheap and rather lazy and how as a Big Ten school we should expect more.
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No kidding!
 

GophersInIowa said:
Fleck was the head coach at Western Michigan. Dan Campbell was at least interim head coach for almost a full year at Miami.
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How did I miss that he was wrong on Fleck, lol. I know Campbell was an assistant coach twice, but technically not a coordinator, so I didn't wanna go there and be nit-picked lol.
 

Taji34 said:
I do see the benefits, at least on the surface, of this hire. Already on the coaching staff, so there is continuity there and may mean less attrition from players transferring out. Played in the NFL, so that is a potential boost to his ability to recruit (obviously as the RB coach prior to his promotion he was already recruiting, but still). Was an All American as a player at UCLA, so that gets him some immediate brownie points with the fan base probably (though they will go away quick if he struggles).
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I've seen this comment by multiple people, and not entirely sure that this is really what you should be looking for. Chip Kelly, who has tons of HC/OC experience to draw on managed to get to a .500 conference record in his time there. Replace a guy with a ton of experience with no experience, and keep all the other (relatively) underperforming staff. And somehow that's supposed to yield better results? This hire is a massive head-scratcher for me, which now that they're in the B1G, is good news to me. But if I'm a Bruins fan, I'd be pretty pissed.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
Wouldn't only 2 examples out of hundreds kinda count as "highly unusual", which happens to be the quote you were responding to?
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Dabo Swinney
Ed Orgeron
Jim Harbaugh
Herm Edwards
Urban Meyer
Kirk Ferentz
Jim Tressel


None of them were ever coordinators. All were positions coaches that became head coaches.

Is it OK for Western Michigan to hire a HC with no experience, but not UCLA?
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Dabo Swinney
Ed Orgeron
Jim Harbaugh
Herm Edwards
Urban Meyer
Kirk Ferentz
Jim Tressel


None of them were ever coordinators. All were positions coaches that became head coaches.
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I still don't think that that's many, but it is higher than two, I'll give you that.

I guess I wish @GophersInIowa had explicitly said, "highly unusual...hired...head coach AT THE P5 level". I think that's what most of us thought when reading it - that it's unusual to get a P5 job this way, not ANY HC job.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
I still don't think that that's many, but it is higher than two, I'll give you that.

I guess I wish @GophersInIowa had explicitly said, "highly unusual...hired...head coach AT THE P5 level". I think that's what most of us thought when reading it - that it's unusual to get a P5 job this way, not ANY HC job.
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I get it. P5 is high stakes.

Heck even Andy Reid was never a Coordinator or HC before taking over the Eagles.
 

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