Who's your candidate of 'last resort'?

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howeda7

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If the reports of multiple coaches turning down the Gopher job are true, who is the fall-back candidate of last resort? The one we know will probably take it if offered? I fear that is Trestman, which would be awful beyond words. I hope that it is Phil Fulmer.

While there are legitimate concerns about his age, 'Southern-ness' and how much he has left in the tank, he's not that far down the list for me. If Richt, Bellotti, Mullen, Golden, Hoke, Sumlin, etc. are all indeed 'out', I see no reason not to give the old guy a chance. By all accounts, despite his claim that it 'didn't fit,' he would accept the job gladly. I'd much rather have him then Randy Shannon and I'd much, much rather have him that Marc Trestman. Who's your candidate of last resort?
 

The premise of your post is off base. The reports of multiple coaches turning down the job are not true. Think about it. Why would you turn down $1.5-$2M per year to move from a mid-major to the Big Ten when it's probably 3 times what you're making. Is it possible one of those coaches turned it down because he thinks there's something better in the offing for him? Sure, but the whole notion that nobody would take a multi-million dollar contract to advance their career is preposterous.
 

I would not consider Fulmer a candidate of "last resort." Heck, he fits Mother Maturi's definition of a "Tubby Smith" type hire.

However, in the context of your post/question based on who potentially has already said "no," absolutely 100% agree, Phil Fulmer.
 

year of the gopher said:
The premise of your post is off base. The reports of multiple coaches turning down the job are not true. Think about it. Why would you turn down $1.5-$2M per year to move from a mid-major to the Big Ten when it's probably 3 times what you're making. Is it possible one of those coaches turned it down because he thinks there's something better in the offing for him? Sure, but the whole notion that nobody would take a multi-million dollar contract to advance their career is preposterous.
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I agree they may be completely false. Why does that make the premise of the thread off base? I'm simply asking who folks want if this happens. Fulmer is the first guy on my list that I am reasonably certain would say yes. The others are unknown. Besides, we should not underestimate the potential of our dithering AD to screw this up.
 

Trestman isn't even going to be interviewed, so no worries. Jagodinsky is the guy if no sitting coach will take the job.
 


howeda7 said:
I agree they may be completely false. Why does that make the premise of the thread off base? I'm simply asking who folks want if this happens.
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Okay, I thought you were buying into the Barreiro/Gaard hyperbole.

I'll play:

I'd be okay with Fulmer or Randy Shannon and reality is I'll get behind whoever gets named as head coach.
 

I would deeply consider Jeff Horton as a last resort guy. Although, I think with how he has kept the team playing the rest of the year, he should definetly be considered with the "Plan B-ers".
 

year of the gopher said:
Okay, I thought you were buying into the Barreiro/Gaard hyperbole.

I'll play:

I'd be okay with Fulmer or Randy Shannon and reality is I'll get behind whoever gets named as head coach.
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Shannon's probably next on my list behind Fulmer. I think with new coordinators he might do fine, but the 'I've never left South Florida' factor scares me more then the long Tennesee ties for Fulmer. Also, there's something to be said for having both a football and basketball coach with rings, even if they're not our rings. Who else can say that besides Florida?
 

e.bigelow said:
I would deeply consider Jeff Horton as a last resort guy. Although, I think with how he has kept the team playing the rest of the year, he should definetly be considered with the "Plan B-ers".
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In the truest sense of the word, Horton is the ultimate fall-back. He's basically already accepted the job if offered. I'd take him over Trestman any day and frankly consider him about equal with guys like Fedora. I'd only go there if Fulmer and Shannon also pass, which I doubt either of them would.
 



howeda7 said:
Shannon's probably next on my list behind Fulmer. I think with new coordinators he might do fine, but the 'I've never left South Florida' factor scares me more then the long Tennesee ties for Fulmer. Also, there's something to be said for having both a football and basketball coach with rings, even if they're not our rings. Who else can say that besides Florida?
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True. The other thing with Shannon is that the program was a he!! of a mess when he got there. He cleaned it up and ran it with integrity and won a good number of games along the way. IMHO, if he could start with a stable program and focus on getting better ON THE FIELD rather than dealing with other issues it would be interesting to see the results.
 

I dont consider him to be one, but I think the U does have Leach on the list as a fallback option.

Generating interest, excitement, confidence for fans, alumni, and recruits is the primary goal of this search. Maturi must realize that the risk of fan-abandonment is far greater possibility if he falls back to another no-name guy. Even if he has a personal distaste for a guy like Leach, he would do better to get past that. The Brewster hire was all about Maturi's feelings -- and that was a giant failure. We can't do that again.

Hire the proven winner who you know will accept the job, possibly for cheaper than you expect.
 

howeda7 said:
In the truest sense of the word, Horton is the ultimate fall-back. He's basically already accepted the job if offered. I'd take him over Trestman any day and frankly consider him about equal with guys like Fedora. I'd only go there if Fulmer and Shannon also pass, which I doubt either of them would.
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We could get Horton for less money. I don't care much what his record was like years ago, he's done OK here. If it comes down to crossing our fingers, I'd hire Horton. It would give us more continuity as well.
 

I find it interesting that Jerry Kill is seldom mentioned and is definitely under the radar. IMO, the guy is a great candidate and has shown nothing but success in his three HC gigs. His current NIU squad is solid. His staff has been with him for years, NIU football has strong academic scores and he has recruiting ties to Chicago and the midwest. I think his health issues have been resolved.

If he leaves NIU, I hope he doesn't end up at Indiana.
 



howeda7 said:
In the truest sense of the word, Horton is the ultimate fall-back. He's basically already accepted the job if offered. I'd take him over Trestman any day
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Let me start by saying I am not at all on board with Trestman, but I don't fully understand the total hatred some seem to have for him.

He's a Minnesota guy, who has dreamed of having this job. He has experience as an NFL offensive coordinator (coaching in a Super Bowl), as a college offensive coordinator, has had success with developing teams and especially quarterback. Now, he is really enjoying big success in Canada, playing in the last three Grey Cups, winning two of them. He has a staff there that already has a Minnesota flavor.

Again, that's not an endorsement of Trestman, but I just don't get why that resume would rank BEHIND Jeff Horton, who I have enjoyed, but who has a career college coaching record of 22-51 at two mid-level schools. He was 13-44 at UNLV. His FIRST job as an offensive coordinator came THIS YEAR at Minnesota. Otherwise, outside of his miserable head coaching years, he's been a QB/WR coach at the college level and a low-level offensive assistant on two very bad NFL teams.

It defies logic, so I'm curious why the hatred for Trestman?

To me, if we are (and I have no way of knowing) in dire straights in needing a fallback, we could certainly do worse than a Minnesota guy who has won the last two Grey Cups.
 

howeda7 said:
In the truest sense of the word, Horton is the ultimate fall-back. He's basically already accepted the job if offered. I'd take him over Trestman any day and frankly consider him about equal with guys like Fedora. I'd only go there if Fulmer and Shannon also pass, which I doubt either of them would.
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Well put, but I do not believe that Fulmer or Shannon would consider it. I, personally, would like to see Horton stick around and be given a shot. But realistically, I know that will not happen. That would be of course if guys like Edsall, Hoke, Golden say no of course.
 


Well we know that Horton is interested, and frankly, I think we could do worse, so I'd say him.
 

If we're running out of head coaches, I'd look at Brent Venables, Will Muschamp and Paul Chryst.
 

Gopher07 said:
Being discussed ad naseum here: http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?t=23312
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Thanks. I missed that thread.

Again, let me clarify, I understand why Trestman isn't on top of anyone's list or even in the top 10. But, if we're in a spot to need the ultimate fallback, then we could do worse than him. I personally think Horton would be a disaster. I like what he did, but he did it without any level of pressure or expectation. If he became "the guy" things would change for him, IMO. His complete and utter disaster as a head coach at a low level and then never climbing higher than a QB coach since (until this year) should scare people. Again, I like him personally, but we have to remove emotion from this very, very important hire.
 


Stan The Caddy said:
Right, because Will Muschamp would leave that gig as Texas head-coach-in-waiting.
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Of course you're most likely right, but I'd still call because you never know unless you ask. I was thinking about excellant coordinators with good personalities, not how obtainable they are.
 



e.bigelow said:
Well put, but I do not believe that Fulmer or Shannon would consider it. I, personally, would like to see Horton stick around and be given a shot. But realistically, I know that will not happen. That would be of course if guys like Edsall, Hoke, Golden say no of course.
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Why don't you think they would? All accounts are that Fulmer would and that the Shannon rumors last month were mainly coming from his camp. In Shannon's case I'm not sure the terms of his 'buyout' and whether he'd essentially be 'coaching for free', but there are usually ways around that issue.
 

tjgopher said:
Thanks. I missed that thread.

Again, let me clarify, I understand why Trestman isn't on top of anyone's list or even in the top 10. But, if we're in a spot to need the ultimate fallback, then we could do worse than him. I personally think Horton would be a disaster. I like what he did, but he did it without any level of pressure or expectation. If he became "the guy" things would change for him, IMO. His complete and utter disaster as a head coach at a low level and then never climbing higher than a QB coach since (until this year) should scare people. Again, I like him personally, but we have to remove emotion from this very, very important hire.
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Heck Horton's been at an NFL OC too, which seems to be Trestman's main claim to success. But Horton's been a college head coach and without looking it up again, I believe he had success at Nevada prior to the wipe-out at UNLV. In either case, those were both too long ago to matter much and Horton would be a huge risk. Still, he showed that he's at least decent as a game-day coach. We have no idea if he can recruit, but we also have no idea of Trestman can. To me, Trestman basically signals that we give up at ever being any good at football and would drive me away as a fan, fair or not. Horton doesn't reach that level of dispair and he at least earned some level of a shot with how he handled this. If he'd gone 0-5 instead of 2-3 I'd have him right there with Trestman as a 'we give up' move.
 

I wouldn't mind Shannon, but I can't figure out why he was fired. Donna Shalala doesn't mess around, but I have a hard time seeing why Shannon should have been fired. Must be nice to have high expectations.
 

50PoundHead said:
I wouldn't mind Shannon, but I can't figure out why he was fired. Donna Shalala doesn't mess around, but I have a hard time seeing why Shannon should have been fired. Must be nice to have high expectations.
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I think if it was up to Donna, he wouldn't have been, but the boosters were pitching a royal fit. The Miami Athletic Dept. isn't flush with cash like Florida or Alabama and couldn't afford to tell them where to go shove it.
 

Fair or not, hiring Trestman is a sign of small town provincialism. Being Minnesota is the only reason he gets mentioned. If he was from St Louis instead of St. Louis park would he even be considered?
 



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