Greg has one of the lowest win percentages of any active coach

[RUTGERS95]

he's better than anyone we have on D. This is a big loss for them as he was expected to blow up this year

I am now moving into the camp where we beat BC, Mich St and leaning to W with Md. Road games so that caveat shouldn't be understated for weak teams but, these should be the 5-6 wins.

I want to beat Nebraska and just watch their fans meltdown. If I could swap any win for a win over Nebraska, I would.

 

[Knight Shift]

he's better than anyone we have on D. This is a big loss for them as he was expected to blow up this year

I am now moving into the camp where we beat BC, Mich St and leaning to W with Md. Road games so that caveat shouldn't be understated for weak teams but, these should be the 5-6 wins.

I want to beat Nebraska and just watch their fans meltdown. If I could swap any win for a win over Nebraska, I would.

The biggest worry for Maryland is their QB, and our defense.

And their home environment is not much of an advantage.
But at least some are picking Maryland to be terrible:

Maryland football faces catastrophic projection in 2026 Big Ten predictions | Sporting News

The Maryland football program is in a must-win situation this fall. And the goal is clear, according to national pundits.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[Knight Shift]

Uh oh. . . . .

 

[Anon1754923206]

16/16 SEC
13/18 B1G and I’m sorry state Penn and Michigan are only on that list because of their name.

 

[Knight Shift]

 

[rutgersguy2]

Fickell's performance is still shockingly bad .

If Fickell doesn’t improve, Jason Eck is a name I’ve brought up that might be in line as replacement if he can have another solid season at NM.



From the article:

Eck landed the job and didn't merely go to the FCS playoffs three straight years, turning around a program coming off five straight losing seasons. He also had some surprisingly competitive results against FBS programs, including a seven-point loss to Washington State and a 10-point loss to Oregon in 2024 that was within a field goal early in the fourth quarter.

It was a signal that Eck, in the same vein as coaches who incubated at the lower levels like Curt Cignetti and Kalen DeBoer, had a knack for building rosters and doing more with less.

"I think the lower levels, like D-II or FCS, where you could split up scholarships and have partials, in some ways it's practice for NIL because you had to really think strategically," he said. "You've got to find value within your budget if you're not the team that has the most money. You've got to wear a lot of hats and I just think handling the bandwidth of that prepares you a little better and I think you just appreciate everything."

Mike Jacobs at Toledo is going into his first season there. I’m interested to see how he does there too. Another working his way up from the no name lower levels.

 

[RU#1fan]

Not us.
When we get a new HC certainly a better opportunity.

 

[MADHAT1]

Not us.
When we get a new HC certainly a better opportunity.

Greg has a bad year and Zinn decides to can him, I look for these two to be high up Keli's short list :
Charley Weis Jr & Kendal Briles

 

[Knight Shift]

Greg has a bad year and Zinn decides to can him, I look for these two to be high up Keli's short list :
Charley Weis Jr & Kendal Briles

Don't sleep on Brian Kelly if available.

 

[MADHAT1]

Don't sleep on Brian Kelly if available.

Guess I can look forward to hearing his first speech as the HC done with a Jersey accent

 

[Knight Shift]

Guess I can look forward to hearing his first speech as the HC done with a Jersey accent

Yo NJ, How ya doin'. Fist pumps all around for the Birthplace of College Football. I remember hitting the Hunka Bunka Ballroom when I was younger, and it was lit.

 

[Caliknight]

He'd be a real steal for Rutgers. He was a fish out of water at LSU. His schtick fits in better in NJ and he can definitely coach. Dude ate Schiano's lunch every time we played them with less talent.

 

[RUTGERS95]

Don't sleep on Brian Kelly if available.

He'd be a real steal for Rutgers. He was a fish out of water at LSU. His schtick fits in better in NJ and he can definitely coach. Dude ate Schiano's lunch every time we played them with less talent.

I'd write a check tomorrow for this. Problem is, it's not enough! lol

 

[Anon1754923206]

Kelly…Jesus H…NO! ‍♂

 

[rutgersguy2]

I'd write a check tomorrow for this. Problem is, it's not enough! lol

He’s working for CBS an as analyst iirc. If some school wants and when he’s ready they could probably get him at a sort of discount. He’s being paid 50 some odd million from LSU with offsets. The offset can be a reasonable salary doesn’t have to be a premium one.

Maybe he’s like Bielema where the midwest or northeast are better fits. His record is good and he did bring ND back to the national stage (Freeman has taken it up a notch from there). His LSU record was okay too just not great and not up to their expectations.

He said he when he’s ready and if the right situation arises he wanted to be involved in the game that’s why he took the CBS job. But he’s also 64, if he still has the coaching bug not sure how picky he can be.

 

[rutgersguy2]

Greg has a bad year and Zinn decides to can him, I look for these two to be high up Keli's short list :
Charley Weis Jr & Kendal Briles

I’d be surprised unless it was extremely bad like 2 or 3 wins. The buyout would be around 18M after this year and that doesn’t include staff.

The new DC got a 3 year deal too iirc which leads me to also think GS will have at least through next year unless maybe they did one of those interim internal promotion deals if by some chance the defense did well and the wins didn’t show up for whatever reason.

After next year the buyout is around 12M and thats kind of plausible to swing if some notable results haven’t appeared by then. It would be an 8 year tenure which is more than most get, including less resourced schools. Locksley and Wilcox are probably the only comps without a winning conference record and kept this long. Wilcox made it to year 9 and was dismissed during the season. Locksley is now in year 8 and on the thinnest ice.

So imo GS still has some time but he’s got to show something notable soon (2-2.5 years).

 

[Knight Shift]

If Fickell doesn’t improve, Jason Eck is a name I’ve brought up that might be in line as replacement if he can have another solid season at NM.



From the article:

Eck landed the job and didn't merely go to the FCS playoffs three straight years, turning around a program coming off five straight losing seasons. He also had some surprisingly competitive results against FBS programs, including a seven-point loss to Washington State and a 10-point loss to Oregon in 2024 that was within a field goal early in the fourth quarter.

It was a signal that Eck, in the same vein as coaches who incubated at the lower levels like Curt Cignetti and Kalen DeBoer, had a knack for building rosters and doing more with less.

"I think the lower levels, like D-II or FCS, where you could split up scholarships and have partials, in some ways it's practice for NIL because you had to really think strategically," he said. "You've got to find value within your budget if you're not the team that has the most money. You've got to wear a lot of hats and I just think handling the bandwidth of that prepares you a little better and I think you just appreciate everything."

Mike Jacobs at Toledo is going into his first season there. I’m interested to see how he does there too. Another working his way up from the no name lower levels.

I was initially not for the idea, but I'm for Brian Kelly.

He’s working for CBS an as analyst iirc. If some school wants and when he’s ready they could probably get him at a sort of discount. He’s being paid 50 some odd million from LSU with offsets. The offset can be a reasonable salary doesn’t have to be a premium one.

Maybe he’s like Bielema where the midwest or northeast are better fits. His record is good and he did bring ND back to the national stage (Freeman has taken it up a notch from there). His LSU record was okay too just not great and not up to their expectations.

He said he when he’s ready and if the right situation arises he wanted to be involved in the game that’s why he took the CBS job. But he’s also 64, if he still has the coaching bug not sure how picky he can be.

Great to see you posting now that it's "tis the season" time! I let my subscription from The Athletic lapse, and I am not missing it.

Your recollection is correct, Brian Kelly is an analyst. And you could be right that Brian Kelly was likely a fish out of water at LSU. He made some videos and his fake Cajun/Southern accent were cringeworthy. So what about 64 is what I say. Cignetti is 65, and he ins under contract until 2032 when he will be 71. In 35 years of coaching, Brian Kelly has had 2 losing seasons. He is 297-109-2, a winning % of 0.733 (Cignetti's is 0.798). Cignetti is a unicorn, and Kelly may be an imperfect, angry unicorn.

 

[rutgersguy2]

I was initially not for the idea, but I'm for Brian Kelly.


Great to see you posting now that it's "tis the season" time! I let my subscription from The Athletic lapse, and I am not missing it.

Your recollection is correct, Brian Kelly is an analyst. And you could be right that Brian Kelly was likely a fish out of water at LSU. He made some videos and his fake Cajun/Southern accent were cringeworthy. So what about 64 is what I say. Cignetti is 65, and he ins under contract until 2032 when he will be 71. In 35 years of coaching, Brian Kelly has had 2 losing seasons. He is 297-109-2, a winning % of 0.733 (Cignetti's is 0.798). Cignetti is a unicorn, and Kelly may be an imperfect, angry unicorn.

Thanks, haven't felt like visiting or posting much until recently for various reasons.

I don't get caught up in personalities of coaches too much. Whether you like a guy's personality or not, my mind is can the guy do a good job or not and is his resume' worthy of a chance. If the answer is yes, then I'm fine with it.

64 isn't an issue in terms of getting the job done, it's more of an issue of how long can he wait for what he may deem a perfect fit because time isn't on his side if he really wants to coach. Just look at this offseason, there were openings and MSU seemed like a pretty good one for him and they went with Fitzgerald instead for whatever reason. Cignetti is a good example too in the sense that it was the losingest program in college football that gave an older candidate like him a chance, not a blue blood or even a mid tier program. Kyle Whittingham would be an exception to that but Michigan was also in a bind because of the timing of Moore's dismissal and Whittingham has performed on the P4 level as well. We'll see how he does there on the biggest of stages.

If and when the time comes that GS needs to be replaced, people shouldn't get lost in the panacea of all will be well after. The next hire could be another Ash, another GS or something better. No way to know for sure. The one guarantee though is renewed hope (always a fan's best friend) with the unknown. No matter the school though regardless of resources there should always be a goal to achieve some notable results (like winning conference records and rankings every so often) or what's the point of spending all the money and effort if you don't care about at least that much. In the future, if the playoffs were to expand to 24 (seems like more conferences are on board with that lately) then even a ranking could potentially get you in the playoffs. That would be a nice goal for schools like us to shoot for and feel good about after spending the millions they do.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Thanks, haven't felt like visiting or posting much until recently for various reasons.

I don't get caught up in personalities of coaches too much. Whether you like a guy's personality or not, my mind is can the guy do a good job or not and is his resume' worthy of a chance. If the answer is yes, then I'm fine with it.

64 isn't an issue in terms of getting the job done, it's more of an issue of how long can he wait for what he may deem a perfect fit because time isn't on his side if he really wants to coach. Just look at this offseason, there were openings and MSU seemed like a pretty good one for him and they went with Fitzgerald instead for whatever reason. Cignetti is a good example too in the sense that it was the losingest program in college football that gave an older candidate like him a chance, not a blue blood or even a mid tier program. Kyle Whittingham would be an exception to that but Michigan was also in a bind because of the timing of Moore's dismissal and Whittingham has performed on the P4 level as well. We'll see how he does there on the biggest of stages.

If and when the time comes that GS needs to be replaced, people shouldn't get lost in the panacea of all will be well after. The next hire could be another Ash, another GS or something better. No way to know for sure. The one guarantee though is renewed hope (always a fan's best friend) with the unknown. No matter the school though regardless of resources there should always be a goal to achieve some notable results (like winning conference records and rankings every so often) or what's the point of spending all the money and effort if you don't care about at least that much. In the future, if the playoffs were to expand to 24 (seems like more conferences are on board with that lately) then even a ranking could potentially get you in the playoffs. That would be a nice goal for schools like us to shoot for and feel good about after spending the millions they do.

Good post. Fearing an Ash outcome is not a good reason to never make a change, but I do think we ought to have somewhat tempered expectations of the outcome of change. Forget RU history and all that. Statistically speaking, far more up and comers end up failing at their next stop than succeeding. For every example of a big success story, there are at least 4 examples of situations that did not work out. Our fans are in the mode of glazing how great Zinn is and that’s fine and good but look - even if she’s the Messiah when it comes to managing NIL, at this point, she has not yet hand picked a single home run coach (women’s BB is TBD). So to assume because she’s doing the selecting it’s a guarantee we find the 1 in 5 coaches (or whatever it is) that are going to succeed at their next stop seems pretty premature. Again - I’m not saying it can’t happen, or that we shouldn’t ever consider change but we certainly don’t want to rush the matter and have Kelly making her selection from a pool that is notably restricted by our budget. That would not be good at all.

 

[Caliknight]

She’s only picked one coach. And he hasn’t even coached a game yet lol

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

She’s only picked one coach. And he hasn’t even coached a game yet lol

Yes - exactly my point. There is no data at this point to conclude anything about her ability to select which mid major success story is going to translate at the next level. or even - if we had enough money to lure in a standing high major coach with a history of success, her ability to identify the one who could replicate that success at RU. Again - not because it’s impossible to coach at RU but because often times coaches that succeed at place A don’t have the same success at their next stop. In general. Yes - it happens sometimes, but far from the majority of the time unless your selecting from the Urban Meyer pool of candidates. This is not a knock on Kelly Zinn. It’s neutral. There is no information available to hypothesize yet.

 

[Caliknight]

Yes - exactly my point. There is no data at this point to conclude anything about her ability to select which mid major success story is going to translate at the next level. or even - if we had enough money to lure in a standing high major coach with a history of success, her ability to identify the one who could replicate that success at RU. Again - not because it’s impossible to coach at RU but because often times coaches that succeed at place A don’t have the same success at their next stop. In general. Yes - it happens sometimes, but far from the majority of the time unless your selecting from the Urban Meyer pool of candidates. This is not a knock on Kelly Zinn. It’s neutral. There is no information available to hypothesize yet.

Pretty obvious why she picked Redus. It's also pretty obvious he's light years ahead of the last coach. She addressed an obvious problem and from the early returns, corrected it.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Pretty obvious why she picked Redus. It's also pretty obvious he's light years ahead of the last coach. She addressed an obvious problem and from the early returns, corrected it.

Maybe. But Redus hasn’t even coached a single game yet. And regardless - even if he’s a home run, nailing a women’s basketball hire is nothing like nailing a BIG football coach.

 

[MADHAT1]

Pretty obvious why she picked Redus. It's also pretty obvious he's light years ahead of the last coach. She addressed an obvious problem and from the early returns, corrected it.

Zinn knows the RU WBB Coach from her LSU days and from that decided he's what's needed to bring that program back to what it was during its glory days.
So far Keli looks like she picked a winner, but for now it's just looks, the proof will be how the team looks during the season and if the season ends with the program looking like it's improving.
Wins will only be part of the criteria to judge Redus, the way the team is playing at the end of season should be what's looked at in judging if Zinn made a wise choice to go for an assistant she knows or should have went after someone that was a successful HC at a mid-major level.

So far I think Keli made a good choice, but the proof of pudding will come at the end of season
and not what it looks like now.