OT: 2022-23 Coaching Carousel

Dec 17, 2008
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If true some solid choices outside the program for Cincy. Golesh could follow a path similar to Heupel when he went to UCF.



On staff, Mike Tressel, Gino Guidugli and veteran Kerry Coombs all are potentially natural fits for Cincinnati.

Outside of the program, sources indicated to FootballScoop that Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, a Canton, Ohio, native, could emerge as a top target for the Bearcats Hartline has deep ties in the state as a former Buckeyes’ standout and NFL player who’s star has rapidly ascended in the coaching ranks since Hartline retired from the NFL and joined the staff at his alma mater.

Additionally, former Cincy star Mike Mickens likewise has ascended in the coaching ranks after a brief NFL career. Mickens is currently the defensive backs coach for Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame.

And finally sources told FootballScoop to potentially watch for Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh. Like the others, Golesh has deep roots in Ohio, broke into coaching during an early portion of his career at Ohio State and has zoomed to the top of his profession this year as the play-caller for a Tennessee offense that ranks at or near the top in myriad prominent offensive categories
 
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Retired711

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Maybe he's saying it's hard for Stanford to be active in the portal because their entrance requirements are a high bar to get transfers in. NW could be the same but that's not the case for most schools.
I think that's definitely what he's saying. I don't think NIL is a problem for them. There are *plenty* of prosperous Stanford alumni, including in the immediate area, and of course Silicon Valley is next door. Stanford students like to tease Cal students that "you'll be working for us some day."
 
Dec 17, 2008
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Solid name for GT. I wonder if results of guys like Clawson, Leipold, Klieman have finally opened the eyes of ADs that these guys are worthy of an opportunity.





 
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rufeelinit

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I wonder where Leonhard goes. Seems like things were trending in his direction but UW went big game hunting. Will be interesting to see Fickell's contract terms. Given what some moderately successful coaches are getting $10MM per would seem to be in play here. Also no mention of Paul Chryst for any opening.
 
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MADHAT1

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Arizona State has hired Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham at only 32 he's the youngest head football coach in a Power Five conference. .
(Does anyone know if there is a younger one in the FBS division.)
Kenny has extensive ties to the state, a Scottsdale,AZ native going to HS there , being an Arizona State alum and an offensive assistant for the Sun Devils.
 
Dec 17, 2008
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Arizona State has hired Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham at only 32- ne's the youngest head football coach in a Power Five conference. .
Does anyone know if there is a younger one in the FBS division.
Kenny has extensive ties to the state, a Scottsdale,AZ native going to HS there , being an Arizona State alum and an offensive assistant for the Sun Devils.
He’s the youngest by 3 years in the P5. I don’t know about FBS but he’d be close I’d guess. I posted about it up above.

edit: looked at the tweet above..it is the FBS
 
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Dec 17, 2008
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I wonder where Leonhard goes. Seems like things were trending in his direction but UW went big game hunting. Will be interesting to see Fickell's contract terms. Given what some moderately successful coaches are getting $10MM per would seem to be in play here. Also no mention of Paul Chryst for any opening.
I’d think Leonhard would be a good option at DC for some of these offensive head coaches that need one badly. He learned under Aranda at Wisconsin and he’s been a good DC.
 

Knight Shift

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I think that's definitely what he's saying. I don't think NIL is a problem for them. There are *plenty* of prosperous Stanford alumni, including in the immediate area, and of course Silicon Valley is next door. Stanford students like to tease Cal students that "you'll be working for us some day."
But Cal's tower is taller, and 8 elements on the Periodic Table were discovered at Cal, while none at Stanford, so zingada!!!
 

Knight Shift

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The Hoover tower at Stanford is known at Cal as "Hoover's last erection." At least it was in the ancient days when I was a Cal student.
I have related that during the Cal tour (which was right after our Stanford tour), the Cal tour guide(s) were very chippy about Stanford and not kind about Cal football.
 

Knight Shift

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Solid name for GT. I wonder if results of guys like Clawson, Leipold, Klieman have finally opened the eyes of ADs that these guys are worthy of an opportunity.




Willie Taggart reference
Arizona State has hired Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham at only 32 he's the youngest head football coach in a Power Five conference. .
(Does anyone know if there is a younger one in the FBS division.)
Kenny has extensive ties to the state, a Scottsdale,AZ native going to HS there , being an Arizona State alum and an offensive assistant for the Sun Devils.
Willie Taggart was 34 when he was first named to be a head coach at Western Kentucky. After 4 years at South Florida and a nice "build":

2013South Florida2–102–68th
2014South Florida4–83–57th
2015South Florida8–56–22nd (East)L Miami Beach
2016South Florida10–27–1T–1st (East)Birmingham*1919

he did not do well after bolting Oregon after one year for FSU, and he got canned by FAU.

Taggart was only getting paid $775K/year.

Seems a lot of guys associated with Taggart have ties to Indiana.

Would he consider an OC position. He ran a "Gulf Coast" offense. @gef21 - thoughts on a Gulf Coast Offense?

"The Gulf Coast Offense (GCO) combines the idea of traditional power-I blocking and running with the athletes and routes of a spread offense, generally using a Read/Pass Option (or RPO) to attack the match-up that the offensive coordinator feels like he can win.

GCO is centered around an athletic QB and his ability to properly read a defense and decipher the match-up that favors them. The running back has to be able to hit the holes and cut to the open space, while also catching passes out of the backfield and finding green grass. The receivers need to be able to block downfield and have a set of reliable hands."

 
Dec 17, 2008
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Good on GT if they’re standing firm in negotiating. I think Fritz deserves a shot but shouldn’t get the moon like some of these crazy contracts.




 
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gef21

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Willie Taggart reference

Willie Taggart was 34 when he was first named to be a head coach at Western Kentucky. After 4 years at South Florida and a nice "build":

2013South Florida2–102–68th
2014South Florida4–83–57th
2015South Florida8–56–22nd (East)L Miami Beach
2016South Florida10–27–1T–1st (East)Birmingham*1919

he did not do well after bolting Oregon after one year for FSU, and he got canned by FAU.

Taggart was only getting paid $775K/year.

Seems a lot of guys associated with Taggart have ties to Indiana.

Would he consider an OC position. He ran a "Gulf Coast" offense. @gef21 - thoughts on a Gulf Coast Offense?

"The Gulf Coast Offense (GCO) combines the idea of traditional power-I blocking and running with the athletes and routes of a spread offense, generally using a Read/Pass Option (or RPO) to attack the match-up that the offensive coordinator feels like he can win.

GCO is centered around an athletic QB and his ability to properly read a defense and decipher the match-up that favors them. The running back has to be able to hit the holes and cut to the open space, while also catching passes out of the backfield and finding green grass. The receivers need to be able to block downfield and have a set of reliable hands."

I am all for the RPO stuff, but I am not a fan of power I blocking. I, from a concept standpoint, like zone blocking schemes. This allows inferior linemen to be much more successful than just BOB blocking.

The GCO is more of a traditional option look but spread out. To be successful it requires a pretty elite QB that can make plays in the option offense and force teams to stack the box thus giving the RPO looks that you want.
 
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Knight Shift

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Knight Shift

Heisman
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89,220
87,175
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I am all for the RPO stuff, but I am not a fan of power I blocking. I, from a concept standpoint, like zone blocking schemes. This allows inferior linemen to be much more successful than just BOB blocking.

The GCO is more of a traditional option look but spread out. To be successful it requires a pretty elite QB that can make plays in the option offense and force teams to stack the box thus giving the RPO looks that you want.
Worked for Quinton Flowers. Willie Taggart checks a lot of boxes for Rutgers, but the Gulf Coast Offense may not be a fit.
 
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Retired711

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I am all for the RPO stuff, but I am not a fan of power I blocking. I, from a concept standpoint, like zone blocking schemes. This allows inferior linemen to be much more successful than just BOB blocking.

The GCO is more of a traditional option look but spread out. To be successful it requires a pretty elite QB that can make plays in the option offense and force teams to stack the box thus giving the RPO looks that you want.
I take it "power I" is a lot like the "counter trey" that the Washington Whatevers ran for John Riggins back in the 80s -- bringing blockers from one side to block at the point of attack. It worked great for the Whatevers, but it seems to me that linemen need above-average speed to make it successful. So I can understand why it might not always be a good scheme.

Speaking as a football non-expert, it seems to me one always needs a "pretty elite QB" to make any kind of RPO work. The QB has to be able to run, pass, and, above all, make quick and accurate decisions either before or after the snap about which to do. Or am I way off base?
 
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gef21

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I take it "power I" is a lot like the "counter trey" that the Washington Whatevers ran for John Riggins back in the 80s -- bringing blockers from one side to block at the point of attack. It worked great for the Whatevers, but it seems to me that linemen need above-average speed to make it successful. So I can understand why it might not always be a good scheme.

Speaking as a football non-expert, it seems to me one always needs a "pretty elite QB" to make any kind of RPO work. The QB has to be able to run, pass, and, above all, make quick and accurate decisions either before or after the snap about which to do. Or am I way off base?
Reading it is fairly simple depending on scheme, and there are ways to make it even more simple.

You have to be willing to get hit to complete throws though, and if the QB isnt running the ball it hurts it.
 
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Retired711

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Reading it is fairly simple depending on scheme, and there are ways to make it even more simple.

You have to be willing to get hit to complete throws though, and if the QB isnt running the ball it hurts it.
Thanks! I hope I understood the Power I correctly. I'm not a big fan of the RPO because I think it's too easy for a running QB to get hurt. Maybe that's why pro teams don't run it. It's also been suggested to me that pro linebackers are good enough not to be fooled by it. Thanks again -- I appreciate your sharing your knowledge and experience.
 
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gef21

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Thanks! I hope I understood the Power I correctly. I'm not a big fan of the RPO because I think it's too easy for a running QB to get hurt. Maybe that's why pro teams don't run it. It's also been suggested to me that pro linebackers are good enough not to be fooled by it. Thanks again -- I appreciate your sharing your knowledge and experience.
Power I stuff tends to be BOB (Big on Big Blocking). You will get a lot of gap attacking, and then systems will run counter off of it.

You can run counter off of any blocking scheme though. My preference, is always zone blocking. I think it helps linemen be successful.

With slow linemen pulling teams starting going to pulling the H back or even the TE or the FB as the kick out blocker.
 
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Dec 17, 2008
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Former VT HC Justin Fuente, former Mizzou HC and current Ark DC Barry Odom, Incarnate Word HC GJ Kinne, Texas passing game coordinator Brennan Marion, OU offensive analyst Matt Wells are some names tied to Tulsa
 

Knight Shift

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May 19, 2011
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Guessing Hafley is safe because BC does not have the appetite for a buyout?

Good first year, but years 2 and 3 look like Greg's. His OL is in shambles.

 
Dec 17, 2008
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I have read in the past that Leonhard turned down a DC job in the NFL so that’s always a possible alternative too.

 
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Dec 17, 2008
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I suppose that could mean UGA OC Todd Monken, Coastal Carolina HC Jamey Chadwell and the already mentioned Willie Fritz at Tulane.




 

Knight Shift

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IDK about that one, he was treading water, but not doing terribly? Mostly winning seasons, and 8-5/4-4 last year. This year two losses by 4 points or less.

WMU had some pretty strong offenses prior to 2022. They have had a revolving door at OC, and not sure who was calling the plays there.

2017Western Michigan6–64–44th (West)
2018Western Michigan7–65–3T–2nd (West)L Famous Idaho Potato
2019Western Michigan7–65–32nd (West)L First Responder
2020Western Michigan4–24–2T–2nd (West)
2021Western Michigan8–54–4T–4th (West)W Quick Lane
2022Western Michigan5–74–43rd (West)
Western Michigan:37–3226–20