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FOOTBALL New Coach Wish List

We will keep at least one assistant. I can’t remember a coaching change where the new HC didn’t keep at least one from the previous staff for at least a season. It can help in the transition.

If I was the new HC, I probably ask Tucker to stay. If I was familiar with our program, I would text West, Mallory and Polly to tell them there desks should be cleaned out before I step foot on campus.
 
Manny Diaz is not coming here. I really wish people would stop even entertaining the idea. It's not happening. I'll say this as nicely as I can but if you follow college sports and understand the hierarchy we are not taking a blue bloods OC or DC. He would probably even turn down a crappy P5 job, much less a bottom tier G5 program.

He's not coming here.
We understand. But he still needs to be approached on the highly unlikely, very remote chance that he just might say yes.
 
Penn St hasn't won a national championship in almost 40 years. They have one outright conference championship in the past 30 years. They are a great program but not a blue blood.

But let's consider that they are. A few examples. Clay Helton was a head coach and went form USC to Ga Southern. Like Manny fired from a P5. Another similar situation. Tom Herman, the former head coach who was fired at Texas, is FAU's head coach.

The head coach at Miami OH came from Notre Dame as OC.

The head coach at Akron was previously the OC at Oregon.

Not a blue blood but North Texas got Washington State's OC.

Bottom line is to say there's a zero percent chance because it doesn't happen is just false on the face of it. Would we have a chance if he never coached here? No, but if he enjoyed his time here, really wants to be a HC again, and he let's say he's not handed the Duke job, he may see the very limited opportunities this year as a reason to to come take it. That's why you make the pitch.
 
Has he said no?
If he said yes, would this even be a thread at this point?

I suppose he could've said yes, here's the minimum to get me and some clearly out of the ball park figure, and PSU may come back and match, and here we are.

I think there was no serious consideration and think he wants another shot at a P5 while he's still relatively young.
 
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He has interviewed for the Duke job along with the DC's from Ohio State and NC State. Apparently Duke is going defensive.

Let's say they (Duke) offer one of the other guys -Knowles or Gibson. I'm completely fine if we're a second or third choice for Manny. I would wait for that. I'm just speculating, but this is my approach if I'm AD for a day - while conducting the interviews with the other candidates.

Again, I will be completely honest here. If I were Manny and didn't get offered a P5 HC position this year, I would probably stay at Penn St another year before taking this job. But we don't know a) if he likes it there, b) how well he enjoyed being in Tenn, or c) if being turned down by Duke makes him think the road back to HC after getting fired the U is more difficult than he thought. That said, there's only a couple of jobs this year available it means there will probably be a lot of good ones next year. I just want us to press it. That's all I was getting at.
 
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Hell he was going to Temple out of all places, before Richt resigns. He was never Miami's choice just easy to try to maintain continuity. I like Manny, Hell even like Will Muschamp, he can recruit and he will have a good defense. He will find an OC at this level that can get it going.
 
I hope so and not just took the Wiley approach and not even bothered trying.

You said you wanted him to come here and then listed all these reasons why. Nothing but a pipe dream. It's not happening.

I would love for Tommy Rees to come here too but why would they bother ? They are some of the top assistants in the country and they know they will be in line for decent upcoming P5 gigs. They are not even going to consider coming to a bottom tier G5 program. It's not worth the risk or the money.
 
We will keep at least one assistant. I can’t remember a coaching change where the new HC didn’t keep at least one from the previous staff for at least a season. It can help in the transition.

If I was the new HC, I probably ask Tucker to stay. If I was familiar with our program, I would text West, Mallory and Polly to tell them there desks should be cleaned out before I step foot on campus.

Dustin Royston

He's the only assistant I would keep, and I would do so in a heart beat. He has great energy and has easily been our top recruiter. I keep him and I put him as DL coach if I'm the new HC.
 
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You said you wanted him to come here and then listed all these reasons why. Nothing but a pipe dream. It's not happening.

I would love for Tommy Rees to come here too but why would they bother ? They are some of the top assistants in the country and they know they will be in line for decent upcoming P5 gigs. They are not even going to consider coming to a bottom tier G5 program. It's not worth the risk or the money.

Bad analogies are bad. Rees has no connection to this school whereas MT gave Manny his first coordinator job. That’s a huge difference. Maybe he loved it here. Maybe Franklin is a dick and hard to work for. Make the pitch. That’s what I’m saying. What you’re saying is paramount to western’s AD being like nah we’re not even going to bother talking to Tyson Helton despite being a prior assistant there because he’s now a coordinator at a quasi Blue Blood.

Rees is a pipe dream. Manny is a long shot but not a pipe dream and it would be derelict on Massaro’s part not full court press him at least once (and maybe a second time if he doesn’t get the Duke job). The worst that can happen is he says not interested. Also this thread is titled “wish” list. He’s my 1 no matter how likely or not. Frankly I’m surprised at you. The little middle mentality doesn’t look good on you.
 
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You said you wanted him to come here and then listed all these reasons why. Nothing but a pipe dream. It's not happening.

I would love for Tommy Rees to come here too but why would they bother ? They are some of the top assistants in the country and they know they will be in line for decent upcoming P5 gigs. They are not even going to consider coming to a bottom tier G5 program. It's not worth the risk or the money.

Using that thought process, FAU should have never asked Lane Kiffin to be there coach.

Obviously not all P5 coordinators would take a pay cut to go to random G5 school. But like MT01 said, if Manny maybe doesnt want to be a coordinator anymore, maybe he doesn’t love working for Franklin, maybe he liked the mid-state area and would like a guaranteed job as a stepping stone back to a P5 HC gig instead of missing out on Dukes of the world, then maybe he does exactly what Lane did.


Thats why you ask. Thats how a Lane or Rich Rod (who had P5 OC offers at the time he took the Jax St job) and up in CUSA.
 
One caveat I will make to that is it probably is a pipe dream with the leadership we have in place. I have no faith in McPhee staying out of it. He will ensure this is screwed up. I don't have a good feeling at all. The sad part about this is we're seeing some of the reporting on this and external people talking about what a good job this could be and the potential, but McPhee's involvement will lead to a botched hire. I have no doubt.
 
About the leadership we have in place.
What role does the BOR play in all of this?
Say M&M offer a guy, does the BOR rubber stamp it or is there a process they go thru with a vote, etc?
I ask because we all know how “ swiftly” these folk move on important issues. They have been know to kick the can down the road.
Remember, Steve Smith leads the way and I trust him as much as I trust M&M
 
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The radio guys have been talking about Eddie George and Will Healy. Hopefully this is just ignorant water cooler discussion and not actual inside info.
If anyone has inside info, it's us more than those fools. They are just trying to get listeners.
 
I hate to say it but we need a new coach now. I wish we knew who he's talked with. If this goes into late next week, We are kinda screwed to work the portal.
 
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I hate to say it but we need a new coach now. I wish we knew who he's talked with. If this goes into late next week, We are kinda screwed to work the portal.

Well, if there’s a saving grace, we’re not going to be first choice in the portal who will be coming off the board early for a lot of guys anyway, and there’s another portal wave in the spring.

I do think this needs to be done by the end of next week at the very latest.
 
Well, if there’s a saving grace, we’re not going to be first choice in the portal who will be coming off the board early for a lot of guys anyway, and there’s another portal wave in the spring.

I do think this needs to be done by the end of next week at the very latest.
Does anyone remember the ‘requirement’ that job openings at MT have to be advertised internally for a period of time before they can be filled?
 
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One caveat I will make to that is it probably is a pipe dream with the leadership we have in place. I have no faith in McPhee staying out of it. He will ensure this is screwed up. I don't have a good feeling at all. The sad part about this is we're seeing some of the reporting on this and external people talking about what a good job this could be and the potential, but McPhee's involvement will lead to a botched hire. I have no doubt.

You are spot on.

I can 100% envision M&M not wanting a “name” coach that might be interested because “We are not a stepping stone job. We want someone that will be here for years.”

I am not sure McPhee appreciates (or likes) that the football HC is the face of the university for many people. Probably leads to some resentment and the desire to be more involved.
 
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Well, if there’s a saving grace, we’re not going to be first choice in the portal who will be coming off the board early for a lot of guys anyway, and there’s another portal wave in the spring.

I do think this needs to be done by the end of next week at the very latest.
the portal doesn't officially open until Sunday so there will be a lot more FBS kids in there. The guys you're seeing are from losing programs with fires coaches and FCS guys.
 
I just hope that M&M aren't looking for another 15+ year guy, which would imply he is not good enough to get lured away (just like M&M). I would be fine with a 2-3 year guy, assuming he moves on to a bigger program. That's why I contend this place has a lot of potential. We will pay pretty decent and there will be patience. A new coach coming in knows the roster needs a major upgrade, so they can just go the portal route and have a chance for success, in a "perceived" weak conference, pretty quick.

A new roster filled with portal players for 2 years and you are off to a bigger job. That is very plausible. I would think a lower tier P5 Coordinator would be interested in that.

I could see a scenario for Jeff Fisher (although I don't think it would be good) in terms of fund raising and visibility for the program, but Eddie George has been terrible at TSU.
 
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JMU is about to be on the clock. Whoever Chris really wants, he better go get them because JMU is way more attractive right now than us. I bet Craddock is on the holdout for that job. I say we make the hire this weekend.
 
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Well, if there’s a saving grace, we’re not going to be first choice in the portal who will be coming off the board early for a lot of guys anyway, and there’s another portal wave in the spring.

I do think this needs to be done by the end of next week at the very latest.
the portal doesn't officially open until Sunday so there will be a lot more FBS kids in there. The guys you're seeing are from losing programs with fires coaches and FCS guys.
Everything I've seen, they are conducting interviews this week and will narrow it down over the weekend. Shooting for an announcement next week. I wouldn't be surprised to see stuff come out first thing next week on who it will be from McMurphy, Vannini, and the like.

And yea, a lot of these kids have program changes or are grad transfers. Full portal opens next week. Then that new Portal Report site will come in mighty handy for us on here.
I just hope that M&M aren't looking for another 15+ year guy, which would imply he is not good enough to get lured away. I would be fine with a 2-3 year guy, assuming he moves on to a bigger program. That's why I contend this place has a lot of potential. We will pay pretty decent and there will be patient. A new coach coming in knows the roster needs a major upgrade, so they can just go the portal route and have a chance for success, in a weak conference, pretty quick.

A new roster filled with portal players for 2 years and you are off to a bigger job. That is very plausible.
I agree. I don't even mind 4 or 5 years. But don't be afraid to let a coach walk. Take the buyout $ and do it again. People clamor over places like Boise and App State etc because those schools have proven they expect wins and will help you get noticed to move up. Even Troy as Sumrall won't be there much longer and soon to be JMU probably. We should be the same way.

And I don't mind a down year next year or even the next with some improvement. But with the portal and recruiting together, there is zero reason you can't play for a champ here by year three. Especially if we get NIL running, beer partnerships etc. I've been tagging Lee like crazy on the stuff WVU is doing. It's a great example.
 
I hate to say it but we need a new coach now. I wish we knew who he's talked with. If this goes into late next week, We are kinda screwed to work the portal.
Eh, we have time. There are two portal windows 12/4-1/2 and another in the spring. Most of the guys in the portal this cycle will go to other P5 schools *or* they already know where they're going. Our real window for portal acquisition is in the spring after cuts/pushouts are made.

I do agree with having urgency though, December can be a make or break month. Making a hire no later than next week will allow us to get our boots on the ground with HS recruiting as the contact period opens up 12/1 and closes on the 16th, with the early signing day being on the 20th.
 
You are spot on.

I can 100% envision M&M not wanting a “name” coach that might be interested because “We are not a stepping stone job. We want someone that will be here for years.”

I am not sure McPhee appreciates (or likes) that the football HC is the face of the university for many people. Probably leads to some resentment and the desire to be more involved.
That definitely is a factor. Can McPhee get out of the friggin way? That's the question. That happened with McDevitt. Can McPhee stand on the sideline with his ego?
 
Eh, we have time. There are two portal windows 12/4-1/2 and another in the spring. Most of the guys in the portal this cycle will go to other P5 schools *or* they already know where they're going. Our real window for portal acquisition is in the spring after cuts/pushouts are made.

I do agree with having urgency though, December can be a make or break month. Making a hire no later than next week will allow us to get our boots on the ground with HS recruiting as the contact period opens up 12/1 and closes on the 16th, with the early signing day being on the 20th.
and beat out some other interested parties as well.
 
We need Macintire like we need Watson Brown. Yikes. No FIU please. That's not 9-10 wins a season. It would be worse than what we had.
 
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