BREAKING......Live footage of the first call about our head coaching vacancy!!!!!!
Coaching choices
- Thread starter Crush Nasty
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Mike Bajakian....current Northwestern OC....I can tell you that he is an excellent coach with a very innovative offensive mind that coordinates an offense to fit the talent the most and hide weaknesses. He is connected over the years and would be able to bring in a good, young DC.
He's done a nice job at Northwestern, but that's been less than a full season. His track record elsewhere has been inconsistent, but I have heard that Fitz is finally entertaining other offers, so perhaps Marshall could get him without emptying the coffers.
Heck, if we going to base our efforts to obtain a new head coach on how his wife rates, then we need to go after that guy formerly at Arkansas, if he is still available, unemployed as a coach (Bielima, sp.).
Aw shucks! I'll sure will miss seeing Mrs. B out and about around H-town, I'm sure!!
JaJuan Seider... Penn State running backs coach... Known as a great recruiter across FL/GA... And lets be honest, another WVU guy would bring the message board meltdown we all are secretly rooting for.
Since we're just spit-balling here, I'll add my under-the-radar guy to the list. I mentioned him maybe a year ago in a similar Who-Replaces-Doc thread.
Josh Conklin
Current Head Coach at Wofford. 2 seasons 17-9 2 FCS Playoff appearances
His coaching career is still on its upward trajectory. In the last ten years, he has moved from DC at The Citadel to a year at Tenn as their safeties coach. Then two years as FIU's DC followed by three seasons as DC for Pitt. This is his third year at Wofford but, of course, he has only coached for two seasons as they haven't played their Covid season yet.
I was extremely impressed listening to him speak at a coaches clinic when he was at The Citadel.
Josh Conklin
Current Head Coach at Wofford. 2 seasons 17-9 2 FCS Playoff appearances
His coaching career is still on its upward trajectory. In the last ten years, he has moved from DC at The Citadel to a year at Tenn as their safeties coach. Then two years as FIU's DC followed by three seasons as DC for Pitt. This is his third year at Wofford but, of course, he has only coached for two seasons as they haven't played their Covid season yet.
I was extremely impressed listening to him speak at a coaches clinic when he was at The Citadel.
He's been fine at Wofford, but he has lucked into his positions.
In 2013, he was a first-year DC at FIU. The team where I was the quarterbacks coach - an FCS - ran for 310+ yards against his two future NFL defensive tackles and beat them 34-13. His defense was drastically underprepared and drastically out of shape. His schemes and conditioning were so bad, that we only attempted four passes over the last three quarters of the game. There was simply no reason to throw the ball since we could churn out 6 yards per rush.
He inherited a defense that was 70th in the county the previous year, and in his first season with two senior NFL defensive tackles, their defense finished 66th in the country - not awful, but not great, and only a slight improvement.
The following year, we beat them again. His defense finished 94th in the country, so they got significantly worse in his time at FIU. Somehow, even with his defense getting substantially worse over his two years at FIU, he was given the Pitt DC job.
So how did he do at Pitt? He inherited a defense that had finished 34th in the country in yards allowed per game. In his first year, his defense was 33rd in yards per game. The following year, he dropped slightly to 37th. In his third season, he dropped to 101st. He took the Wofford job after that awful showing, presumably, because he was the writing on the wall.
As a DC, he has never really improved his team's defense from what he inherited. At best, he has stayed fairly the same for a year or two to then have his defenses get substantially worse when his own recruits took the field.
But sometimes people are more suited to be head coaches instead of coordinators, right? So how has he done at Wofford? In 2016, before Conklin was there, Wofford went 10-4 and won two playoff games. Impressive. In 2017, before Conklin was there, Wofford went 10-3, received a bye in the first round, won their second round game, and lost again in round three to North Dakota State. Again, impressive. In 2018, Conklin took over. What did Wofford do? They went 9-4 and won one playoff game. Not only was their overall record not as good as the previous two years, but they didn't go as deep into the playoffs as they had the two years before Conklin took over. How about his second year? Wofford went 8-4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. So again, his team had a worse record each of his years there and had a shorter run in the playoffs each year.
He isn't a bad coach, but both as a DC and an HC, his teams have underperformed compared to what his predecessors had done in the years immediately before he took over.
And if we try really, really hard we could get Jackie Hunt, Darius Passmore and Skip Henderson on the list as well.
I am curious what everyone thinks of Jay Bateman at UNC. He is regularly lauded as a really smart coach and produced amazing results at Army with their pool of talent. I know he, and basically any other DC, are not splash hires, but I think he is really smart and would have great connections.
Of the 100 or so I-A programs that are going to hire assistants or lower division head coaches, name a non-MAC program that is a worse job.
It is all fun to say, heck, its $750K, and I'd wash dishes in hell for $750K. Yeah, but that is not relevant, because you are not one of the 1000 or so possible candidates. It is all fun to list this guy or that guy from here or there. It is all fun to say "there are only 130 possible" openings and 1000 guys that want one. All cute.
Reality is that anybody who is a real up and comer, be he a top assistant somewhere higher or a head coach somewhere lower, knows that there are going to be 4 to 6 openings EVERY year, and knows that taking a G5 job is his one and only shot at moving up to the true big time and life changing generational wealth, true fame, and accomplishing his life's goal. He has to get this step right. And the smart move would be to wait and see what comes open next year.
Lambert will be the last man standing when this is all over. And if he goes 10-2 for the next 3 years, can get his career record near .500.
It is all fun to say, heck, its $750K, and I'd wash dishes in hell for $750K. Yeah, but that is not relevant, because you are not one of the 1000 or so possible candidates. It is all fun to list this guy or that guy from here or there. It is all fun to say "there are only 130 possible" openings and 1000 guys that want one. All cute.
Reality is that anybody who is a real up and comer, be he a top assistant somewhere higher or a head coach somewhere lower, knows that there are going to be 4 to 6 openings EVERY year, and knows that taking a G5 job is his one and only shot at moving up to the true big time and life changing generational wealth, true fame, and accomplishing his life's goal. He has to get this step right. And the smart move would be to wait and see what comes open next year.
Lambert will be the last man standing when this is all over. And if he goes 10-2 for the next 3 years, can get his career record near .500.
Dude, nobody gives a shit about your opinion, because it's so far off from reality that you're really just becoming a nuisance at this point. Your logic is flawed, unrealistic and hopelessly based on butthurt emotions.
Now go stick your head back up your ass where it belongs.
New Mexico State and UL-M are the worst FBS jobs in the country. UMass is a close runner-up to them. I was at NMSU about a year ago. I can't begin to describe just how shitty their facilities (stadium, "weight room," offices, locker room) are. They are located in a horrible recruiting area, have no fan base, have a horrible budget, and aren't in a conference. Just awful.
UL-M is slightly ahead of them based on a better recruiting area and facilities. UMass faces the same issues as NMSU, but they at least don't have to worry about a chunk of concrete from the decaying stadium falling onto the field during a play, and they are in a better recruiting area.
Those three jobs are so far beneath Marshall that even they'd hire John Holliday. The majority of the other C-USA schools are not better than Marshall. FIU has awful facilities, no fan base, and awful administrative/school support. Their recruiting region doesn't make up for those things. UTEP is in the middle of nowhere. WKU has nothing better than Marshall has. MTSU has nothing better than Marshall has.
The big knock on Marshall is its location, but that's quite a bit exaggerated. Within an easy drive (four hours), you have Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis. You have easy recruiting in extremely fertile areas (Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania). Bump it to 5-6 hours and you get Charlotte, DC, Detroit, Nashville.
When you factor in everything (fan base, budget, recruiting region, tradition, ease of admitting players, facilities, brand name), Marshall is a very solid G5 job. Is it Boise, UCF, or Houston? No. But it is ahead of almost everyone in its conference and many more G5 jobs.
You say this lower than low job is worthless now, but when Doc was here it was peaches and cream. What are you, Doc's wife?.
I never said this was a great job. I said Doc was doing a great job.
You can say what you want, but the fact is plenty of men, including most of those listed in this thread, will take a pass and keep their powder dry for a better opening in a future year.
I posted Tony Gibson with sarcasm... now it seems like thats a real possibility. My God is there any way this time we can hire someone without WVU ties or that we think is cool because they got hit in the face with a WVU quarter?
There are many better candidates out there. This is ridiculous
There are many better candidates out there. This is ridiculous
The ONLY thing that is holding Marshall back is our administration and their lack of vision. Period. You go over on the CUSA board and read the fan reactions to us letting Doc go and it's exactly what Rifle said. Most are jealous of us. The only fans that understood what we are doing is LaTech who want the same fate for Skip Holtz.
As I said Marshall's administration reset the bar in 2005. We went from "We play for Championships" to "We do with what we have". There is no hurdle that Marshall Football faces that is any greater than at any other point in our existence and given the fact that most of our program was taken out in a plane crash it still only took us 17 seasons to get to a National Championship game and then after that have a two decade run that no school can compare with. Do you know there are top P5 programs that don't have 3 Heisman candidates in their entire existence and we did that in a span of 5 years.
No sorry I don't buy this pity me garbage you and this current administration peddles all the time.
You know who makes the arguments you make? You know who makes the arguments that their fans have decades old expectations? Losers. Freaking losers. People that have no drive and no desire to be great. They don't want to put in the work or make the sacrifices to be great. They're just happy taking the lot they're given and just exist.
Screw that.
You know Boise said they modeled themselves after us. The difference is that they kept chomping at the bit.
Just look at this season. Sure it was a weird year where not all the teams were playing at once, but once we started to win we were right back in the spotlight. It's there for us to take it. The question is does our leadership even really care.
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Why change the AD?
His top candidates include JJ Seider, Gerard Parker and Tony Gibson apparently. Any way to fulfill his motives, which obviously aren't to win. I mean I agree with you, but since we know his motives and the backing of those motives, it won't happen.
It's more than him. He has bosses too. Hamrick with his faults is still the best AD we've ever had. Kayo wouldn't even entertain real discussions of IPF construction. I remember a story that some donors had ear marked money specifically for it and he told them that he will do with that money what he saw fit. He constantly had the woe as me we're just little brother mentality. Those new scoreboards we have now? Those could have went in 2 seasons earlier, but Kayo said we just couldn't afford them. We weren't going to pay for them IMG and someone else was footing most of the bill. Hamrick go that deal done quickly when he took over.
And look at the scheduling. I don't know why Hamrick gets flack for his scheduling. How many other ADs got multiple home and homes with P5s and Boise? None. WVU was forced by the governor and KState might have been the only other P5/BCS team that visited. Most were let out of their return trips.
Most of the other sports have been doing a lot better than when he came in. You have to give him credit for MBB. If we're being completely honest football is better now than it was when he took over in 2009. He just let his friendship with Doc cloud his professional judgment. This is a move that should have happened each of the last three seasons.
Mikes done a great job with facilities and scheduling - jmo
I give me zero credit for MBB. He doesn't even talk to the head coach. I assume it is because he felt forced to hire him in the first place,
We have had various opportunities to play in some of the early season tournaments but he has vetoed that and chooses to play in the exempt events every year where we get 3 home games vs low mid majors and one money game on the road
Does the head coach talk to him? If there's such disdain then why hasn't Hamrick just fired Coach? Or Hamrick been removed already by the BOG? An Athletic program can not be ran that way.
WHY ARE YOU A FAN OF SUCH A CRAP PROGRAM!? MY WORD ALL YOU DO IS COME ON THIS BOARD AND TALK ABOUT HOW BAD OF A LOCATION THIS IS. GET OVER YOURSELF. You're literally the embodiment of Randy Quaid in Major League.
I was among those lied to by KO. He nearly destroyed the program.
MH is the best AD we have ever had. However it is clear that his power has been taken from him and he will, and should, retire at the end of the academic year. He will leave MU athletics in an amazingly better position that he found it.
MH is the best AD we have ever had. However it is clear that his power has been taken from him and he will, and should, retire at the end of the academic year. He will leave MU athletics in an amazingly better position that he found it.
Or it could be because when Dan was hired and the athletic department tried multiple times to discuss/explain simple things such as revenue structure in college athletics, he told them they were wrong. After a number of attempts, they just threw up their hands and moved on. It’s hard to talk to someone that doesn’t want to listen.
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