What is your take on all of the hype around Coach Huff and what hes done so far? Myself, I’m pretty amped about it. Care to weigh in?
Rifle....
- Thread starter THUNDERGround
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rifle is my football advisor. He is not available for immediate comment as he is currently in mandatory sensitivity training per guidelines set forth by me.
I think he is doing everything right to this point. He is engaging the community, engaging former players, showing his face around town, building excitement, and being the politician that he needs to be. He is also throwing out offers to some big recruits. Even if there isn't a shot in hell in getting some off them, that builds excitement with a fan base and lets them dream for a minute. More, when those big recruits get in trouble/fail out/leave their original powerhouse school, already having built a recruiting relationship makes it easier to get them to transfer to Marshall instead of another P5.
The one concern I have, as I have mentioned before, has been some of his hires. The easiest way for a business to fail is by making bad hires, and I think some of his have been bad.
I pretty much agree with what you posted. We have no idea, at this point how much Coach Huff will be getting out in the community, etc. once spring ball & the season comes into play. Did Doc or does Dan get out in the "public view" around Huntington?
Would you elaborate for me? You have the on field and behind the scenes knowledge that few have here. I’m not kissing your ass, but those are just facts. If you could cast some light on this, I’d appreciate it Rifle
Rifle, your comment about some of his hires is relevant. In looking at where most of these fairly experienced coaches were when he hired them, they were at small schools. I don't think any of them were coaching at major programs last year. And some of them had been at those small schools for multiple years. Trickett is the hire I was most impressed with. And Guidry comes with baggage. Building this group into a cohesive and effective unit will test Huff's managerial and leadership talents. Hope he succeeds.
The hires I am extremely skeptical about?
Guidry: I simply don't want to be the guinea pig school for a guy who has three DUI arrests over the course of 20+ years. To me - and I think substance abuse professionals would agree - having that many indiscretions over that long of time shows an inability to control the issue. And after that many arrests over that long of time period, I think any school who hires him is a "guinea pig school" and is taking a risk that is simply not worth the reward. If he turns out to be a good DC, is he worth the risk? Not in my eyes. If he turns out to be the a top 5 DC in the country, is he worth the risk? It sure would provide a bit better of an argument for why he was hired. His resume shows that he can be a good FCS DC. Being a good FBS DC is different, and he wasn't even the DC at FAU. There are other baggage issues outside of his DUI arrests.
Can he coach? His defenses that I coached against were extremely athletic and talented . . . they also had quite a few kids who had been kicked out of/dismissed from other schools. I think it's also important to again keep in mind that he wasn't the DC at FAU. In other words, we are going after a program that we feel is inferior and hiring their assistant coach to be a coordinator for us.
Trickett
Nice guy, but as I said before, if his last name were "Smith" instead of "Trickett," he'd be an assistant coach at a JUCO. He taking advantage of his last name isn't his fault, so we can't blame him for that, but his coaching resume isn't one that fits him being hired as an FBS receivers coach when he has never played nor coached the position.
He was the QB coach at FAU last year. FAU's offense was atrocious. Their QB play was just as bad. There was no improvement from the same QBs Tricket inherited to their play under him. He was fired from FAU, a program we believe is inferior, but then we hired him to coach a position he has never played nor coached? That's a bad look.
Is that to say he can't succeed coaching a position he has never played nor coached? No. He did just that with success as FAU's tight ends coach. But hiring a coach to lead a room that he has neither played nor coached before greatly reduces the likelihood that he will succeed in the position. Kiffin left for a better job and didn't take Trickett with him, then the guy was fired by the next staff after poor production from his unit only for Marshall to hire him up from that inferior program. I don't like any part of that.
Springer
I can't think of one good reason that this hire was made. Over the last three years, Arizona has had the worst special teams in the entire country. That isn't a subjective claim. Based on the most logical and most relevant stats to judge special teams units, Springer's special teams units have been the very worst at the FBS level in the country over the last few years.
In this situation, one could make a couple of arguments to defend Springer:
1) Maybe he had much better success with special teams at other stops before Arizona, and his monumental failures at Arizona were more to do with a lack of talent/recruiting? Decent argument, but Arizona was Springer's only full-time coaching role. In other words, there is no resume as a full-time coach other than his work at Arizona.
2) Maybe Springer didn't have the talent to succeed? Again, a decent argument, but that's on his shoulders as much as anybody else's considering he was there long enough to find, recruit, and develop talent, and none of those things happened. Further, he actually had a stud kicker this last season and still bombed.
What I really don't like is his scheme and strategy. He had a kicker with a huge leg last year. The kid kicked off 21 times and 17 went for touchbacks with two others going out-of-bounds. When a kid has a strong leg like that, you don't kick it into the end zone. Without getting too deep into a long discussion explaining special teams analytics regarding points per drive depending on starting field position per each yard line, it is simply stupid to kick it into the end zone (unless, of course, it's the end of a game/half where a team won't have the time to drive for a score).
It's a huge failure in his scheme and strategy and wastes the asset of having a kicker with a strong leg. It's infuriating for me to even think about it.
Again, this is a guy whose only resume is having the worst overall special teams in the country over the last three years. It's a mind-blowing hire.
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Thanks Rifle. Trickett was one that was a head-scratcher for me. The others I just simply had no knowledge of where they came from.
Yea @ekal what about Trickett left you the most impressed? Decent hire maybe, but most impressive? You know we hired Clint and not his father Rick. Right?
I like this hire. He coached one of the top TE’s in the country two yrs ago and then was promoted to Co-Offensive coordinator. So he has experience. We didn’t hire him has a coordinator. A WR Coach is used mostly as a recruiter and Clint brings contacts from the Mississippi Jucos and Florida. I think if you read the latest QB commitment article he was being recruited by FAU. As for coaching wideouts that’s seems like a natural fit for an ex D1 QB because you spend a great deal of time practicing and understanding route running and the position. Honestly, for the position he is coaching this is a good hire imo.
That's definitely not accurate. You may be thinking of a running backs coach, but even that is quite outdated. Most staffs now have full-time player personnel/off-field recruiting guys which eases the burden off of having "recruiters" as position coaches. Sure, it is important and helps, but the #1 role of a position coach is leading and teaching the room. That's especially true at a position like receiver which requires three to four of your players on the field most plays compared with a running backs coach who usually only has one guy on the field at a time to worry about.
The two easiest positions to coach on offense are running back and tight end (in most offenses). Coaching receivers is not an easy task and should not be given at the FBS level to somebody who has never played nor coached the position.
His old head coach didn't bring him along to his better job. That's not usually a good sign. His new head coach gave him a "promotion" in title, but Mehringer called the plays, not Trickett. That new head coach then let him go a year before his contract expired. The new head coach wanted Trickett gone so much that he was willing to pay him another year not to coach at FAU. Again, that's not a good sign.
Trickett was a QB. He has QB coaching experience at a JUCO. Even with the playing and previous coaching experience, his unit was very bad when he was the QB coach. He didn't do a good job coaching a position that he played and had previously coached, so you think it's a good hire to have him coach a position he has never played, never coached, and that requires three or four of those players on the field on most plays?
An inferior program in our own conference let him go with a full year left on his contract even though he was coaching a position he played and had previously coached. Marshall then hires him (from an inferior program) to coach a position he has neither played nor coached.
Again, he could end up doing fine in that role like he did with tight ends. But there's no reason to take that risk when you have far more experienced coaches who were available and willing.
Well, like I said, its my impression he was brought in as a recruiter and the QB recruit we signed for 2022 only other offer was FAU(and it was Clint's position at FAU so Im sure he played a role).
Its my understanding that politics played a role in his leaving FAU. Michael Johnson, Willie Taggart's long-time friend was hired as Co-OC and he brought his stud QB son with him(4 star recruit that was at Penn State).
Bottom line, Saban loved Clint when he was on staff at Bama, yes he is young, but from what I have heard in the coaching circles he has a future. If he was an OC or QB coach I could see the concern but he is a position coach with experience so I say give it some time and see how it plays out.
Btw, if Huff is so concerned with character that does make it difficult sell to you players if you have a coach with a spotty past.
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Charles Huff- Head FB Coach at Marshall
Rifle- Out of coaching for several years
I'm backing Huff on his hires until he gives me a reason not to.
When the QBs complete 53% of their passes for 140 yards per game, when you flip-flop between who is going to start since you can't coach any of them up, and when you're the QB coach and Co-OC, I have a hard time believing that production wasn't taken into consideration far more than politics.
Further, if he was so valuable as a recruiter, why wouldn't he have been made the TE coach since the TE coach was fired and since he had previously coached that position?
Where are you getting this information? Trickett was "on staff" at Alabama for less than 10 days as a graduate assistant. Saban fell in love with his new graduate assistant in less than 10 days while they were preparing for the national championship game?
Oh, one of the obsessors is back to make this about me instead of trying to stay on topic. Moron.
I dont think the X's and O's was the issue it was the talent at QB and that problem was solved with the hiring of a coach that could bring his son as QB. I have read in the past that Nick liked Trickett both as a player and a grad assistant(Clint started at QB against Bama one season). Do you think Huff called Nick for before hiring him? I bet so!
Its one of the things I dont like about coaching, one year your the great up and coming coach when he mentored one of the best TE's in the country then the next year you have a bad QB, the offense suffers and all of a sudden you stink. I just dont see the heart burn over bringing in a good young coach that brings Mississippi Juco and deep south recruiting ties(when he has already helped bring one recruit for the upcoming season). The other two coaches you mentioned i agree.
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