Sean Lewis - Kent State University

[WestHartHusk]

Exactly, and this guy makes $500k a year.

Those that insist the only way UConn will win is to spend even more $$$ are absolute crazy. Paying $2M for the next HC is a criminal act for this program.

Too many people want to keep throwing good money after bad. MAC schools have historically found some of the top college coaches early in their career at bargain rates. That is the model UConn needs to follow.

NOT at least being willing to pay $2+m would be the criminal act. To put it in perspective, every $1m is about 1.25% of the entire AD budget. Seems pound foolish to pinch pennies here.

 

[Yup!]

Exactly, and this guy makes $500k a year.

Those that insist the only way UConn will win is to spend even more $$$ are absolute crazy. Paying $2M for the next HC is a criminal act for this program.

Too many people want to keep throwing good money after bad. MAC schools have historically found some of the top college coaches early in their career at bargain rates. That is the model UConn needs to follow.

Let the MAC schools do the job of finding good coaches for the cheap and then we can sweep up the coach that proved himself in the MAC just like Cincinnati has done, that’s the model we should follow. Sean Lewis makes 500k a year we can probably lure him in for about $1.5m a year, that’s a great bargain.

 

[huskymedic]

I'm sold. Just make sure he gets a better DC

52-47 final.

 

[Goldenflash81]

Gave up 663 yards tonight, clearly defense might not be KSU’s strong suit. Although looking at the stats from the other MAC games played last night and tonight it doesn’t really appear defense is a strength of the league. On the other hand Kent put up 640 yards on there own, won the game, and scored 7 out of the last 8 times they had the ball. It would have been 8 out of 9, except the runner purposely stopped rather than scoring, allowing Kent to run out the clock. My point being when was the last time the Huskies had such a prolific offense, that they could score almost every time they touched the ball.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Hire Lewis and keep Spanos as DC?

 

[Life Is Good]

At halftime, I like what I'm seeing from Sean Lewis. He's fired up, involved, and he's shown some creative offense. And they showed him doing squats on the rack with the team. Oh yeah...and his team has shown fire, coming back and scoring 31 points in the 2nd quarter alone.

Plus he’s the 2nd youngest active coach.

 

[Nostical]

Shave the beard and he might have a chance.

 

[Buffett10]

Hire Lewis and keep Spanos as DC?

Nope. Uconn can do much better than Spanos

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Shave the beard and he might have a chance.

Hell no. Dude is a 6' 7" bad ass. Keep the beard. Lots of personality.

 

[coachcap]

Shave the beard and he might have a chance.

Nosti, you're starting to sound like a curmudgeon! UConn needs a culture change on the gridiron! Dude looks like a descendant of Vikings with a warrior mentality. The facial hair stays! Take no prisoners!

 

[CCSUblue]

Shave the beard and he might have a chance.

He keeps the beard. As we should all hope Moorhead would if he magically came here. UConn isn't the New York Yankees.

 

[uconnric]

Gave up 663 yards tonight, clearly defense might not be KSU’s strong suit. Although looking at the stats from the other MAC games played last night and tonight it doesn’t really appear defense is a strength of the league. On the other hand Kent put up 640 yards on there own, won the game, and scored 7 out of the last 8 times they had the ball. It would have been 8 out of 9, except the runner purposely stopped rather than scoring, allowing Kent to run out the clock. My point being when was the last time the Huskies had such a prolific offense, that they could score almost every time they touched the ball.

It's not just the MAC, schools are putting up big offensive numbers in every conference. In today's game, the offenses seem to have the advantage over defenses. Hurry-up offense gives the offense an advantage but puts the defense on the field more often. Today you have to be able to score to win.

 

[giddyup]

That defensive ranking likely has something to do with road games at Texas A&M, at Iowa, and at Maryland.

I smell circular reasoning…

 

[CCSUblue]

In looking at defensive rankings since 2018 when Lewis was hired and brought in Kauffman as his DC, 121st is pretty average for their ranking. If a hire like this was to happen, he would need to upgrade either his DC or at least his defensive position coaches. But who knows if he is even being considered.

 

[Nostical]

OK, he can keep the beard--lol.

So I was looking up Kent State's record and came across some info on Nick Saban who I didn't remember had played there. It's not anything earth shattering but an interesting glance at the journey of a football coach.

Saban played defensive back for Kent State from 1970-72 under coach Don James. In 1973, he graduated from KSU with a bachelors degree in business. (Saban and his roommate luckily avoided being in the area of the Kent State campus shootings on May 4, 1970, when they decided to eat lunch before walking towards the rally area. That shooting was memorialized in a famous photo which inspired Neil Young to write his iconic song OHIO, for Crosby Stills Nash and Young.)

"In 1975, Saban earned his Masters degree in sports administration from Kent State. Saban had not intended to enter the coaching ranks until his Kent St coach Don James hired him as a graduate assistant. He later served as an assistant coach at several schools: Syracuse 1977, West Virginia 1978-79, Ohio State in 1980-81, Navy 1982 and Michigan State 1983-1987. Shortly after the 1987 season, Kent State passed over Saban for its vacant HC position and hired Dick Crum instead. Saban was then hired as an assistant by the Houston Oilers in the NFL."
"Saban began his Head Coaching career when he was hired by the University of Toledo in December 1989. Coming off 6–5 seasons in the prior the two years, the Rockets found quick success under Nick Saban in 1990. With a 9–2 season, Toledo was co-champion of the Mid American Conference. The two losses that season were by one point to Central Michigan and four points to Navy. As an aside, while coaching at Toledo, Saban turned down a job application from Urban Meyer, who was hoping for any coaching job on Saban's staff."

Is there a "Nick Saban" currently coaching in the MAC? Could it be Sean Lewis?

 

[freescooter]

I’ve said from the beginning, actually from the end of RE 1 that the MAC is the place to look. I think a number of things contribute to it being a great spot to develop as a coach. First you are coaching in the shadow of the behemoths in the Big 10 so you need to be exciting and innovative to be noticed. You are Also recruiting in tough areas. If you’ve been to Akron or Kent or Ypsilanti or some of those places, you know what I mean. So you need to be able to identify guys who can play at a pretty high level but aren’t going to be the top picks of Michigan’s and Ohio States of the world. Plus the league itself is very competitive. Finally they tend to hire younger first time FBS coaches but there are a few old timers so you get exposed to some pretty sophisticated game plans as well. Put that all together and you have a great place to develop you skills.

 

[DoctorWho85]

If we hire Art Briles I will root for him to fail. Bleep Art Briles.

I just want to see wins. At this point Art Briles as HC, Les Miles as DC and Petrino as OC. Just go full sleaze.

Mostly joking.

 

[RSTuthill]

Exactly, and this guy makes $500k a year.

Those that insist the only way UConn will win is to spend even more $$$ are absolute crazy. Paying $2M for the next HC is a criminal act for this program.

Too many people want to keep throwing good money after bad. MAC schools have historically found some of the top college coaches early in their career at bargain rates. That is the model UConn needs to follow.

UConn does not have that luxury. That process is hit or miss. Another failed hire will kill the program. We need to be taking the winning products developed by the MAC or elsewhere, or someone even more high profile. And AD DB knows that his legacy and future career depend on this. So that is the way to go.

 

[businesslawyer]

Saban played defensive back for Kent State from 1970-72 under coach Don James. In 1973, he graduated from KSU with a bachelors degree in business. (Saban and his roommate luckily avoided being in the area of the Kent State campus shootings on May 4, 1970, when they decided to eat lunch before walking towards the rally area. That shooting was memorialized in a famous photo which inspired Neil Young to write his iconic song OHIO, for Crosby Stills Nash and Young.)

Yes, but the even better reference would be "Stop, Children, What's that Sound" by Buffalo Springfield and then performed by many others, including the Fifth Dimension.

 

[gioff2323]

UConn does not have that luxury. That process is hit or miss. Another failed hire will kill the program. We need to be taking the winning products developed by the MAC or elsewhere, or someone even more high profile. And AD DB knows that his legacy and future career depend on this. So that is the way to go.

A bit dramatic, no? Kill it? Like literally kill it?

 

[gioff2323]

I just want to see wins. At this point Art Briles as HC, Les Miles as DC and Petrino as OC. Just go full sleaze.

Mostly joking.

This staff would have to hire ST coach from Texas

 

[UC1995]

One of my former students now plays for him and he loves him!

 

[businesslawyer]

This staff would have to hire ST coach from Texas

Why are we lumping the ST coach from Texas in with the others? What did he do wrong? Date a stripper? Why is that a problem for you?

I'll tell you what -- I can declare with 100% certainty that over the last decade strippers provided people with more joy and entertainment than anyone associated with the UConn football program.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[UConnJim]

I’ve said from the beginning, actually from the end of RE 1 that the MAC is the place to look. I think a number of things contribute to it being a great spot to develop as a coach. First you are coaching in the shadow of the behemoths in the Big 10 so you need to be exciting and innovative to be noticed. You are Also recruiting in tough areas. If you’ve been to Akron or Kent or Ypsilanti or some of those places, you know what I mean. So you need to be able to identify guys who can play at a pretty high level but aren’t going to be the top picks of Michigan’s and Ohio States of the world. Plus the league itself is very competitive. Finally they tend to hire younger first time FBS coaches but there are a few old timers so you get exposed to some pretty sophisticated game plans as well. Put that all together and you have a great place to develop you skills.

The problem with the MAC this year is that there are slim pickings. It appears that Jason Candle and Sean Lewis are the top 2 that will attract suitors this year and I don't think Candle is coming to UConn as it looks like his next stop is a P5 job. There is a possibility of Jim McElwain at Central Michigan, but he will be 60 and he was fired from Florida due to poor offense. Tim Lester at Western Michigan is young, but he inherited the team from PJ Fleck after a 13-1 season and he has been somewhat over 0.500 since, but he did beat Pitt this year.