The Coaching Game - 1 last look around the AAC

[Pudge]

Rod Carey, Luke Fickell, Mike Norvell, Charlie Strong, Mike Houston, Dana Holgerson, Sonny Dykes, Phil Montgomery, Josh Heupel, Ken Niumatalolo, Randy Edsall

I’m thinking Josh Heupel got lucky. Got handed a great structured roster. Tweaked

If you closed your eyes, the SEC are almost all known faces. This AAC though ... is very tough. There’s solid coaches throughout. And Staffs. Fickell & Norvell, imho, are the future stars; thus, gone far too soon. Both are going to challenge Heupel this year. (Though Memphis only if it’s conference championship). Dykes will be solid; SMU will have a better arc than with Morris. Holgerson will be a wild man: recruit like a mad man & throw caution to the wind. That’s fun. Strong is solid as well & he’s in his zone - Florida. I think he will out run UCF with time. Fritz’s team development has been incremental and he’s damn good. You won’t keep Navy & Niumatalolo down; they’ll be tough. My review of Houston & Carey is ... one guy (MH) will be great plus one guy is out of his element (RC). Carey got left a better roster. But - like Heupel - you need to refine a good structure to make Temple work. He just pushed Ed Foley out & he was the most connected person in Philadelphia with both the Fanbase & NJ/Greater PA coaches. Dumb. So I predict hard times coming for Carey ... and Montgomery. Montgomery is gonna struggle in the West; he’s got a tough neighborhood & he’s lacking momentum.

Frost was a big loss; Morris wasn’t. Geoff Collins imho was just alright; Rhule is a far better Program builder. Bad hires at ECU & Cincinnati & Tulane & Houston got cleaned up.

Net? Sorry give relative value of Product on the field (Aresco view), this AAC has developed into an excellent challenging league. Worth far more than 1/10th A Power 5. But nothing yelling P6 can get you. It’s clearly about eyeballs. And really, that’s about 5 years or 10 years ago. A solid Fickell team or Norvell team is gonna kick an Arkansas, Maryland, Rutgers or Mississippi ass most of the next few years.

And the there’s Randy. He’s looking like one foot out in that picture.

$6.94m per school. Not open for restructuring for 13 YEARS. Nuts. It’s good football.

What’s your wager that some Universities aren’t gonna be around in 2032?

 

[uconnyankee]

looking at that list, with Houston picking up Holgerson, it's hard to listen to anything other than uconn couldn't compete.

 

[noeynox]

looking at that list, with Houston picking up Holgerson, it's hard to listen to anything other than uconn couldn't compete.

Holgersen went there because $, and his seat was getting warm at WVU. It was smart of him to reset the clock on himself. Even a good, successful coach, like Paul Johnson eventually gets fired.

 

[MustangMan]

Strong lost 6 games to end the season and will likely lose his first 2 games this year to P5 competition. I predict he will be on the hot seat by the end of the year.

Monty is done.

 

[don356]

Holgersen went there because $, and his seat was getting warm at WVU. It was smart of him to reset the clock on himself. Even a good, successful coach, like Paul Johnson eventually gets fired.

Would you want to coach in West Virginia?

Wasp spray used as alternative meth, contributed to three overdoses

 

[AAC Guru]

Would you want to coach in West Virginia?

Wasp spray used as alternative meth, contributed to three overdoses

I’d hold the judgments of other states (a boneyard specialty) based on the current state of Connecticut.

 

[UConnJim]

Holgersen went there because $, and his seat was getting warm at WVU. It was smart of him to reset the clock on himself. Even a good, successful coach, like Paul Johnson eventually gets fired.

Holgersen did a great job at West Virginia: 61-41 overall, and 7-2, 5-4, and 6-3 in the Big 12 the last 3 years. I think he left because expectations at WVU were too high, he was facing a rebuild at WVU, Houston is a good job in the AAC and it will set Holgersen up for his next move, and more money.

After a few good seasons at Houston and solidifying his Texas recruiting ties, Holgersen will probably move on to a good P5 job. I just don't think he was going to get good P5 offers while at WVU.

 

[huskyrob1]

Rod Carey, Luke Fickell, Mike Norvell, Charlie Strong, Mike Houston, Dana Holgerson, Sonny Dykes, Phil Montgomery, Josh Heupel, Ken Niumatalolo, Randy Edsall

I’m thinking Josh Heupel got lucky. Got handed a great structured roster. Tweaked

If you closed your eyes, the SEC are almost all known faces. This AAC though ... is very tough. There’s solid coaches throughout. And Staffs. Fickell & Norvell, imho, are the future stars; thus, gone far too soon. Both are going to challenge Heupel this year. (Though Memphis only if it’s conference championship). Dykes will be solid; SMU will have a better arc than with Morris. Holgerson will be a wild man: recruit like a mad man & throw caution to the wind. That’s fun. Strong is solid as well & he’s in his zone - Florida. I think he will out run UCF with time. Fritz’s team development has been incremental and he’s damn good. You won’t keep Navy & Niumatalolo down; they’ll be tough. My review of Houston & Carey is ... one guy (MH) will be great plus one guy is out of his element (RC). Carey got left a better roster. But - like Heupel - you need to refine a good structure to make Temple work. He just pushed Ed Foley out & he was the most connected person in Philadelphia with both the Fanbase & NJ/Greater PA coaches. Dumb. So I predict hard times coming for Carey ... and Montgomery. Montgomery is gonna struggle in the West; he’s got a tough neighborhood & he’s lacking momentum.

Frost was a big loss; Morris wasn’t. Geoff Collins imho was just alright; Rhule is a far better Program builder. Bad hires at ECU & Cincinnati & Tulane & Houston got cleaned up.

Net? Sorry give relative value of Product on the field (Aresco view), this AAC has developed into an excellent challenging league. Worth far more than 1/10th A Power 5. But nothing yelling P6 can get you. It’s clearly about eyeballs. And really, that’s about 5 years or 10 years ago. A solid Fickell team or Norvell team is gonna kick an Arkansas, Maryland, Rutgers or Mississippi ass most of the next few years.

And the there’s Randy. He’s looking like one foot out in that picture.

$6.94m per school. Not open for restructuring for 13 YEARS. Nuts. It’s good football.

What’s your wager that some Universities aren’t gonna be around in 2032?

I wouldn't be too hard on Randy from a coaching standpoint. I'm sure he was consulted by Benedict, Herbst and other members of the BOT. My point is they all respect his opinion on going the Independent route. Edsall knows he can get better recruits now that the schedule will include a lot of local rivalries, as well as some big P5 schools, BYU, Army, Syracuse, BC, Pitt.

 

[whaler11]

I’d hold the judgments of other states (a boneyard specialty) based on the current state of Connecticut.

See you got off to a good start but you try way too hard.

 

[Husky92]

I wouldn't be too hard on Randy from a coaching standpoint. I'm sure he was consulted by Benedict, Herbst and other members of the BOT. My point is they all respect his opinion on going the Independent route. Edsall knows he can get better recruits now that the schedule will include a lot of local rivalries, as well as some big P5 schools, BYU, Army, Syracuse, BC, Pitt.

Wow! That's a lot of confidence in not feeling right now.
I hope you are right on the scheduling and recruiting fonts.

 

[HartfordHank]

now that the schedule will include a lot of local rivalries, as well as some big P5 schools, BYU, Army, Syracuse, BC, Pitt.

I have tried to restrain myself but have to ask. Why is BC going to schedule UConn? The new AD has been told the fans do not want UConn on the football schedule and if it has to happen only a deal like UMass 3 for 1 with the one at Gillette.

 

[huskyrob1]

I have tried to restrain myself but have to ask. Why is BC going to schedule UConn? The new AD has been told the fans do not want UConn on the football schedule and if it has to happen only a deal like UMass 3 for 1 with the one at Gillette.

I don't think they could resist playing us, thinking they could beat us 49-0. They still need to solidify their flagship New England moniker which would help them in recruiting in the Northeast. If it's close or UConn upsets them then they want to play us again. The only one who did not want to play us was Flipper and he's been gone for a while now. We also can leverage basketball with BC, play us in football and we play you in Men's and women's basketball.