What sort of position are we in to actually land a quality head coach?
- Thread starter Jaichim24
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Easily can pay $2 million a year for the right guy, but there's lots of decent candidates out there who would be getting a 100 percent raise if they were paid just $1.5 million.
I don't think it will come down to money though. I'm wondering what sort of destination UConn is for a highly rated football coach at this point. Poor conference affiliation, poor natural recruiting grounds, not exactly the best commitment shown for college football, nor do we have the best fanbase.
Not exactly the best commitment shown? We fired a head coach 4 games into the season and paid a 750K buyout. What are you sniffing?
UConnSportsGuy
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We are not going to beat out a 'BCS Conference' school for the hire. We will be looking at either a head coach from a lesser conference, or a coordinator from a power school.
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Who will you ultimately be competing with when the time to sign the contract comes up? There are about 12-15 HC jobs that open up in BCS annually. Some years less, others more. And in that group there will be SEC, B1G, PAC and ACC jobs. 100% of them will offer as much money as Uconn (hopefully Uconn keeps pace with the market). The "big" names will be on all those lists. What can Uconn offer that makes them stand out above the top 5 to 6 jobs that will be open? I personally don't see much.
Uconn needs a program builder (again). Someone that thrives on the challenge of building from the ground up, except this time the facilities are in place. Not sure the top of the candidate list wants that.
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Hey Debbie Downer -- it's a stepping stone job for a young whipper snapper. The coach who comes here will know what the deal is conference wise. A good contract should have an insane bonus in it if their performance as coach gets UConn into a P5 conference. "Not the best commitment shown for college football"? 150 million plus invested into facilities, bub. Go out and visit the facility some time. It's still freaking state of the art.
Can only imagine what you'd be saying if this was 1986 before Calhoun got hired. Jesus
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We are more attractive than most think:
1. The cupboards are not bare (See NFL draft, select games under PP....Louisville/Michigan)
2. Warde will prove we are serious about football (we will spend that BE exit money)
2a. Money Talks
1. The cupboards are not bare (See NFL draft, select games under PP....Louisville/Michigan)
2. Warde will prove we are serious about football (we will spend that BE exit money)
2a. Money Talks
We need to embrace the Cincinnati model.
The number of schools that are not stepping stones is few, and we are not one of them. There are maybe 8-10 in the college ranks, and even those schools can lose coaches to the NFL. We shouldn't eliminate candidates based on the likelihood they leave in 4-5 years.
Find the coaches who have moved up through the lower ranks, as head coaches, and who have had success at each stop on the way. If they leave here after 4-5 years because they are highly touted it means we had success. And the next coach looking to move up the ranks will see you can win here, and not rule us out. I'd rather hire a proven HC from the lower levels, than an OC or HC who failed at a "higher level".
Better to have a revolving door of winning coaches, than go through this process again because we expected another 10 year coach like Edsall.
The number of schools that are not stepping stones is few, and we are not one of them. There are maybe 8-10 in the college ranks, and even those schools can lose coaches to the NFL. We shouldn't eliminate candidates based on the likelihood they leave in 4-5 years.
Find the coaches who have moved up through the lower ranks, as head coaches, and who have had success at each stop on the way. If they leave here after 4-5 years because they are highly touted it means we had success. And the next coach looking to move up the ranks will see you can win here, and not rule us out. I'd rather hire a proven HC from the lower levels, than an OC or HC who failed at a "higher level".
Better to have a revolving door of winning coaches, than go through this process again because we expected another 10 year coach like Edsall.
Dooley
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All Warde will have to do is show a tape of the Michigan game to an interested coaching candidate. Listen to the crowd go bananas when we had a Dead Man Walking as HC and OL coach and the team was 0-2 and lost to friggin' Towson.
Narduzzi
Schiano?
Tressel - comes with sanctions but we aren't going anywhere in the AAC until 2017 anyway...could come in and do an O'Brien job like Penn State and get the program back on the national stage
Narduzzi
Schiano?
Tressel - comes with sanctions but we aren't going anywhere in the AAC until 2017 anyway...could come in and do an O'Brien job like Penn State and get the program back on the national stage
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It is much easier to follow P than it is to follow Edsall.
Warde will have plenty of high quality applicants. Having all of our games on an ESPN station in the coming years is a great selling point, so is being in a winnable conference and so is our excellent fanbase and facilities.
We need to steal another school's head coach who is having success. Make another school cry and it doesn't matter if it is a lower level. Saban started out at Toledo, Urban Meyer started out at Bowling Green and Brian Kelly started out at Central Michigan.... all MAC schools.
Here are the must have qualifications for our next coach:
Are you currently a head coach? Yes
Will the school you are at be very upset and disappointed if you leave? Yes
Warde will have plenty of high quality applicants. Having all of our games on an ESPN station in the coming years is a great selling point, so is being in a winnable conference and so is our excellent fanbase and facilities.
We need to steal another school's head coach who is having success. Make another school cry and it doesn't matter if it is a lower level. Saban started out at Toledo, Urban Meyer started out at Bowling Green and Brian Kelly started out at Central Michigan.... all MAC schools.
Here are the must have qualifications for our next coach:
Are you currently a head coach? Yes
Will the school you are at be very upset and disappointed if you leave? Yes
huskeynut
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I think we are in a better position than many think.
There is talent on this team. It was poorly coached and very poorly evaluated.
There is a fan base that will turn out. Just look at the Michigan game.
There is big money available from boosters.
Potential candidates from MAC schools or OC's or DC's from major powerhouses looking to take the next step.
And as to Uconn being a stepping stone, well, we have one legend who took a job as basketball coach as a stepping stone. He now had 8 national championships. So you never know.
There is talent on this team. It was poorly coached and very poorly evaluated.
There is a fan base that will turn out. Just look at the Michigan game.
There is big money available from boosters.
Potential candidates from MAC schools or OC's or DC's from major powerhouses looking to take the next step.
And as to Uconn being a stepping stone, well, we have one legend who took a job as basketball coach as a stepping stone. He now had 8 national championships. So you never know.
It will be hard.......conferance, school, fan base.
Money won't do it. A top name coach will always have a UConn offer "trumped" by a school in the power 5 which could probably match any UConn offer.
Conference affiliation won't do it. As it stands now, unlikely UConn will have a ranking that trumps other teams in the "little 5".......not much chance to show case coaching attributes in a major bowl
And what happens if Warde starts bringing in other candidates for weekend interviews and they visit a half empty Rent, or worse, during league play. Fan base probably not an attribute.......
What young, aspiring coach, using UConn as a stepping stone, can gloat about a few successful seasons in the AAC.
I'd love to have an unknown coach (Golden) who wants to take a job no one else wants (Temple) and turns them into a program much better than two decades of their morbid history showcased. He didn't do too bad, and now has even given the appearance of turning a scandulous Miami team around
Chances are that is the type of coach that most likely accept an overture from UConn......and that may not be too bad.
Warde will have a tough role as salesman, so if we all end up saying "who"? I won't be surprised.
Money won't do it. A top name coach will always have a UConn offer "trumped" by a school in the power 5 which could probably match any UConn offer.
Conference affiliation won't do it. As it stands now, unlikely UConn will have a ranking that trumps other teams in the "little 5".......not much chance to show case coaching attributes in a major bowl
And what happens if Warde starts bringing in other candidates for weekend interviews and they visit a half empty Rent, or worse, during league play. Fan base probably not an attribute.......
What young, aspiring coach, using UConn as a stepping stone, can gloat about a few successful seasons in the AAC.
I'd love to have an unknown coach (Golden) who wants to take a job no one else wants (Temple) and turns them into a program much better than two decades of their morbid history showcased. He didn't do too bad, and now has even given the appearance of turning a scandulous Miami team around
Chances are that is the type of coach that most likely accept an overture from UConn......and that may not be too bad.
Warde will have a tough role as salesman, so if we all end up saying "who"? I won't be surprised.
junglehusky
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John Rook at theuconnblog pointed out that the job is not as attractive as it was when Edsall left, and I think I agree. Before, UConn had a shot at a BCS bid by winning the league, and competed against decent if not great football names like Pitt and Syracuse. Now we can still compete for a spot in the contract bowls but will have to win the league and out-perform the Boises, BYUs, etc. Which is not totally out of the question but ultimately it's not under the HC's control what happens in another league, whereas winning the Big East was. Another thing that's different is the need for UConn to schedule harder opponents OOC to offset a weaker league (though the AAC might improve) and look better to the voters etc... So it might be a bit more of a challenge, but on the other hand it's not a huge step down from where we were, just a bit of a step.
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