UC Coaching Search Official Thread

[ralph1950]

A friend who has a son who works at UC says he saw a guy who looked like Mike Shanahan on campus this morning.

[Former Lurker]

I'd rather see a coach come from a Div II school or 1aa school than the aforementioned. How well did it work out for MiamiO when Shane Montgomery became the head coach? If this Quinn fellow has been an OC for 21 years, he either doesn't want to be a head coach or is very content being a good OC IMHO. Wasn't Butch Jones a defense coach that was promoted to head coach? Who was running the offense at CMU? Would his entire staff come with him?

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the next coach came from some unhead of school in a way similar to when Ohio State got Tressel.

Tressel had been an assistant to Earle Bruce for three years; his hiring was seen not as a departure, but as a return to an earlier, more successful, era.

[binturong07]

I would LOVE the Mike Zimmer hire from a coaching standpoint, not sure about his recruting/college coaching background...but I kind of wonder how long he would be around. he seems destined for his own NFL team.

[DMoney1080]

I find it funny how many people in this thread want proven winners. I remember when Minter was fired and everyone was searching for a coach and here comes MD. Remember, MD was the defensive coordinator at OSU - where was his HC experience? Then he leaves and we hire a guy, that a lot of us did not know, but had a lot of passion for the game. BK. I know we have come far very fast, but we also need to be realistic in our coaching search. As much as I want to disagree with people that this is a destination job, until the facilities are built, the stadium expanded, and the fan base selling out the stadium year in and year out, coaches will have reasons to leave. Above anything right now, we need a coach who is going to be enthusiastic about the program. If you look at a lot of the good coaches out there, Saban, Meyer, Mack Brown, they all recruit well, but they are all motivators as well. Those are the biggest pieces of the puzzle. Can we scheme as good as BK did - don't know? But I do know Quinn was a big part of it. Do I think it's important to keep the staff. I would love to, but in transition times - anything is possible.

I've read a lot of threads on CMU's website, and there are a lot of people pumped up about the program with Butch Jones running it. A lot of people saying the we want to keep the program moving forward and Butch is the guy. Same goes with Holtz at ECU. Sumlin I think would interview if the position is still open after their bowl game, but to his credit, declined the interview so it wouldn't be a distraction from his team. We don't want another Kragthorpe, but to Krags defense, a majority of the team had issues - Petrino knew it, and jumped ship. No one wants to repeat history, but name the last bad hire at UC. Minter was a good coach - not great, but he got the program to keep for CUSA titles every once in awhile. MD - built a solid defense, and we transitioned to the BE. BK took us another step forward. We need someone that is going to be enthusiastic about the program and we the fans of the program, need to show our support now more than ever.

[bearcat25]

I would not be against Quinn as the next head coach. I keep hearing, "he's been an OC for XX years. If he were that good, he'd be a head coach somewhere." Well, maybe take this into consideration. At GVSU, Kelly had the team winning, winning a lot, and winning titles. How many OC's are hired from Div. II to be a head coach in Div. I somewhere? Quinn is a smart guy. He knew if he stuck with Kelly, he'd get somewhere faster than taking a HC job at a some other Div. II school. So, yeah, he kind of rode Kelly's coattail, but this was his best bet to get to the top.

He is a good coach, puts a good gameplan together, and would keep continuity. Quinn is not necessarily the guy that has been job jumping. It was Kelly and he brought along his assistants. Butch Jones may be a job jumper just as Kelly was. Holtz? Maybe a job jumper too. It's been said that he throws his name into the hat of every BCS job opening. Quinn could possibly be the guy that does stay long term (if successful).

[Dambee]

According to Joe Schad, Al Golden (HC at Temple) has also removed his name from consideration for the Cincinnati coaching position....yikes!

[JasonS]

According to Joe Schad, Al Golden (HC at Temple) has also removed his name from consideration for the Cincinnati coaching position....yikes!

Good. I don't want a coach with one ok year. My guess is he wasn't really even considered by Mike Thomas anyway.

[Dannyboy]

A lot of times when a guy "removes his name from consideration," it means his agent sent out feelers and the school told him no.

[shaunsimpson]

According to Joe Schad, Al Golden (HC at Temple) has also removed his name from consideration for the Cincinnati coaching position....yikes!

He is waiting for JoPa to retire and he will be back at PSU in my opinion.

[DMoney_70]

Nice way to pump yourself and your program up. Remove your name from consideration for a higher profile job that you had no chance of getting anyway.

[richard k.]

2 things:

1. Why does anyone get excited when a coach announces he is pulling his name from consideration for a particular job? That is the way the game is played. If someone is being "considered" for a position and it becomes evident he is not going to get it - they withdraw, publicly. The school isn't going to issue a press release saying that we interviewed so and so, but don't like him so we are not going to offer him the job. The first press release we'll see from UC will be the announcement of the new coach. And in that regard:

2. Everyone, including BK, says the program is in better shape now then when he arrived. Obviously we have sold out games, 2 BEast titles/ BCS bowl games in a row, and were within 1 second of possibly playing for the national championship. But if the program is in so much better shape why are the supposed leading candidates for the job Holtz, who interviewed for the job 3 years ago, and the guy who took BK's place at CMU? These are the same guys from 3 years ago - if we're that much better, including the salary levels, how come? Not being negative - just trying to understand.

[bearcat25]

According to Joe Schad, Al Golden (HC at Temple) has also removed his name from consideration for the Cincinnati coaching position....yikes!

Keep in mind, there is somewhat of an unspoken rule in the coaching fraternity. No coach will (or should) say they turned down a job and no school will say they offered so-and-so first. There is an understanding that you do not want the next coach to feel they were the 2nd, 3rd, 4th.......choice. When a coach says he's removed his name from consideration, 1. he was never a candidate to start with, 2. he turned down an offere, or 3. the school went with another candidate.

[steveocincy]

I certainly do not have a vote that MT will listen to. However, one thing that I keep seeing regarding Quinn is that he will maintain the continuity. I would think that if he became HC, he and probably Coombs and Hinton could be the only assistants that remain. I think that if given the choice, most of the assistants will follow BK to ND. That would be a higher profile job than UC (unfortunately) and BK is more of a known commodity, leading to more job opportunities.

I dont think that a good coach will have any problems learning the players and what their best roles are for success. I think many people calling for Quinn probably did not like going outside the last time when BK was hired. I hope they get the best coach available, and let them set up the team for success the best way they see fit.

[oldcat48]

2. Everyone, including BK, says the program is in better shape now then when he arrived. Obviously we have sold out games, 2 BEast titles/ BCS bowl games in a row, and were within 1 second of possibly playing for the national championship. But if the program is in so much better shape why are the supposed leading candidates for the job Holtz, who interviewed for the job 3 years ago, and the guy who took BK's place at CMU? These are the same guys from 3 years ago - if we're that much better, including the salary levels, how come? Not being negative - just trying to understand.

I don't really understand your question, so I apologize in advance. I mean, who do you want instead of Holtz or Jones? Maybe a better question is who do you think would actually look at UC from other BCS conference schools?

You want to hire a winner, and there's probably no conference or near conference winner at the other BCS schools who would take what is, quite generously stated, a lateral. I don't want to hire a middle of the pack guy from a BCS school because I want someone who wins. I don't want a coordinator because they've never sat in the chair, never had to put a staff together, never had it all on them. I want a guy who's 1) Been a head guy and ran his own program, and 2) WON. Period.

And either Jones or Holtz has certainly done that. I think these are both excellent candidates. And I would guess there's even a second tier of guys who would be winners here, as well, but haven't even had an opportunity to interview yet, and may not if we find our guy early.

[richard k.]

I don't really understand your question, so I apologize in advance. I mean, who do you want instead of Holtz or Jones? Maybe a better question is who do you think would actually look at UC from other BCS conference schools?

You want to hire a winner, and there's probably no conference or near conference winner at the other BCS schools who would take what is, quite generously stated, a lateral. I don't want to hire a middle of the pack guy from a BCS school because I want someone who wins. I don't want a coordinator because they've never sat in the chair, never had to put a staff together, never had it all on them. I want a guy who's 1) Been a head guy and ran his own program, and 2) WON. Period.

And either Jones or Holtz has certainly done that. I think these are both excellent candidates. And I would guess there's even a second tier of guys who would be winners here, as well, but haven't even had an opportunity to interview yet, and may not if we find our guy early.

I guess my problem is that I don't fully understand what constitutes a step up in college football coaching ranks. Take for example Mike London who is currently the head coach at UVA. What is the likelihood that UVA will ever be 1 second from playing in a national title game? Despite the apparent bias against the BEast, the ACC may be the overall weakest BCS conference; yet with Miami, Fl. St., G.T., and the Carolina schools how does he win titles, and that is without VA Tech in his own state. Would the UC job, as currently left by BK, not offer such a coach more of an opportunity for permanent success, and that is without even considering the alleged difference in admission standards. Understand, I'm not pushing London, who won a NC @ Richmond, for the job, just trying to understand the thinking that goes into these things.