Small School Love Fest

[AUFlyer99 647]

59 minutes ago, Cardin Drake said:

Freeze is at Liberty. We all know why he is available.  Cristobal, we'll see if he's actually interested or just using us to get a contract extension at Oregon.

Yep.  Freeze makes me nervous.  
 

Cristobal could be using us to squeeze Oregon, but I’m not convinced.  Eugene is no Auburn.  

7 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

2018/2019 - Beat UCLA back to back years

2018 - Beat Virginia Tech in a bowl game

2019 - Beat Boston College in bowl

Beat UCF each of the last two seasons

He's 4-2 at UC against Power 5 opponents.  The two losses were at Ohio State and at Michigan.  Should be noted that the Michigan loss was his first season when he inherited a dumpster fire from Tuberville.  The Ohio State team he lost to made the playoffs.

Here's his four year trend at UC:

4-8

11-2

11-3

8-0 (currently)

It should also be noted that he was the interim coach at Ohio State in 2011 for 11 games when they were going through the Jim Tressell issues.  It's not like he doesn't know how a big program is supposed to work.

Out of the lower tier coaches, that is the most impressive resume and most likely to succeed.  I’m obviously not calling the shots, but I’m not sure I’d take the risk or not.  

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

11 minutes ago, AUFlyer99 said:

Out of the lower tier coaches, that is the most impressive resume and most likely to succeed.  I’m obviously not calling the shots, but I’m not sure I’d take the risk or not.  

Outside of Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, any coach you hire will be a risk.  There's not a slam dunk, guaranteed guy out there.  I think a change was vastly overdue and am happy we're moving on, but making big changes inherently comes with risk.

[AuburnEagle79 2,180]

2 hours ago, Carnell said:

Another Gus type hire.  Small school coaching his entire career.  The school is coastal carolina.

Might want to google where he was at before Coastal. I'm not saying he'd be my first choice, but he's turned bad programs into good ones, twice now. Imagine what he could do with some talent. 

[BizTiger 242]

2 hours ago, Carnell said:

While I  concede that Fickell has the necessary background to be HC (5 years as DC with OSU), the risk is he respected enough to attract an SEC quality staff.  You people talk about how important recruiting is and probably don't even think how important it is to be respected enough to attract a quality SEC staff.  For example if he approached Mike Yurich for the OC position, Yurich has as much if not more experience than Fickell.  Would Yurich or any highly qualified canadiate want to work for Fickell under these conditions.  I also acknowledge that Fickell's upside is very high but let him go to Ilinois and build them into a competitive team and he will achieve that respect but right now he is too much of a risk.  We are currently paying a large buyout and when hiring a new coach we should mitigate a s much risk as possible.  Fickell is on the defensive side of the ball and if you want a defensive mind as HC why not go with Dennis Allen DC of the Saints who has a proven track record and is very well respected in the coaching ranks.

I think he has the respect and the network due to coaching under both Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. 

[countoff 331]

11 hours ago, AUFlyer99 said:

Why the love fest with possible flash in the pan, Group of Five/small school coaches who had one break out year?  Chadwell, Fickell, Napier, even Fleck and down the list.  
 

NONE of you have the patience required to wait out one of these young guys building a program, if they are even capable of it in the SEC.  Some of those guys can and will, but striking out on one means a further three to five years in the SEC toilet. We aren’t Vanderbilt, USCe, or Arkansas.  Lug nut up and hire a known/proven commodity that still has something to prove.  

 

11 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

@AUFlyer99

If you think Fickell is a one year wonder....whoo boy...

Do your damn research bud.

Dude is 30-5 in last 35 games at Cincinnati.

And one of those 5 losses was to freaking Ohio State.

Yeah...Fickell was also the interim head coach when Tressel got canned due to scandal.  He did a great job under horrible circumstances.  They probably should have made him the permanent head coach.  But they decided to hire Urban Meyer instead (imagine that).

I would be all for a Fickell hire except his experience is solely in the upper midwest and doesn't really have a recruiting foothold in the south east.  

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

16 minutes ago, countoff said:

 

Yeah...Fickell was also the interim head coach when Tressel got canned due to scandal.  He did a great job under horrible circumstances.  They probably should have made him the permanent head coach.  But they decided to hire Urban Meyer instead (imagine that).

I would be all for a Fickell hire except his experience is solely in the upper midwest and doesn't really have a recruiting foothold in the south east.  

Sounds like Saban when he went to LSU or Urban when he went to Florida.

[countoff 331]

19 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Sounds like Saban when he went to LSU or Urban when he went to Florida.

Ummm....point taken.  Who knows?  Maybe Auburn is trying to get him before Michigan or Penn St. gobble him up.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

5 minutes ago, countoff said:

Ummm....point taken.  Who knows?  Maybe Auburn is trying to get him before Michigan or Penn St. gobble him up.

I honestly don't think our power brokers are smart enough to look at someone like Fickell.  Lots of stupid rich people who think that if ain't SEC, it ain't ****.

[Carnell 596]

1 hour ago, BizTiger said:

I think he has the respect and the network due to coaching under both Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. 

Using terms like "I think",  "I hope or any derivative thereof is a prayer so let's hire him and hope he can recruit a good staff.

[milehighfan 1,242]

I haven't heard anyone say much about Napier. Is he too much of a gamble?

[rhughes 59]

It looks like it could be Freeze.  Art Briles just resigned from his high school job here in Texas and word on the street he is headed to Liberty to take over for Freeze who is headed to Auburn.  Just what some Texas High School coaches are saying.  

[Carnell 596]

2 hours ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

Might want to google where he was at before Coastal. I'm not saying he'd be my first choice, but he's turned bad programs into good ones, twice now. Imagine what he could do with some talent. 

I did Google him.  I guess his stops were so unimpressive to me that charl so did not register.  But did you really believe that statement you made earlier that if he turned Charlston around he could do it anywhere.

[Carnell 596]

3 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

Fickell would honestly be one of the lowest risk hires we could make.  The offenses under his watch haven't had an issue scoring points and worrying about staffing is the wrong way to look at this.  Get the right head man and assistants will follow.

Non-linear example, but I'm 37.  I steward a half-billion dollar business for my company and have people in their 50s that roll into me.  This is also my first real managerial job of this magnitude.  Do you think we're concerned about attracting highly qualified people?  Nope.  Know why?  Because the culture the company has cultivated recruits itself.

Among the small school hires he may be the lowest risk but compared to other coaches such as Dennis Allen he definitely is not the lowest risk.

I really don't know your situation but you have a company telling these people they have to work for you.  Fickell does not have that luxury so he has got to convince these coaches to come work for him.  

Anyway your job sounds very challenging and rewarding and congrats on your promotion to management.

 

[AuburnEagle79 2,180]

2 hours ago, Carnell said:

I did Google him.  I guess his stops were so unimpressive to me that charl so did not register.  But did you really believe that statement you made earlier that if he turned Charlston around he could do it anywhere.

How familiar are you with Charleston Southern or Coastal Carolina? Your ignorance is glaring. 

I do believe what I typed, otherwise I wouldn't have said it. He took two programs that have not been known for their success and made them very successful their level. He has done it in the FCS, then when he moved to a G5 school, he did the same thing. The next step will be a P5 school. 

So while you rail on small program coaches, just know that coaching skills, program management, and recruiting are not all skills that are exclusive to big programs. If a man has excelled at every level, what's to say it would be different at a school with much greater resources and talent. 

Also, he didn't turn around Charleston Southern, he made them relevant, and after he left they returned to being bottom dwellers.

[Carnell 596]

38 minutes ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

How familiar are you with Charleston Southern or Coastal Carolina? Your ignorance is glaring. 

I do believe what I typed, otherwise I wouldn't have said it. He took two programs that have not been known for their success and made them very successful their level. He has done it in the FCS, then when he moved to a G5 school, he did the same thing. The next step will be a P5 school. 

So while you rail on small program coaches, just know that coaching skills, program management, and recruiting are not all skills that are exclusive to big programs. If a man has excelled at every level, what's to say it would be different at a school with much greater resources and talent. 

Also, he didn't turn around Charleston Southern, he made them relevant, and after he left they returned to being bottom dwellers.

Well if you think char south, and coastal carolina is comparable to the SEC. B10 OR EVEN THE ACC or Big Twelve the you are the one that needs to check your ignorance at the door.  You said the next step is P5 school but not HC at Auburn.

[AuburnEagle79 2,180]

1 hour ago, Carnell said:

Well if you think char south, and coastal carolina is comparable to the SEC. B10 OR EVEN THE ACC or Big Twelve the you are the one that needs to check your ignorance at the door.  You said the next step is P5 school but not HC at Auburn.

What I'm saying, and what you cannot seem to wrap your mind around, is the fact that Chadwell, who I really don't want us to hire, has proven himself successful at every stop he's had, including two schools who were not great when he took the job, but were nationally relevant at their level when he left or will leave. 

What he does has been proven to work at different levels, so there is no reason he could not be successful here. 

There are so many great coaches at smaller programs that would do an excellent job with the resources that we can provide. There are also many great coaches with big time football experience that can and will do the same.

The issue is that there are thousands of individuals just like you that think we need to go big name or bust, and that's a great way to bust. If our best option is a proven winner and program builder from a lower level, great, if our best option is Hugh Freeze or Mario Cristobal, great. 

I just hope we get the best candidate out there for Auburn. 

[eagle63 14]

UCF IS SOMETIMES REFERED TO  AS A SMALL SCHOOL.  IT IS ACTUALLY THE LARGEST UNIVERSITY IN THE US.