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December 3, 2009

So who will we get?

I haven't seen many credible rumors. What I've seen is a lot of theories based on people playing some sort of football version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with Sanford Stadium and Mark Richt alternating their roles as Kevin Bacon. Or just a random wish list of candidates.

So before I list who I want, I'd rather list what I want from a coach:
    1. Someone with a relentless desire to be a head coach. Or someone with an unquenchable desire to be great. Someone that will sleep in their office if that's what it takes to figure out how to stop our opposition.

    2. Someone who isn't set for life rich. The last thing we need is someone sitting on a multi-million dollar settlement from his flamed out head coaching career. That guy isn't going to put in the hours to be great.

    3. Someone with an attack mentality. Someone that brings VIOLENCE and TEMPO back to our defense. Someone that keeps opposing offensive coordinators sleeping in their offices to figure out how to stop his unit.

    4. Someone that teaches terrific fundamental football. I'm not looking for gimmick systems like John Thompson or Joe Lee Dunn. I want to see someone that will put our guys in the position to make the play.

    5. Someone that takes recruiting seriously, and gets personally involved. Not someone who thinks that's beneath them or who sucks at it.
Let's talk about who I think we won't get or shouldn't pursue....

Who We Won't Get:
    1. Tommy Tuberville - This is the single most absurd rumor / theory I've seen. Tommy is sitting on $6 million from his settlement with Auburn, and he can wait for the right head coaching opportunity to come along. Plus, he has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to be a defensive coordinator. He wants to be a head coach. This isn't like saying, "I don't want to leave Ole Miss." That's something you say to fool people into thinking you're staying. When you DO want a new job and you're unemployed, you tell everyone who will listen what kind of job you want. Tuberville and his agent Jimmy Sexton think he'll be a legitimate candidate for a variety of BCS jobs this year or next, and with his resume they are right. Those jobs will pay him $2.5-3.0 million per year. There are only two assistant coaches in college football who make over $900,000. Most big-time DCs make $300-500k. If he comes here, I'll eat my hat. I'd be thrilled, but no way it happens.

    2. Will Muschamp - The former Dawg makes over $900,000, and he's the coach in waiting at Texas. At Texas, he can get all the talent who wants with relative ease, and he has an easier road to the national title than in the SEC. Playing for National Titles gets you head coaching jobs faster than anything else. Plus, UGA has shown zero indication that it has any interest in getting into a bidding war with a school like Texas.
Who I don't want:
    1. Jon Tenuta - Check out Tenuta's stats at Notre Dame. Now check out Martinez's stats. Willie is better in almost every category despite playing dramatically tougher competition. Weis is being fired because the defense is wretched, and this is Tenuta's second pathetic defense in two years. At Georgia Tech, he was a notoriously uninvolved recruiter, a sandpaper personality and a wildly inconsistent performances. His defenses at Tech had such staggeringly bad performances as giving up 51 in Athens, 30 to Fresno St., 39 to Clemson, 41 to Duke, 34 to a bad UNC team, 51 to VT, 38 to Utah, 38 to WVU and 40 to Fresno St. I could've listed him in the "Who We Won't Get" list, but I'd rather list him in the "we'd be insane to consider." Personality wise, matching him with Richt would be the match made in hell.

    2. Chuck Amato, Ron Zook or Sly Croom - Amato has never been a DC, and Fisher doesn't want him at FSU. Zook has been fired or demoted at almost every coaching job for nearly 20 years. Croom has never been a defensive coordinator, and he's spent much of the late 80s and 90s as a running backs coach. All are sitting on enormous piles of severance cash, and I don't think any of them are that impressive.
Guys that intrigue me:
    1. Kirby Smart - I really don't think we can get him. Plus, he's going to be the center piece of a bidding war between FSU and Bama after this season as he's apparently Jimbo's #1 candidate to replace Andrews. I'm not sure we could get him to leave Saban anyway, but I'm less confident that we would pay what it would take to get him.

    2. Kevin Steele - The current Clemson DC has worked for Nick Saban, Dom Capers, Mickey Andrews (before he started struggling), and Tom Osborne. His teams play smart aggressive football. He was a bust as a head coach at Baylor, but who hasn't been a bust as head coach at Baylor? He really intrigues me.

    3. Bob Sanders - Current Bills DL coach. Sanders worked with Spurrier at Duke and Florida from the late 80s-2000 mostly as the #2 defensive assistant, but never the DC. After moving to the pros, he coached in Green Bay as DC as well as Miami and Buffalo as DL coach. He is incredibly intriguing.
There are other names floating around, but none that I think are all that realistic for the Defensive Coordinator job. For the Fabris position, I would VERY much like to see us bring Travis Jones home. The former Dawg is the current DL coach for the New Orleans Saints, and he's doing a helluva job there. He worked with Saban at LSU as DL Coach and Recruiting Coordinator on the 2003 National Title team, and he followed him to Miami. He has coached all front seven positions from both the 3-4 and the 4-3.

Regardless of who we get, they have to be able to recruit. We have to keep upgrading the talent. The last two classes were directionally right, but we need more high end defensive studs.

As for Brian Van Gorder, I just don't see it happening.

PWD

53 comments:

Dawgsopinion said...

What about Dick Bumpass from TCU? He constantly has had a top 10 defense year end and year out. I also think that Justin Wilcox from Boise State might be a good addition. We could probably lead both of these guys away since we are a bigger program with more exposure.

Will Q said...

I understand why fans have such fond memories of Van Gorder, but I don't understand why so many of them want him back. Isn't Atlanta the first place he's stayed at for consecutive years since he left UGA? What makes anyone think he'd stick around this time?

Anonymous said...

why dont we just build a machine to clone erk russell?

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Bob Sanders ran a conservative defense at Green Bay, much like UGA's read and react defense under Willie. Why fire the guy if we hire someone who runs the same type of D?

I know I'm dreaming, but I'd love to see Bud Foster in Athens. Don't know how much $ it would take to convince him to make the lateral move.

Anonymous said...

What about Rodney Garner? Do you think he expects to be looked at for DC? I can't imagine him sticking around much longer if he doesn't get promoted.

Just to clarify, I think we need someone with experience as a DC. Just wanted to get yall's thoughts on Garner.

Anonymous said...

PWD, do you have any thoughts on Mike MacIntyre from Duke? His resume is pretty impressive.

SECC in '10...Please said...

We need Kirby Smart. That would be huge, definitely my pipe dream. With that said, what do we have to lure him with?

A better recruiting base? Winning takes care of recruiting even if you're program is based in Montana. Smart and Saban are winning plenty at Alabama.

More money? We haven't displayed our prowess in that department yet.

Improved stability? Maybe. Saban comes and goes. However, Smart may see that as an advantage. You know, taking over at Alabama once Saban is finished as opposed to waiting for 10 to 15 more years behind Richt (assuming he wants to be a head coach). Or, he may want to coach under Saban for the majority of his career and doesn't mind the constant moving. He's still relatively young.

Further, do we have more returning on our D than Bama? A little. They lose Cody, Washington, Deaderick, Reamer, Woodall, Arenas, and probably McClain....However, we lose Owens, Atkins, Weston, Miller, Evans, almost definitely Jones, 50/50 on Rennie, and possibly Houston (doubtful). Is that enough of a discrepancy to even come into play?

Anybody have an opinion outside of "he may want to come home"? Westerdawg? Quinton? Anybody? *Crickets*?

Anonymous said...

Amato would be great in recruiting but the penalty situation won't improve, Sanders is incredibly intriguing.

Anonymous said...

Dang it...I don't want anybody from DUKE/BSU/or any other small school. I want a proven DC with a history of kicking ass.

We should pay him anywhere from 600k to 1.5 mill +plus incentives ....why?? Because you ain't winning crap in the SEC without a Defense. Look at Every Team that has won the SEC....the had a kick ass defense.

Anonymous said...

isnt that what the Aubies said about Chiz? Werent they like 5-0 under the new coach? Just bc someone hasnt proven themselves in the SEC doesnt mean they cant coach. Great article btw.

Anonymous said...

Travis Jones is the DL coach for a potentially undefeated NFL team.

I am having a hard time figuring out how to get him to Athens to coach DE's?

Why not just go after him as the DC?

Anonymous said...

Well, Rodney Garner is already a coordinator, so I don't know that we make him 2 coordinators.

He is the Recruiting Coordinator, which I would think holds some cache. It may not be as sexy a position, but it is damn well important.

Anonymous said...

Bob Sanders is going to be the next DC. Mark it down.

PatinDC said...

Bud Foster will only leave VT for a HC position.

The list is interesting and I like your thought process on it. It will be an interesting few weeks. Do you think we have a coach in place by the bowl game?

RC said...

Great write-up, PWD, but I will take exception on a couple of points:

First, I would prefer to have someone with NO designs on being a head coach, who simply wants to work in anonymity as the ass-kickingest DC what ever toed a sideline.

Second, I think you overestimate an assistant's loyalty to Saban. He is a notorious prick to work for. Remember that exactly zero of his assistants followed him from MSU to LSU, choosing instead to stay on the sinking ship SS Bobby Williams. I will grant you that Kirby is in the one spot on a Saban staff that has some serious potential for upward mobility. If you can suck it up and tough it out working for the man and do a good job, that is a role you can parlay into something bigger and better.

Third, do you really think we'll continue to segregate the coaching responsibilities on the DL? I would tend to think (and hope) that as many have speculated that they will fill Fabris's spot with a full-time ST coordinator, and let RG (or his eventual replacement) coach the entire DL.

Left to Right said...

Great post, but I disagree on Sanders. As PWD point out, at UF he was the "co-DC" and not the one calling the defense. And when he finally did get the chance to call the shots as DC, he did a poor job. He was fired at Green Bay for more than for more than losing a playoff game.

I don't think Bumpas is going to be a possibility. For one, he may be happy at TCU. He works for a former player of his who is in no danger of being fired and who lets him run things the way he wants. Bumpas Also, if Bumpas were to decide to leave TCU, there is going to be a bidding war for his services by a number of schools, possibly including UGA, ND, Ark., UF and GT. I'm not sure Evans is going to be willing to pay huge money for the next DC.

Finally, an article I read about him (web addy below) described him as "peculiar". The article talks about how he enjoyed taking a pencil and paper and counting the types of cars as they went by when he was a player at Arkansas. I don't know if "peculiar" works very well in the SEC. Houston Nutt seems to be about as peculiar as fans can tolerate. The competitiveness of the SEC doesn't really allow for personal idiosyncrasies. As PWD says, we need someone ambitious and chomping at the bit prove himself. While Bumpas is a great DC, I'm not sure he's the right guy.

I do want a DC who has been successful against a wide variety of offenses, someone who can handle the challenge of going up against the triple option, the spread option, the spread, the pro-style and whatever Spurrier is trying to run. That's probably going to mean a coach from out west, either the PAC 10, Big 12, WAC or Mountain West.

Left to Right said...

Here's the article on Bumpas:

http://arkansasnews.com/2009/11/11/bumpas-tcu-equal-success/

VAdawg said...

I completely agree with Paul about Travis Jones; we need that guy back in Athens. I'm not opposing to giving him a good look for dc.

I'm wary of Bob Sanders... I'm just not sure that we want someone whose been out of recruiting, etc that long. I want Smart, but i don't think its going to happen. Everyone says the tomahawk is buried between he and CMR, but i don't know about all that.

I'm very interested in the Duke guy... his resumee is legit. But we need to move quick, and I also think it would be nice to get someone with some experience in the league. These are the things that will keep our recruits on board.

Scott said...

I just heard from a friend of mine with FSU that, like you said, Kirby is the #1 candidate @ FSU. They have apparantly offerd him $100K more than he currently makes, plus they had the advantage of Mickey andrews announcing retirement several weeks ago to officially start looking. Also read on Bama and FSU message boards that FSU has already made an offer to Kirby

Anonymous said...

Three big bball games coming up in the next few days.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how or why Bob Sanders is in the mix. I thought Florida's defense didn't really take off until Stoops was in control?

I also have a friend that is a lifelong Bills fan and he thinks Sanders is pretty mediocre. He was shocked to hear that he was rumored as a potential DC candidate.

Sanders seems like a very boring hire to me.

Ollllddude said...

Solid post. But, I wouldn't write off Zook. Not that he is coming, but Zook has been a great recruiter and motivator (fitting two of your requirements), and he has been fired as a head coach (obviously, not his strong suit), but so has Van Gorder, and who wouldn't want Van Gorder. I have no idea if Zook is even on any radar, but I wouldn't be upset at all if he was.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone considered this guy? He coached at UGA in the '90's and he's been a defensive coordinator in the NFL. He's currently the linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins.

Meet George Edwards....
http://www.miamidolphins.com/content/george-edwards

RC said...

Zook??? Seriously??? The guy who ran a defense his own coach derided as the "Roast-andToast"???

No thanks.

Anonymous said...

Here is another new name that I read somewhere...Mark Snyder...just resigned from HC at Marshall, former DC at Minnesota and then under Tressel at the OSU. OSU had some really good defenses although the fact that it was Big 10 football(slow and plodding) might be a problem. Surely he could adjust to the speed of the SEC.

RandallPinkFloyd said...

So, you're saying my friends and I aren't the only people on earth that play six degrees of Kevin Bacon?

Niiiicccee.

Anonymous said...

FWIW - a very well connected individual that stated what would happen yesterday several days before maintains Tuberville is the most likely candidate.

Irishdawg said...

I'm not sure why Smart is so unattainable. Pay him more than he's making now, and talk up that UGA is his alma mater.

Anonymous said...

Olllldude, Van Gorder wasn't fired as a HC. He resigned from GSU.

war willie said...

My source (friend of Tuberville) tells me that Richt plans to leave UGA in 5 years for the ministry once his kids graduate HS). He wants Tuberville to come in as a "coach in waiting"!

Richt evidently has had it with fans like me (fans that want championships). He thought he would be a lifelong coach at UGA who would be beloved by fans happy with 8-9 win seasons and an occasional SEC title.

War Willie

Anonymous said...

As long as we don't play six degrees of Kevin Ramsey with this hire I'll be okay

WFdawg said...

I'm calling BS about nearly everything War Willie has written above.

war willie said...

WFdawg - I wish it was BS! Tuberville is as soft as Richt...

Anonymous said...

"My source (friend of Tuberville) tells me that Richt plans to leave UGA in 5 years for the ministry once his kids graduate HS). He wants Tuberville to come in as a "coach in waiting"!"

His youngest is 12 years old, so actually it would take 6 years before the kid would graduate HS. I find it highly unlikely that he figured that 8-9 win seasons would cut it, when his predecessor got fired for doing that.

Maybe he might leave because he is burned out, but I highly doubt it. Plus, Tuberville is 55 and would be 61 by the time he would have the HC position under you scenario. It's highly unlikely that UGA would go for a 61 year old HC once Richt retires.

VAdawg said...

I also call major BS on war willie, and I don't think Damon would sign off on bringing a 55 year old coach in waiting even if it were true.

I like Tubs, but I don't know if he is the fire breather we need. I want someone intense...

Wade Wilson said...

Umm...did you guys take stupid pills this morning?

First off, his name is war willie. (aka shitty Auburn fan)

And secondly, he was obviously taking a shot at Mark Richt.

That being said, war willie has a small penis.

I speak truth.

War Willie said...

Sorry to upset Dawgnation, just reporting what I was told...FYI, my source has been friends with Tubs for over 20 years. Why does Tubs name keep getting brought up when he's said he doesn't want a DC position? Well, I just told you why in my post!

Wade Wilson said...

Shut your herpes infested mouth already.

Don't you have some fat cow to go have sex with?

Alabama is one of the most obese states in the US.

I hate its existence.

Code N said...

Everyone has had it with fans like you, War Willie.

Wade Wilson said...

Yeah go play in traffic! Right Code N?

Anonymous said...

Fans like War Willie are to be credited for the coaching changes yesterday. It's OKAY to be anti status-quo, it doesn't make him a bad fan folks.

He was ripped constantly last season by you "loyalists" for saying Willie should go back then!!!!

Deny it all you want, but you homers are half the reason we are in this postion in the first place!

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure any fan has the right to be "credited" with anything any player or coach does, on or off the field.

Anonymous said...

All signs point to Smart to FSU: closer to Bainbridge, buddies with Fisher, rumors of bad relationship with Richt, FSU's commitment in $ to a DC, FSU's head start...

That is, if he leaves, and most of Saban's assistants that go on to bigger and better things usually take this step before it... see Muschamp.

SECC in '10...Please said...

I personally don't think Smart goes to FSU before going to UGA. Strictly conjecture, but I feel like they have even less to offer than UGA.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:24

The rumor at Butts-Mehre is that both Smart and VanGorder had issues with Rodney Garner, not Mark Richt. Personally, I think the chances of Garner leaving this year or next are very high. He's currently not on a signed contract and holds UGA hostage every year with his flirtations with other schools.

Anonymous said...

Smart is a done deal. Announcement on Monday. Take it FWIW...

Anonymous said...

David Pollack just reported that the strong rumor out of Athens is that Rodney Garner resigned today. Anyone else heard anything like that?

Unknown said...

I don't know what everyone's obsession with Kirby Smart is....he may be the DC for Bama, but he isn't the guy running the show. Do you honestly think Saban, considered a defensive genius by many, would let him have the reins of what defines him as a coach? Remember what happened to Applewhite? Smart is the DC by title only.

As fas as Bob Sanders being intriguing...yeah, intriguing in the way a DL coach always is when he is yielding the most yards rushing/game in the NFL. I am not thrilled with any of the names on this list.

SECC in '10...Please said...

Who do you want, Quentin?

Sam (my actual name) said...

I doubt anyone on this blog is "connected
or knows anyone who is.

Everyone is just repeating what someone else said or having wet dreams.

Anonymous said...

I'm content to wait it out - let CMR do what he is paid to do. Conjucture - rumour - unknown sources - give it a rest. In the end we will get the guy CMR wants - nothing more nothing less.

Unknown said...

What about Tyrone Nix?

Anonymous said...

Quinton: I had the same first thought about Kirby, but you look at Kevin Steele and you see Will Muschamp and you figure if Kirby has any brains at all that he's working for Saban to soak up all he can. Others have done the same and moved on to their own success out of Nick's shadow. Plus, he's got the Georgia connection.

Last night pretty much nailed it for me with Kirby. I'm hoping that's who we get. (Not that I matter). But if he had as big a role as it seems on shutting out the might gators in the second half, then if he can bring a little bit of that here, I'm for it.

Also, Applewhite is a really bad example. He was clearly in way over his head at Bama and Saban ran him off to a QB coach job at UT (where Major will be able to work until the end of time if he wants). MA just advanced too far too fast. Kirby, otoh, just got a raise and promotion on Saban's staff and has worked with Saban at three different stops now (if I'm not mistaken: LSU, Miami Dolphins, and Bama).

 
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