Silly Season 2014/2015 (Coaching Changes)

Johannes

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UCLA tried to pull the same shit with their DC. Too bad for them Roquan Smith had a delay sending in his LOI and the news broke before they actually received it.

Mike Weber is ridiculous considering he was REALLY torn between Ohio State and Michigan and the guy who knew he was leaving was a BIG factor in getting him to send his LOI in to the Buckeyes. So dirty.

Saw this on a UCLA forum earlier and got a good laugh out of it. I love how they think Mora is such a good guy and the Bruins are the real victim here:

I hope the Atlanta coach is happy with himself

This guy couldn't wait one freaking day to call Ulbrich? Mora even said in his press conference he asked coach Quinn to hold off and he still didn't.

Was he afraid someone else was going to hire Ulbrich away in the next 24 hours? Is Brick's phone ringing off the hook with offers? I can't believe how selfish this guy is - it's not like he didn't know it could jack things up on NSD. Mora told him.

And I don't think it would've been deceptive to the recruit had Quinn waited to offer Ulbrich the day after NSD. If Smith really wanted to leave if Brick left, I'm sure CJM would let him out of his NLI. This is not Notre Dame. But instead the UGA coaches now have the opportunity put doubt in our recruit's head.

And I don't blame Coach Ulbrich. If you get a call from someone coveting you for career advancement, you have to take it. Quinn put him in a horrible spot.

I think Mora was overly gracious with his "it's a business comment." If Quinn was such a good friend and decent guy, he would've respected Mora's request to wait one effing day. I hope the Falcons go 0-16 next year.

-The Blur

Obligatory ND potshot, because BK wouldn't let Vanderdoes back out of his signed contract for no reason. He's right, though. UCLA is not the same as Notre Dame and thank God for that.
 

ulukinatme

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Saw this on a UCLA forum earlier and got a good laugh out of it. I love how they think Mora is such a good guy and the Bruins are the real victim here:

I hope the Atlanta coach is happy with himself



Obligatory ND potshot, because BK wouldn't let Vanderdoes back out of his signed contract for no reason. He's right, though. UCLA is not the same as Notre Dame and thank God for that.

lulz...so UCLA is pissed because they weren't able to con a player into coming to their school, knowing that the departing coach was a pivotal reason the kid wanted to come. Yeah, because that makes them so holy in comparison to Notre Dame and the Vanderdoes situation....unbelievable. If anything the situation would have been far worse at UCLA as they were intentionally being deceptive with the kid to earn his NLI, whereas we weren't deceptive with Vanderdoes...he just decided he got cold feet after the fact and wanted to back out of his commitment.
 

IRISHDODGER

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LaFleur's departure became known today... Don't think its that different.

Was LaFleur crucial to gaining any key commits? Drayton was a helluva recruiter w/ Meyer at both UF (the Pouncey bros) & tOSU (Zeke Elliott).
 

ulukinatme

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Was LaFleur crucial to gaining any key commits? Drayton was a helluva recruiter w/ Meyer at both UF (the Pouncey bros) & tOSU (Zeke Elliott).

By all accounts the coach was instrumental in getting Weber to come to tOSU, sounds like he was really on the fence between the Buckeyes and Michigan. The timing sucks, but it is the unfortunate animal that is college football recruiting. Hopefully they figure something out with an early signing period, and maybe kids will commit more to a school and less to a coach.
 

stlnd01

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Was LaFleur crucial to gaining any key commits? Drayton was a helluva recruiter w/ Meyer at both UF (the Pouncey bros) & tOSU (Zeke Elliott).

LaFleur was certainly involved with Wimbush, but didn't sound like the deciding factor.

I get the argument about not picking a school for an assistant coach. You shouldn't. But I can see how it can be a tiebreaker for someone honestly torn between two schools, as Weber apparently was with OSU and Michigan.
It's like with a job. In most cases, you shouldn't pick a job based on your boss, because bosses change. But your boss can have a pretty big influence on both your day-to-day work life and career path. So all else being equal, a boss you like and trust can be a pretty big factor in deciding to take a job. To have that person disappear the next day would suck.
 

ThePiombino

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I'm confident that a guy who lived the Notre Dame experience, won a national championship, was a two-time all-American, and played a decade in the NFL will have little trouble communicating the greatness of Notre Dame to teenagers who want to do exactly what he has done.

I'm not saying Lyght won't be a great addition, but you're really expecting this generation to have any clue who this guy is? The natty was 27 years ago. AA 25 years ago. He hasn't played in The League in 13 years. "Todd Lyght" isn't exactly a household name. Maybe this guy will be a killer coach and recruiter, but I wouldn't hang my hat on his "legacy" having a major impact in any living rooms nowadays. For the record, I LOVE the hire.
 
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ThePiombino

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And let's be honest, BK is the QB coach.

Not according to his conversation with Wimbush and his mom - said they had nothing to worry about, that he has experience working with QBs, BUT he was going to bring in a quality QB coach.
 

BGIF

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I'm not saying Lyght won't be a great addition, but you're really expecting this generation to have any clue who this guy is? The natty was 27 years ago. AA 25 years ago. He hasn't played in The League in 13 years. "Todd Lyght" isn't exactly a household name. Maybe this guy will be a killer coach and recruiter, but I wouldn't hang my hat on his "legacy" having a major impact in any living rooms nowadays. For the record, I LOVE the hire.

And the guy he replaces NEVER:

attended, much less graduated from, ND.

played on a National Championship Team in college.

was an AA.

was brought back for another season by any of his 4 NFL teams but he did play in the XFL 13 years.



Buster nailed it. Lyght "will have little trouble communicating the greatness of Notre Dame to teenagers who want to do exactly what he has done." Lyght walked the walk. He doesn't have to learn a sales pitch. He can simply be himself.


Like you, I love the hire.
 

ThePiombino

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And the guy he replaces NEVER:

attended, much less graduated from, ND.

played on a National Championship Team in college.

was an AA.

was brought back for another season by any of his 4 NFL teams but he did play in the XFL 13 years.



Buster nailed it. Lyght "will have little trouble communicating the greatness of Notre Dame to teenagers who want to do exactly what he has done." Lyght walked the walk. He doesn't have to learn a sales pitch. He can simply be himself.


Like you, I love the hire.

This all makes sense to those who are ND-centric people, like ourselves. But does this hold water in the living room of a current gen teenager who grew up during the age of SEC dominance? I hope you're right, I'm just not so sure that Lyght's resume will mean as much to them as it does to us.
 

Crazy Balki

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This all makes sense to those who are ND-centric people, like ourselves. But does this hold water in the living room of a current gen teenager who grew up during the age of SEC dominance? I hope you're right, I'm just not so sure that Lyght's resume will mean as much to them as it does to us.

Well, what leg did Kirby Smart have to stand on when he was starting out at Alabama? Yet, he did alright. What about Tom Hermon when he was at Ohio State? Hell, Jeremy Pruitt (UGA DC) was on Two-A-Days as Hoover's DC before he became a National Champion DC at FSU. I'd say Lyght's stint at Bishop Gorman, a bigger HS program than Hoover, is still pretty impressive.
 

NDdomer2

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This all makes sense to those who are ND-centric people, like ourselves. But does this hold water in the living room of a current gen teenager who grew up during the age of SEC dominance? I hope you're right, I'm just not so sure that Lyght's resume will mean as much to them as it does to us.

It may not be instant "OMG ND HIRED TODD LYGHT", but I would say few of our Assistants brought that immediate star power.

As for the bolded - isn't this the type of kids they are trying to recruit anyways?

The make or break for recruiting is effort. You can have no AA, SB, Natty's and be the best recruiter in the country if you believe what you are pitching and pursue it endlessly, at least IMO.

If Todd brings that level of effort, matched with what he did at ND and in the NFL, its going to resonate with kids who are serious about ND.
 

BGIF

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This all makes sense to those who are ND-centric people, like ourselves. But does this hold water in the living room of a current gen teenager who grew up during the age of SEC dominance? I hope you're right, I'm just not so sure that Lyght's resume will mean as much to them as it does to us.

Buster made a solid point that Lyght "will have little trouble communicating the greatness of Notre Dame to teenagers who want to do exactly what he has done."

After you took issue that because Lyght's accomplishments weren't in the timeframe of teenagers, I pointed out that Lyght was far better qualified to talk about ND and the NFL than Cooks was.

Now you switch issues to Lyght experience was not part of the age of SEC dominance.

No kidding. Neither was Crooks who was 247's #26 recruiter. Neither was Alford's or anybody else on the ND coaching staff with the exception of BVG - briefly.

ND is still in the snow belt. Most kids from warm weather climates will still want to stay in warm weather like they did before the rise of SEC dominance. ND will still have parietals and will still NOT have co-ed dorms nor athletic dorms. ND will still have tough academic requirements and the expectation that student athletes graduate in 4 years, doing their own work. High school jocks in SECland (and other parts of the country) that were passed through school because of their athletic ability will still recoil from ND's expectations of excellence in education.

Lyght, like other ND coaches before him, will still have to deal with all the recruiting negatives that have long been associated with ND. Many other ND coaches have done well recruiting around the country through the decades despite those negatives

Most kids will still want to stay local so their families and girl friends can see them play in person. Some will even claim they want to stay local because of an ailing grandma. What decade Lyght played in the NFL isn't relevant to the desire of a recruit to stay locally but that's one other objection he's bound to hear.

Recruits that chose a college because of the paint scheme of the helmets, or the jersey design, or because a tutor will write their papers, or a booster will provide spending money are still going to choose the easy way regardless of Lyght's pedigree.

As Buster originally stated Lyght "will have little trouble communicating the greatness of Notre Dame to teenagers who want to do exactly what he has done."

Teenagers who aspire to a great education, to win a national championship, to make AA, and to play in the NFL will relate Lyght, if those are their true goals.

Recruits that don't want to "play college" will still choose elsewhere.
 

IrishLax

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A lot of people keep cryptically hinting at more staff changes to come. But it sounds like these staff changes might be Kelly looking to replace certain coaches with "upgrades" - not people leaving voluntarily for another position. Will be interesting to watch if anything happens.
 

NDPhilly

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Sampson on II believes Jeff Quinn will join the staff. Unsure of what position coach he would be.
 

Whiskeyjack

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Sampson on II believes Jeff Quinn will join the staff. Unsure of what position coach he would be.

Warriner for Hiestand, Cooks for Lyght, and Lafleur for Quinn? Would be a very impressive job of "trading up" by Kelly.
 

woolybug25

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Sampson on II believes Jeff Quinn will join the staff. Unsure of what position coach he would be.

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K

koonja

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Trading Warriner for Hiestand, Cooks for Lyght, and Lafleur for Quinn? Would be a very impressive job by Kelly.

Agree and I don't want to start a tangent. But I must be missing something because Warriner is killing it for OSU. Not saying Heistand was a bad replacement, but an upgrade? I don't see it.
 

Whiskeyjack

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Agree and I don't want to start a tangent. But I must be missing something because Warriner is killing it for OSU. Not saying Heistand was a bad replacement, but an upgrade? I don't see it.

Warriner is not a good recruiter. Heistand is arguably the best OL recruiter in the nation. So on that front, he's absolutely a massive upgrade.

There are so many factors that go into the success of the running game that it would be misleading to attribute too much to either coach directly. That said, my impression is that our OL has not been holding us back.
 

IrishLax

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Sampson on II believes Jeff Quinn will join the staff. Unsure of what position coach he would be.

I've always said you bring him in to coach TE and either can Booker or move Booker to defense where he belongs. Elston is the other guy that should be on ab it of a hot seat.

Wonder if Quinn could coach QBs. The interesting thing to me is that I tried very hard to come up with possible QB coach names and basically came up empty handed. Best I could think of with a link to ND was Powlus and he's not someone I think you'd necessarily want on your staff. Outside of that I came up with nothing but off-the-wall candidates like Whitfield, etc.
 

IrishLax

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Agree and I don't want to start a tangent. But I must be missing something because Warriner is killing it for OSU. Not saying Heistand was a bad replacement, but an upgrade? I don't see it.

One of the biggest myths out there is that our OL has been anything other than really freaking good under Hiestand. They were fantastic in 2012, best pass pro in the country in 2013 with Tommy at the helm, and then last year was their only "down" year. Last year's OL still performed comparable or better than what we got out of Warriner at ND.

At Ohio State, the OL really gelled at the end of last year for the Buckeyes. Up to that point, they weren't as good as you're making them seem. In fact, they were pretty mediocre at times. So in total body of work it's not really close.
 

woolybug25

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One of the biggest myths out there is that our OL has been anything other than really freaking good under Hiestand. They were fantastic in 2012, best pass pro in the country in 2013 with Tommy at the helm, and then last year was their only "down" year. Last year's OL still performed comparable or better than what we got out of Warriner at ND.

At Ohio State, the OL really gelled at the end of last year for the Buckeyes. Up to that point, they weren't as good as you're making them seem. In fact, they were pretty mediocre at times. So in total body of work it's not really close.

When they played VT, they gave up seven sacks and Barrett was running for his life all game. They also only rushed for 108 yards.

I'm with you, they were pretty average (at best) at the beginning of the year.
 

Pops Freshenmeyer

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The problem with adding Quinn as a QB coach is that you're looking at another one-and-done since he's likely to move up the ladder. The problem with giving him a bigger role is that it marginalizes Denbrock and is another high level jon given to someone outside the staff which is probably bad for staff morale and makes it more likely guys will leave rather than hope for internal promotions.

I hope he is worth it.
 

woolybug25

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The problem with adding Quinn as a QB coach is that you're looking at another one-and-done since he's likely to move up the ladder. The problem with giving him a bigger role is that it marginalizes Denbrock and is another high level jon given to someone outside the staff which is probably bad for staff morale and makes it more likely guys will leave rather than hope for internal promotions.

I hope he is worth it.

I honestly don't think he would be "one and done" and even if he was, how is that different than almost every assistant hire? If Denbrock was offered the head coaching gig somewhere, he would probably take it too.

Staffs are constantly evolving, I highly doubt the moral of the group is dependent on it.
 

IrishLax

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I honestly don't think he would be "one and done" and even if he was, how is that different than almost every assistant hire? If Denbrock was offered the head coaching gig somewhere, he would probably take it too.

Staffs are constantly evolving, I highly doubt the moral of the group is dependent on it.

And to add on to that, having a guy waiting in the wings for IF someone like Denbrock takes a promotion or some NFL team or other school throws huge money at Hiestand to poach him seems invaluable.

Considering that Quinn could seamlessly step in as an OL coach or OC is great value added to the staff even if you just bring him on to coach tight ends. Contrast that to Booker, who is already a bit of a square peg/round hole coaching ST/TE and couldn't possibly step up into either of those roles.
 

PANDFAN

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The problem with adding Quinn as a QB coach is that you're looking at another one-and-done since he's likely to move up the ladder. The problem with giving him a bigger role is that it marginalizes Denbrock and is another high level jon given to someone outside the staff which is probably bad for staff morale and makes it more likely guys will leave rather than hope for internal promotions.

I hope he is worth it.

i think unfortunately he f#cked himself at Buffalo for the near future...not worried...its the path he took in going to buffalo...set urself to lose and ruins career
 

Domina Nostra

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And to add on to that, having a guy waiting in the wings for IF someone like Denbrock takes a promotion or some NFL team or other school throws huge money at Hiestand to poach him seems invaluable.

Considering that Quinn could seamlessly step in as an OL coach or OC is great value added to the staff even if you just bring him on to coach tight ends. Contrast that to Booker, who is already a bit of a square peg/round hole coaching ST/TE and couldn't possibly step up into either of those roles.

Personally, I would push Booker to DBs, to help with those guys. He could specialize in teaching LBs coverage skills or something.

Then I'd hire Quinn, who is an OL guy, to work with the TE and ST coach. He could work with Denbrock to teach the TE's routes and be Denbrock's aas't OC (crystal clear pecking order, Denbrock is on top).
 

Whiskeyjack

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The problem with adding Quinn as a QB coach is that you're looking at another one-and-done since he's likely to move up the ladder. The problem with giving him a bigger role is that it marginalizes Denbrock and is another high level jon given to someone outside the staff which is probably bad for staff morale and makes it more likely guys will leave rather than hope for internal promotions.

I hope he is worth it.

Denbrock's contributions in 2014 probably deserve more discussion around here. I'm with Lax in thinking that we've definitely missed his presence in California as a recruiter, but our offense last season was the most productive of the Kelly era. We know Kelly is still calling plays, so how much did Denbrock have to do with that?

If Denbrock had a lot to do with our offensive success last year, then I agree that adding Quinn could be problematic (because he'll be gone soon if he doesn't make OC very quickly). But if Denbrock didn't have much to do with it, then maybe it's time for him to move onto a HC job of his own.
 

NDdomer2

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Denbrock's contributions in 2014 probably deserve more discussion around here. I'm with Lax in thinking that we've definitely missed his presence in California as a recruiter, but our offense last season was the most productive of the Kelly era. We know Kelly is still calling plays, so how much did Denbrock have to do with that?

If Denbrock had a lot to do with our offensive success last year, then I agree that adding Quinn could be problematic (because he'll be gone soon if he doesn't make OC very quickly). But if Denbrock didn't have much to do with it, then maybe it's time for him to move onto a HC job of his own.

It was also the first year Kelly had an experienced QB that fit his style of play.

When Denbrock got promoted to OC I thought Kelly's common positive about it was they would be on the same page. Some efficiency maybe developed through that similar philosphy in play calling but I would have to think Golson under center as a non freshman was more influential to the increased offensive fire power than it was Denbrock being OC.
 

drake29

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I've always said you bring him in to coach TE and either can Booker or move Booker to defense where he belongs. Elston is the other guy that should be on ab it of a hot seat.

Wonder if Quinn could coach QBs. The interesting thing to me is that I tried very hard to come up with possible QB coach names and basically came up empty handed. Best I could think of with a link to ND was Powlus and he's not someone I think you'd necessarily want on your staff. Outside of that I came up with nothing but off-the-wall candidates like Whitfield, etc.

My favorite off the wall candidate is Chris Weinke. Former Heisman winner, NFL QB, has worked with several top young QBs and now helps run IMG Academy. Can't imagine how much it would help our recruiting.
 
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