Mike Sanford Jr. To WKU

Johannes

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FWIW, he apparently is not a Jr., as he and his father have different middle names.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QWhCTKvlLbA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(Last few seconds of the video.)
 
Blaise

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I love that Kelly went outside of his "coaching Tree" for this hire... He is a fresh young brilliant mind and can't wait to see what he does with the talent ND has next year
 
IrishGlory

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Does this mean we'll see 1 or 2 Statue of Liberty plays next year? I thought I remembered seeing him break this out last year at BSU.
 
PANDFAN

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Great article on scout regarding the changes and potentials...free article,on phone so don't have patience to link
 
Whiskeyjack

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USA Today's Dan Wolken just published an article titled "Fresh-faced Mike Sanford gives Notre Dame a fresh look on offense":

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In two years as his son's employer, Mike Sanford Sr. had seen flashes of the kind of football coach his Mike Sanford Jr. could be. When he looked at his son, it was all right there: The acumen of a coach's son, the aptitude of a quarterback who spent four years at Boise State watching and helping those more talented than him and the enthusiasm of someone fresh out of college who had no illusions about the roller coaster reality of a career in coaching and wanted to give it a try anyway.

But the elder Sanford, then the head coach at UNLV, also knew his son needed to branch out and get a job on his own. So when Stanford hired Jim Harbaugh following the 2006 season, Sanford encouraged Mike Jr. to get on a plane, just show up at the press conference and do anything he could to get a foot in the door.

"I told him, 'Go up there and say you'll sweep the floors,' " Sanford Sr. said. "So he did."

Flash forward to last December, and Sanford Jr. no longer needed to beg for opportunities. Coming off a debut season as his alma mater's offensive coordinator in which Boise State averaged 494 yards of offense and beat up Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl, the 33-year old Sanford essentially had his pick of jobs.

He could have gone to Vanderbilt with full autonomy over the offense on Derek Mason's staff, giving him the opportunity to look like a genius if he had engineered a turnaround. He could have gone to reigning national champion Ohio State, where he would have inherited a wealth of talent and worked under Urban Meyer, whose offensive coordinators have a strong track record of becoming head coaches. He certainly could have stayed at Boise State and continued to roll up big numbers and Mountain West Conference titles.

Instead, Sanford chose perhaps the most intriguing fit of all. On Sept. 5, he will make his debut as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.

"I've watched him — he's ready," said Sanford Sr., who is the head coach at Indiana State. "I don't have any doubt he's ready. He's mature as a football coach way beyond his years, and his personality, his ability, his charisma and ability to communicate with people, I'm very proud of him. I think he's going to continue to grow, and this is a great spot for him."

***

For Sanford Jr., there were elements to the Notre Dame situation with unique appeal, starting with the ability to return to a place where he spent two years in high school while his father was the Fighting Irish's receivers coach under Bob Davie. Being at a school with high academic standards was also a draw for Sanford, who already has stops at Stanford and Yale, where he was the recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach in 2009, on his résumé.

But the biggest factor for Sanford was the very thing that might have scared off most up-and-comers: The presence of head coach Brian Kelly, who has been and will remain the dominant voice in all things related to Notre Dame's offense.

"I think as a football coach, you are always bettered when you're around wisdom, around knowledge," Sanford Jr. said. "I think the best offensive rooms I've had a chance to be a part of, there were a lot of ideas coming from multiple directions, and when the communication is good and you can present the information to your players in a unified fashion as a staff I think you can be onto something really special. Unilaterally-led offense — dictatorship — to me can be dangerous."

That's a remarkably mature view for a 33-year old coach whose star has risen quickly in the coaching world. But Sanford viewed working with Kelly as having such value to him over the long haul that he chose Notre Dame — where Kelly said recently he will continue to be the primary playcaller heading into the 2015 season — over jobs where he would have had significantly more control over the offense.

"He really felt good about the relationship with Brian Kelly," Sanford Sr. said.

On the flip side, it's also somewhat unusual for Kelly to hand any significant offensive responsibilities to someone who has not been a longstanding member of his coaching circle. The assistant coaches who have had had the most influence on Kelly's offenses at Cincinnati and Notre Dame — Jeff Quinn, Chuck Martin and Mike Denbrock — were all connected to Kelly as far back as his days at Division II Grand Valley State.
Having an outsider come in to take a fresh look at Kelly's offense — and particularly a sensitive quarterback battle between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire — is something Notre Dame hopes will pay dividends this season with a significant number of key players on both sides of the ball returning.

"We're all in the room throwing ideas around and trying to adjust our offense so that we're in a position to do the things we all want to do," said Denbrock, the Fighting Irish's associate head coach. "It's been a great dynamic so far, and it really is true as much as people may not want to believe it that we really are here to try to win a national championship. The rest of it is what it is. I think it's all in an effort to make your football team as good as it can possibly be. Good on offense is good. If we can get to great, we'd like to get to great."

Notre Dame certainly isn't coming into 2015 in need of a major overhaul on offense. The Fighting Irish were 32nd nationally last season at 444.9 yards per game, averaged 32.8 points and took steps toward becoming the kind of dynamic, up-tempo attack Kelly had at Cincinnati as opposed to the more conservative style he employed his first few years at Notre Dame.

On the other hand, the Fighting Irish lost five of their last seven games and did not get great play down the stretch from Golson, who struggled with consistency and turnovers. His uneven production prompted Notre Dame to make a quarterback change the Music City Bowl against LSU, which paid off with a 31-28 victory in which Zaire was named MVP.

Sanford's primary task for Notre Dame will be working with both quarterbacks intensely and bringing a clean perspective to the internal debate about which one is best equipped to lead the Fighting Irish into the College Football Playoff discussion.

"Even if you've had continuity as a staff, it's good to go back and look at the 2014 tape and evaluating that, which is what they would've done anyway," Sanford said. "But now there's a new set of eyes to come in and say, 'Why did we do it this way and is it the best way to do it?' If it is, let's keep doing that way and if there's a way we can do it better, we have a good dialogue about that. It's healthy to do that every single year, and when you bring in a fresh set of eyes, I think it can be helpful as well."

***

Sanford's eyes are about as fresh as they come, having made the jump from graduate assistant under his father in the Mountain West to offensive coordinator at one of the nation's premier programs in less than a decade. Along the way, his world has collided with the likes of Mark Helfrich, Chris Petersen, David Shaw and Willie Taggart. But it would be hard to find a bigger moment than the day Sanford got on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas bound for San Jose to go stalk Harbaugh, who was playing quarterback for the San Diego Chargers in 1999-2000 when Sanford Sr. was the receivers coach there.
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I like Sanford a lot. Despite his lack of experience as a HC, he's probably the only junior member of our coaching staff who I'd like to see heading our program some day.
 
Fbolt

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Ha-I like the article, but it seems like a rehash. I'd reaslly like a fresh perspective (via a new interview) on why he chose ND over schools that would have given him more control. Not perplexing, but I'd like to get into his mind a bit.
 
Whiskeyjack

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Many people deserve credit for <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball">@NDFootball</a> success but <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachSanfordND">@CoachSanfordND</a> deserves a special shout out. QB's have been great, balanced attack.</p>— Tom Mendoza (@TomMendozaTalks) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomMendozaTalks/status/657406871381409793">October 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That's one prominent booster on #TeamSanford.
 
K

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And we want to let him walk when BK leaves. You guys are nuts. IMO, he needs to be considered to be the HC if he's all he's cracked up to be as the next offensive genius. I don't give 2 Fs how much head coaching experience he has. Talent is talent. And he'll know ND inside and out by the time BK leaves.

I'm all in for considering Sanford as our next HC.
 
SoIll

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koonja said:
And we want to let him walk when BK leaves. You guys are nuts. IMO, he needs to be considered to be the HC if he's all he's cracked up to be as the next offensive genius. I don't give 2 Fs how much head coaching experience he has. Talent is talent. And he'll know ND inside and out by the time BK leaves.

I'm all in for considering Sanford as our next HC.
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I don't always agree with you my brotha, but i couldn't agree more on MS.

MIKE IS THE TRUTH
 
zelezo vlk

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Who says that Sanford won't be in consideration for other HC positions before BK leaves? Heck I'd be surprised if Denbrock doesn't leave this year, then Sanford next year.
 
K

koonja

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zelezo vlk said:
Who says that Sanford won't be in consideration for other HC positions before BK leaves? Heck I'd be surprised if Denbrock doesn't leave this year, then Sanford next year.
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He probably will be because he's a future rock star
 
zelezo vlk

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Well forgive me if I'm not ready for an Offensive Coordinator with only one year of experience (as OC) at the Power 5 level to take over the job of head football coach at the University and team that I love. He needs more time. Stop rushing it.
 
K

koonja

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zelezo vlk said:
Well forgive me if I'm not ready for an Offensive Coordinator with only one year of experience (as OC) at the Power 5 level to take over the job of head football coach at the University and team that I love. He needs more time. Stop rushing it.
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If we give it more time, we'll never have our chance. He's a cali guy. He'll get a HC in that direction and we'll have to pray it's not usc. Rockstar talent doesn't sit around forever and it's usually a once in a lifetime shot.

I'm completely fine with your disagreement and not saying you are right or wrong, just that I strongly wish we'd consider him if he knocks it out of the park and remains the top assistant in the country.
 
zelezo vlk

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koonja said:
If we give it more time, we'll never have our chance. He's a cali guy. He'll get a HC in that direction and we'll have to pray it's not usc. Rockstar talent doesn't sit around forever and it's usually a once in a lifetime shot.

I'm completely fine with your disagreement and not saying you are right or wrong, just that I strongly wish we'd consider him if he knocks it out of the park and remains the top assistant in the country.
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Serious question, when's the last time hiring an assistant has worked out for a top tier program? Not just your own assistant, but taking an OC or DC from somewhere else and watching the program rise to sucess. When has that happened?
 
K

koonja

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zelezo vlk said:
Serious question, when's the last time hiring an assistant has worked out for a top tier program? Not just your own assistant, but taking an OC or DC from somewhere else and watching the program rise to sucess. When has that happened?
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I honestly never pay attention to under the radar teams or even big time teams assistants so my answer would be no idea.
 
tussin

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zelezo vlk said:
Serious question, when's the last time hiring an assistant has worked out for a top tier program? Not just your own assistant, but taking an OC or DC from somewhere else and watching the program rise to sucess. When has that happened?
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Only examples I can think of: Bob Stoops, Chip Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, and Mark Richt.
 
Cali_domer

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zelezo vlk said:
Serious question, when's the last time hiring an assistant has worked out for a top tier program? Not just your own assistant, but taking an OC or DC from somewhere else and watching the program rise to sucess. When has that happened?
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Florida failed with Muschamp(From Texas)
Wasn't Dabo Swinney a former assistant at Clemson?
 
K

koonja

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Cali_domer said:
Florida failed with Muschamp(From Texas)
Wasn't Dabo Swinney a former assistant at Clemson?
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I love Dabo Swinney. That has nothing to do with his coaching skills (although he's proven at this point IMO), I just like the weirdness about him and how he has fun with players. He has some unexplainable Matthew MacConoughey psychology about him. I love his passion.
 
zelezo vlk

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tussin said:
Only examples I can think of: Bob Stoops, Chip Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, and Mark Richt.
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And none of those coaches have the pressure that the very cream of the crop programs have. It takes the skills of those coaches and the ability to be diplomatic and work the media and boosters a la Coach BK and Mack Brown to succeed at the highest levels.

Truth be told, I'm not sure that I'd consider those four programs elite destinations, though they're certainly close.
 
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