ND Coaching Search Megathread

[tko]

I have been out of pocket all weekend and kept thinking ND was bringing in that clown Derrick Mason. Thank you it's a guy named Brian Mason.

 

[Dale]

I have been out of pocket all weekend and kept thinking ND was bringing in that clown Derrick Mason. Thank you it's a guy named Brian Mason.

Lol Mason is an viable DC option so I wouldn’t exhale yet

 

[tko]

Lol Mason is an viable DC option so I wouldn’t exhale yet

Oh come on, NOOOOOOO. He's about as viable as Ty Willingham.

 

[chicago51]

To be fair to Derrick Mason, the Auburn D was good this year. Some it is them playing conservative, burn clock style; as my brother and I say they are a “junker” team. But it was a legitimate good defense. However, yeah he was a clown as Vandy head coach.

 

[tko]

To be fair to Derrick Mason, the Auburn D was good this year. Some it is them playing conservative, burn clock style; as my brother and I say they are a “junker” team. But it was a legitimate good defense. However, yeah he was a clown as Vandy head coach.

I just see him in the Vandy HC light and cannot get passed it.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

To be fair to Derrick Mason, the Auburn D was good this year. Some it is them playing conservative, burn clock style; as my brother and I say they are a “junker” team. But it was a legitimate good defense. However, yeah he was a clown as Vandy head coach.

Taking Alabama to the wire purely on the strength of their defensive performance has to be pretty attractive.

 

[irishog77]

WTH is a stinking point?

I'm slowly falling out of the modern lingo

 

[benneboy]

Taking Alabama to the wire purely on the strength of their defensive performance has to be pretty attractive.

If their running back takes a knee instead of running out of bounds, we make the playoffs.

Which makes you wonder whether we'd have still had a coaching change. The trickle down effect of that split decision he made was potentially fairly significant for us.

 

[BoredIrish]

Barring a last-minute snag in negotiations, Harry Hiestand is expected to return to Notre Dame as offensive line coach, with former Irish offensive guard Chris Watt serving in a support role.

First time I have officially seen anything written about Watt.

 

[BoredIrish]

This is concerning (from the same Athletic article):

The Bearcats struggled with place kicking at times, most notably this past season, when they converted just 9 of 19 field goal attempts.

 

[ab2cmiller]

With Watt willing to come in a support role, to me that smells like 2years of HH and Watt takes over. Recruiting benefit of having HH on board may be negligible. Even if not true, I think that’s the message it sends. Negative recruiting from other teams will tell recruits that anyhow.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

This is concerning (from the same Athletic article):

The Bearcats struggled with place kicking at times, most notably this past season, when they converted just 9 of 19 field goal attempts.

I've never thought of FG kicking as a skill that's heavily influenced by coaching at the college level. Kickers need two things: (1) a big leg; and (2) the mental discipline to follow through on a simple action he's practiced thousands of times in stressful situations. Good kickers have both. Average kickers only have one. How much credit does a ST coach get for either of those things?

 

[GowerND11]

I've never thought of FG kicking as a skill that's heavily influenced by coaching at the college level. Kickers need two things: (1) a big leg; and (2) the mental discipline to follow through on a simple action he's practiced thousands of times in stressful situations. Good kickers have both. Average kickers only have one. How much credit does a ST coach get for either of those things?

Right. If 5 of those 10 misses were due to blocked kicks, then I'd raise my concerns.

 

[Luckylucci]

With Watt willing to come in a support role, to me that smells like 2years of HH and Watt takes over. Recruiting benefit of having HH on board may be negligible. Even if not true, I think that’s the message it sends. Negative recruiting from other teams will tell recruits that anyhow.

While this might be true, will it work is the real question? I'm doubtful it does. I think by that time HH, Watt, and Rees will have a great product to sell that will supersede any negative recruiting that would come with HH leaving.

 

[benneboy]

With Watt willing to come in a support role, to me that smells like 2years of HH and Watt takes over. Recruiting benefit of having HH on board may be negligible. Even if not true, I think that’s the message it sends. Negative recruiting from other teams will tell recruits that anyhow.

Why? Every program has ga's and assistants at almost every position. What would be different about Watt?

If your go to recruiting pitch is 'don't go to school A because there's a chance your position coach might not be there in 3 years even though he's the best in the business', you're not going to have a lot of success.

 

[IrishRazor82]

Regarding kicking, I don't know the numbers but I've never felt less confident every time he steps up for a kick. It's either going to be crushed or lame duck and not even close. Don't feel like that was on Polian. But as a HC I'd want a guy with a smaller leg who you know is going to kick it well. Hard to make game time decisions when your kicker can make it from 53 but miss from 27 with equal probability.

 

[BabyIrish]

I've never thought of FG kicking as a skill that's heavily influenced by coaching at the college level. Kickers need two things: (1) a big leg; and (2) the mental discipline to follow through on a simple action he's practiced thousands of times in stressful situations. Good kickers have both. Average kickers only have one. How much credit does a ST coach get for either of those things?

The quality kicker that Mason will have at ND should be pretty much infinitely better than at Cincy. Plus I’m pretty sure they had kicker injuries throughout the year. I believe they had to use upwards of 3 kickers this year.

 

[Dale]

There will always be something to neg recruit on if a program chooses to do so

 

[calvegas04]

This is concerning (from the same Athletic article):

The Bearcats struggled with place kicking at times, most notably this past season, when they converted just 9 of 19 field goal attempts.

Good thing he isn't taking his kicker with him

 

[Riddickulous]

This is concerning (from the same Athletic article):

The Bearcats struggled with place kicking at times, most notably this past season, when they converted just 9 of 19 field goal attempts.

All college kickers suck. It's why everyone just goes for it on 4th and short these days.

 

[BoredIrish]

I've never thought of FG kicking as a skill that's heavily influenced by coaching at the college level. Kickers need two things: (1) a big leg; and (2) the mental discipline to follow through on a simple action he's practiced thousands of times in stressful situations. Good kickers have both. Average kickers only have one. How much credit does a ST coach get for either of those things?

If he is also recruiting coordinator and cant find a decent kicker, I would be concerned.

 

[irishff1014]

Regarding kicking, I don't know the numbers but I've never felt less confident every time he steps up for a kick. It's either going to be crushed or lame duck and not even close. Don't feel like that was on Polian. But as a HC I'd want a guy with a smaller leg who you know is going to kick it well. Hard to make game time decisions when your kicker can make it from 53 but miss from 27 with equal probability.

He was a 76.2% kicker in 2021. When you are offer scholarships to kickers you have to be better than that at ND.

 

[irishff1014]

He was a 76.2% kicker in 2021. When you are offering scholarships to kickers you have to be better than that at ND.

 

[irishff1014]

According to ESPN that’s 89th.

 

[IrishLion]

This is concerning (from the same Athletic article):

The Bearcats struggled with place kicking at times, most notably this past season, when they converted just 9 of 19 field goal attempts.

I've never thought of FG kicking as a skill that's heavily influenced by coaching at the college level. Kickers need two things: (1) a big leg; and (2) the mental discipline to follow through on a simple action he's practiced thousands of times in stressful situations. Good kickers have both. Average kickers only have one. How much credit does a ST coach get for either of those things?

In light of Cincy's kicking woes, Mason went out and got a commitment from Delaware's kicker as a transfer. He saw a need and jumped on it as soon as the kicker's name hit the transfer portal... so at least he knows how to address the one special teams short-coming as a recruiter???

 

[GATTACA!]

Do most schools even keep more than one PK on scholarship? If they were down to a 3rd stringer that probably means they had a walk on kicking for them. Hard to blame the special teams coach for that.

 

[ab2cmiller]

While this might be true, will it work is the real question? I'm doubtful it does. I think by that time HH, Watt, and Rees will have a great product to sell that will supersede any negative recruiting that would come with HH leaving.

Why? Every program has ga's and assistants at almost every position. What would be different about Watt?

If your go to recruiting pitch is 'don't go to school A because there's a chance your position coach might not be there in 3 years even though he's the best in the business', you're not going to have a lot of success.

All valid points. All I'm saying is that if part of our recruiting pitch is HH pointing out all of the people in the NFL that he's developed, then I would expect other teams to counter that narrative with pointing out that he won't likely be there when you get there. Not a big negative recruiting emphasis, but will certainly be part of the message. To me that's just a wash. ND would just need to emphasize the overall program.

What's different about Watt is that he's going from being an OL coach to being support staff. Is he doing this because he didn't have any other options and just wants to be mentored by the best, or is it part of a plan for Watt to take over after a couple of years. I don't know the answer.

 

[Dale]

Sidestepping Brian Mason and back to Derek Mason, I think two things would be my question: recruiting and as long as Freeman thinks he gels with the staff. If MF is convinced on those, I’ve talked myself into really liking him. SP+ as a DC:

Stanford 2011: 50th
Stanford 2012: 7th
Stanford 2013: 10th
Auburn 2021: 21st

Dude can definitely do the schematics and play calling and anything you’d want on the coaching side of the job IMO.

 

[Dale]

His classes, and Stanford’s classes in general recruiting wise in that period, were very top heavy. A couple legit top 100 guys but majority three star each year. Auburns class is awful IIRC this year.

 

[Free Manera]

His classes, and Stanford’s classes in general recruiting wise in that period, were very top heavy. A couple legit top 100 guys but majority three star each year. Auburns class is awful IIRC this year.

There are two ways to look at that though. One is he struggled to recruit good depth. However, I would say he definitely identified some underrated guys and coached them up very nicely.

The other is he managed to find and sign top 100 guys, at Stanford. Before Freeman, ND struggled to find and sign top 100 defensive guys period. It will be much easier to get those guys to ND than Stanford.