Offensive Coordinator Search

[Riddickulous]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brian Kelly says there will be a "thorough” search for the next offensive coordinator.</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1205912439155548160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brian Kelly: “I will not call plays. That’s not my role. I’ve moved past that role."</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1205914290575859713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brian Kelly said the incoming coach to replace Chip Long could coach offensive line, quarterbacks, tight ends. Said he's open to whatever would most help Notre Dame win a national championship.</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1205915620254142466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Thought we could use a thread for this since it sounds like we may be looking at an outside hire. Any ideas who we might go after?

 

[phork]

Is this mystery man bringing a ton of 5 star kids too?

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

If we are gonna go from the outside I’d like a coach who is :
1. Young
2. A proven recruiter
3. Has a good history with offenses

 

[BGIF]

Is this mystery man bringing a ton of 5 star kids too?

Does Charlie still have all those big rings?

ND shouldn't have to pay him for the next 20 years.

 

[Irish YJ]

Does Charlie still have all those big rings?

ND shouldn't have to pay him for the next 20 years.

Yup, we should have at least 10 years of credit built up with him.

I thought it weird that he said coach QBs, OL, TEs, etc.. especially the OL part.

So if it turns out to be an outside guy, who wants to coach QBs, what about Reesus?

Hoping the exhaustive search is all for show, and Tommy is wired in already.

 

[WilliamWallace]

I’m all in for anyone who can establish this team as a ground and pound football team. We need QNelson minded maulers across the line. To date, getting those high caliber OLman hasn’t been a problem. It’s embarrassing that we have what we have and can’t run the ball.

 

[BeatSC]

Need better backs to run better but we never seemed to commit to running outside the usc and VIrginia game. Next year has to be better. Glad Long is gone. Feel his stats were padded against lesser opponents. He is overrated and Kelly knew it. Rees is unproven imo but unless we get someone very good I’m ok rolling the dice on baby face.

 

[stpeteirish]

Happy to hear we're looking on the outside but Kelly left the door open for promoting either Rees or Quinn when he said he could hire "an Offensive line coach, a Tight End coach or a Quarterbacks coach".

Hope he hires an Offensive Coordinator and leaves those two guys where they are.

 

[NDMIA]

An idea I heard that I thought to be interesting would be shifting Jeff Quinn to TE coach and hiring an OC/OL coach. Idk. Bottom line, hire the best dude you can get.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

An idea I heard that I thought to be interesting would be shifting Jeff Quinn to TE coach and hiring an OC/OL coach. Idk. Bottom line, hire the best dude you can get.

I thought of that right away. With good recruits and good coaches at OL and WR, it would be pretty difficult to mess up our TEs. Also if Rees is the OC, Quinn could help bring him along just getting used to the greater responsibilities.

To me, right away you give a call to Harry to see if he has had enough of the NFL yet. When he turns you down, the Boston College OL coach could be interesting. From what I remember leading up to the game, their reporters were saying their line was much better than expected this year. The coach looks like he might be a young up-and-coming guy who has a good background. I don't know if he even still has a job after Addazio was fired, so it might not take a lot to get him.

I would also really like to see if we could bring in any former OCs as analysts to help out if Rees or Taylor get the OC job. Much for the same reason as I said with Quinn earlier, I think it will just make for a better transition if he has someone with experience to help him avoid some of the beginner mistakes.

 

[Circa]

I thought of that right away. With good recruits and good coaches at OL and WR, it would be pretty difficult to mess up our TEs. Also if Rees is the OC, Quinn could help bring him along just getting used to the greater responsibilities.

To me, right away you give a call to Harry to see if he has had enough of the NFL yet. When he turns you down, the Boston College OL coach could be interesting. From what I remember leading up to the game, their reporters were saying their line was much better than expected this year. The coach looks like he might be a young up-and-coming guy who has a good background. I don't know if he even still has a job after Addazio was fired, so it might not take a lot to get him.

I would also really like to see if we could bring in any former OCs as analysts to help out if Rees or Taylor get the OC job. Much for the same reason as I said with Quinn earlier, I think it will just make for a better transition if he has someone with experience to help him avoid some of the beginner mistakes.

We could always do the Alabama thing...

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[Crazy Balki]

I thought of that right away. With good recruits and good coaches at OL and WR, it would be pretty difficult to mess up our TEs. Also if Rees is the OC, Quinn could help bring him along just getting used to the greater responsibilities.

To me, right away you give a call to Harry to see if he has had enough of the NFL yet. When he turns you down, the Boston College OL coach could be interesting. From what I remember leading up to the game, their reporters were saying their line was much better than expected this year. The coach looks like he might be a young up-and-coming guy who has a good background. I don't know if he even still has a job after Addazio was fired, so it might not take a lot to get him.

I would also really like to see if we could bring in any former OCs as analysts to help out if Rees or Taylor get the OC job. Much for the same reason as I said with Quinn earlier, I think it will just make for a better transition if he has someone with experience to help him avoid some of the beginner mistakes.

I said it in another thread, but hard pass on bringing Harry back.

I'm more in favor of retaining Quinn, but I wouldn't be against hiring Trautwein from BC. My guess though is that Quinn is kept, Trautwein is retained at BC and we go after another TE coach.

Can't say I disagree with that. Can we really blame Quinn for the offensive struggles knowing now how bad things were with Long, on top of the lack of talent at RB and the mass amounts of injuries we had up front?

 

[Circa]

I said it in another thread, but hard pass on bringing Harry back.

I'm more in favor of retaining Quinn, but I wouldn't be against hiring Trautwein from BC. My guess though is that Quinn is kept, Trautwein is retained at BC and we go after another TE coach.

Can't say I disagree with that. Can we really blame Quinn for the offensive struggles knowing now how bad things were with Long, on top of the lack of talent at RB and the mass amounts of injuries we had up front?

Old school Irish ain't always bad... Kids just can't be yelled at anymore without melting.
It used to be, 3-4 guys on the team had to be coddled.

Times change.



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[ND88]

The way Kelly talked about next year being a really good team, Book must be returning with some assurances, like an OC he can trust. I don't see how it isn't Tom Rees.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Old school Irish ain't always bad... Kids just can't be yelled at anymore without melting.
It used to be, 3-4 guys on the team had to be coddled.

Times change.



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I highly doubt it's just because Long yelled a lot and our guys are softer than Charmin millennials.

Long being a hardass all the time probably wears thin and that spiel likely gets old after awhile. You have to have some give and take. You can't use the same approach. Some situations call for reserved instruction, some call for positive reinforcement, and some call for all-out ass chewing. You need to have balance. Lea is known for being very reserved and positive, but I'm sure when we're not looking he's done his fair share of ass chewing, but he knows the balance and when to use which approach. Long clearly hasn't.

You also have to look at it from the players' perspective. Why do you listen to a guy who is constantly on your ass during practice, when he's shown he's not all-in himself? After all, Long has interviewed for different jobs multiple times since being here.

Hard to buy into someone like that when they themselves aren't bought in.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

I said it in another thread, but hard pass on bringing Harry back.

I'm more in favor of retaining Quinn, but I wouldn't be against hiring Trautwein from BC. My guess though is that Quinn is kept, Trautwein is retained at BC and we go after another TE coach.

Can't say I disagree with that. Can we really blame Quinn for the offensive struggles knowing now how bad things were with Long, on top of the lack of talent at RB and the mass amounts of injuries we had up front?

Can I ask why you don't want HH back?

And as for blaming Quinn or Long, I think Long might have had some effect, but we just didn't see any real improvement, individual or collectively, on the offensive line. Again, maybe you can blame Long, but IIRC from when I checked when he was hired, at Quinn's previous stops the offensive line's numbers generally got worse each year he was there.

 

[Circa]

I highly doubt it's just because Long yelled a lot and our guys are softer than Charmin millennials.

Long being a hardass all the time probably wears thin and that spiel likely gets old after awhile. You have to have some give and take. You can't use the same approach. Some situations call for reserved instruction, some call for positive reinforcement, and some call for all-out ass chewing. You need to have balance. Lea is known for being very reserved and positive, but I'm sure when we're not looking he's done his fair share of ass chewing, but he knows the balance and when to use which approach. Long clearly hasn't.

You also have to look at it from the players' perspective. Why do you listen to a guy who is constantly on your ass during practice, when he's shown he's not all-in himself? After all, Long has interviewed for different jobs multiple times since being here.

Hard to buy into someone like that when they themselves aren't bought in.

You might be right.
The only thing I know... the burgers get smaller every year...

 

[Crazy Balki]

Can I ask why you don't want HH back?

And as for blaming Quinn or Long, I think Long might have had some effect, but we just didn't see any real improvement, individual or collectively, on the offensive line. Again, maybe you can blame Long, but IIRC from when I checked when he was hired, at Quinn's previous stops the offensive line's numbers generally got worse each year he was there.

- Are you a Bears fan? If so, then you should probably know why. HH took over a solid OL unit and was expected to get them to the next level. Instead, they've regressed considerably and are arguably the worst run blocking unit in the league. Not to mention that Hiestand seemed to have phoned things in on the recruiting trail in his final year. I don't think he liked recruiting, which is another issue.

- As for the overall improvement of the OL, I mean that's going to happen when your best player (Banks) suffers a major injury and is severely limited in his impact, then you lose your next two best players for the season. On top of that, you lose a guy in Dexter who could take advantage of the OL's wins. ND simply didn't have that this year. The OL won a lot more battles up front than they're given credit for, because our RB's simply couldn't take advantage because they weren't fast or decisive enough. Not to mention Book spent 2/3 of the season failing to take shots downfield and running into pressure or bailing out of the pocket for no reason.

Then on top of all that, you have all the crap with Long.

As for your claim that Quinn's OLs got worse each year. I don't know if that's accurate. Can't confirm the results of the line in and of itself, but at Central Michigan, their total offense improved each year, not got worse. The year prior to Kelly/Quinn arriving, they were 75th. They rose to 45th in 2004, then 32nd in both 2005 and 2006.

At Cincy, they were 38th in 2007, dropped to 58th in 2008 but then rose to 13th in 2009.

He also had his fair share of o-linemen who went onto become league mainstays.

 

[Crazy Balki]

You might be right.
The only thing I know... the burgers get smaller every year...

Are the burgers vegan and bio-friendly?

 

[ulukinatme]

If we are gonna go from the outside I’d like a coach who is :
1. Young
2. A proven recruiter
3. Has a good history with offenses

Does Charlie still have all those big rings?

ND shouldn't have to pay him for the next 20 years.

Yup, we should have at least 10 years of credit built up with him.

I thought it weird that he said coach QBs, OL, TEs, etc.. especially the OL part.

So if it turns out to be an outside guy, who wants to coach QBs, what about Reesus?

Hoping the exhaustive search is all for show, and Tommy is wired in already.

I pointed out in another thread that Charlie Weis Jr was not taken by Joey Freshwater to Ole Miss

 

[Circa]

I pointed out in another thread that Charlie Weis Jr was not taken by Joey Freshwater to Ole Miss

Who get's the easiest jobs on this planet???
<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/l0HlzsvionO1tXj3y" width="480" height="266" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/football-alabama-collegefootball-l0HlzsvionO1tXj3y">via GIPHY</a></p>

The guy that had a great dad.

Blake Barnett was in that GIF... btw. Mr. Loy with the kid that was.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CSakevI7DoA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[GATTACA!]

Not a huge fan of the idea of promoting Rees. This offense desperately needs some fresh blood.

 

[ND4LIFE]

If we are gonna go from the outside I’d like a coach who is :
1. Young
2. A proven recruiter
3. Has a good history with offenses

For me it's:
Old
Average recruiter
And all D!

 

[Crazy Balki]

Not a huge fan of the idea of promoting Rees. This offense desperately needs some fresh blood.

I don't think they need fresh blood, but they need somebody with new wrinkles and more importantly, a guy who the players respect and can get the players to execute.

The scheme wasn't necessarily the problem, but from many accounts, Long was just not good at reaching his players and getting them to execute his scheme. Seemed closer to BVG than Lea for comparison sake.

If Rees is pegged as a guy with a bright future in coaching, then it may be good to get somebody with fresh new ideas, without requiring the offense having to start from scratch.

I just don't think a complete tear down is either necessary or necessarily beneficial.

But it's on Kelly to make that call.

 

[Irish YJ]

- Are you a Bears fan? If so, then you should probably know why. HH took over a solid OL unit and was expected to get them to the next level. Instead, they've regressed considerably and are arguably the worst run blocking unit in the league. Not to mention that Hiestand seemed to have phoned things in on the recruiting trail in his final year. I don't think he liked recruiting, which is another issue.

- As for the overall improvement of the OL, I mean that's going to happen when your best player (Banks) suffers a major injury and is severely limited in his impact, then you lose your next two best players for the season. On top of that, you lose a guy in Dexter who could take advantage of the OL's wins. ND simply didn't have that this year. The OL won a lot more battles up front than they're given credit for, because our RB's simply couldn't take advantage because they weren't fast or decisive enough. Not to mention Book spent 2/3 of the season failing to take shots downfield and running into pressure or bailing out of the pocket for no reason.

Then on top of all that, you have all the crap with Long.

As for your claim that Quinn's OLs got worse each year. I don't know if that's accurate. Can't confirm the results of the line in and of itself, but at Central Michigan, their total offense improved each year, not got worse. The year prior to Kelly/Quinn arriving, they were 75th. They rose to 45th in 2004, then 32nd in both 2005 and 2006.

At Cincy, they were 38th in 2007, dropped to 58th in 2008 but then rose to 13th in 2009.

He also had his fair share of o-linemen who went onto become league mainstays.

In all fairness, wasn't the Bears OL bottom 5 or 10 in 17 and 18 (run blocking)?
And it's not like they've drafted a bunch of studs in the early rounds either to help themselves out.

Also, with Tribusty, I'm guessing most teams concentrate on stopping the run and dare them to throw, just like they do with the Colts. The difference is, the Colts actually have some stellar talent on the OL.

 

[StPaul_Irish]

Suprised no one mentioned Will Hall from Tulane on this tread.... unless I missed it. Maybe not because of the close relationship with C Long, but dude coaches TE's and appears to run a good offense. Pretty sure Lucky or NDC mentioned him somewhere else.

 

[Irish#1]

Not a huge fan of the idea of promoting Rees. This offense desperately needs some fresh blood.

It appears the only fresh blood needed is in relationship to communicating with the players. The offensive numbers weren't that bad. Room for improvement yes, but the O wasn't a dumpster fire.

From Kelly's statement and reading between the lines, I think either Tommy or Taylor will end up the OC. My money is on Tommy. Look for Quinn to get moved to another position and a new line coach to be hired.

 

[BeauBenken]

Go steal Vince Marrow.

Sent from my SM-J337U using Tapatalk

 

[StPaul_Irish]

It appears the only fresh blood needed is in relationship to communicating with the players. The offensive numbers weren't that bad. Room for improvement yes, but the O wasn't a dumpster fire.

From Kelly's statement and reading between the lines, I think either Tommy or Taylor will end up the OC. My money is on Tommy. Look for Quinn to get moved to another position and a new line coach to be hired.

I don't hate this idea.... Co-Coordinators, Tommy in the box, Lance on the field. Quinn moves to T/E's and acts as a bit of a mentor for the new OC's. New OLine coach.

Again, if we go outside, I like the OL/OC guy from Oklahoma Bill Bedenbaugh, Will Hall Tulane or they guy from Wake, but he also coaches QBs.

 

[Free Manera]

Can someone explain how a co-coordinator situation works? Someone has to call the plays, right? Do they play rock-paper-scissors before each snap?