Coaching Search

Well, the search is underway and it seems to me that we are taking a serious approach to it this time.

1. We've hired Chuck Neinas, an NCAA FB Coach headhunter, who has the rep for being the absolute best in the business. If you have a great coach and you are a BCS program, chances are this guy had a hand in it. This is very un-Gopherlike.

2. Mike Leach has come out and said he likes the MN program but hadn't really thought about it. He says he really doesn't have any options at this point and would be open to anything.

I'm not going to come out and say, "Yes Please Hire Leach Now!" But damn it would make things in Dinkytown REALLY interesting. The Pirate would cause quite a stir in the old grind it out 3 yards at a time league that hasn't seen an offense like that in a long time...maybe ever. I don't necessarily have a clear #1 in my mind right now - but our willingness to spend money and shoot for the moon and realize that this needs to be the engine that drives the entire University is refreshing. I never thought they they actually realized that reality. It gives me hope and optimism...lots of it. But we'll see who they actually come up with.

Like I said, I don't have anybody on my must get list, but I definitely have a few "Please God stay the hell away from these guys or my Gopher fandom may be in question" kind of guys.

#1 Marc Trestman - CFL HC
Serisouly, this guys name has come up for every open HC or OC position on both MN football teams for the last 20 years, and I'm not exaggerating. He's in the f'ing CFL right now! Don't you think that should tell you something! There are 32 NFL teams and 120 D1 NCAA teams with HC/OC positions open all the time and NONE of them went for Mr. Trestman. Spare me the MN angle...this would be an epic fail.

#2 Paul Chryst - WIS OC
Enough with the Becky retreads. Brew only hired about 6 of them for his staff over 3.5 years, don't you think we can try to do our own thing over here instead of becoming WIS West? Why is this guy a genius again? Oh yeah, he runs a basic offense for an established team and fields mediocre results every year...yep, hire him on the spot. Anyone with immediate WIS ties must be crossed off the list right now.

#3 Mike Grant - EP HIGH SCHOOL HC...HIGH SCHOOL!
I really hope it doesn't get any further than the dumb, uninformed MN football fan dreaming of this as the perfect fit, but it is Maturi so you never know. I get the family ties, great. But the guy coaches a dominant MN HS Football team - his next step, should he ever want to leave, should be NDSU or some other pretend program like that...not a BCS D1 Football team, at least not as a HC. I can't even begin to imagine what a laughing stock we'd be on this hire. You thought people made fun of the program for Brew...

The list I made about 3 weeks ago is very similar to other lists I've seen around this morning. I think you have to shoot for the moon and try and find yourself a major player on the national scene. That should be the first step. If it doesn't work out, tier 2 should be the under the radar guys that are waiting to pop and be the next big thing...Brady Hoke of SDST comes to mind here. The NFL angle might work out for someone like Frasier, but I would prefer to get a college guy to coach my college team. The NFL to NCAA transitions and vice versa have just not worked that well in the past with very few exceptions.

This will likely be a weekly rant until this thing is figured out, but the next 5+ years of my squad depend on this hire. Can we finally make a splash? I'm optimistic.