I mentioned earlierā¦Mullins, Judy, Lutz and Hibbs all wanted to be here and were at the helm of the greatest sustained 15yr run of success in our athletic history.
Theyāre out thereā¦just gotta target the right demographic. Which is the retread variety not the young hot commodity.
Iām looking for long term consistent success on the field ā¦that doesnāt come from people leading a program here long enough to have a cup of coffee.
Hand gave us great press clippings for his hireā¦but he literally didnāt do sh!t for us and left inside of 2 weeks.
Seriouslyā¦that hire did more damage than anything else.
Gotta start hiring people that WANT to be here.
Mullinsā¦Judyā¦Lutzā¦Hibbsā¦how did we find them and where did they come from? Thatās the model we need to followā¦not the clusterf@ck sh!t weāre doing now.
Thanks Coach Hand for everything you did for us while you were here and for leaving us in a better place when you leftā¦2 weeks later. My ass.
If we hire people based on wanting to be here long term thatās a bad way to go about things. We arenāt a destination job and we need to hire folks that have eyes on jobs bigger than ours. If someone has been here for 15 years something has likely gone wrong.
It means a revolving door for us but itās reality. The worst is to have mediocre coaches or leaders that are comfortable here and donāt have the drive to get something better - looking at you Hibbs and Judy. Sure we may luck out at find a guy that wants to stay for awhile but that shouldnāt be the hiring profile.
What do you consider long term, two months? This guy Hand literally was barely here long enough to have a cup of coffeeā¦he probably didnāt even move into his office. He was using us to get a better job.
You canāt tell me there arenāt coaches in their late 40ās to 50ās that have had their run of the P5 and would love to settle in to a long term job that success could mean their name on a field or on a building.
If we miss on an up and comer you fire themā¦you miss on a 50 yr old retread you fire them.
You hit on an up and comer they leaveā¦you hit on a 50yr old retread he builds a program.
Hiring up and comers will NEVER build a program because they will ALWAYS leave and leave QUICKLYā¦at least if you hit on a retread, building a consistent and successful program over a 10+yr period is a real option in play.
And againā¦for all those saying thatās not a winning strategyā¦Mullins, Judy, Hibbs and Lutz were all more successful here than any up and comer hire has or will ever be here. They all had warts but they all won here and did so for a loooong time. Just sayin.
Coach Hand is 53 years old and had multiple P5 jobs in the past. So would he not fit into your ideal criteria for coaches? Though he is the very coach who is jumping ship for a better opportunity almost immediately. It does not seem age is a primary factor in the aspiration of a coach. You could even make the argument that someone in there 40s or 50s could be an up and comer if they are a late bloomer. It will be the mindset of the coach wanting to stay or for us to elevate the program to become the type of destination job any coach aspires for. If someone ever hits the lottery and donates an obscene amount of money we could always pay our way there too. Until then it seems we will be destined to have coaches come through on their way to higher profile jobs.
Personally, I do not have any issues with hiring up and comers if they leave the program better than they found it, granted you would think they would stay for at least a season and not a few weeks. It will just be on Mike Hill to make another hire that will continue to the success or, at worst, maintain it. At least at that point we had some kind of success to enjoy instead of mediocrity.
Iām not saying I donāt want guys that will stay. Just that we canāt make the part of the hiring profile.
We need folks who want to make a step past us. If they see Charlotte as the best they can do that is a problem. Itās just reality of where we are in the pecking order. If in the meanwhile we find a Mark Few that sticks around awesome.
Also Bobby would have bolted if Tenn offered. Had Hibbs won more he probably would have left too. I wish Judy had won enough to have left.
We need to bring in the best coaches we can if they stick around some great, if not so be it.
I realize this happens but it sure does make those interviews insincere. Also makes us look like a safety school. We are still a new program but that hurts.
What we can make part of the hiring process is the age/experience demographic we target at the outset.
The young hot 25-35 yr old will never stay and build anything so quit looking at them specifically.
Target 46-55 yr old retreads that already made some P5 money but got canned and apparently donāt have the shine anymore to be worthy of another P5 gig. Doesnāt mean they forgot how to coach or be successfulā¦just wore out their P5 welcome. Young enough to still coach and relate to the kids and recruitā¦but just looking for somewhere to settle in and finish out their career on a high note.
Againā¦if he sucks you still fire him but if he winsā¦heās much less likely to leave by probably a factor of 1000. Same downsideā¦but much better upside (especially when the upside with a young gun is just more turnover and more instability and more uncertainty with the next hire).
You make it sound like Bobby, Hibbs & Judy were so terrible nobody wanted them and thatās the only reason they stayedā¦but look at what they did here and tell me you wouldnāt take another 15yr run (late 80ās to 05) like that right now no questions asked. As bad as you may think they wereā¦we havenāt come remotely close to having the success we had when they were here.
Noā¦They werenāt perfect. But we will never hire perfectā¦we just need the best fit for what we are. What they did during that 15yr run is amazing and due in large part to their longevity and consistency in what they built. The type of people they were at the time represents what the best fit is for us here to be successful againā¦we need to go back to that blueprint.
I will have to disagree here. I feel we need to take the best available coach that will give us upward trajectory. If Healy leaves, that means we have done well. We need that. Then we get someone to sustain and up it a bit. Look at UCF. They have lost coaches, but continue an upward trend. Gus should have them at or better than where they are now.
And screw Hand. Thatās why I hate the business of college coaches. I wish nothing but getting fired for him.
I just want us to hire the best folks for the job. If they leave they leave. If they view us as the pinnacle of the college coaching world I donāt want them.
After Houston and now Hand makes us look like a Mickey Mouse operation. Not a good look. Maybe just coincidence but perception is reality and we look like we are being played because we are a small time operation.
Maybe I am just becoming jaded but in the past I would have not bought into this narrative but in the last few years I have taken to looking from the outside in and it is not a good look from there. Just my opinion. Maybe it is just the way it is now for any G5.
I think I just look at the outcomes. We hire Healy, and while this year sucked ass, he has put us on radars. Hopefully we can get back up and win 7 or 8 this year. With Hand, screw him, he was an OL coach. Make another good hire and it wonāt matter in the end.
I donāt see the complaints on Mike here. We went after the best talent. Thatās what I want. Houston played us by leveraging us for ECU folks. Thatās on his professionalism not ours. We got a new OL coach, great hire and knowing he was a hired gun we knew he likely was short time guy. He leaves faster then we expected, so be it. I donāt think it makes us look Mickey Mouse or small time. What it shows is our current place in the college football world. And itās not wrong.
