He wasn’t even the coach for two of those wins…
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I am not crazy about Mike Hill but I wouldn’t say he looked uncomfortable at the press conference. We were lucky to get Albin for the amount of money we offered! I am surprised some are still so attached to Biff, he went 6-16 and we were one of the most penalized teams in the country both years he was here (117 in 2023, 120 in 2024). https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/penalties-per-game?date=2024-01-09 .
He was a bad hire. For Mike Hill’s job security, Albin has to be successful (I think he will be).
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No, he didn’t. Biff won 3 games, one a come from behind against GW
Our season was on the line at homecoming against an average USF with their backup quarterback and we gave up 59 to them. That’s Biff’s final game. Not Brewster squeaking 2 wins against bottom 15 teams in the nation. We got blown out in literally every single game after a bye week his entire tenure. These guys had no idea what they were doing and also lashed out against fans/students/employees.
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Not to mention it took a couple of chip shot FG misses by UAB at the end of that game to beat the Blazers.
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Mike Hill’s Top 10:
- Firing Biff Poggi
- Tim Albin hire
- Firing Will Healy
- Hoodwinking the AAC into believing we were a legitimate collective of programs
- Hiring Robert Woodard
- Hiring Ashley Chastain
- Not extending Sanchez after the CBI
- Hiring Kyle Bailey
- Lacrosse Start/Coaching hire
- Bobby Lutz Day
.
87 Hiring Ron Sanchez
.
.
241 Removing the interim tag from Aaron Fearne
.
324 Ron Sanchez extension #1
.
.
407 Ron Sanchez extension #2
.
.
.
563 Hiring Biff Poggi
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Hadn’t listened to “Innuendo” in quite awhile. Great song said to have been inspired by another great song - “Kashmir.”
Most of what I have said is coming from people directly involved. Not stuff I have 'heard" from the grapevine.
It’s odd to see you support keeping Biff when hiring Biff is likely the biggest justified objective firing reason for Mike, which is what you want. Unless by keeping Biff that would have given you more material for firing him?
Mike hasn’t been all bad. I love the rebrand.
The Facility pictures are great too. But those feel very pie in the sky at the moment.
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Most of the increase funds have come simply from charging more for tickets and increasing donor levels. It seems every year or two GJ goes up. Its up $500 from where it was 5 years ago.
I do agree we need to engage alums more. Need to offer more discounted ticket packages to get them in the door. Part of the stadium expansion is offering more ticket pricing options. We have done a much better job with events around the city, but we have had great student turnouts recent years they need to be converting them to donors.
One of the challenges I know the AD sees is we have a relatively young alumni base. I had one former AD employee tell me we need a big giant tree of funds, but our tree is still young and you can’t speed up that growth. Our bigger classes of alums are just now entering ages where donating large sums are possible, but those folks didn’t have football and were not engaged 20-30 year ago. That means we are chasing them. We need to connect our younger alums now, even though the payoff anytime soon is unlikely. The IPTAY model sounds great - but man let me tell you this fanbase moves the goalposts with donating money big time. I think a big part of that is competition in the city for other entertainment options. The I’ll donate X when we do Y (fire Judy, fire Mike, make a bowl, win a conf tourny game, etc) crowd is big. The problem is most schools that find success after a down period sell a vision that get people - corp sponsors, alums, the community bought into things BEFORE their perceived Y.
Which is why finding and growing those corp sponsors and whales witha vision is so important. We need to be doing both - setting up those givers 20 years from now while also finding a way to build the coffers today. So far I don’t think Mike has at excelled at either one.
I will say this though they do pay attention to the people who do step up. Our tailgate went from generating prob 10k to nearly 100K mostly by letting us be up at the stadium and build an atmosphere that encouraged people being involved. They recognized what was happening and now we get Bobby or the basketball team or Leemire or Coach Mullins or big donors like Gene or BoT chairs and members. Those things continue to build the base. They have also made it easier for us to connect new comers to the AD for gifts, season tickets and stepping up contributions. They have even give us a few halftime passes to hand out to new comers. So they are trying.
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I don’t think I’m being unclear at all. He was a terrible hire. A nonsensical hire. But once you make it, you’ve got to see it through at least a little bit. Especially when you are on track to have your second best season ever under your coach in only their second year. He was bringing in a ton of talent, and we had mad issues, and he was very frustrating, but you don’t fire someone trending upward. You made the decision to sign someone to a multi-million dollar contract, they are trending up, even if some of it is frustrating, and you are tracking for what would be a banner year in program history. You just don’t fire that guy.
We got lucky as a saint that Albin wanted to come here after Mike tried to lowball the shit out of him. That was of course after first trying to hire several people with significantly lower qualifications, following Mike’s normal course to not hire the best candidate.
I’m not sure what’s confusing about any of that.
Just that he was a terrible coach, a terrible leader and had no control of his staff or players didn’t bring in money and was a loser. Thats all.
Every metric was pointing down. He wasn’t on track for the second best season.
1 pt fcs GW win and 1 pt Rice win were two of his 3 wins and He was on track to go 3-9. He had lost 4 straight games by an average of nearly 4 TDs. If he wins any of those games and stays bowl eligible he finishes the season.
The new coach bump got us 2 wins - one of which we went penalty free which was absolutely unheard of under Biff because his players didn’t fear him and he didnt hold players accountable.
Biff went 3-7.
Brew went 2-0.
If he makes a bowl you keep him, even given all his bullshit. Firing after failing to make a bowl given his bullshit is absolutely justified. If you know you are firing if he does not make a bowl then there is no reason to play out the season, especially given the direction.
FWIW I had absolutely no faith in Mike to can him after the USF game. I was shocked. Felt like Mike was going to give him another year because he knew firing him after 2 years was a bad reflection on him.
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I have been told by people on the AD that Albin was always our #1 choice and we were waiting to see if Purdue hired him. The others coaches were not offered the job but their agent put out press releases that they turned down the job.
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Aligns with what was told as well.
My real concern is we still lowballed him. At some point we have to actually pay legit salary for AAC level. We got lucky.
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Not true at all. I wouldn’t believe one thing that was told from our AD or his department. We 100% offered another coach and we were turned down.
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So you wouldn’t believe the people that were the ones to actually make the offer? You will believe other people though?
FWIW its the BoT that have to be involved to make an offer. Not just the AD.
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So, what is Albin’s win # target to be considered a success next year?
Also, mid-season the following year? Even if the strength of schedule is weighted toward the front of the season.
What should Albin’s dress code look like? I’m for “old school” suit and tie. No Bill Bilichik hoodies like the new UNC coach wore in NE.
"At Charlotte, we may not win but we will look good losing. "
Agree with 99% of what you’ve been saying throughout this, but typically the BoT is only involved when there’s a final contract that needs to be approved, they’re not really part of the negotiation process
Just my two cents but he should look like a professional.
Winning is number 1 of course but looks are like size, they matter and don’t let anyone tell you any different.
Correct but in this process with Albin Dennis Buckner from the BoT was involved with all the interviews and comp. He was there every step of the way. I am going to guess because of the recent track record of Mike with football coaches.
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