Sometimes it takes the foresight of a very good Athletic Director to see potential in an up and coming coach, and catch him before his demand goes up. Tom Butters saw that with a 33 year old Mike Krzyzewski. Butters hired Coach K coming off a 9-17 season at Army. Imagine that.
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Excellent point and Iāll take the optimistic side of things. No need to fret about age or lack of experience. Heās our coach now and letās rally behind him. Itās an out of the box hire and I can appreciate what Hill is trying to do.
If Hill thought Healy was the next Coach K he wouldnāt have made an offer to Houston, and thatās one example out of thousands.
The Houston hire was botched. We didnāt get the coach we wanted. This hire is certainly more risky. There seems to be a lot of potential in this hire. Letās hope it works out.
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Hill has proven to have some stones. Cutting loose Houston, hiring a young blood FCS type. I like Healyās character, I like his insistence that players act as gentlemen. Weāll see. Go Niners.
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From an MTSU fan on the CUSA forum (BlueraiderJT):
Iāve heard him interviewed quite a bit since Iām in the Nashville area. Let me tell you something. This dude is the real deal! APSU was beyond abysmal before he got there. Iām talkin 0-11 on the regular. He turned them into a winner in a hurry. He had to implement a completely different mindset with players that werenāt his. Not easy to do. He did it. After i heard an interview late last season with him. I wanted to run through a wall. He will get it done. He needs to hold on to the DC. Keep your DC. That dude is legit next level. If we lose ours this season. I want him no doubt. But you guys got a hell of a hire. If he can win at Peay, heāll turn yāall into Clemson. Just wait.
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Worth the watch.
This is high risk with hopefully a high reward if he pans out. I really hope heās able to recruit and we see big improvements.
Welcome to Charlotte coach!
This is what I posted in the prospective coaches thread:
When things went south last week, one name emerged. Thatās Will Healy, head coach at Austin Peay. My first reaction was āWHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY.ā So I did some research, and I really like him.
A wise man once told me that in order to succeed at football, you either have to be really good, or really different. Will Healy is the latter.
The basics: He turned around the worst program in college football. He inherited a team on a 29 game losing streak. I mean like had to practice around animal feces on the practice field bad. first season 0-11, next season went 8-5. He was 5-6 last year. I recognize that doesnāt look great. He is known for his recruiting. Several times had the best class in FCS as recruiting coordinator at UTC, and had the best class at APU a couple years ago. For reference, they were about 10 spots behind our program, but heās at FCS Austin Peay.
Heās not an offensive guru, or a defensive guru, heās a people guru. He is high energy, and high character. The guy is a CEO, salesman, Dabo Type.
The first thing he did when he got to AP was change the logo. The reason was the confusion of the general public as to what (and where) in the world Austin Peay is/was. (Does this sound familiar? because it should)
Another thing he does, is he demands his kids go out and introduce themselves to anybody who is interested in the program. The reason: āAustin Peay needs fans.ā Sound Familiar?
I listened to some of his tape about culture building from a clinic, and so many things just struck a nerve with who and what we are as a program.
- Local recruiting should always be first
- Uniforms need to be exciting. kids can be shallow about this.
- Jucos can really help your football team
- Filming body language
He fund raises like a bat out of hell. When is the last time we had someone who honestly stated their dedication to fund raising?
The part that struck the biggest nerve with me was his statement in the clinic video about not being afraid to make enemies with the people who are stuck to doing things the āold way,ā and if he feels like heās making kids better, he doesnāt care about making people angry. My goodness what a concept.
I know if we hire this guy, some of yāall are gonna want to scream, but I really think heās worth a shot.
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They beat Murray State in 2014. They then lost the last 5 games in 2014 and went 0-11 in 2015. Healy took over in 2016. So they had lost 16 straight when he took over. This is the second or third time I have seen the 29 straight number.
Am i missing something?
I see how they get the 29 now. He inherited a team on a 16 game losing streak and then he lost his first 13.
It sounds much better saying it the other way but its misleading.
Yep, doesnāt look like it
After watching that video I am impressed with this guy. Who knows if he will be a winner, but he is the type of guy that will make us proud that he is a Niner.
Initially, not impressed, even with everything Iāve read here and elsewhere. But I had no direct input or influence in this hire. Having said that, Iāll welcome him to the family and support him as I do all things NINER NATION and hope he can put us in position to soon go bowling. Lastly, one of my sons is named Will, so thereās that too.
Good for you WIll Healy !
I thought they meant Jeff Healey, the guitarist that played Hoochie Coochie Man in the movie Roadhouse!
Welcome Mr. Healy. Please win.
Count me in as one of the small handful that get this without Google.
Very exciting hire
WOW! IāLL run through a wall for him!
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