Honestly after looking at his resume, talking with some HS coaches in CLT area overall review is positive. Sure, some are likeā¦who the hell is this, but Iāll give him a shot. Letās get this bread
I think the word āintriguedā best describes how I feel right now. Iāll be very curious to read/hear what Mike Hill has to say about him and how he presents himself at his introductory press conference.
In regards to it not being a splashy name, Iām of the opinion there was no one we could hire, including Mike Houston, that would make people show up in noticeable numbers. We have more than enough data on the Charlotte market to know that. Just my opinion.
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Healy has head coaching experience, is young, and is probably looking to make a name for himself. I see all those things as positive.
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Iām not going to jump off a bridge, but I would have liked to see another year with this guy at AP. A lot of coaches can grab one special year out of a bottle. Can he maintain that? After a drop this year, it would have been interesting to see how things went next year. It does appear he can recruit, even if itās FCS, and recruiting is the life blood of any program. Also, our āpool of great candidatesā probably was a very shallow pool. Canāt wait to hear Hillās presser.
I think our real priorities were as follows:
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
Head Coaching Experience
Iād honestly hope we can retain Spencer or drop serious bank on the coordinator replacements. Our coordinators will be critical to Healyās success here.
In High School Healy āwas an all-state quarterback at [Boyd-Buchanan School] where he still holds the Chattanooga-area career passing record (7,700+yds)ā
I can tell you one thing that is going to change at Charlotte!
We may have hired the guy who shouldāve replaced the guy we wanted to hire.
By that time heād likely have been well beyond our grasp.
It was only a matter of time before Healy got grabbed up. Even another year at AP couldāve sent him elsewhere.
Iām in, I like it. Couple guys at work have come up and said it was a good hire, said he was āSouthern PJ Fleckā.
I think age and lack of experience is two things that make me pause. Some may say age isnāt that important. This guy is actually older than Sean McVay who coaches the LA Rams. So thereās that. Hill is taking a shot. Prob couldāve played it safe. I appreciate him taking the approach of ābeing okay is not okay.ā
I havenāt heard his name in any other search rumors. Maybe we snatched him up early and maybe that was necessary. I would have like to have seen 2-3 more years of experience.
I hope he does well.
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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