Updated staff tracker:
Good video on Defensive Coordinator Coach Marcus West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPl-i-6aK9c
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Here’s a good interview with him after he was hired by PJ Fleck at Minnesota.
Mentally, a relentless individual. To be honest with you, I love the underdog. Everybody loves the 6-4", 34" arms and all that. I want somebody whose been told what they can’t do. That’s the person I like. They walk around with a chip on their shoulder. The person that’s been doubted, been told he’s not the best, you can’t rush, you can’t be successful, you won’t have this or do that. I want to coach Davis Tull’s, the walk-on who turned out to be an NFL draft pick. I want the Keionta Davis’, who signed for books and is now with the Patriots.
Of course I want the physical build, but I want a relentless individual that attacks the world everyday. That’s pissed off every time they touch the field because somebody doesn’t think they’re the best one on that field. That’s the mentality of a rusher I want. I want an over-acheiver that’s been told they can’t do it. That’s the fun story. It’s the underdog story.
As a guy who had not one lick of athletic ability but tried to get by with effort all the way through HS, I appreciate this. However, as I learned when I tried to play soccer in college, at the highest levels you cannot fake athletic ability (and all the other guys play hard/well anyway). If this defense is going to be predicated upon a dominant front 4, I hope we recruit appropriately going forward.
Healy spoke for about 20 minutes at the pre-game on Saturday. He was excited, and funny, and enthusiastic. It is easy to like this guy, and I was ready to sign an NLI and run through a wall for him.
He told us that he had been out looking for houses that morning, but his wife was back at home and 37 weeks pregnant. She told him to just pick out a house and buy it–Healy said that no way could 4th and 1 be scarier than that!
Healy flew to San Antonio Saturday night for the American Football Coaches Association meeting, where he has about 25 interviews lined up in a 48 hour period to fill out the staff. He mentioned that this conference was held in Charlotte last year, and having heard that the Charlotte program was an undiscovered gem, he rented a car and drove over to campus to see for himself. He knew then what we could be, and he thinks today that getting recruits and high school coaches onto our campus is key to building success.
With that in mind, his staff has been planning, and there are 80 high schools in the six county area around Charlotte. The 10 coaches will be assigned 8 schools each, and they will be regularly visiting, evaluating, and communicating with their schools. Additionally, we are going to be offering coaching clinics to the HS coaches, where they will attend one of our practices, and then afterwards there will be a clinic where they watch film and discuss it with our staff. Building these relationships is high on the priority list.
We are on the right path!
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It would be great if we knew which coaches would have which local HS’s to recruit so that Niner fans in the area can help point them to hidden jems.
clt is on board!
I’d just put them in touch with the recruiting coordinator. I don’t really care who is at which local school as long as we have a constant presence. It is embarrassing seeing coaches say they haven’t seen or heard from Charlotte in 3 years.
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Horse dead. Stop beating. A new day, this is.
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If we have coaches assigned to a school that need ninernation.net’s help identifying talent at that same school, then we are in trouble.
Changes are going to become dramaticly different under Healy with regard to recruiting on the local level. Niner nation needs to be patient and let new recruiters do their job
This is my thought. If I am covering 8 schools, I will know who even the bad players are. No reason anyone would need to find a hidden gem in those 80 schools.
They’ll have other areas as well. We won’t just recruit 80 high schools.
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clt says we are 100% supportive and behind our new staff.
That makes us unique in nc
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That is pretty obvious, but they should know those rosters if that is a focus.
Completely agree.
Might have already been mentioned but it looks like West is also the Assistant HC. Wearing three hats in addition to recruiting duties will be a lot of work.
No less frustrating. Don’t know what Lambert’s problem was, but he surely had one.
Healy has his WR coach:
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Seems like a quality hire