Official CU Head Coach Search Thread - Primetime

[NW Buff]

Like I said, unconfirmed rumor. But if there was dirt, maybe it wasn't as effective to LC's reputation because he was demoted so it didn't matter.

I just always find the rumors/statements about dirt to be humorous whether it’s within the AD or at the national/international level in politics (pee tape). The reality is usually that people are stupid and make bad decisions without a threat hanging over them

 

[BuffLuke80]

Chev is/was Lance Carl's boy. Uncomfirmed rumor that went around the CC during Chev's time here is that Chev had dirt on LC and threatened to expose him if he was ever fired.

I could take a couple of guesses as to what that means, I probably don't need to though.

 

[DBT]

I just always find the rumors/statements about dirt to be humorous whether it’s within the AD or at the national/international level in politics (pee tape). The reality is usually that people are stupid and make bad decisions without a threat hanging over them

There could be a reason the junta hasn’t banned me for life. Just sayin’.

 

[DBT]

I’m pretty intrigued with the idea of hiring Ryan Walters. But I know hardly anything about him other than he’s a former Buff, has built the Illini defense into one of the countries top ranked D’s, is young and might be a very good recruiter but I know nothing about his recruiting chops.

 

[White_Rabbit]

 

[DBT]

This guy must be kidding.

 

[Not Sure]

The guy sitting next to me at the game was talking about how Sanford might be the guy. I told him he was certifiably nuts. Then the guy in front of us chimed in and said we should hire Ryan Walters. I’m like “**** all y’all.”

My optimism about hiring a good HC is beginning to wane. I suspect theres a lot of folks bending RGs ear telling him he needs to hire Walters.

 

[ahoelsken]

The guy sitting next to me at the game was talking about how Sanford might be the guy. I told him he was certifiably nuts. Then the guy in front of us chimed in and said we should hire Ryan Walters. I’m like “**** all y’all.”

My optimism about hiring a good HC is beginning to wane. I suspect theres a lot of folks bending RGs ear telling him he needs to hire Walters.

I think we can take the name Marcus Arroyo off the list now. Walters isn't what I want in an HC right now.

UNLV looks bad tonight. I know they're a little beat up, but you can't put the ball on the carpet three times in one quarter plus. That's sloppy ****ing football and that's on their staff.

 

[LesGrossman]

Yesterday was a perfect recruiting day for potential HCs.

Our fan base not only filled the stadium for an 0-5 team, but cheered, stayed for the whole game, and stormed the field, thereby illustrating just how desperate we are for winning football.

We proved the bar is low and the fan base is hungry. I think that was an incredible showing by fans and should be slide #1 in our pitch PowerPoint (assuming Rick understands a pitch, and also how to use PowerPoint)

 

[nolabuff]

If you’re worried about Sanford securing the job for next year, remember that we’re only half way through the season and this team is still very bad. This game will be a distant memory by the time we run the gauntlet of Oregon, USC, UW, and Utah to end the year.

 

[Buffnik]

There is way too much emotion and way too little direct knowledge of various coaches for us to be driving who is hired as a coach. We also tend to suffer from recency bias.

Case in point - the OC we were mostly hating two weeks ago is now a viable HC candidate because we scored 20 points (with 7 in OT) but had a complete turnaround on defense to get a win with him serving as HC? Come on, man.

Walters is having a great DC year so far this season. But he isn't being mentioned for a single other P5 job. Why? He's only 36 years old and never been a HC. The records of teams while he's been DC for Mizzou and Illini are: 4-8, 7-5, 8-6, 6-6, 5-5, 5-7, 6-1. No reputation of being a great recruiter, but respected as a young DC to watch. Recency bias + emotion of being a Buff legacy at play here. How many hot, young coordinators have we seen take over a G5 HC job and fail because running your own program is a different job and a damn hard one? That's what happened to Sanford's career when he struggled as HC at WKU. But we downgrade Rahne because he's had a mediocre record building a G5 at ODU instead of remaining as OC at Penn State and not showing & growing his abilities as a HC running his own show?

Sanford isn't the guy (unless he does something crazy like get us bowl eligiable this year).

Walters isn't the guy this year but could be our next hire. Only way that changes is if Illinois wins the Big Ten West and finishes with a Top 10 defense nationally - and that would still be a high-risk hire at a time when CU can't afford a mistake.

In sum, we should hire a search firm and utilize an objective 3rd party with knowledge and no emotional bias to present the best options within a set of resume guidelines we're looking for.

The criteria I want:

1. Either is the top guy from a coaching tree which has had success at a similar university or is at least someone from one of the upper branches. Someone who can build CU on a model of a program we aspire to be.

2. Very recent college experience at the highest levels so has a great awareness of the challenges & opportunities presented by NIL, new transfer rules, and budget inequalities - and a plan for how CU can successfully compete in this environment.

3. Charisma, energy and gravitas to be able to attract & inspire young people, attract & mentor a staff, and rally media, boosters, community and other program stakeholders to the cause.

To me, this means starting with #1 with someone from the Petersen, Stoops, Meyer, Saban, Harbaugh or Franklin coaching trees - and expanding or contracting that based on whether any of those program cultures don't fit CU or whether there are others which would. This does not, I believe, mean that you only look at guys with HC experience. If you limit yourself to that, you'd be like a hypothetical Georgia which identified Bama as the model to aspire to which fit its university culture - but refused to hire Kirby Smart because he'd never been a HC. Or, on another criteria I think is irrelevant - if Georgia had refused to hire Smart because they were going outside for a new program model and he was blackballed due to being a former UGA player and assistant.

Have criteria. But those criteria can't be based on irrelevant limitations like on emotion or recency bias of "Buff legacy didn't work out the last 2 times."

#2 & #3 flow from there. Those are the ones which I can't evaluate well as a fan and would be revealed in the interview process.

Fwiw, I think the Petersen, Harbaugh and Franklin (Edit: also Alvarez) organizations are the most compatible with CU and that if we go outside of that then the guys whose success may translate most readily are Bronco and Grimes.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

If you’re worried about Sanford securing the job for next year, remember that we’re only half way through the season and this team is still very bad. This game will be a distant memory by the time we run the gauntlet of Oregon, USC, UW, and Utah to end the year.

I’m not worried in the least but I’m glad that they had success yesterday and the coaches and players (and fans) got a chance to enjoy it for a moment.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Yesterday was a perfect recruiting day for potential HCs.

Our fan base not only filled the stadium for an 0-5 team, but cheered, stayed for the whole game, and stormed the field, thereby illustrating just how desperate we are for winning football.

We proved the bar is low and the fan base is hungry. I think that was an incredible showing by fans and should be slide #1 in our pitch PowerPoint (assuming Rick understands a pitch, and also how to use PowerPoint)

I mentioned this in the conference expansion thread this summer, but there is all the evidence needed to show the B1G that this program can and will generate ratings and attention if it’s winning. Of course, it’s not the B1G’s job to get the program back to winning, but the CU fan base support and national attention toward a winning Buffs program would exceed many of the current B1G brands and definitely exceed that of Cal and Stanford

 

[Burrito]

There is way too much emotion and way too little direct knowledge of various coaches for us to be driving who is hired as a coach. We also tend to suffer from recency bias.

Case in point - the OC we were mostly hating two weeks ago is now a viable HC candidate because we scored 20 points (with 7 in OT) but had a complete turnaround on defense to get a win with him serving as HC? Come on, man.

Walters is having a great DC year so far this season. But he isn't being mentioned for a single other P5 job. Why? He's only 36 years old and never been a HC. The records of teams while he's been DC for Mizzou and Illini are: 4-8, 7-5, 8-6, 6-6, 5-5, 5-7, 6-1. No reputation of being a great recruiter, but respected as a young DC to watch. Recency bias + emotion of being a Buff legacy at play here. How many hot, young coordinators have we seen take over a G5 HC job and fail because running your own program is a different job and a damn hard one? That's what happened to Sanford's career when he struggled as HC at WKU. But we downgrade Rahne because he's had a mediocre record building a G5 at ODU instead of remaining as OC at Penn State and not showing & growing his abilities as a HC running his own show?

Sanford isn't the guy (unless he does something crazy like get us bowl eligiable this year).

Walters isn't the guy this year but could be our next hire. Only way that changes is if Illinois wins the Big Ten West and finishes with a Top 10 defense nationally - and that would still be a high-risk hire at a time when CU can't afford a mistake.

In sum, we should hire a search firm and utilize an objective 3rd party with knowledge and no emotional bias to present the best options within a set of resume guidelines we're looking for.

The criteria I want:

1. Either is the top guy from a coaching tree which has had success at a similar university or is at least someone from one of the upper branches. Someone who can build CU on a model of a program we aspire to be.

2. Very recent college experience at the highest levels so has a great awareness of the challenges & opportunities presented by NIL, new transfer rules, and budget inequalities - and a plan for how CU can successfully compete in this environment.

3. Charisma, energy and gravitas to be able to attract & inspire young people, attract & mentor a staff, and rally media, boosters, community and other program stakeholders to the cause.

To me, this means starting with #1 with someone from the Petersen, Stoops, Meyer, Saban, Harbaugh or Franklin coaching trees - and expanding or contracting that based on whether any of those program cultures don't fit CU or whether there are others which would. This does not, I believe, mean that you only look at guys with HC experience. If you limit yourself to that, you'd be like a hypothetical Georgia which identified Bama as the model to aspire to which fit its university culture - but refused to hire Kirby Smart because he'd never been a HC. Or, on another criteria I think is irrelevant - if Georgia had refused to hire Smart because they were going outside for a new program model and he was blackballed due to being a former UGA player and assistant.

Have criteria. But those criteria can't be based on irrelevant limitations based on emotion or recency bias of "Buff legacy didn't work out the last 2 times."

#2 & #3 flow from there. Those are the ones which I can't evaluate well as a fan and would be revealed in the interview process.

Fwiw, I think the Petersen, Harbaugh and Franklin (Edit: also Alvarez) organizations are the most compatible with CU and that if we go outside of that then the guys whose success may translate most readily are Bronco and Grimes.

Short version: Dave Logan

 

[FLounda]

Short version: Dave Logan

The man is simply a winner as HC.

 

[Duff Man]

Haha

Apparently 1-11 never looked so good to some people.

 

[Buffnik]

Haha

Apparently 1-11 never looked so good to some people.

^^This

We should congratulate and celebrate Sanford doing a tremendous job with the transition in the role of "Interim HC" these past 2 weeks while also not promoting him to be the next HC.

Please don't get caught up in the emotion of the moment. It will force many of us to rip on Sanford at a time when he has earned our support for him in his current role he's handling very well.

 

[SINKRATZ]

There is way too much emotion and way too little direct knowledge of various coaches for us to be driving who is hired as a coach. We also tend to suffer from recency bias.

Case in point - the OC we were mostly hating two weeks ago is now a viable HC candidate because we scored 20 points (with 7 in OT) but had a complete turnaround on defense to get a win with him serving as HC? Come on, man.

Walters is having a great DC year so far this season. But he isn't being mentioned for a single other P5 job. Why? He's only 36 years old and never been a HC. The records of teams while he's been DC for Mizzou and Illini are: 4-8, 7-5, 8-6, 6-6, 5-5, 5-7, 6-1. No reputation of being a great recruiter, but respected as a young DC to watch. Recency bias + emotion of being a Buff legacy at play here. How many hot, young coordinators have we seen take over a G5 HC job and fail because running your own program is a different job and a damn hard one? That's what happened to Sanford's career when he struggled as HC at WKU. But we downgrade Rahne because he's had a mediocre record building a G5 at ODU instead of remaining as OC at Penn State and not showing & growing his abilities as a HC running his own show?

Sanford isn't the guy (unless he does something crazy like get us bowl eligiable this year).

Walters isn't the guy this year but could be our next hire. Only way that changes is if Illinois wins the Big Ten West and finishes with a Top 10 defense nationally - and that would still be a high-risk hire at a time when CU can't afford a mistake.

In sum, we should hire a search firm and utilize an objective 3rd party with knowledge and no emotional bias to present the best options within a set of resume guidelines we're looking for.

The criteria I want:

1. Either is the top guy from a coaching tree which has had success at a similar university or is at least someone from one of the upper branches. Someone who can build CU on a model of a program we aspire to be.

2. Very recent college experience at the highest levels so has a great awareness of the challenges & opportunities presented by NIL, new transfer rules, and budget inequalities - and a plan for how CU can successfully compete in this environment.

3. Charisma, energy and gravitas to be able to attract & inspire young people, attract & mentor a staff, and rally media, boosters, community and other program stakeholders to the cause.

To me, this means starting with #1 with someone from the Petersen, Stoops, Meyer, Saban, Harbaugh or Franklin coaching trees - and expanding or contracting that based on whether any of those program cultures don't fit CU or whether there are others which would. This does not, I believe, mean that you only look at guys with HC experience. If you limit yourself to that, you'd be like a hypothetical Georgia which identified Bama as the model to aspire to which fit its university culture - but refused to hire Kirby Smart because he'd never been a HC. Or, on another criteria I think is irrelevant - if Georgia had refused to hire Smart because they were going outside for a new program model and he was blackballed due to being a former UGA player and assistant.

Have criteria. But those criteria can't be based on irrelevant limitations based on emotion or recency bias of "Buff legacy didn't work out the last 2 times."

#2 & #3 flow from there. Those are the ones which I can't evaluate well as a fan and would be revealed in the interview process.

Fwiw, I think the Petersen, Harbaugh and Franklin (Edit: also Alvarez) organizations are the most compatible with CU and that if we go outside of that then the guys whose success may translate most readily are Bronco and Grimes.

What do we think of the Petersen coaching tree to this point. Let me knowing I’m missing someone, but if he got:

Sean Kugler: was 18-36 as HC at UTEP, now an OL coach in the NFL.

Jimmy Lake: 7-6 at UW being fired for misconduct.

Jeff Choate: 28-22 at MSU, a program where the coach before him and after him also won. Now Co-DC at Texas

Justin Wilcox - 29-31 at Cal. Hell of a defensive coach, but has had 6 years to find an offense and has failed. 2 bowl games in 5 full seasons and just lost to the worst CU team maybe in history.

Jonathan Smith - 21-30 at OSU which might be about as good as that program can expect, still not quite winning at the same clip as Mike Riley did, but trend is up.

Bryan Harsin - 85-35 as a HC with most of his success at Boise where pretty much every coach has won since the days of Dirk Koetter. 9-11 at Auburn and his job security seems to be day-to-day.

The 3 guys from his tree to get P5 head coaching jobs all have losing records there, though Cal and OSU are not easy places to win. Smith might arguably be the most impressive from the Petersen tree and he has a losing record.

edit: added Lake

 

[Duff Man]

^^This

We should congratulate and celebrate Sanford doing a tremendous job with the transition in the role of "Interim HC" these past 2 weeks while also not promoting him to be the next HC.

Please don't get caught up in the emotion of the moment. It will force many of us to rip on Sanford at a time when he has earned our support for him in his current role he's handling very well.

Also, Sanford is not the only coach in the country who shows emotion. Actually, plenty of them do. Let's not get carried away as that being an overwhelming positive for Sanford.

 

[Buffnik]

What do we think of the Petersen coaching tree to this point. Let me knowing I’m missing someone, but if he got:

Sean Kugler: was 18-36 as HC at UTEP, now an OL coach in the NFL.

Jeff Choate: 28-22 at MSU, a program where the coach before him and after him also won. Now Co-DC at Texas

Justin Wilcox - 29-31 at Cal. Hell of a defensive coach, but has had 6 years to find an offense and has failed. 2 bowl games in 5 full seasons and just lost to the worst CU team maybe in history.

Jonathan Smith - 21-30 at OSU which might be about as good as that program can expect, still not quite winning at the same clip as Mike Riley did, but trend is up.

Bryan Harsin - 85-35 as a HC with most of his success at Boise where pretty much every coach has won since the days of Dirk Koetter. 9-11 at Auburn and his job security seems to be day-to-day.

The 3 guys from his tree to get P5 head coaching jobs all have losing records there, though Cal and OSU are not easy places to win. Smith might arguably be the most impressive from the Petersen tree and he has a losing record.

Also Jimmy Lake and probably others we've missed.

But, yeah, I'm making a run at Petersen and making him say no. I don't see anyone I'm over the moon about after that, though I'd kick the tires on Choate.

 

[ahoelsken]

Also Jimmy Lake and probably others we've missed.

But, yeah, I'm making a run at Petersen and making him say no. I don't see anyone I'm over the moon about after that, though I'd kick the tires on Choate.

I'm good on Choate. If you research what he did in Bozeman, it's not that impressive. Does he even call their defense?

Tom Herman one. Bronco Mendenhall 1a for me still.

 

[Hunchback Quaker]

What do we think of the Petersen coaching tree to this point. Let me knowing I’m missing someone, but if he got:

Sean Kugler: was 18-36 as HC at UTEP, now an OL coach in the NFL.

Jeff Choate: 28-22 at MSU, a program where the coach before him and after him also won. Now Co-DC at Texas

Justin Wilcox - 29-31 at Cal. Hell of a defensive coach, but has had 6 years to find an offense and has failed. 2 bowl games in 5 full seasons and just lost to the worst CU team maybe in history.

Jonathan Smith - 21-30 at OSU which might be about as good as that program can expect, still not quite winning at the same clip as Mike Riley did, but trend is up.

Bryan Harsin - 85-35 as a HC with most of his success at Boise where pretty much every coach has won since the days of Dirk Koetter. 9-11 at Auburn and his job security seems to be day-to-day.

The 3 guys from his tree to get P5 head coaching jobs all have losing records there, though Cal and OSU are not easy places to win. Smith might arguably be the most impressive from the Petersen tree and he has a losing record.

Don't forget Jimmy Lake!

 

[SINKRATZ]

Don't forget Jimmy Lake!

Added.

 

[Johnny Juzang]

I’m pretty intrigued with the idea of hiring Ryan Walters. But I know hardly anything about him other than he’s a former Buff, has built the Illini defense into one of the countries top ranked D’s, is young and might be a very good recruiter but I know nothing about his recruiting chops.

Agree. I know it's taboo to want a former Buff, but he's intriguing.

 

[HockeyBuff]

Agree. I know it's taboo to want a former Buff, but he's intriguing.

Definitely intriguing. Since he hasn’t been a HC, it’s a risk, just like with any coordinator. But with that risk could come a huge reward.

I’m still going with Bronco as my #1, Grimes as #2

 

[slider]

In the past couple weeks I have gained a lot of respect for Sanford. However, I do not want him even considered for the job.

 

[Big Iron Buff]

Haha

Apparently 1-11 never looked so good to some people.

^^This

We should congratulate and celebrate Sanford doing a tremendous job with the transition in the role of "Interim HC" these past 2 weeks while also not promoting him to be the next HC.

Please don't get caught up in the emotion of the moment. It will force many of us to rip on Sanford at a time when he has earned our support for him in his current role he's handling very well.

And they're overlooking the addition by subtraction factor. This one game turnaround is textbook addition by subtraction.

He's done a great job recognizing that some enthusiasm and instilling the competitive pride back into the players was needed. Thanks for that. Good luck to him finding a good landing spot in the off-season, but he's far from a realistic competitive option right now amongst the other available choices.

 

[Devildog2]

Jay Hill could create a beast with all that CU has to offer. Top tier University, amazing facilities, beautiful college town with outstanding backdrop, and he knows recruiting in the West. I hesitate to mention Hill because he's a damn good coach and CU is a rival of the Utes. However, CU would be a huge step up for Hill, and Whittingham has built a decent coaching tree. Hill was a stellar assistant at Utah. https://weberstatesports.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/jay-hill/800

 

[Not Sure]

Walters isn’t ready for this mess.

 

[Mr. Babar]

There is way too much emotion and way too little direct knowledge of various coaches for us to be driving who is hired as a coach. We also tend to suffer from recency bias.

Case in point - the OC we were mostly hating two weeks ago is now a viable HC candidate because we scored 20 points (with 7 in OT) but had a complete turnaround on defense to get a win with him serving as HC? Come on, man.

Walters is having a great DC year so far this season. But he isn't being mentioned for a single other P5 job. Why? He's only 36 years old and never been a HC. The records of teams while he's been DC for Mizzou and Illini are: 4-8, 7-5, 8-6, 6-6, 5-5, 5-7, 6-1. No reputation of being a great recruiter, but respected as a young DC to watch. Recency bias + emotion of being a Buff legacy at play here. How many hot, young coordinators have we seen take over a G5 HC job and fail because running your own program is a different job and a damn hard one? That's what happened to Sanford's career when he struggled as HC at WKU. But we downgrade Rahne because he's had a mediocre record building a G5 at ODU instead of remaining as OC at Penn State and not showing & growing his abilities as a HC running his own show?

Sanford isn't the guy (unless he does something crazy like get us bowl eligiable this year).

Walters isn't the guy this year but could be our next hire. Only way that changes is if Illinois wins the Big Ten West and finishes with a Top 10 defense nationally - and that would still be a high-risk hire at a time when CU can't afford a mistake.

In sum, we should hire a search firm and utilize an objective 3rd party with knowledge and no emotional bias to present the best options within a set of resume guidelines we're looking for.

The criteria I want:

1. Either is the top guy from a coaching tree which has had success at a similar university or is at least someone from one of the upper branches. Someone who can build CU on a model of a program we aspire to be.

2. Very recent college experience at the highest levels so has a great awareness of the challenges & opportunities presented by NIL, new transfer rules, and budget inequalities - and a plan for how CU can successfully compete in this environment.

3. Charisma, energy and gravitas to be able to attract & inspire young people, attract & mentor a staff, and rally media, boosters, community and other program stakeholders to the cause.

To me, this means starting with #1 with someone from the Petersen, Stoops, Meyer, Saban, Harbaugh or Franklin coaching trees - and expanding or contracting that based on whether any of those program cultures don't fit CU or whether there are others which would. This does not, I believe, mean that you only look at guys with HC experience. If you limit yourself to that, you'd be like a hypothetical Georgia which identified Bama as the model to aspire to which fit its university culture - but refused to hire Kirby Smart because he'd never been a HC. Or, on another criteria I think is irrelevant - if Georgia had refused to hire Smart because they were going outside for a new program model and he was blackballed due to being a former UGA player and assistant.

Have criteria. But those criteria can't be based on irrelevant limitations like on emotion or recency bias of "Buff legacy didn't work out the last 2 times."

#2 & #3 flow from there. Those are the ones which I can't evaluate well as a fan and would be revealed in the interview process.

Fwiw, I think the Petersen, Harbaugh and Franklin (Edit: also Alvarez) organizations are the most compatible with CU and that if we go outside of that then the guys whose success may translate most readily are Bronco and Grimes.

Agree with your logic wholeheartedly. I fear you have already thought through what we need in a coaching hire more than RG will in total. Another off the radar hire who RG doesn’t fear would take another job if we have success feels probable. Also, would be par for the course for this administration.