So, I'm sitting here watching the Rutgers - Louisville game wondering why so many of us are high on Ron English. It's almost half time. The score is 49-0 in favor of Rutgers. It got me thinking....what has Ron English accomplished? He was a decent position coach at UM. When they weren't going to promote him to DC when Hermann was let go, he quit and went to the Chicago Bears. UM (Carr) then had a change of heart so he came back. In his couple years as DC at UM the results were mixed at best. Louisville's D has been very disappointing since he arrived.

Is he really D1 HC material? I know, he's bright and articulate and intense and a good recruiter. In fact, many of us think he is out of reach for EMU. I've got a buddy who is a tremendous UM fan and has a ton of football knowledge who thinks he would be a great hire for EMU.... if we could get him. As someone who believes past results are a good indication of future success when it comes to coaching, I think he would be lucky to get an offer from EMU.

Then again, maybe it's his current struggles that will give EMU a chance to land him. For those of you who are English believers, maybe this is the perfect storm, the perfect sequence of events that lands us a coach that should have been out of reach.

EagleAttack Wrote:Then again, maybe it's his current struggles that will give EMU a chance to land him. For those of you who are English believers, maybe this is the perfect storm, the perfect sequence of events that lands us a coach that should have been out of reach.

This has been my theme from day one.

The UofM changeover has left coaches available who would not have otherwise been available.

BTW, here is Urban Meyer's resume. NOTE: when we came to BGSU he was the ND WR coach.

http://www.gatorzone.com/football/bios.p...taff=meyer

Steve, agree with you on English. Louisville has had a bad year and their defense has been atrocious. I pewrsonally don't see how he would fit in at EMU.

I'm thinking that while we have re hashed ex Michigan coaches on the board that perhaps Gragg has some individuals on his short list that we haven't even identified.

Time will tell - hopefully sooner than later. Amazed that no info has yet leaked out on who has interviewed etc. Gragg/Carr have been very quiet and have provided no names to my knowledge.

I would hope that whoever is selected that the new coach/coaching staff would leave the offense in tact. It certainly worked the last few weeks.

The only thing I have heard is that Gragg wants the coach named before Christmas. We will know who it is within the next 3 weeks.....

EagleAttack Wrote:So, I'm sitting here watching the Rutgers - Louisville game wondering why so many of us are high on Ron English. It's almost half time. The score is 49-0 in favor of Rutgers. It got me thinking....what has Ron English accomplished? He was a decent position coach at UM. When they weren't going to promote him to DC when Hermann was let go, he quit and went to the Chicago Bears. UM (Carr) then had a change of heart so he came back. In his couple years as DC at UM the results were mixed at best. Louisville's D has been very disappointing since he arrived.

Is he really D1 HC material? I know, he's bright and articulate and intense and a good recruiter. In fact, many of us think he is out of reach for EMU. I've got a buddy who is a tremendous UM fan and has a ton of football knowledge who thinks he would be a great hire for EMU.... if we could get him. As someone who believes past results are a good indication of future success when it comes to coaching, I think he would be lucky to get an offer from EMU.

Then again, maybe it's his current struggles that will give EMU a chance to land him. For those of you who are English believers, maybe this is the perfect storm, the perfect sequence of events that lands us a coach that should have been out of reach.

As opposed ot the great ron vanderlinden who lead Mayrland to a sterling 15-29 record? Or how about the 20-31 paul winters? Or the unproven Corwin Brown? The demoted Fred Jackson?

Truthfully the only coach who I have heard promising things about is Loeffler. The Meyer analogy would work best with SL, but again, he has only been a position coach.

Dennis D. Rachwal Wrote:Steve, agree with you on English. Louisville has had a bad year and their defense has been atrocious. I pewrsonally don't see how he would fit in at EMU.

I'm thinking that while we have re hashed ex Michigan coaches on the board that perhaps Gragg has some individuals on his short list that we haven't even identified.

Time will tell - hopefully sooner than later. Amazed that no info has yet leaked out on who has interviewed etc. Gragg/Carr have been very quiet and have provided no names to my knowledge.

I would hope that whoever is selected that the new coach/coaching staff would leave the offense in tact. It certainly worked the last few weeks.

UL's defense actually has improved from last year. UL at one point was ranked in the top 10 in run defense. The past two weeks have been awful. His defenses at UM had stretch's of bad play as well.

Actually I think I'd take unproven as a head coach over a has been.

huroncowboy Wrote:Actually I think I'd take unproven as a head coach over a has been.

??????

Who are the 'unproven' candidates?

Who are the 'has beens' candidates?

Are, for example, Ron English and Fred Jackson "has beens"???

I caught a few minutes of the L'ville massacre last night and heard them say that L'ville's secondary had a ton of injuries (also noticed that the Rutgers QB, Teel, might make a good mid-round pick for the Lions).

English is still my top candidate because he's young, has local ties, has a defensive background, and has name recognition. He's more well known locally than any EMU coach has ever been.

Heard the last 5 seconds of Gragg on WTKA this morning. The commentary afterwords made it sound like a Lloyd Carr deciple would get the job. If true, that eliminates Vanderlinden, Treadwell, Winters, and other names that have shown up in this forum.

Steve,

Not in my eyes but in some on this board English and Jackson might be in classified as such.

There are several candidates who are unproven as head coaches of a Div I program that not saying they aren't qualified just that they don't have a track record as Div I coach.

Based on many years of watching MAC FB carefully and more recently watching how the BCS follks operate:

I see the following scenarios:

1). There is the young, up and coming coach, who pans out big but stays a couple years and moves on. Urban Meyer is a classic case.

2). One can get the young, up and coming coach, but he doesn't really pan out and is relieved. Genyk is an example.

3). One gets an 'older' (say 50s) coach looking for a 'change of scenery' and hopes things work out in the new job. It does and he stays for a long time. George Mason's Jim Larranaga is a classic case.

4). One gets a coach who might not fit any paradigm exactly but has strong ties to his school. Tom Amstuz was an example. Perhaps Brady Hoke might be. Bob Parks (EMU T&F) was certainly that.

I use this 'filter' (or paradigms) to figure out how I feel about each coaching candidate.

Candidates such as Scott Loeffler, Corwin Brown, Ron English might be the up and coming who might be successful and leave in a few years.

Ron Vanderlinden and Fred Jackson might be looking for a job they can stay in for 10 years and then retire (just as I expect Jim Larranaga to retire at Mason).

EMU has no candidate with strong ties to the school (as Hoke does to BSU).

Our best hope is that the selected coach has a lot of TIES to S.E. Michigan who might not want to leave after a few years. Hope that the selectee is not another Ron Cooper.

(12-05-2008 09:39 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  I caught a few minutes of the L'ville massacre last night and heard them say that L'ville's secondary had a ton of injuries (also noticed that the Rutgers QB, Teel, might make a good mid-round pick for the Lions).

English is still my top candidate because he's young, has local ties, has a defensive background, and has name recognition. He's more well known locally than any EMU coach has ever been.

Heard the last 5 seconds of Gragg on WTKA this morning. The commentary afterwords made it sound like a Lloyd Carr deciple would get the job. If true, that eliminates Vanderlinden, Treadwell, Winters, and other names that have shown up in this forum.

Nickle deserves credit for this post.

I believe folks were rather superficial in their initial assessment of English (based on ONE game they watched after Genyk was fired).

I have "The Sporting News" College FB yearbook and they have the scoop on the '07 L'ville defense:

"a unit that allowed 38 or more points in seven games."

"The defense ranked among the worst in college football..."

42 to MTSU and 38 to a Syracuse team which couldn't score if their lives depended on it.

Ouch!!

The '08 struggled late with injuries.

That said, English will get to deal with same in '09.

BTW, L'ville IS big into recruiting JUCOs.

The same mag lists their top 5 '08 recruits. Three were JUCOs (Josh Wiley, Tyler Jessen and Justin Matthews).

Based on what the mag says for '08 and I saw in Rivals (34 offers to JUCOs for the '09 class.). L'ville is very active with JUCOs. I'd guess English will be to patch his defense.

Maybe someone can help but is there a signing week for JUCOs in December so the one who have graduated can begin school in January? (I get the impession that there is).

Also, some JUCO players were qualifiers out of h.s. and need not graduate from JUCO to attain Div 1 eligibility. These kids can enroll in their D-1 school in January.

EDIT: See this article on two top JUCOs signed last week by L'ville.

http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/m-foot...08aaa.html

I did the Rivals.com advanced search for L'ville, 2008 class, JUCOs, committed,

10 JUCOs were marked with the 'S' for signed.

L'ville knows JUCOs. The players were from JUCOs in CA, MS, and KS.

As I re-read this thread, I think the original post was quite brilliant as well ; ) Especially the third paragraph. Had Louisville's defense not underperformed toward the end of the season, English would have been an even hotter commodity. I don't think we would have landed him.

True, the original poster of this thread was wavering regarding English at the time of the post, mostly because he was bitter about the fact he had heard that English had turned EMU down.

From what I've heard, the original poster is now totally on board with the hiring of RE...

(12-27-2008 07:44 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(12-05-2008 09:39 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  I caught a few minutes of the L'ville massacre last night and heard them say that L'ville's secondary had a ton of injuries (also noticed that the Rutgers QB, Teel, might make a good mid-round pick for the Lions).

English is still my top candidate because he's young, has local ties, has a defensive background, and has name recognition. He's more well known locally than any EMU coach has ever been.

Heard the last 5 seconds of Gragg on WTKA this morning. The commentary afterwords made it sound like a Lloyd Carr deciple would get the job. If true, that eliminates Vanderlinden, Treadwell, Winters, and other names that have shown up in this forum.

Nickle deserves credit for this post.

I believe folks were rather superficial in their initial assessment of English (based on ONE game they watched after Genyk was fired).

I have "The Sporting News" College FB yearbook and they have the scoop on the '07 L'ville defense:

"a unit that allowed 38 or more points in seven games."

"The defense ranked among the worst in college football..."

42 to MTSU and 38 to a Syracuse team which couldn't score if their lives depended on it.

Ouch!!

The '08 struggled late with injuries.

That said, English will get to deal with same in '09.

BTW, L'ville IS big into recruiting JUCOs.

The same mag lists their top 5 '08 recruits. Three were JUCOs (Josh Wiley, Tyler Jessen and Justin Matthews).

Based on what the mag says for '08 and I saw in Rivals (34 offers to JUCOs for the '09 class.). L'ville is very active with JUCOs. I'd guess English will be to patch his defense.

Maybe someone can help but is there a signing week for JUCOs in December so the one who have graduated can begin school in January? (I get the impession that there is).

Also, some JUCO players were qualifiers out of h.s. and need not graduate from JUCO to attain Div 1 eligibility. These kids can enroll in their D-1 school in January.

EDIT: See this article on two top JUCOs signed last week by L'ville.

http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/m-foot...08aaa.html

The 07' UL defense WAS horrible.But that wasn't RE's defense. This was RE's first tear at UL.

RE did make significant strides in improving it, but as was seen at the end of the year, talent deficiencies were too much to overcome.

Louisville may have JUCOs committed but look at the coaches and I believe you'll find that English and Lewis were not personally involved in obtaining their commits.

(12-27-2008 11:31 AM)EagleAttack Wrote:  As I re-read this thread, I think the original post was quite brilliant as well ; ) Especially the third paragraph. Had Louisville's defense not underperformed toward the end of the season, English would have been an even hotter commodity. I don't think we would have landed him.

True, the original poster of this thread was wavering regarding English at the time of the post, mostly because he was bitter about the fact he had heard that English had turned EMU down.

From what I've heard, the original poster is now totally on board with the hiring of RE...

yep, I have (or had until this morning) a hard copy (someone sent it to me) of a Dec 11 A2 News article on the search.

Mentioned a lot of names but NOT English.

That, too, leads me to believe that Englished turned down EMU and was a late candidate and sweep away the prize at a very handsome $.

BTW, I was going through papers (contributions) for my '08 tax and found a letter from Craig Fink (EMU Athletics fund raising). EMU raised $772,324 for FY 2008.

Without the help of the former EMU players raising big $ we wouldn't be talking about English.

EMU is doing a lot of things right with big football road game guarantees, fund raising, etc.

$ is what makes things happen.

We could NOT have afforded a BCS coordinator when Diles hired Genyk.

Take that to the bank!!

(I remember stories when Gene Smith was the AD and athletics was having problems PAYING BILLS). That story has been around for 15 years.