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I ran into Jake after the hockey game tonight. He is definitely an assistant coach. We were both surprised to see each other and he got a kick out of me figuring out what he was up to. Said that he is coaching the O-line at Western. Does that leave room for Bill Kenny and does Jake have any O-line experience?

(01-21-2017 11:32 PM)ru4wmu Wrote:  I ran into Jake after the hockey game tonight. He is definitely an assistant coach. We were both surprised to see each other and he got a kick out of me figuring out what he was up to. Said that he is coaching the O-line at Western. Does that leave room for Bill Kenny and does Jake have any O-line experience?

I doubt Bill Kenney is still there if Moreland is the O line coach.

Still do not know the RB coach, TE coach or a Special Teams coach. I assume we will not have a full fledged ST coach like we did with Wenger.

Bill Kenney is sticking around.

(01-22-2017 12:12 AM)broncofan1 Wrote:  Bill Kenney is sticking around.

He must be doing TE's. Coaching the Oline is definitely an upgrade for Moreland.

Good hire. Moreland's love for WMU tore him away from the Air Force Academy? That says a lot.

I'm on board. Great to have Jake back in Kalamazoo.

Everything I've heard and seen from Lester so far indicates he's taking the program in the right direction - upward.

Now we just have to see if he can produce on - and off - the field.

Go Broncos!

Quote:I ran into Jake after the hockey game tonight. He is definitely an assistant coach

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really???

I remember at Wayside in the turn of the century, I kicked one of the stall doors open (yes, I was Not in my 'element'; or was, definitions vary) -- and JAKE comes out and I was basically giving him the Japanese BOW in humility. OMG.

That is SO Awesome he comes back!!

Moreland's twitter background is now changed to WMU

Interesting.

Now there's a guy who really loves Western.

Good for him, Lester, and program.

Although it might make more sense for Moreland to coach TEs and Kenney OL. To my knowledge Moreland has only coached TEs or WRs, never OL.

I thought Moreland was doing TE and T, and Kenny was doing interior line.

(01-22-2017 08:48 AM)Doo Wrote:  I thought Moreland was doing TE and T, and Kenny was doing interior line.

That would make sense

(01-22-2017 07:49 AM)okgc Wrote:  Moreland's twitter background is now changed to WMU

There you go. Jake has the type of personality appealing to young recruits, this is a recruiting plus aside from it being a coaching addition.

It doesn't hurt that he looks like Van Diesel.

Glad we hired the Cubit gang all back. If this backfires, KB can take a hike.

(01-23-2017 07:41 PM)wingsenforcer Wrote:  Glad we hired the Cubit gang all back. If this backfires, KB can take a hike.

Probably NO college AD has done more with less than Kathy B.

Quote:Men's sports
Baseball Billy Gernon
Basketball Steve Hawkins
Football Tim Lester
Ice hockey Andy Murray
Soccer Chad Wiseman
Tennis Dave Morin

Women's sports
Basketball Shane Clipfell
Volleyball Colleen Munson

Also KB found & hired young, relatively unknowns Jeff Blashill & PJ Fleck

She found Blash and Fleck, great.

BUT WHY WOULD IT MAKE ANY SENSE TO LET THE NEW GUY HIRE A BUNCH OF DUDES THAT WORKED FOR THE DUDE WE FIRED?

If he proves me wrong, fine. But this reeks of an era where 5-7 seemed acceptable.

(01-23-2017 08:41 PM)wingsenforcer Wrote:  She found Blash and Fleck, great.

BUT WHY WOULD IT MAKE ANY SENSE TO LET THE NEW GUY HIRE A BUNCH OF DUDES THAT WORKED FOR THE DUDE WE FIRED?

If he proves me wrong, fine. But this reeks of an era where 5-7 seemed acceptable.

Relax... Lester has done quite a bit in a short time to keep the recruits left behind and add to the list. Not only that... but outside of Hampton nobody has bailed... that's huge... Let's give the guy a chance.

Side note... Cubit teams were predicated on throwing to open the run. When they scored it was quick and constantly strained the defense... Lester has reiterated the Fleck era mantra of time management and strong line play... I don't think we need to worry that this new group of coaches will mean we are stepping backwards... I was worried at first too... but it's unwarranted... this is a new group in this configuration...

Yeah. RTB = run the ball

(01-23-2017 08:41 PM)wingsenforcer Wrote:  She found Blash and Fleck, great.

BUT WHY WOULD IT MAKE ANY SENSE TO LET THE NEW GUY HIRE A BUNCH OF DUDES THAT WORKED FOR THE DUDE WE FIRED?

If he proves me wrong, fine. But this reeks of an era where 5-7 seemed acceptable.

Because everyone agrees Cubit could assess talent in players & staff but was not cut out to be a HC. Should have stayed a OC somewhere.

(01-23-2017 08:41 PM)wingsenforcer Wrote:  BUT WHY WOULD IT MAKE ANY SENSE TO LET THE NEW GUY HIRE A BUNCH OF DUDES THAT WORKED FOR THE DUDE WE FIRED?

I feel you. My biggest concern with the Lester hire was that this would become a "getting the band back together" situation regarding former Cubit-era staff.

Assuming the final staff ends up as has been speculated here, though, just how much of that is actually true?

Here's a list of the coaches that would be on staff with Cubit-era experience: (I may be slightly off on a year or two with a couple of the coaches)

Lester (2005-06, QB)
Esposito (2010-12, DL and recruiting)
Daoust (2006 DL; 2007-09 secondary)
Moreland (2005-08, TE)

That's only four coaches potentially on staff (three, if you don't count the head coach) with Cubit-era experience (and only one from when the program really started to slide).

Lester helped coach up Ryan Cubit to lead us to our first bowl in 18 years. Daoust coached our D when it was strong in 2006 and when our secondary was (generally) very good through 2009. Moreland did a good job with our TEs when, well...when we actually threw to the TE on a regular basis.

The Esposito hire is the one that concerns me the most. I hoped Pinkham would stay on as DC, but as others here have speculated, that may not have been his call and not Lester's.

In fairness to Lester, if this ends up being the staff, it appears he's done a pretty good job IMO of diversifying his staff. The reality is there will be far more non-Cubit-era coaches on staff.