CSNbbs

(05-30-2023 07:41 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote: [ -> ]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Okam

(05-30-2023 07:41 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote: [ -> ]

What happened to Larry Knight? He's still on staff listing @ UTRockets.com.

(05-30-2023 10:16 PM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-30-2023 07:41 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote: [ -> ]

What happened to Larry Knight? He's still on staff listing @ UTRockets.com.

Chance to pick up a NFL DL Coach. Replaces Craig K?

Larry Knight left for Temple. Not sure why it was never reported.

(05-31-2023 11:17 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote: [ -> ]Larry Knight left for Temple. Not sure why it was never reported.

Knight was on staff at Temple in 2017-18. Not seeing him listed as a current Owls' staff member.

Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

He was fired at Vegas and needs a job.... bottom-line. Toledo sees NFL experience and so a match was born!

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

(06-05-2023 02:29 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

Agree...... being terminated in the NFL is at an entirely different level. Coaching changes are head spinning. No stigma nor should there be. I'm glad he is at UT.

The coaching staff still shows Knight

With the announcement of Okam now made official, Knight's name is no longer on the staff listing. Still don't see him shown at Temple and his social media accounts don't have any school affiliation listed right now, so unsure what happened there. His instagram is interesting though, as he seems to be an extensive world traveler.

(06-05-2023 06:03 PM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 02:29 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

Agree...... being terminated in the NFL is at an entirely different level. Coaching changes are head spinning. No stigma nor should there be. I'm glad he is at UT.

That might be the case if he was fired because of the head coaching change, but the defensive coordinator for the Raiders did not lose his job - and he was the guy that hired Okam, and a year later fired him. Maybe Graham should have been fired and Okam retained. Hard to know. Could have been the sacrificial lamb for a poor defensive unit. McDaniels found something he liked and respected in the DC (Patrick Graham) to keep him on board despite a horrid defense. And Graham made the decision to fire the guy he had just hired a year earlier. Like I said before, hope they did their due diligence and checked various sources for referrals on his personality, work ethic, treatment of others, etc. The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

(06-10-2023 06:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 06:03 PM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 02:29 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

Agree...... being terminated in the NFL is at an entirely different level. Coaching changes are head spinning. No stigma nor should there be. I'm glad he is at UT.

That might be the case if he was fired because of the head coaching change, but the defensive coordinator for the Raiders did not lose his job - and he was the guy that hired Okam, and a year later fired him. Maybe Graham should have been fired and Okam retained. Hard to know. Could have been the sacrificial lamb for a poor defensive unit. McDaniels found something he liked and respected in the DC (Patrick Graham) to keep him on board despite a horrid defense. And Graham made the decision to fire the guy he had just hired a year earlier. Like I said before, hope they did their due diligence and checked various sources for referrals on his personality, work ethic, treatment of others, etc. The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

Insightful comments Moto....... I hope they did their due diligence as well and did not grab someone just to have in place prior to starting summer practice. workouts. and summer official recruiting visits. I think Candle is a thorough guy who values character and work ethic. If he is a problem then JC will boot him. We've seen this done a few times before. In some cases under rather unfortunate circumstances.

(06-10-2023 06:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 06:03 PM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 02:29 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

Agree...... being terminated in the NFL is at an entirely different level. Coaching changes are head spinning. No stigma nor should there be. I'm glad he is at UT.

That might be the case if he was fired because of the head coaching change, but the defensive coordinator for the Raiders did not lose his job - and he was the guy that hired Okam, and a year later fired him. Maybe Graham should have been fired and Okam retained. Hard to know. Could have been the sacrificial lamb for a poor defensive unit. McDaniels found something he liked and respected in the DC (Patrick Graham) to keep him on board despite a horrid defense. And Graham made the decision to fire the guy he had just hired a year earlier. Like I said before, hope they did their due diligence and checked various sources for referrals on his personality, work ethic, treatment of others, etc. The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

That’s a grotesque string of wholly unjustified and unsubstantiated assumptions.

(06-10-2023 12:20 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-10-2023 06:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 06:03 PM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-05-2023 02:29 PM)toledobigmike Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Both Carolina and Vegas had head coaching changes which often impacts the careers of assistants. Neither of those franchises are on a solid footing atm.

Agree...... being terminated in the NFL is at an entirely different level. Coaching changes are head spinning. No stigma nor should there be. I'm glad he is at UT.

That might be the case if he was fired because of the head coaching change, but the defensive coordinator for the Raiders did not lose his job - and he was the guy that hired Okam, and a year later fired him. Maybe Graham should have been fired and Okam retained. Hard to know. Could have been the sacrificial lamb for a poor defensive unit. McDaniels found something he liked and respected in the DC (Patrick Graham) to keep him on board despite a horrid defense. And Graham made the decision to fire the guy he had just hired a year earlier. Like I said before, hope they did their due diligence and checked various sources for referrals on his personality, work ethic, treatment of others, etc. The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

That’s a grotesque string of wholly unjustified and unsubstantiated assumptions.

Really? Is it an assumption he was fired after 1 year on the job by the coach that hired him? How often does that happen when you are doing a good job. I didn't assume that - its what happened. He's never stayed anywhere for more than 2 years. Who fires a coach if he was doing a good job? Or an employee at any company that is doing a stellar job. The comment was that he was let go because of a head coaching change - yet his boss is still there. Not an assumption. Maybe that's common in your world and not at all indicative of a potential problem. As I also said - it's possible the DC used him as a sacrificial lamb in order to explain why the defense was one of the worst in the NFL. Either way - they did not hire a guy on the way up, but rather salvaged one on the way out wiih no other options. That is also not an assumption. He didn't run to the opportunity, it was likely the only default option he had. Also not an assumption. You go from a DL coach in the NFL and take the same position at a mid-major college team - and that sounds logical to you? Yeah its a grotesque set of assumptions all right. They are exactly what I said - red flags that needed to be delved into for the reasons I stated. I also stated I hoped they did that due diligence and were satsified with what they found and did not just look at an NFL pedigree and were satisfied with that.

(06-10-2023 06:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]...The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

What red flags are there, other than, "he was fired after one year"?

Him moving around isn't a red flag. He was at Rice for 4 years (2 as GA, 2 as coach), then took a big step up to become DL in the Big 12 for 2 years at Baylor (DL coach under Matt Rhule). He then followed Rhule to the Carolina Panthers (asst DL coach in '20, head DL coach in '21). So the only "questionable" thing is why a 6-11 NFL team fired their DL coach. That is not a red flag.

(06-10-2023 04:46 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-10-2023 06:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]...The red flags are there - it just depends on what work was done to make sure they were not legitimate red flags in order to offer him the job. Or you take a gamble and assume prior problems don't re-emerge at UT because the "situation is different" for this position. That rarely works out to be the case.

What red flags are there, other than, "he was fired after one year"?

Him moving around isn't a red flag. He was at Rice for 4 years (2 as GA, 2 as coach), then took a big step up to become DL in the Big 12 for 2 years at Baylor (DL coach under Matt Rhule). He then followed Rhule to the Carolina Panthers (asst DL coach in '20, head DL coach in '21). So the only "questionable" thing is why a 6-11 NFL team fired their DL coach. That is not a red flag.

Coaches get fired all the time - but when they are let go after one season by the coach that hired them, it indicates something went very badly. That can happen for a variety of reasons. My comment on a red flag is that he took a huge drop in his positioning as a coach. If his career was in an upswing, he had confidence in his ability to land another job at a comparable position as a lateral move because of his ability to be successful - why would he take a position coach job at a mid-major university right out of the NFL? I could see it if he had some connection to Toledo, the Midwest, the head coach, or some other familial ties to the area. My reaction is from past experience. He is still a relatively young guy and you would expect his career to still be in an upswing. Taking a huge step back has to raise what I referred to as a "red flag". Why is he doing it? Why are others in his network not jumping at the opportunity to hire him? How long will he stay at Toledo? Is he getting compensated for the firing, or was it "for cause"? What was behind the firing if it was "for cause"? Even more, what was the reason for the firing if it was not for cause? I looked at it from the same standpoint that I used when somebody out of work sent a resume in for a job opening I would have had in the companies I worked for. At times, you would receive the "too good to be true" resume. After digging around and finding "unofficial" referrals, you would find some facts and circumstances that turned out to be more than red flags. Others made it obvious they were not interested in working longer hours or traveling, or moving to other cities, etc. In other words, they were not "upwardly mobile" because they had no interest in doing what it would take to fill the obligations of the job they were responding to an opening. There can be all types of issues going on when someone decides they want to cool their heels for awhile - I just didn't want them doing it in a job in which I wanted a go-getter. I don't see that as hiring a "self-starter". I was more interested in a "self finisher". The issue always seems to lie with how motivated the individual will be - and how he will motivate the team he (or she) is responsible for. Nothing else. I just hope this guy gives it his best and is still motivated to succeed and for his unit to succeed - and improve. My experience? that rarely occurred with a hire that was taking a step or two backward. They were just looking for a parking spot until they could move on to where they really wanted to be. Other times, you could quickly understand why they were in the position of being out of work and looking for something quick.

(06-11-2023 03:28 PM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Coaches get fired all the time - but when they are let go after one season by the coach that hired them, it indicates something went very badly...

Yes, like being on an NFL team that went 6-11. In case you didn't know, the NFL is ruthless. Unless you have legitimate proof that there are real red flags, stop trying to tear down this guys character.

(06-01-2023 08:40 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder what we are getting with this coach. Hasn't stayed anywhere for very long, but was promoted to Defensive Line coach at Carolina in the NFL after 1 year as the Asst. DL coach. Only 1 year as the DL coach before moving on to Las Vegas Raiders where he also had 1 year as the DL coach - and now is coming to Toledo? Not exactly a career that is on the upswing. Was a freshman All-America at Texas then 2nd team all league for 2 years while at Texas. Big dude in his playing days 6-5 and 347.

Something seems off. Could be a number of reasons for all the short stays at various stops. If I were reading his resume, red flags would be popping up. Hope the due diligence was solid.

Under normal situations, I can see the red-flags.

Look at his Panther boss, the one Okam replaced as DL coach.
Az St to TIFFIN to Seahawks to
Bears, Bucs, Illinois,
Colts, Panthers, and now Ottawa

In 20 years. Just over 2 year average.

Okam's shortest stays were at the pro level. He seemed to develop players at the college level. I've called out hires before just looking at their short stays. Took time to look at this one with a bit more detail. Couldn't find any negative press on the guy. MxDaniels hired the Okam's replacement DL coach in just one week, hired him away from Baltimore where he himself put in only one year with Baltimore. It sounds to me Okam's "firing" might have been more McDaniels needing results NOW and having already found a step-up in Leonard. Okam is also a high academic guy. His attraction to coaching and accepting a GA after being a pro, was the academics at Rice. He seems to have a college mind-set.

It might be us dating above our league here. Okam certainly has shown potential and his own college career was very solid.