(12-09-2017 09:39 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  JK said there were several other coaches who said they would take the job if offered so I assume that is the start of a list of candidates if Mike is hired away. But really isn’t this whole topic a little silly? Can’t we enjoy the fact that DB’s replacement is better than anyone thought we could get?

But that is not... our way.

(12-07-2017 08:13 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  

(12-07-2017 08:07 PM)Buho00 Wrote:  

(12-07-2017 06:11 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  The largest assistant salary pool in C-USA is FIU at $1.37mm.

When Mack signed his initial contract in 2013, he was making 180k. Given the success he's had, I would have to guess that he's now making somewhere in the low-mid 200's. Call it 225k for argument's sake. Given that he's taking a lesser title, I imagine we had to pay him 275-300k to come.

Brian Smith is Michigan's lowest paid assistant, scheduled to bring home "only" 150k this season. I bet we're getting him for about 200-250k.

Hopefully we've stepped up to pay our position coaches somewhere in the 100-150k range rather than the 50-70k range. That'd put our assistant salary pool among the best in C-USA (currently FAU, FIU, and UNT).

Makes sense. But Rice OC is probably a better stepping stone than HC at NCCU. Rice OC's went on to become head coaches of P5 schools more than once under Bailiff.

Plus the MEAC/SWAC champs play in the Celebration Bowl now, instead of qualifying for the FCS playoffs, so there’s basically no shot to add “FCS national championship” to your resume if you’re a head coach at one of those schools.

Actually that isn't correct.

Stanford QC Joe Ashfield will be the new offensive line coach.

Has been on Stanford staff for seven years and was a lower division OC previously.

Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

(12-10-2017 04:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

Yes, recruiting is important, but so too is teaching and player development; something that has been sorely lacking under the previous regime.

So right now we have:

Head Coach: Mike Bloomgren

OC (probably WRs?): Jerry Mack
OL: Joe Ashfield
QBs: ?
RBs: ?
TEs: ?

DC (probably safeties?): Brian Smith
CBs: ?
LBs: ?
DL: ?

New 10th assistant: ?

(12-10-2017 04:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  So right now we have:

Head Coach: Mike Bloomgren

OC (probably WRs?): Jerry Mack
OL: Joe Ashfield
QBs: ?
RBs: ?
TEs: ?

DC (probably safeties?): Brian Smith
CBs: ?
LBs: ?
DL: ?

New 10th assistant: ?

Smith might have been the safeties coach at Michigan, but he was LB coach on the Jets when Bloomgren was OL coach.

(12-10-2017 04:28 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 04:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

Yes, recruiting is important, but so too is teaching and player development; something that has been sorely lacking under the previous regime.

From these guys' backgrounds, I don't think that will be a problem. Rice kids are smarter than our opponents. Teaching them to play smart football shouldn't be a problem.

I kind of wonder if maybe Bailiff and his staff weren't just a bit intimidated by having smarter players.

(12-10-2017 04:28 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 04:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

Yes, recruiting is important, but so too is teaching and player development; something that has been sorely lacking under the previous regime.

Actually, individual skill development wasn't all bad under the previous regime, witness the number of guys in the NFL. But development of team skills was woefully deficient. They were okay with football-playing skills, but not with game-winning skills.

(12-10-2017 04:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

How do you expect the playing time distribution of true freshmen (recruited by Bloomgren and his staff) vs the rest of the team to stack up against previous years with Bailiff? I suppose I'd expect more true freshman playing time due to them being Bloomgren's own recruits? Is that par for the course when a new coach comes in?

(12-10-2017 04:58 PM)Seventyniner Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 04:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-10-2017 03:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Looks like a pretty good staff shaping up.

The test will be how well they can recruit. And so far, they look good on that front.

How do you expect the playing time distribution of true freshmen (recruited by Bloomgren and his staff) vs the rest of the team to stack up against previous years with Bailiff? I suppose I'd expect more true freshman playing time due to them being Bloomgren's own recruits? Is that par for the course when a new coach comes in?

Depends on how good they are. If they land some of the people who have showed up on the radar since Bloomgren was announced, I would expect them to be able to contribute next year. I think he will play more people in general than Bailiff did, at least for a couple of years. The more people you play, the faster they get better.

Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

(12-11-2017 03:06 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

Hearing that all of the position coaches were told that they would not be retained today.

Some support staff retained, some not.

(12-11-2017 03:09 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:06 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

Hearing that all of the position coaches were told that they would not be retained today.

Some support staff retained, some not.

Probably a good thing. Clean house and start over.

(12-11-2017 03:10 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:09 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:06 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

Hearing that all of the position coaches were told that they would not be retained today.

Some support staff retained, some not.

Probably a good thing. Clean house and start over.

Sad, Coach Okam is a good one. Same with Coach Vinklarek.

(12-11-2017 04:20 PM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:10 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:09 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:06 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

Hearing that all of the position coaches were told that they would not be retained today.

Some support staff retained, some not.

Probably a good thing. Clean house and start over.

Sad, Coach Okam is a good one. Same with Coach Vinklarek.

They are all good guys.

*Most* were good football coaches.

I would put Okam in that category. I think he has a bright future as DL coach.

Vinklarek also knew what he was doing and was seemingly snakebitten by injuries/DQ's at a position where its tough to play young guys/mix/match.

Kinda surprising because I thought Coach Sloan developed some nice tight ends especially for the NFL.

(12-11-2017 03:09 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 03:06 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Coach Sloan tweeted this today:

Thank you @CoachBailiffFB for the opportunity to create 8 years of amazing experiences and memories. Good Luck to everyone new and old @RiceFootball #GoOwls

Guessing he has been told to move on. I think that only leaves Steward and Okam as possibilities of a holdover from the old staff.

Hearing that all of the position coaches were told that they would not be retained today.

Some support staff retained, some not.

My own feeling is that most of the position coaches were pretty good. That's how we developed people for the NFL.

Not as impressed with the coordinators as a group, quite frankly including Mensa when he was here. But I think the real problem was at the top. I don't know that the coordinators position coaches got to coach the way they would have wanted to. Exhibit A to me is how much Mensa's offense changed after he left here.

I've said it before, I think if I were doing this my approach would be to bring in three coordinators (offense, defense, special teams) that I trusted totally. Then keep a couple off the old staff for continuity, focusing on the two with the best recruiting track records. Then I'd fill out the staff with high school coaches who had the contacts to recruit, recruit, recruit. Ideally, I'd get recent presidents of the Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana HS coaches associations. A quality coach can be a good position coach.

That was pretty much the formula that Nick Saban followed at LSU, and it took him 4 years to win a national championship with it. That made an impression on me (obviously) and ever since it has seemed a smart way to go.