https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Footba...hRankings/

No Rice coaches are among the 33 CUSA recruiters found in this ranking: https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Footba...ence=C-USA

Good for him!

Trying to remember how Many years I have been advocating for Rice to hire him, based solely on the fact that Tom Herman kept hiring him or bringing him to different places. Probably too late for Rice, and it might get too late to get James Casey.

James Casey went here and then starred here on the field; that has to mean something more? Not blaming Mehringer for not starring-he got hurt. But maybe Casey has more fond memories?

I think Rice should make a greater effort to hire former players as coaches. Many of us have said repeatedly that Rice is a unique place with unique problems. Someone who went through that experience as a player could be very useful in relating to current players.

Without naming names in the hope of not blowing confidences, I can say that there was an effort by a particular group a few years ago to replace the then coach with a former player, and the replacement being pushed by that group had already had discussions with several other former players, and had put together a pretty impressive potential staff of former players, some with NFL playing experience and others with HS coaching experience.

I'd really like to see something like that tried at some point.

Notre Dame used to have a policy of hiring only former ND players as head coaches. The broke that policy with Ara Parseghian (who was also their first Protestant head coach) and have done pretty well since. But they also did pretty well before, under that policy. Names like Rockne and Leahy come to mind. I wouldn't go that far; for one thing, we don't have the pool to draw from that ND would have. But I do think that Rice playing experience would be useful on the staff.

If I were hired to coach Rice, I know a couple of former players that I would put on the staff

It’s a tough situation. I think there are arguments to be made on both sides of it... Some things I’d think about:

1) If all else is equal, hire the Rice guy. But if all else isn’t equal, don’t hire the Rice guy. Despite a disappointing first season, I’m happy we hired Bloomgren over Kurt Roper.
2) If you’re a head coach who did not go to school at the school you’re coaching at, hiring a coach and then firing them can create animosity with certain groups of former players.