Lets just go ahead and admit...
- Thread starter BleedCrimsonandGray
- Start date
Whatever, no offense intended Chip
You could go the route of an Air Raid OC with a DC as HC, but I was asking if you wanted to stay away from the Leach disciple ? You are going to probably have to take a Leach disciple to run the offense, if you want to keep with the Air Raid.
I think most of the Head Coach's are going to want autonomy and if the HC is not an air raid guy, they might tend to go away from the offense. That could create a problem.
Harrell probably couldn't be hired away as an OC, that would be a lateral move. Sonny Cumbie is a the OC at TCU, he may be able to be lured away.
You could go the route of an Air Raid OC with a DC as HC, but I was asking if you wanted to stay away from the Leach disciple ? You are going to probably have to take a Leach disciple to run the offense, if you want to keep with the Air Raid.
I think most of the Head Coach's are going to want autonomy and if the HC is not an air raid guy, they might tend to go away from the offense. That could create a problem.
Harrell probably couldn't be hired away as an OC, that would be a lateral move. Sonny Cumbie is a the OC at TCU, he may be able to be lured away.
Last edited:
Only two guys I can think of that would be splash hires. Urban Meyer, which is flat out not going to happen. Or Bob Stoops, which I give a 1% chance, because he obviously wants back into coaching and obviously isn't being too picky since he signed up for the XFL.
I keep seeing Rocky Long mentioned, but I just don't see why. He's got a decent resume, but no P-5 experience. Even in G-5, he doesn't have anything that leaps off the page. Plus, he's about to turn 70 and just retired from a gig that is arguably lower profile than WSU.
I also don't get the level of interest in Grinch and Harrell. Neither of them has HC experience - at any level - and both have limited resumes as coordinators. I'm not convinced either of them is ready to be The Guy. Seth Littrell at least has HC experience, but I'm not really even that impressed with what he's done at UNT...especially after Harrell left.
I really hope Chun isn't thinking of Mora. That guy is a professional coat-tail rider. His most notable accomplishment at UCLA was taking two consecutive top-12 recruiting classes and turning them into a record of 17-19. No thanks.
Here's a name that's a little out of the box: Morgan Scalley. DC/Safeties coach at Utah. He's never been HC (actually, never coached anywhere but Utah), so it might be reaching a bit...but he obviously knows how to play defense (at least in the Pac-12).
Rocky Long as HC to basically be a caretaker for 2-3 years to give Harrell some time to ease into the job is what I had in mind. Long as HC, pay him $1.7 million which is almost doubling his pay. Harrell $1.5 million and tab him HC in waiting. That leaves $800,000 for Arnett to come in as DC. Take the $600,000 that was earmarked for Claeys and dump it into the assistant pool. Take any remainder from Leach's buyout and add it to the recruiting budget.
I think you could get 6 wins and go to a bowl with that. Defense would be improved and offense would still be good.
If doubling his pay doesn't get him flexible, then nothing will. This of course assumes that everyone agrees to something like that.
Long was forced out at New Mexico because he would not open up his offense. Then at SDSU the same thing happened . In some ways his personality is his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.Now NM wishes they had never run him off as their program has been terrible and Long s teams regularly kicked their behind.,
I think that defense leads to 8 wins. NC game coming up between the #1 offense and #1 defense....guess who's going to win? At the risk of sounding like your father....defense wins ball games.
All of this speculation and brainstorming about who might be or who should be the next coach is entertaining. It certainly makes for a much more interesting off season.
Any coach that hasn't shown a history of competing with and beating teams with more talent than his, will absolutely fail at WSU. The only chance at sustaining success from year to year is to find someone who can do that. The handful of names that would be able to turn around the recruiting disadvantage here are never walker through that door. For me you either have to find a guy that knows how to beat better talent or you go for someone young and energetic that has the potential to start something good. Hire a retread that only wins to their talent level and we're back to battling it out with the Beavs
Any coach that hasn't shown a history of competing with and beating teams with more talent than his, will absolutely fail at WSU. The only chance at sustaining success from year to year is to find someone who can do that. The handful of names that would be able to turn around the recruiting disadvantage here are never walker through that door. For me you either have to find a guy that knows how to beat better talent or you go for someone young and energetic that has the potential to start something good. Hire a retread that only wins to their talent level and we're back to battling it out with the Beavs
Your post makes more sense than most, finding a coach that can win with a talent disadvantage. There are one or two on the lists that I have seen that meet that criteria. I would say that’s the direction Chung goes, I also believe he will hire someone that is presently a head coach.
Just make Long the DC and GH the HC if the offense is an issue
Don't you think someone who runs the air raid meets that criteria ?
I would think anyone that does things somewhat unconventionally would probably have a better shot at it than not. Whether that's the air raid is better than some other niche, who knows, but it certainly would give us a better shot at not dropping off significantly right away.
Harrell is already making north of $1M. I'm not sure he takes a step "back" for $300-$400K.
That’s why you tab him coach in waiting. Allocate more to him if that’s what it takes.
I also don't know if Long would want a "HC in waiting" OC making nearly his salary unless it was someone of guys choosing. Maybe he does that is it's Arnett.
Long probably doesn't know Harrell and has no reason to work with him under those conditions. Could lead to a pretty contentious situation.
Sure, he'd make more money, but it doesn't always work to just pay a guy to do something he really doesn't want to do.
I think Harrell's current situation is tenuous at best. He did look into some HC positions that make about 2mil with lessor coaching budgets. DG's idea could changed to Harrell being HC, Long being a high priced AHC and Arnett being the DC. Instead of the assistant pool being $3.3 .. it goes to $4.3...leaving plenty of money for really good coaches.
Just do that and leave Long out of it then. If Arnett is qualified to be a DC, then he doesn't need Long holding his hand. What would be the point of having a 70 year old non recruiter on that staff?
I think the better option with guys like that is to hire them as "consultants". They're then not counted as coaches. UW used Tedford in that way. Things have to line up for both parties, but it's probably not a bad gig for an old guy that's tired of the grind. Like Chompers is doing at UW currentlyOK, let's just leave Yoda out of Star WarsYou have a good point.
I guess the only benefit from having Long as DC for a couple of years is that it would bring even more confidence to the fan base and allow Arnett to focus a little more time to recruiting the players that fit the system. After a couple of years....everyone has the confidence in the system, Zach has a couple of more years to develop the players he wants and makes way more money in the process. Hypothetically...his salary goes from 550 to over 800 in a much cheaper area after he takes over as the lone DC.
Stupid question. Can consultants actively coach during practice? Long would make an excellent consultant....someone who's giving excellent advise to the defensive staff and also presenting the offense with challenging scenarios.Also...what are the rules concerning these "consultants"? Can Tedford be in the booth giving feedback or observations?
Last edited:
OK, let's just leave Yoda out of Star Wars
This all assumes Long and Harrell have any interest in coaching together and Arnett is willing to follow Long around for another couple years.
I would guess Long would say "no" to coaching for a (much) younger Air Raid guy.
main objective is just to stabilize things now imo
Hed give you two years to figure it out
Hed give you two years to figure it out
Does he have a bias against how the offense is run if he's not the HC? Conversely, would you want a HC that had some bias against the 3-3-5 with Long in charge and a couple on the defensive staff who could take over tomorrow?
Last edited:
2. Graham Harrell
Graham Harrell (Photo by theathletic.com)
One of Leach’s proteges will get some consideration for this job in Graham Harrell. Clay Helton wasn’t fired by USC and a lot of that was because Harrell was able to implement the air raid system and win with backup quarterbacks. He also spent time at Washington State as wide receivers coach from 2014-2015.
If Washington State wants a familiar face and for Harrell to run a familiar system, Harrell is the logical hire. He would be able to make the most out of the current roster and recruit for the future well. The only question would be whether he wanted to leave his USC job, which was given new life with Helton returning.
Graham Harrell (Photo by theathletic.com)
One of Leach’s proteges will get some consideration for this job in Graham Harrell. Clay Helton wasn’t fired by USC and a lot of that was because Harrell was able to implement the air raid system and win with backup quarterbacks. He also spent time at Washington State as wide receivers coach from 2014-2015.
If Washington State wants a familiar face and for Harrell to run a familiar system, Harrell is the logical hire. He would be able to make the most out of the current roster and recruit for the future well. The only question would be whether he wanted to leave his USC job, which was given new life with Helton returning.
I have no idea really. I'm assuming that there's a limit to how many coaches you can have on staff "officially" by the NCAA, so schools with money don't hoard all of the good ones. I would also assume that consultants cannot coach the players and only be a resource for the coaches.
Could you imagine if there was no limit on staff numbers? Alabama or Texas could just open up the check book and pay good coaches to do nothing forcing other schools to pay way more than they could afford to hire them away.
We don't necessarily have to be like the Have's and hire a big name coach every time we lose a coach...I don't have a problem copying the BSU model and being the school that hires the most promising up-and-comers to prove their chops at a P5 school and then move on to the big boys after 3-5 years. We'd be able to afford better assistants because the entire budget isn't being spent on a coach, and if the model works we'd have relatively good success on the field from hiring smart, ambitious coaches that want to prove they can do it in the the blue-blood club.
