History lesson.

00Burdell

00Burdell

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When Ross left, we hired an up and coming coach from a directional Carolina school.

Guy had a good resume but not much experience. The rest is history as they say.

What is not universally known is who else interviewed but was obviously passed over. Keep in mind that the venerable Homer Rice was the AD.

George O’Leary campaigned hard to succeed Ross and, its conceivable that had he gotten the job, Fridge would have stayed instead of following Ross to San Diego.

Thankfully, Rice was able to put the band mostly back together to fix the train wreck the wrong hire made.

That was then. Its not an exact parallel but there is a moral to the story. The sizzle is awesome on its way to the table but not long after that.

I remember calling my buddy in the AA at the end of O’Leary’s interim season to see who we hired. I was so bummed when they said O’Leary and made it clear I was not happy about it.

This is why I am mostly quiet about who we hire. The one time I got involved, I could not have been more wrong. If Key gets the nod, remember O’Leary. Key remembers O’Leary and probably still has nightmares about him.
 
I get what you’re saying, but there are a few significant differences here:
- no lack of experience for Chadwell
- Key lacks top level experience. He wasn’t even one of our coordinators. He was a position coach until he became interim. His other stretch as a coordinator was really bad

That said, I’m not anti-Key and will support him. But this isn’t quite an O’Leary/Lewis situation.
 
savbandjacket said:
I get what you’re saying, but there are a few significant differences here:
- no lack of experience for Chadwell
- Key lacks top level experience. He wasn’t even one of our coordinators. He was a position coach until he became interim. His other stretch as a coordinator was really bad

That said, I’m not anti-Key and will support him. But this isn’t quite an O’Leary/Lewis situation.
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O’Leary had no HC experience other than his interim games in 94. You are correct about Chadwell having a significantly better resume but I think that is the only real distinction. Key has one year as an HC at UCF (even if the results were not impressive).

Not splitting hairs as much as pointing out the sometimes the seemingly boring choice is the correct one.
 
00Burdell said:
O’Leary had no HC experience other than his interim games in 94. You are correct about Chadwell having a significantly better resume but I think that is the only real distinction. Key has one year as an HC at UCF (even if the results were not impressive).

Not splitting hairs as much as pointing out the sometimes the seemingly boring choice is the correct one.
Click to expand...
Was Key HC or just OC?
 
00Burdell said:
My mistake. He was OC. I thought he took over for O’Leary when he retired.
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That’s the concerning part about Key. He’s pretty much a career position coach who has stepped up twice in interim situations. That’s pretty green to be handed the reigns of a power 5 program (even one in as bad of shape as we are in).
 
savbandjacket said:
That’s the concerning part about Key. He’s pretty much a career position coach who has stepped up twice in interim situations. That’s pretty green to be handed the reigns of a power 5 program (even one in as bad of shape as we are in).
Click to expand...

It happens though, Dabo, Richt, and Smart come to mind; except they didn't have interim coach experience though.
 
aeromech said:
It happens though, Dabo, Richt, and Smart come to mind; except they didn't have interim coach experience though.
Click to expand...
Dabo is the only one in that list who did not have coordinator experience. Be was a WE position coach/AHC and became interim. Both Richt and Smart spent years as coordinators. Key’s coordinator stint was a disaster.

Dabo would be closest comparison. If we struck that kind of gold with Key that’s great.
 
00Burdell said:
My mistake. He was OC. I thought he took over for O’Leary when he retired.
Click to expand...
O’Leary hit the wall that year (2015) and it took Key out. None of the staff was retained in 2016 and when that happened, Saban made a place for him on the staff at Bama. That speaks volumes to me about him.
 
savbandjacket said:
Dabo is the only one in that list who did not have coordinator experience. Be was a WE position coach/AHC and became interim. Both Richt and Smart spent years as coordinators. Key’s coordinator stint was a disaster.

Dabo would be closest comparison. If we struck that kind of gold with Key that’s great.
Click to expand...

Key's OC stint in 2015 was surprisingly disastrous; but his stint as AHC from 2012-2014 was good.
 
In other comparisons.
Spurrier is to Deon
as
Curry is to (whomever we hire next)
 
GTsapper said:
People keep forgetting this. His stint as our OL coach hasn't exactly been unicorns and rainbows either. Though today that unit looked pretty good.
Click to expand...

No one is forgetting it, nobody cares. We aren't potentially hiring him as an OC. It is small thinking to believe someone has to be great coordinator to be a good head coach. It is like the other thread where someone was arguing all sports announcers need to have played the sport at that level. Not all great coordinators make successful head coaches, in fact it seems like most of them don't make good head coaches; so where is the logic that you have be great coordinator before being a head coach?
 
GTsapper said:
People keep forgetting this. His stint as our OL coach hasn't exactly been unicorns and rainbows either. Though today that unit looked pretty good.
Click to expand...

Makes you think that perhaps someone (Clown Coach) was meddling in the coaching. That is also evident on the Defensive side of the ball, as our D was instantly better after Gef was out.
 
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aeromech said:
No one is forgetting it, nobody cares. We aren't potentially hiring him as an OC. It is small thinking to believe someone has to be great coordinator to be a good head coach. It is like the other thread where someone was arguing all sports announcers need to have played the sport at that level. Not all great coordinators make successful head coaches, in fact it seems like most of them don't make good head coaches; so where is the logic that you have be great coordinator before being a head coach?
Click to expand...
I mean you don't HAVE to be, but are you in no way concerned that he isn't?
 
coit said:
Makes you think that perhaps someone (Clown Coach) was meddling in the coaching. That is also evidence on the Defensive side of the ball, as our D was instantly better after Gef was out.
Click to expand...
Gef was a DB jenius. Why would he not meddle?
 
coit said:
Makes you think that perhaps someone (Clown Coach) was meddling in the coaching. That is also evidence on the Defensive side of the ball, as our D was instantly better after Gef was out.
Click to expand...
I have it on good authority that Collins directly vetoed several of Key's specific OL portal targets the last couple years. No details as to why. And Collins' meddling with Long's offense made it very difficult to nail down the game plan and set up practice drills. In short, Collins literally royally effed up everything.
 
00Burdell said:
I have it on good authority that Collins directly vetoed several of Key's specific OL portal targets the last couple years. No details as to why. And Collins' meddling with Long's offense made it very difficult to nail down the game plan and set up practice drills. In short, Collins literally royally effed up everything.
Click to expand...

Don’t underestimate Geoff’s ability to öööö things up.

-Barack Hussein Obama
 
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