*IF* Harbaugh fails... Brent Venables?
First of all, I'm pulling for the team to turn things around and have a great season. Crazier things have happened (Lloyd's last yr, post-App St/Oregon, for example). But in the event it doesn't work out.. how about Brent Venables?
He's the best defensive mind in college football today. He's the only DC in the country who seems to be able to stop Elite modern offenses (in CFP games, against equal'ish competition).
He's only 48 yrs old. He's been the #2 man at a top-5 program (Oklahoma/Clemson) for the last 20 yrs; since he was 28. He knows how it's done at the highest level. He's an outstanding recruiter -- Rivals.com's National Recruiter of the year in 2016. He's got enough experience, 3 or 4 times over, to be ready.
He could probably bring one of Clemson's co-OC's (Tony Elliot-the more proven offensive mind *or* Jeff Scott-the elite recruiter) with him.. probably replacing himself as the highest-paid assistant in the land.
There's been talk about Clemson, Oklahoma over the yrs.. but he's been a college assistant coach for 26 yrs and I've never heard so much as a rumor about him doing anything below board (would you blame Don Brown if some Michigan booster gave a kid money?). I think it's completely irresponsible to baselessly say anything to the contrary.
Dabo, Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day -- the HC's at 4 of the top-5 programs had zero HC'ing experience before assuming their current roles.
And he publicly stated that he would've been interested in the Texas Tech HC'ing job had it been offered last yr. What other HC'ing jobs he's been offered in the past idk (he has, Dabo confirms).. but he makes more than half the power-5 coaches in his current role.. so it makes sense that he'd wait for a real big one.
I personally think he's the next Nick Saban. I think he'd be able to recruit / put together a staff of great recruiters. I think he'd be able to find solid, modern offensive minds. I think he'd be able to develop players. I think he'd be able to run our program with integrity. And I think he'd make elite defense (against elite competition.. sorry Don) the backbone of our program.. ala Saban.
What say you?
September 23rd, 2019 at 11:27 PM ^
Harbaugh’s ability to hire good assistants........ is what on a scale of 1 to 10 now?
Drevno.. Pep.. Gattis..
September 24th, 2019 at 12:06 AM ^
The program’s lost (again). You want to be elite again. I’m telling you how we can do it.
1-Venables is THE best option. He knows what it takes to build & run an Elite program. He’s got more than enough experience (Elite-level experience) for the job. He’s probably THE best defensive mind in the country. He, personally, is an Elite recruiter. He’s smart enough to put a staff together that’ll be able to recruit the region. He’s never been in any trouble with the NCAA whatsoever (or even rumored to be). He’s not going to get into any trouble here. And he would most definitely accept a Harbaugh-like offer to run one of the top-10 programs in the country; probably wouldn’t even require as much $$.
2-Make either Tony Elliott or Jeff Scott (Clemson’s co-OC’s) your OC, and the new highest-paid assistant coach in the country. Clemson will pick one and counter to keep him, we’ll get the other. I’m guessing they’ll opt to keep Scott — as he’s probably THE best recruiter in the country period. And I’d honestly prefer Elliott anyways.. as he’s the real brains behind that offense.. which just happens to be THE best offense in the country (especially against elite-level defenses; i.e. in the CFP.. in the B1G championship.. against OSU.. ND, UW, PSU, MSU, etc.).
3-Spend $$ where it counts and put together a real-deal Midwest/Northeast recruiting staff. Ohio. Michigan. Pennsylvania. Maryland. DC. Virginia. New Jersey. St. Louis. Chicago. This is our land.
-Chris Partridge. No one recruits New Jersey better.
-Sherrone Moore. No one recruits Michigan or Illinois better.
-Corey Patterson (Illinois). No one recruits Missouri better.
-Az-Zahir Rahim (UMass). No one recruits Maryland/DC better.
-Brent Pry (Penn St.). No one recruits Pennsylvania or New Jersey better.
-Sean Spencer (Penn St.). Recruits literally all of these areas very well.
-Larry Johnson, Greg Studwara, Tony Alford (Ohio St.). No one recruits Ohio better than these 3. Johnson’s a PSU guy. Studwara’s an LSU guy. Alford’s a Notre Dame guy. All were hired by the former HC. If they want to steal Mattison.. open up your wallets.
-Mike Elson (Notre Dame). Michigan man, and a great recruiter.
-Anthony Campanile. Seems to be doing a pretty good damn job recruiting the northeast thus far.
-Mike Kafka (Kansas City Chiefs QB coach / former Northwestern QB). Seems to be pretty damn good.
-Charles Huff (Alabama). Formerly an outstanding recruiter in the region with Penn St.
-Kerry Coombs (TEN Titans, DB). Urban’s best Ohio & Indiana recruiter.
-Mike Hart (Indiana). Outstanding recruiter.
-Jeff Quinn (Notre Dame). Outstanding recruiter and OL coach.
-Harry Hiestand (CHI Bears, OL). Another.
That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure Venables’ll have his own guys. But there are outstanding MW/NE recruiters out there to be taken.