Keeping Coaches At Michigan Year After Year
When Harbaugh was hired, I thought it would take him five years to bring Michigan to the level of finally being able to compete for a national championship each year. Even though one snap has not occurred this season, many people on the national level believe that this may be Harbaugh's best squad most notably because of talent and experience at QB and the O Line. This is also Harbaugh's first year of having all of his recruits on one team. At the same time, a fact that almost always overlooked is the importance of coaching consistency year after year. This really came back to hurt Alabama at the end of last season. It is true that successful programs often lose coaches to become coordinators or head coaches elsewhere but how does Clemson maintain their consistency year after year? If Michigan has a great season this year, do you think it will be hard to keep the younger coaches most importantly Josh Gattis? How can Harbaugh keep them in Ann Arbor? What are your thoughts on the matter?
Money solves all football coaching retention problems.
If that were true Beilein would still be coaching here. Sometimes people just wants to do something else or move up to from assistant to coordinator to HC to NFL.
Do we know how much Beilein was offered and do we know whether he had a price to stay?
You simple simian. Absolutes are never true!
Whoosh!
Koalas rock!
Koalas are evidence marsupials will never inherit the earth!
And...
"Only the Sith deal in absolutes"
I suppose you subscribe to Jedi situational ethics.
ALL retention problems? No, I fully disagree with that.
Some folks will take a pay cut if it aligns with their desires to get a better position/new challenge.
A new job and new challenge at $1MM/year vs. staying at the old job at $1.5MM/year? Some folk will take the former. $1MM/year is still a whole lot of dough.
Honestly, you would take a job making $500,000 less? I doubt that very much.
If Harbaugh doesn’t have the “Urban” two year minimum price of admission for new coaches it would be pure negligence. This is a conversation for next summer, not now.
The answer is so God damn obvious how can it even be a discussion?
With success at Michigan Gattis will get a HC opportunity. But unless he wants to take a low level one he'll probably need at least 2-3 years of 'proof' before a bigger name school takes a chance on him. He has brought a new offense and a lot of excitement but he hasn't done anything here yet and I doubt one season as an OC will be enough data for a P5 school to pull the trigger on him. IF he can do what we think he can he WILL be gone sooner rather than later. And I hope that's the case, it means we're in a damn good position.
I think he'll do well here, but as many other posters have said in other threads this offense will need some time to ramp up before the Death Star is fully operational. Probably looking at the first 6-8 games to work the kinks out and get comfortable.
If Gattis were to leave -let’s say after two years-I’d look for McDaniels to get a chance at OC. Jim wanted him years ago SF, he’s been at Rutgers, Denver (with his rock star brother), Chicago and now two years here. He’s young and driven and probably tired of moving with a young family.
Look at Clemson. Their coaching staff has remained largely unchanged over the past number of years. I ju$t wi$h I knew what the an$wer wa$!
It's the special ingredients in their smoothies, of course.
It's not against the rules to pay the coaches, you know
Brent Venables is an assistant coach making more than $2MM per year at Clemson. It's a pretty rare confluence of events when a school is willing and able to pay that much (on top of $9MM+ to the head coach) AND that coach does not have aspirations to a P5 head coaching job, which is where the money starts increasing exponentially.
While most of these guys have aspirations, I think most of the reason guys are so hungry to become HC is because they are earning like $300k as a coordinator somewhere.
If I were a coordinator earning $2M, that's a fair amount less stressful than being head coach and most people only need a few years at this earning level to fund a nice retirement. I'm sure he receives 5 HC offers per year, but is in such a stable situation right now that he might as well stack paper for as long as he can then maybe grab $5M per year for the last 2-3 years before retirement. For every big time Head Coach that succeeds, there are 10 Brady Hoke types who probably should have stayed at the lower program or gig and are fired within a couple years of making it big time(in which case they no longer have the potential).
OP think of your career. If the company you are at now pays you well, gives you annual raises based on performance and generally treats you with dignity and respect you are probably not looking to leave anytime soon.
Conversely if your current job is one without those things you are either actively looking for opportunities to leave or at the minimum, open to listening should a headhunter give you a call.
These guys are no different. Not everybody wants to be a HC (I'm 60 and made a very, very nice living for myself rising to #2 in four different companies) so not everyone is looking to leave. But if the environment is rough, and the pay isnt commensurate with what you think others are getting for similar performance, they'll go.
I don't think it's particularly likely that Gattis will leave next season, even if Michigan has a perfect season and scores 100 points a game. The guy has never been a sole OC in his entire career. One super successful season isn't going to land Gattis the sort of HC job that someone on his career trajectory is going to want. Two super great years at Michigan? Sure, maybe. One? No way.
Brown (to be a HC) and Partridge (to be a DC) are the most likely to go somewhere else. In Partridge's case, I don't think that's a bad thing. If he's a good DC somewhere, he will probably get called up to Michigan in a few years.
Brown seems like an unlikely head coaching hire because age. I agree that worrying about keeping Gattis from being poached is just dumb though. That's not something that anybody needs to worry about at all right now.
The question should be whether Gattis is a guy Michigan wants to retain.
Gattis does not need 2 years here. If the offense goes nuts and starts dropping bombs on everyone, he can easily be a head coach next year. Someone (probably a bad p5 gig) will absolutely call him. Whether he takes it or not, who knows. But a successful year 1, will lead to hc opportunities.
Someone (probably a bad p5 gig) will absolutely call him. Whether he takes it or not, who knows.
Ok
One super successful season isn't going to land Gattis the sort of HC job that someone on his career trajectory is going to want.
You just agreed with me, but I went a step further and assumed he wouldn't take a shit job.
1. Lets see how Josh Gattis does before we worry too much about keeping him around.
2. Coach will keep him around until he leaves. If he does as well as we hope, he will be a candidate for H.C. jobs and will most likely leave to try his hand running the show somewhere.
No shit. I remember people here worried about how we were gonna keep Doug Nussmeier on board when we hired him.
For Gattis, it's really if there's another OC position he wants more than UofM's.He probably needs at lest 4 years as OC before he gets the kind of HC offer he wants.
Partidge might get DC offers before Harbaugh can and that might suck. I think most of the others are willing to work their way up, but it does scare me Oklahoma might go after Sherrone Moore hard.
Alabama has constant coach turnover, can’t just look at last year as a problem. They have had coaches leaving when they’ve won national titles too
True. They also have the talent to run virtually any scheme. Most places can't change philosophies that quickly without a step back.
Let's wait until Josh Gattis has called his first play in college to say he's a guy that's important to keep.
Pay and treat them well enough to stay for 2-4 years. Hire top talent that recruits and develops your players so well that they are in demand for jobs elsewhere. pay them well again and keep them a little longer. Then hire top talent again and repeat. Clemson is a bit of an outlier and to survive in modern college football at the top you need to excel At identifying coaching talent and dealing with turnover, just like with the players.
All the assistants seem to love it here and have fully bought in. It really is the perfect staff... being young in the right places, older wiser and more experienced in the other right places. If Harbaugh leaves for whatever reason in the next few years, how many current assistant coaches will remain here as assistants if someone new comes in? That's something that adds a lot to the importance of this season.
You probably would have said the same thing right before Xattison jumped ship.
Quite the contrary. Respect what he's done in the past but it's nice to have a younger, hungrier assistant there on the recruiting trail. Would've preferred he didn't go where he went, but since he did he won't be missed.
If Mad Hatter was around, I'm sure he would say it's some combination of Hookers and Blow...so I'll go with that...
never underestimate good blow and mediocre hookers, or vice versa
Don't know. Teams are always chasing after the shiny object.
You can tell which people 100% buy into hype every year because they're worried about how Michigan will remain a consistent national title contender when they haven't even reached that level in the first place.
It’s true. There are a lot of OCs, DCs, and position coaches out there who could get Michigan to be a 10-3 team. Shit, we’ve had two of each who have done it in just the last four seasons. Gattis is almost surely going to hit that mark (at least) making five in five years.
People are too shell shocked by RR and Hoke. Every change isn’t disaster.
I don't expect Gattis to be around very long. If the offense looks the part this year, he'll get HC offers. Some team will look at who he's coached under, his age, coaching chops, recruiting history, and say, "If we don't take him this year, he'll be out of reach next year. He's the next Tom Herman."
My worry is that we're building a specialized #speedinspace roster for a dude who is clearly gunning for a HC position ASAP. Whoever comes after him will need to run a similar style offense or player development and roster balance could be an issue. Time will tell if JH is really committed to the spread.
If #speedinspace works better than #Haughball, then I hope they stick with it exclusively going forward.
Every system has strengths. I'm a believer in picking one and staying the course.
That said, JH knows what he's doing. If Gattis leaves, I'm sure he'll find another great coach to fill the position.
I agree that constantly shifting doesn't work. However, sticking with something that has shown a 4 year ceiling probably isn't going to work super well either.
Shouldn't we be talking about Don Brown also? Seemed to flirt with HC jobs, I would think he's gone after this year right? ala Beilein?
Some of you are throwing "$" around, and I agree to a point.
But I'd also add that the best programs are the most consistent. When you replace a coordinator, you replace him with somebody who's compatible, even if his scheme doesn't quite match your previous one.
Also, I think good coaches learn to delegate. Bill Belichik said that delegating was the best thing for him, as it actually allowed him to do his job better.
Don’t want to put the damper on things but are we putting the cart before the horse? Let’s see how things pan out with Gattis. I’m thinking it will be great but let’s see a little bit...
I think each of these statements are true:
(1) The better the football coach (pro or college), the more likely he is to be a driven and highly ambitious person.
(2) Driven and highly ambitious people tend (not always) to want new challenges over time.
If those are true, this follows:
(3) The best football coaches are the coaches most likely to want new challenges over time.
It sort of is what it is. It's not impossible to keep the best coaches in assistant-level roles at the same school, but it will be tough.
Win first.
Worry about assistant coaches later.
Being Michigan and being Harbaugh, it will not be hard to draw good assistants.
coaching consistency is needed at every program. Harbaugh has been a good coach, will be a great coach when he gets over the OSU hump...but he has put Michigan in a spot to the win the BIG a couple of seasons already....
It might be that Alabama has lots of turnover also because Saban is reportedly highly unpleasant to work for.
Maybe Swinney is a great guy to work for and builds a great environment for coaches.
I’m still reeling from that season ending 120 minute shitshow. Whatever guys. Just win.
Yeah I just watched the 22min replay...hopefully it will be inspiration for this team.