Gophs Really Going After An "A" List Coach

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Bob_Loblaw said:
Not that it makes a difference because I don't neccesarily believe it either, but i've heard from booster type people that they think it's going to be Harbaugh. Like I said, I don't think it's a possibility and I sometimes hate people posting rumors but it sounds like the #1 target is Harbaugh and they think they have a shot at him.
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If we're talking strictly on top target this is believable information.
 

I'm afraid our "A" list guy who will want out of his current situation will be Les Miles.
 

Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
If we're talking strictly on top target this is believable information.
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Yeah, I don't know. I don't if it is wishful thinking or what. The one thing you learn when you are talking to people who are booster types is that you need to take a lot of the things they say with a grain of salt. It is like a combo or a sowing circle and a message board with the amount of "rumors" you hear.

I've never listed Harbaugh as one of my top picks because I didn't think he was attainable (and I still don't), but I am just relaying what i've heard and I'm curious if it's the same thing that MV has heard. Harbaugh is #1 on our list and he could very well be interested. (According to this guy). Like I said, I've heard some craziness and some accurate info from these people, so take it with a grain of salt. Just wanted to corroborate a bit of what MV has heard.
 


I think many are being too hard on Shannon. It's not like he took over a team loaded with talent. They are also the #3 program in thier own state. That's not easy, no matter how loaded with talent said state is. Put it another way, he and RichRod both took over proud programs that fell on hard times. If RichRod had won even close to as many games as Shannon has, he wouldn't be on the verge of getting the axe.

My only real reservation about Shannon is how completely tied to the city of Miami he has been. There's certainly a huge element of unknown as to how he will recruit here, and another as to whether he will like it enough not bolt back for warmer weather at the first chance.
 


Are you kidding? The team he took over had more talent than we will ever have. He does not have to leave Florida to recruit. If he is not in the top 2 or three in the ACC every year, he does not belong on the list at all.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, I don't know. I don't if it is wishful thinking or what. The one thing you learn when you are talking to people who are booster types is that you need to take a lot of the things they say with a grain of salt. It is like a combo or a sowing circle and a message board with the amount of "rumors" you hear.

I've never listed Harbaugh as one of my top picks because I didn't think he was attainable (and I still don't), but I am just relaying what i've heard and I'm curious if it's the same thing that MV has heard. Harbaugh is #1 on our list and he could very well be interested. (According to this guy). Like I said, I've heard some craziness and some accurate info from these people, so take it with a grain of salt. Just wanted to corroborate a bit of what MV has heard.
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Take his opinion for what it is worth but Peter King said in a tweet that Harbaugh might be the top candidate for the Carolina Panthers job next year.
 

thailleagle said:
I would like to know who Maturi considers an "A-list" Coach before I even feel comfortable with the idea of turning anyone down...

I have a feeling they're not gonna live up to their own talk...
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Don't forget, they also have to get Minnesota and embrace the winters...or something equally stupid.

Why even try with this clown, it's clear he's going to screw it up and hire some never will be.
 

I hope we can land an "A" list guy, whatever that is.

Sure seems like Harbaugh is on the track for an NFL position to me. But maybe one of the others.

I think this job is more desirable than most of us fans give it credit for. The brand new stadium helps. BCS conference playing top 20 programs every year. Most importantly, could there be another program that offers all that and has lower expectations and a bigger checkbook than MN?

All the guy has to do is come here and win 8 or 9 a couple of years in a row while making $2 million plus (if you believe the reports), and he will win over a lot of people. Seriously, I think the $$ is a huge factor, there are not many schools that can afford to spend that kind of money on a football coach, I think it will win over a big name. I hope they are willing to spend that much.
 




I'm not sure about Shannon. Did you see how bad his team looked against sconnie last bowl season?
 

Mark Richt ?

Could the " Tubby Smith "comparison stated by Maturi turn out to be Mark Richt at Georgia? His team has won their last couple of games big but the program is one big pressure cooker. Their fans appear to be getting restless. Maybe Georgia AD will let him opt out of his contract like Kentucky did with Tubby. I have heard absolutely nothing as rumors suggestion this . Its only a wishfull hunch.
 

Uffda said:
Could the " Tubby Smith "comparison stated by Maturi turn out to be Mark Richt at Georgia? His team has won their last couple of games big but the program is one big pressure cooker. Their fans appear to be getting restless. Maybe Georgia AD will let him opt out of his contract like Kentucky did with Tubby. I have heard absolutely nothing as rumors suggestion this . Its only a wishfull hunch.
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Agreed.

This goes back to my point of us potentially being the lowest pressure/highest paying gig college football. Hopefully this hopes us land a big name.
 




Duluthguy said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned MV's podcast over at FBT. According to MV, the Gophs are going after an active coach and are very serious about landing that top tier guy who has name recognition and instant credibility. And, they are truly willing to shell out big bucks to make it happen. He also claims Leach and Bellotti are out of consideration.

MV doesn't suggest any names, but the way he talks the Gophs will be pursuing guys like Peterson, Patterson, Harbaugh, etc. In other words, Maturi was really serious when he talked about the kind of guy he'd like to get. The apparent hope is that one of the big names will be dissatisfied with something in their current situation or looking to make a move because of some other personal or professional reason. If this is true, at least for now, almost all of the candidates being talked about on this board (even Trestman) would not be up for consideration. Of course, they might have to work their way down to guys like Sumlin, Calhoun, etc.

I'm not sure how well connected MV is, but if he is right, we're at least very serious about asking the prettiest girl to the prom.
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Of course this is in almost direct contrast to what Maturi said in his press conference when he announced Brew's firing. He definitely said they could not afford and would not compete for a big name coach and pay the salaries of top schools. Keep smoking that pipe dream.
 

howeda7 said:
I think many are being too hard on Shannon. It's not like he took over a team loaded with talent. They are also the #3 program in thier own state. That's not easy, no matter how loaded with talent said state is. Put it another way, he and RichRod both took over proud programs that fell on hard times. If RichRod had won even close to as many games as Shannon has, he wouldn't be on the verge of getting the axe.

My only real reservation about Shannon is how completely tied to the city of Miami he has been. There's certainly a huge element of unknown as to how he will recruit here, and another as to whether he will like it enough not bolt back for warmer weather at the first chance.
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I'd take Trestman before Shannon...and I'm flummoxed by the response he's getting here. The only thing Shannon has accomplished at Miami is cutting down the player arrest rate. He's done a historically horrible job with the talent he has at Miami.

To illustrate, Rivals.com class rankings for Miami:

2006: 17th
2007: 9th
2008: 1st
2009: 7th
2010: 13th

Shannon's results at Miami (mostly from Wikipedia):

2007: Miami did not make a bowl for the first time in 10 years. Sporting News ranks him the worst head coach from a BCS team
2008: 7-6, loses in the Emerald Bowl.
2009: 9-7, 3rd in the ACC, loss in the Champps Sports Bowl, ranked 19th in both polls.
2010: Currently 5-2, losses to OSU and FSU, no wins vs. ranked teams.

...those aren't horrible results, but he is constantly under-performing with some absolutely stacked teams. Exactly the opposite of what we need here, especially given that we can't just throw open our doors and wait for the top-25 recruiting class to walk in, as Miami can.
Shannon would be a train-wreck hire.
 

RedPoo,

You say you are flummoxed by our treatment of Trestman. I'll just provide the most basic bit of my reasoning against him:

No other Big Ten (or SEC, Big12, or Pac 10) school would even think of hiring Trestman. We only have him on our radar at all because he played at the U. That is not enough at all.
 

Shannon

The thing I like about him is that he understands what it's like to coach in one of the few major college towns with a far more popular pro team next door.
 


MrGopher said:
RedPoo,

You say you are flummoxed by our treatment of Trestman. I'll just provide the most basic bit of my reasoning against him:

No other Big Ten (or SEC, Big12, or Pac 10) school would even think of hiring Trestman. We only have him on our radar at all because he played at the U. That is not enough at all.
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I'm flummoxed at the response to Shannon. Specifically, that it's not the same as the response to Trestman.

(Edited to add)...if it's still not clear, I think they both suck.
 

wrong

Sumtimegophs said:
Of course this is in almost direct contrast to what Maturi said in his press conference when he announced Brew's firing. He definitely said they could not afford and would not compete for a big name coach and pay the salaries of top schools. Keep smoking that pipe dream.
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wrong.

The Saban's of the world in the $4M range, we will not touch.

That does not mean we don't have the money to pay VERY high compared to most.
 

Sumtimegophs said:
Of course this is in almost direct contrast to what Maturi said in his press conference when he announced Brew's firing. He definitely said they could not afford and would not compete for a big name coach and pay the salaries of top schools. Keep smoking that pipe dream.
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$2.5 million -$3.0 million dollars would make our coach between the 13th and 9th best paid coaches in college football which actually falls directly in line with that MV's podcast has said.
 

RedPoo said:
I'm flummoxed at the response to Shannon. Specifically, that it's not the same as the response to Trestman.

(Edited to add)...if it's still not clear, I think they both suck.
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Ah, I see. A thousand apologies, RedPoo. I misinterpreted your post.

Carry on, everyone.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, I don't know. I don't if it is wishful thinking or what. The one thing you learn when you are talking to people who are booster types is that you need to take a lot of the things they say with a grain of salt. It is like a combo or a sowing circle and a message board with the amount of "rumors" you hear.

I've never listed Harbaugh as one of my top picks because I didn't think he was attainable (and I still don't), but I am just relaying what i've heard and I'm curious if it's the same thing that MV has heard. Harbaugh is #1 on our list and he could very well be interested. (According to this guy). Like I said, I've heard some craziness and some accurate info from these people, so take it with a grain of salt. Just wanted to corroborate a bit of what MV has heard.
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Dammit Loblaw. Harbaugh has always been my top choice. Now I'll be walking around thinking that we actually have a chance at landing him.
 

Ron Johnson Super Fan said:
Dammit Loblaw. Harbaugh has always been my top choice. Now I'll be walking around thinking that we actually have a chance at landing him.
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Don't get your hopes up, I was saying it more so to simply say that amongst boosters, they are talking the big name type of coaches and i've heard Harbaugh is their favorite. These guys blow more smoke than Vlade Divac. I am not sure how reliable and realistic that a lot of boosters are in these kinds of searches. But according to a lot of them, they like Harbaugh and he is hasn't hung up the phone immedietly.

Now, I don't know if there is even a shred of truth to any of this that i've heard and I actually think the suggestions on this board are a lot more realistic than anything you would hear from these guys, but yeah, I would guess that MV has talked to the same people/type of people and gotten the same information. He seems to believe it completely, I'm not sold.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Don't get your hopes up, I was saying it more so to simply say that amongst boosters, they are talking the big name type of coaches and i've heard Harbaugh is their favorite. These guys blow more smoke than Vlade Divac. I am not sure how reliable and realistic that a lot of boosters are in these kinds of searches. But according to a lot of them, they like Harbaugh and he is hasn't hung up the phone immedietly.

Now, I don't know if there is even a shred of truth to any of this that i've heard and I actually think the suggestions on this board are a lot more realistic than anything you would hear from these guys, but yeah, I would guess that MV has talked to the same people/type of people and gotten the same information. He seems to believe it completely, I'm not sold.
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I have no idea of the credibility of MV. Having said that, I don't want to get my hopes up only to be let down either,....BUT it only takes one of the 'top coaches' to say yes.

Besides, the law of averages should be on our side this time.;)
 

Did I really say Bellotti is out of consideration on the podcast? I don't recall since I haven't listened to the podcast since I recorded it, but IIRC I only mentioned Leach was out; the James incident and the Insight Bowl media fiasco are enough red flags for Maturi to not seriously consider the Pirate.

As for the U's willingness to make the right guy a top 15 head coach, that's where they're aiming. Not saying they'll land someone worth paying that much, but I do know they'll try to shoot the moon first and not landing one of their top targets won't be due to lack of effort.
 


Yeah, I certainly don't think he'll have a shortage of opportunites. I would imagine that the 9ers might be looking for a new coach as well and with him already living in the area, i'm sure his name will come up.
 

Hates Monikers said:
I wonder why Leach and Belotti are out of consideration? (I get it with Leach.) When Peterson, Patterson and Harbaugh turn us down, won't Leach and Belotti start to sound pretty good?

This sounds awesome, but I have to take it all with a grain of salt. It gets my hopes and expectations up too much. A month ago I would've expected -- and accepted -- Sumlin or Hoke. Now they're not good enough for me because Maturi, Bruiniks and now MV are telling us they're shooting for the moon. I hope they hit it.
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Chris Peterson turned us down at Tennessee. We went after all the big names too. Jon Gruden, Lovie Smith, Bill Cowher....It finally got so bad that Troy Calhoun from Air Force turned us down. It was all very public and very embarrassing. We didnt want leach or Tubberville for some reason. But anyway we wound up with Dooley. I hope for you guys sake that your AD handles the situation better than ours. Maybe Minnesota is a more attractive job to these guys, but I didnt think Tennessee should be getting turned down by Troy Calhoun.
 

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