Kill...a unique situation?

[NewEngland_Gold]

Although I go way back to the Warmath years at the U, I can't recall any head coaching hiring that invloved the acquisition of a complete, stable, intact staff with a winning record.

In fact, I wonder if any coach since MW has ever brought along his complete staff of seasoned college coaching professionals no matter what their record.

Kill's long-term, loyal, successful and committed staff is quite a coaching package.

Does anyone have (1) some historical insight and (2) how important is this aspect of the hire?

 

[Ski U Master]

Although I go way back to the Warmath years at the U, I can't recall any head coaching hiring that invloved the acquisition of a complete, stable, intact staff with a winning record.

In fact, I wonder if any coach since MW has ever brought along his complete staff of seasoned college coaching professionals no matter what their record.

Kill's long-term, loyal, successful and committed staff is quite a coaching package.

Does anyone have (1) some historical insight and (2) how important is this aspect of the hire?

One of the things I love most about the Kill hire is that he has a core staff that has been with him forever. Stability is so important in a successful program.

 

[GRGOPHER]

Although I go way back to the Warmath years at the U, I can't recall any head coaching hiring that invloved the acquisition of a complete, stable, intact staff with a winning record.

In fact, I wonder if any coach since MW has ever brought along his complete staff of seasoned college coaching professionals no matter what their record.

Kill's long-term, loyal, successful and committed staff is quite a coaching package.

Does anyone have (1) some historical insight and (2) how important is this aspect of the hire?

Historical:
Yes, there was one other: BREWSTER brought his whole staff (well, ok, one kid went to Texas).

Importance:
It's a great indicator of leadership when "workers" sharte the vision of the boss.

 

[MNBob]

Wacker

Wacker brought his whole staff, and I think he had a winning record for his last year at TCU. At the time I thought he should have kept some of Gutey's staff because we needed midwest recruiters and all of Wacker's staff recruited in Texas.

 

[RodentRampage]

Wacker did have a winning record in his last year at TCU, but he only had 2 winning seasons in 9 years with TCU. Wacker did well in D-II, but had a 40-58-2 record in D-I. Aside from Holtz, Kill is the only coach we have hired with a winning D-I record since Warmath. Stoll was 15-17 with Wake Forest, Salem was a D-II coach, Gutekunst had just two years as a DC, Wacker and Mason both had losing D-I records and Brewster had no HC or DC experience.

 

[gophmeister]

Wacker did have a winning record in his last year at TCU, but he only had 2 winning seasons in 9 years with TCU. Wacker did well in D-II, but had a 40-58-2 record in D-I. Aside from Holtz, Kill is the only coach we have hired with a winning D-I record since Warmath. Stoll was 15-17 with Wake Forest, Salem was a D-II coach, Gutekunst had just two years as a DC, Wacker and Mason both had losing D-I records and Brewster had no HC or DC experience.

One thing of note about Wacker's d1a record is he turned TCU in for having a slush fund for players after his first year. What appealed to Boston was despite that he was able after a few years to get them winning again. The problem with Wacker was he was just over matched. He walked in thinking he could outscore everyone. We scored a lot, but everyone else just scored more. Plus the really good teams could completely shut us down.

 

[Seany]

Wacker brought his whole staff, and I think he had a winning record for his last year at TCU.

Yeah he did go 7-4 in his final season at TCU, but in the six seasons prior to that he'd managed to go 5-6, 4-7, 4-7, 5-6, 3-8, and 3-8, and his conference record in that time was 3-5, 2-6, 2-5, 3-4, 1-7 and 0-8.

He was a pretty shocking reach at that time, and the pick still baffles me to this day. I don't know what in the hell they saw to make them say, "Hey, let's hire this guy!".

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

The Wacker hiring reminds me of the Brew hiring, complete knee jerk reactions.

We wanted to hire a guy who "could get kids from Texas"...so we went with Wacker.

We wanted a guy who was a better recruiter....so we went with professional recruiter/amateur coach.

 

[metrolax]

Again, with Wacker the hire was about context....

Wacker shocked the college football world by going 8-4 at TCU, unheard of at the time.
Then he shocked it again by turning in his own program. Being in Texas, we knew first-hand the
effect that had in his W-L record for several years at TCU. When he rebuilt them to 7-4, it
did validate him as a successful HC in the old SWC.

Problem was, he was really more geared for the SWC or WAC then the Big 10 in many ways.
Had he stayed at TCU, I can almost guarantee he would have had more winning seasons.

 

[Schnauzer]

Having a complete staff sure does seem like something new in these parts. For the last 4 years, we couldn't maintain a complete staff despite NOT changing head coaches.

Of course, it didn't take long for someone to mention that Kill's staff doesn't have experience at the BCS level. I think only good can come from a solid, familiar-with-each-other staff.

 

[Khaliq]

To play devil's advocate it's not necessarily a positive for the staff that so many of them haven't been recruited out for higher jobs.

 

[nsmike]

To play devil's advocate it's not necessarily a positive for the staff that so many of them haven't been recruited out for higher jobs.

The thing is a lot of them have been recruited and have turned down higher pay to stay with Coach Kill.