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Defensive Cordinator Wishlist

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JayCane20 said:
Based on what they've done lately... keep Muschamp and Strong away from here. Muschamp just had the worst defense in the entire county with all of his own players and multiple "high-round" picks. Wasn't good at Auburn either. Strong is expired by 10-15 years imo but much did he learn at Alabama?

Realistic options for us to consider that would revamp what we're doing but still be in Manny's "comfort-zone" of TFL/Sacks/Havoc:

Jim Knowles (Oklahoma State) - Completely turned their defense around in 2 years after they hired him from Duke. Did wonders at Duke for several years with little to no NFL talent. They have fallen off big time since he left. Ivy League educated (Cornell) and was a HC there as well. On the older side (56 I think) but that might be what we need. He's doing this in the Big 12 defending the most modernized offenses in CFB.

Marcus Freeman (Cincinnati) - The hot young name. Upcomer who has done great things this year and his defensive metrics definitely back it up. Limited experience but will be a HC soon and we could be the next obvious step to get him there in 1-2-3 years.

David Reeves (UAB) - Been nominated for the Broyles Award many times. I was impressed with him game plan against us this year. Absolutely racked up TFL and Sack last year as one of the best defenses in CFB. Multiple NFL level players developed at a G5 school (even after the restart of the program). He's been with Clark for several years now dating back to Jacksonville State. Definitely a respected coach.

A friend of mine maintains a database of defensive rankings and trends for a group that essentially works as a support to schools and coaching search firms hiring coaches/coordinators/HC - Knowles has been at the top of his list since 2013 at Duke and a high choice prior to that. He went to Oklahoma State as a result of the data he sent to Gundy. He was highly recommended to many other jobs that didn't hire him because of charisma and personality fit I assume. The top defensive assistants in CFB right now are Alex Grinch, Dan Lanning, and Jim Leonard.

In his rankings and metrics this season - Freeman's defense at Cincinnati ranks #3 for 2020 (behind Jim Leonard at Wisconsin and Hankwitz at Northwestern), Reeves is top 12, and Knowles is around 15-20. Another name that was high-up he mentioned was Leavitt in the Top 10.

For comparison - Blake Baker and Miami are around 45-50 (the Pass D, RZ D, and 3rd down D rate average and we are still top 5 in TFL and top 30 in Sacks) and Muschamp/TRob and USCe are around 120 with the likes of Vanderbilt, Arizona, and Ole Miss.
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I’m glad you mentioned this. Gundy is real big into finding D1aa D2 coaches as well.

the hires we’ve made since Coker have been atrocious. I mean just look who Mark Richt brought in.... when he was hired I figured at least we would have a studded coaching roster.

this current staff wouldn’t get a group of 5 job.

major shake up next
 
M3N said:
I’m glad you mentioned this. Gundy is real big into finding D1aa D2 coaches as well.

the hires we’ve made since Coker have been atrocious. I mean just look who Mark Richt brought in.... when he was hired I figured at least we would have a studded coaching roster.

this current staff wouldn’t get a group of 5 job.

major shake up next
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Gundy has been big in the Ivy League guys lately. He’s big on what kind of numbers you put up and is always looking at lower levels. He hasn’t really missed lately - especially as bad as we continue to miss on coordinator hires.

I haven’t even looked into what could be out there in the FCS ranks. Might be some good ones there
 
JayCane20 said:
Based on what they've done lately... keep Muschamp and Strong away from here. Muschamp just had the worst defense in the entire county with all of his own players and multiple "high-round" picks. Wasn't good at Auburn either. Strong is expired by 10-15 years imo but much did he learn at Alabama?

Realistic options for us to consider that would revamp what we're doing but still be in Manny's "comfort-zone" of TFL/Sacks/Havoc:

Jim Knowles (Oklahoma State) - Completely turned their defense around in 2 years after they hired him from Duke. Did wonders at Duke for several years with little to no NFL talent. They have fallen off big time since he left. Ivy League educated (Cornell) and was a HC there as well. On the older side (56 I think) but that might be what we need. He's doing this in the Big 12 defending the most modernized offenses in CFB.

Marcus Freeman (Cincinnati) - The hot young name. Upcomer who has done great things this year and his defensive metrics definitely back it up. Limited experience but will be a HC soon and we could be the next obvious step to get him there in 1-2-3 years.

David Reeves (UAB) - Been nominated for the Broyles Award many times. I was impressed with him game plan against us this year. Absolutely racked up TFL and Sack last year as one of the best defenses in CFB. Multiple NFL level players developed at a G5 school (even after the restart of the program). He's been with Clark for several years now dating back to Jacksonville State. Definitely a respected coach.

A friend of mine maintains a database of defensive rankings and trends for a group that essentially works as a support to schools and coaching search firms hiring coaches/coordinators/HC - Knowles has been at the top of his list since 2013 at Duke and a high choice prior to that. He went to Oklahoma State as a result of the data he sent to Gundy. He was highly recommended to many other jobs that didn't hire him because of charisma and personality fit I assume. The top defensive assistants in CFB right now are Alex Grinch, Dan Lanning, and Jim Leonard.

In his rankings and metrics this season - Freeman's defense at Cincinnati ranks #3 for 2020 (behind Jim Leonard at Wisconsin and Hankwitz at Northwestern), Reeves is top 12, and Knowles is around 15-20. Another name that was high-up he mentioned was Leavitt in the Top 10.

For comparison - Blake Baker and Miami are around 45-50 (the Pass D, RZ D, and 3rd down D rate average and we are still top 5 in TFL and top 30 in Sacks) and Muschamp/TRob and USCe are around 120 with the likes of Vanderbilt, Arizona, and Ole Miss.
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Great post, man. Manny is a data guy. He should be using this firm or something similar.
 
wushah said:
Great post, man. Manny is a data guy. He should be using this firm or something similar.
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Manny has said before he maintains a worksheet that shows how they rank statistically to everyone else and anything that is not top 25 is highlighted red or something along those lines. He can draw the same conclusion.

FWIW Miami or any search firm they have hired has never reached out to him or either of the other 2 guys he works with regarding a coach opening. Something like 55 or 56 of the the P5 schools have used them at some point in time for scouting/personnel or coaching inquiries. They’ve been doing this since 2006 or 2007.
 
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JayCane20 said:
Based on what they've done lately... keep Muschamp and Strong away from here. Muschamp just had the worst defense in the entire county with all of his own players and multiple "high-round" picks. Wasn't good at Auburn either. Strong is expired by 10-15 years imo but much did he learn at Alabama?

Realistic options for us to consider that would revamp what we're doing but still be in Manny's "comfort-zone" of TFL/Sacks/Havoc:

Jim Knowles (Oklahoma State) - Completely turned their defense around in 2 years after they hired him from Duke. Did wonders at Duke for several years with little to no NFL talent. They have fallen off big time since he left. Ivy League educated (Cornell) and was a HC there as well. On the older side (56 I think) but that might be what we need. He's doing this in the Big 12 defending the most modernized offenses in CFB.

Marcus Freeman (Cincinnati) - The hot young name. Upcomer who has done great things this year and his defensive metrics definitely back it up. Limited experience but will be a HC soon and we could be the next obvious step to get him there in 1-2-3 years.

David Reeves (UAB) - Been nominated for the Broyles Award many times. I was impressed with him game plan against us this year. Absolutely racked up TFL and Sack last year as one of the best defenses in CFB. Multiple NFL level players developed at a G5 school (even after the restart of the program). He's been with Clark for several years now dating back to Jacksonville State. Definitely a respected coach.

A friend of mine maintains a database of defensive rankings and trends for a group that essentially works as a support to schools and coaching search firms hiring coaches/coordinators/HC - Knowles has been at the top of his list since 2013 at Duke and a high choice prior to that. He went to Oklahoma State as a result of the data he sent to Gundy. He was highly recommended to many other jobs that didn't hire him because of charisma and personality fit I assume. The top defensive assistants in CFB right now are Alex Grinch, Dan Lanning, and Jim Leonard.

In his rankings and metrics this season - Freeman's defense at Cincinnati ranks #3 for 2020 (behind Jim Leonard at Wisconsin and Hankwitz at Northwestern), Reeves is top 12, and Knowles is around 15-20. Another name that was high-up he mentioned was Leavitt in the Top 10.

For comparison - Blake Baker and Miami are around 45-50 (the Pass D, RZ D, and 3rd down D rate average and we are still top 5 in TFL and top 30 in Sacks) and Muschamp/TRob and USCe are around 120 with the likes of Vanderbilt, Arizona, and Ole Miss.
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I like Reeves a lot. After Richt resigned, Bill Clark was on my short list of realistic HC candidates. I think he knows how to pick good assistants.
 
TimeB0mb said:
I like Reeves a lot. After Richt resigned, Bill Clark was on my short list of realistic HC candidates. I think he knows how to pick good assistants.
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He’s done a **** of a job at UAB. I’m shocked he’s not getting more consideration at Auburn. Not so sure Miami is a great fit for him.

Reeves can scheme it but more importantly he’s a hard *** guy that’s gonna get the most out of his players similar to Clark.

that being said I think Freeman or similar would be the best hiring. Schemes it very well, comes from the Fickell style on D and he’d kill it in recruiting.
 

CIS Members posting names. Which # will it be, or will it be Green = status quo
 
10cane said:
I think Fickell/Freeman are next in line at USC if/when Helton is fired.

The new AD at USC is the one who brought them over to Cincinnati from Ohio state.
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Don't think Fickell will relocate to the West Coast, but we'll see.
 
AlphaMarshan said:
Muschamp would be a great DC hire, I just don't see him coming here. Guy is used to making SEC HC money, even though he completely sucks as a head coach. Also he'd probably be arrested for yelling at this sorry *** defense and hurting their feelings.
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Manny would feel threatened.
 
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10cane said:
Where would you see him going?
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The word has been that he wants a big Midwest job opening. That really only leaves Michigan ans ND. Michigan could open up really soon. Otherwise, seems like he honestly is happy in Cincy. I think his wife/kids are a big reason for that, but he’s turned down interest left and right for most gigs aside from his interest in Mich St last cycle.
 
AlphaMarshan said:
Muschamp would be a great DC hire, I just don't see him coming here. Guy is used to making SEC HC money, even though he completely sucks as a head coach. Also he'd probably be arrested for yelling at this sorry *** defense and hurting their feelings.
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He did coach DC at auburn for 2 years after Florida fired him so there’s a chance but we will have to pay him
 
David Reeves is solid.

Outside the "same names every year" box, I'd look at Scot Sloan at Ga Southern (even though he runs a 3-4), Corey Batoon at Liberty (former Hawaii DC, worked under Kiffin at FAU and with Hugh Freeze for 10 years from Ark St and Ole Miss), or Everett Withers (good numbers as UNC DC under Butch).
 
Has Barrow gained more experience since leaving here? I don't think Shannon would come back and he has been giving up lot of points at UCF but he was successful here as DC. If a change is made I don't see Manny going after a big name or former head coach and I also believe in self preservation.
 
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