Who to go after? There’s been countless threads on this and numerous great looking candidates. How about guys who’ve done more with less? Or guys already showing very good promise? The real question: would Diaz do as well as the below guys in their given situations? No way in ****.
1. Matt Campbell (too late at this point but could have optimized his value several years ago). Not much needs to be said.
2. Billy Napier (Louisiana Lafayette). Second straight double digit win season. Amazing recruiter and coaches under Saban for years. Just won the conference title.
3. Tom Allen (Indiana)- he took over the worst big ten program and at a basketball school (we are a football school just to refresh your memories) and in a brutal rebuild with a poor recruiting base has turned around their program. Again he is not in the most talent rich area of the country like Diaz.
4. Brett Brennan (San Jose State). He took over maybe a top 5 worst in d1 job and in four years has them ranked and even beating teams like Arkansas last year with a much greater talent disparity.
5.Bill Clark (UAB)- they didn’t even have a program when he took over there. Three losses this year: one to us with a gigantic talent disparity and two others by three points or less. Every year they are very well coached and prepared and get the scraps when it comes to recruits.
6. Jamey Chadwell (Coastal Carolina)- small schools but he has been great at turning around programs whenever he’s been somewhere 2 years minimum. It’s not just CCU. He did it at d2 level as well. I’m a big fan of guys who have success in multiple places.
7. Jeff Hafley (bc). NFL experience and had a solid first year at BC. Of their losses this year they were right there with UNC and Notre Dame and for a while had Clemson on the ropes.
8. Sean Lewis (Kent state) completely turning them around in year 3 with one of the top offenses, statistically in cfb. Coached under Babers and only 34 years old with a lot of good initial promise.
this doesn’t take into account guys like: PJ Fleck, Satterfield, or Neal Brown, etc. who have had success at other times and places.
Talented Coordinators
1. Brett Venables- amazing Dc at Oklahoma and Clemson. Coached at two top programs for years and a large part of why each was so successful. Amazing dc and proven it for over a decade.
2. Jeff Lebby (ole miss) super talented play caller who coached under Briles, Heupel, and now Kiffin. Everywhere he goes he has tons of success.
The overall point I’m trying to make is there are more talented coordinators than Manny was when he got the job, and there are a lot of good prospects at hc from guys who have improved a lot of their programs in many cases without a lot of resources (look at our recruiting base) and having to get creative in developing their product.
