Pete says not Butch

[LuCane]

Dino Babers is a star in the making in the coaching ranks. His offense is truly deadly. He's basically Art Briles in the beginning stages. I'm not saying he's the guy I'd hire, but he's this selection processes Kevin Sumlin.

Tom Herman is a guy who would kill here. Learned under the tutelage of an all-timer, creative. Alabama actually came to him to steal stuff from his offense that they openly use this year. He's not going to be the guy though. He'll have his pick after this season, and he'll get $4 million, so unless he wants to surprise everyone, this isn't going to be the type of job he'll take. He's from Ohio, and has deep roots to Texas. I like him a lot, but I don't see it.

Justin Fuente is a coach that I'd love. He has some unusual ties to the U. First, his high school team plays in our uniforms. The exact copy of our uniforms at Tulsa Union. Down to the helmet emblem and all. Second, he played QB at Oklahoma for Howard Schnellenberger. Well, he was recruited there anyway. He redshirted the last season of Howard. He runs the TCU spread, but relies heavily on the running game, so he's not a soft, Mike Leach style offense. Note: Dino Babers' Bowling Green team outplayed Memphis, and Memphis needed several trick plays to beat them by 3. Fuente is a midwestern guy, who does not have the type of personality that loves the glitz of a Miami. He's a football lifer who loves the grind. Makes $1.4 million and a manageable buyout. He's known to be the top target for South Carolina.

Brent Venables, DC of Clemson. Why does this guy not get more attention for a job here? He's worked and played under Bill Snyder- a noted magician in the coaching ranks- Bob Stoops, Dabo Swinney. Mark Stoops replaced him as DC at Oklahoma, and that program hasn't exactly been a stalwart since. Venables was up for the Broyles award in 2006 at Oklahoma. At Clemson his defenses have led the nation in yards per play for two seasons in a row. No metric correlates better with winning than yards per play (and also has a wide covariance, which shows consistency and reliability). His defense lost three DT's (including all-conference Grady Jarrett), two 1st round picks (Vic Beasley, Stephone Anthony), a rush end drafted, two DE's, one an honorable mention All-ACC player, a 1st team ACC CB (Garry Peters) and yet they're maybe better this year. He's recruited the heck out of Florida, and has been named a top-10 recruiter in the ACC for several years. If you want to get back to being a dominant defense who runs a one-gap, 4-3 front, presses the **** out of you, and competes to lead the nation in tackles for loss etc. then this guy is for you. I wonder who he'd bring in for his offense, but if he brings a variation of the Chad Morris offense, sign me up for him. I'm hearing he's the guy Virginia wants.

I'm not a fan of any of the guys with Miami ties if Butch isn't an option.

Thanks for the contribution. Please join the coaching tree thread.

Sorry, I just kind of listed my thoughts to go with the thread topic of Butch not being the guy. I suppose I should've listed why I'm not a fan of the non-Butch Miami ties guys instead.

I wasn't being sarcastic. Would just like your continued contributions and thoughts in that thread. I know you're a thoughtful poster, and this is a great time for added insight. This is a huge decision coming up.

 

[MIATL]

Do guys know Dino Babers is mid-50s? He's not some young, up and comer.

Has anyone said anything to the contrary?

Folks acting as if he's a "maybe" come across as if they don't know his age. There is no unknown with him. He's an offensive wizard, but is a career mid-major/low level coach.

I'm not sure I see much difference between he and Jeff Brohm, other than age and race. And 1 guy played in th NFL.

 

[HurricaneVision]

Do guys know Dino Babers is mid-50s? He's not some young, up and comer.

Has anyone said anything to the contrary?

Folks acting as if he's a "maybe" come across as if they don't know his age. There is no unknown with him. He's an offensive wizard, but is a career mid-major/low level coach.

I'm not sure I see much difference between he and Jeff Brohm, other than age and race. And 1 guy played in th NFL.

Point of clarity:

He's coached at several big time programs as OC. Took over a low-level coach and was highly successful at a moribund program. Moved up to an FBS program and has been highly successful. I could see him taking a Purdue type job and performing well.

 

[MIATL]

Do guys know Dino Babers is mid-50s? He's not some young, up and comer.

Has anyone said anything to the contrary?

Folks acting as if he's a "maybe" come across as if they don't know his age. There is no unknown with him. He's an offensive wizard, but is a career mid-major/low level coach.

I'm not sure I see much difference between he and Jeff Brohm, other than age and race. And 1 guy played in th NFL.

Point of clarity:

He's coached at several big time programs as OC. Took over a low-level coach and was highly successful at a moribund program. Moved up to an FBS program and has been highly successful. I could see him taking a Purdue type job and performing well.

We agree on him taking a Purdue or Illinois job. Given he was the HC at Eastern Illinois, that seems to be the easiest fit.

But the point of clarity is a bit misleading. He stopped being an OC in 2002, and remained a position coach until he got the HC job at Eastern Illinois in 2012. He was at good programs during his climb, so he's not a bad coach. He actually has great experience.

... But that dude is past his prime to be a candidate for the UM job, IMO.

 

[HurricaneVision]

Dude's from San Diego, I don't think the fact he was the HC at Eastern Illinois means much. He was also their RB's coach back in the day.

He's been Associate Head Coach, WR's coach, RB's coach, OC, Special Teams Coach etc. He's been trained to be a Head Coach without a doubt. I don't think he'll be a candidate here- especially since I think we'll go after a name- but dude is impressive.

One thing that gets underappreciated by fans in my mind is the impact being a special teams coach has on preparing you to be a Head Coach. You're involved with all areas of the team. All positional groups make some sort of impact with specials, so you have a hand in all groups. Add to his other experiences- and success as a Head Coach- and you've got a guy with a real chance to be a great hire for someone.