Stacy Searles Ol coach

[The Franchise]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

 

[UMAlum21]

OL production has as much to do with S&C and scheme as it does with a cosch's ability to teach technique and recruit. Stoutlands lines weren't anything fantastic here and he put together some monsters at Bama and now is in the NFL. Searles has a great rep and tons of big time experience so I can get down with the hire

 

[JimmyJohnsonsHair]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

Yeah I'm with you on that point. Golden coached under Paterno -- the guy with the most wins in CFB history. How did that work out for us?

 

[Pentagon Cane]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

His bio at Texas. More than competent. He's power blocking guy and that's what Mark wants.

In 2013, his final season in Austin, Searels’ line enabled the Longhorns to finish 36th in the country in rushing offense and 17th in sacks allowed per game. Trey Hopkins was named first-team All-Big 12 while Donald Hawkins secured a spot on the second team. In 2012, the offensive line, which was without a senior starter, allowed the opposition to post just 4.1 tackles for loss per game, which ranked tied for third in the country. Offensive guard Mason Walters and Hopkins, both all-league selections, led a unit that allowed just 1.2 sacks per contest, a mark that tied for the 23rd-lowest total in the FBS. The Texas offense also finished 23rd in the nation in scoring offense with 35.7 points per game.

During his first season at Texas, Searels helped the Longhorns rank 21st nationally and third in the Big 12 with 210.4 rushing yards per game. His unit paved the way for two 400-yard rushing games and six outings with 200 or more rushing yards. The 441 rushing yards against Kansas and 439 vs. Texas Tech were two of just six 400-yard rushing performances by Texas since 1980. Senior offensive guard David Snow earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and went on to sign a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills, while sophomore offensive guard Mason Walters was named to the second team. Offensive tackle Josh Cochran (first team) and center Dominic Espinosa (second team) both earned freshman All-America honors.

 

[Classic]

Here's what I wrote on New Year's Eve, so it isn't getting excited about a guy after we've actually hired, if anyone cares:

Stacy Searels was another OL coach under Richt at Georgia. He left to take a lateral job at Texas though and then was relieved of his duties after a few seasons. He is now at Virginia Tech as their OL coach in 2014 and 2015. He might be available due to the uncertainty with their coaches as well. I don't know anything about the relationship with Richt though since he left for a lateral job.

Before Georgia he was at LSU, so he knows big-time coaching.

Searels had four players drafted that he brought in (Clint Boling, Justin Anderson, Cordy Glenn, Ben Jones) and had four all-conference players during his time there (Boling, Glenn, Jones, and Chris Burnette). He also brought in Trinton Sturdivant and got him ready to start as a true freshman- becoming the first true freshman T to start opening day for Georgia. Knee injuries ruined his career. He also developed a player- Kolton Houston- who had multiple leg injuries, but was good enough to beat out 5-star OT John Theus who was benched for Houston. Theus was moved over to LT after another injury, but never did beat out Houston.

He would be my top choice if I knew anything about the relationship between he and Richt.

Props.

 

[Classic]

Why has he bounced around so much if he's so great? Wouldn't all these great programs do what it takes to hang onto such a great coach?

Looks eerily similar to a Jethro type who bounces around and has an impressive looking résumé that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Cause he's a position coach and you move to increase salary base.

If he's so great why didn't the current employer offer him a raise to keep him? What happened with Saban?

Coaching change at VT and who knows -- maybe Fuentes offered him? Who did Fuentes bring in as OL?

As for Saban, he left for thr Fins, right? And Miles retained Searels at LSU?

 

[armstead98]

At Texas I believe he got promoted after his first year to Assistant HC so at least he did seem to make a good impression at 2 of least 3 stops (3rd being his 1 year at Vag Tech). Very hard to judge any OL coach so while nothing about this guy screams "elite" he certainly seems to be well regarded among the big conferences. He's put guys in the NFL, seems like a solid recruiter, and the Texas write-ups make it sound like he got some good performances out of lines that weren't very experienced. Seems like a solid hire.

One thing I like is that we are hiring guys to their natural positions where they have long track records. Not guys who are taking any open spot waiting for a coordinator or HC position to open.

 

[FullyERicht]

If I'm not mistaken, Fuente is a zone blocking guy, so it wouldn't mesh to have a man blocking dude as his OL coach.

Similarly, Kehoe is a zone blocking guy. Our OL for years have been better suited for man blocking, but our brilliant OCs never figured this out.

 

[Gi0logy]

I think that people can look at the recent hires in a variety of different ways. They can spin different numbers to their benefit. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I'm going to get blasted for this but something kind of ironic would be Art Kehoe getting hired somewhere else and the fans on that message board being incredibly excited about it. They would say things to justify the hire. Things like:

-He was in a bad situation with Golden so take his performance with a grain of salt
-He was able to produce Feliciano, Henderson, Linder, Flowers all players starting as rookies in the NFL and performing admirably
-Yearby had a 1,000 yard season and Duke is the all time leading rusher under Kehoe
-We were in the top 25 for sacks given up

When you look at it that way, one might think he is a great hire. But we all think he underperformed. Again, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. He didn't do all that great but Golden is an absolute piece of **** and did no favors in helping Kehoe.

Art's weakness has always been recruiting. He favors overachievers similar to how he played at Miami. All the guys you mentioned other than Flowers were ranked by Stoutland. He hit gold 15-plus years ago with the two Canadians and a walk-on. He's long term successful has always been sketchy. A lot of his early time he wasn't even the head position coach. He was the assistant line coach. I like Art a lot and hope he gets another gig. He'll be fine.

Yeah those aren't my sentiments. My point was you can paint a pretty picture for most coaches, Kehoe included. If he gets picked up by another team then those are some of the things they'd look at to justify the hire.

The same can be said about Searles for us. We could look at some stats/pedigree and think this is a monster hire while UGA and Texas fans might think he underperformed. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[Notsince1985]

Did we just hire the George O'Leary of OL coaches?

hokiesports.com :: Football :: Stacy Searels

...before becoming a fourth-round draft pick by the San Diego Chargers in 1988. He played two seasons with the Chargers before moving to the Miami Dolphins in 1990, where they made the playoffs that season.

Can't find him here:

Miami Dolphins | All Time Roster (M-Z)

or even here:

Football Players Encyclopedia Last Names Starting with S | Pro-Football-Reference.com

practice squad? preseason roster?

 

[Notsince1985]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

he's from Georgia....maybe he wanted to go back?

 

[Notsince1985]

Wow! Hope so - dude is an amazing OL coach IMO.

Based on?

Vag Tech has been known for their incredible running game and great pass protection the last few years. LOL

VT's 2014 OL stats are an abortion. There's no getting around that. Their 2015 stats look better though. Still pretty bad at pass protection but not awful in run blocking:
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2015 NCAA OFFENSIVE LINE STATS

Definitely some red flags as you and others have pointed out but I'm keeping an open mind. He can't be worse than Kehoe. And if he isn't getting the job done I trust Richt to replace him.

JJ, I watched a lot of VT football, and their line play the last couple years has been a disaster. They don't run the ball well like they used to. And their pass protection has been a nightmare. Many kill shots on their QBs.

I just don't want to get into the "he can't be worse than _____(fill in the guy from the worst staff in the history of college football)" way of thinking. We don't just need upgrades from our last staff. We need mega upgrades.

now I know why you've been so miserable lately

 

[Sigma_Cane_7]

If I'm not mistaken, Fuente is a zone blocking guy, so it wouldn't mesh to have a man blocking dude as his OL coach.

Similarly, Kehoe is a zone blocking guy. Our OL for years have been better suited for man blocking, but our brilliant OCs never figured this out.

Interesting point. Didn't think of that.

 

[GoldCane]

are we sure this is the guy? I've only seen SMD report this and everyone else just piggybacked on her report, yet UM has still not announced anything officially...
SMD hasn't exactly been known to break any news

 

[Notsince1985]

are we sure this is the guy? I've only seen SMD report this and everyone else just piggybacked on her report, yet UM has still not announced anything officially...
SMD hasn't exactly been known to break any news

it's Sunday, Richt is still at Church

 

[MedleyCane]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

I didn't watch much of Texas when Searels was working there, but no question his OLines at VT have been terrible.
But alot of this can be attributed to terrible recruiting of that position before he was there and, as you know, that is not
a position that you can necessarily plug in first and second year guys and succeed.
Also, that Hokie offense had other issues in addition to Oline, including garbage skill players with the exception
of maybe Ford at WR and (IMO) McMillian at RB.
Recruiting at that school has been pretty bad these last 2-3 years...lots of Va kids leaving the state or even
going to UVA.....one could argue Mike London left Mendenhall more talent than Beamer did Fuente.
FWIW, if you have ask most Hokies about him, they will tell you he's a good coach given with what he has had to
work with.

 

[Pentagon Cane]

Won a championship under Saban.

Works for me.

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

I didn't watch much of Texas when Searels was working there, but no question his OLines at VT have been terrible.
But alot of this can be attributed to terrible recruiting of that position before he was there and, as you know, that is not
a position that you can necessarily plug in first and second year guys and succeed.
Also, that Hokie offense had other issues in addition to Oline, including garbage skill players with the exception
of maybe Ford at WR and (IMO) McMillian at RB.
Recruiting at that school has been pretty bad these last 2-3 years...lots of Va kids leaving the state or even
going to UVA.....one could argue Mike London left Mendenhall more talent than Beamer did Fuente.
FWIW, if you have ask most Hokies about him, they will tell you he's a good coach given with what he has had to
work with.

Well, they were worse the prior year under Jeff Grimes. I'm not a Scot Loeffler guy and I think Beamer made a huge mistake bringing him in. Tech's offense had no identity.

I'm okay with Searles. He's a power blocking guy. He worked for Mark previously so he knows what Mark wants out of his offensive linemen.

 

[MedleyCane]

Bring back all of our 2001 coaches?

Anyone know why he didn't stick with Saban?

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

I didn't watch much of Texas when Searels was working there, but no question his OLines at VT have been terrible.
But alot of this can be attributed to terrible recruiting of that position before he was there and, as you know, that is not
a position that you can necessarily plug in first and second year guys and succeed.
Also, that Hokie offense had other issues in addition to Oline, including garbage skill players with the exception
of maybe Ford at WR and (IMO) McMillian at RB.
Recruiting at that school has been pretty bad these last 2-3 years...lots of Va kids leaving the state or even
going to UVA.....one could argue Mike London left Mendenhall more talent than Beamer did Fuente.
FWIW, if you have ask most Hokies about him, they will tell you he's a good coach given with what he has had to
work with.

Well, they were worse the prior year under Jeff Grimes. I'm not a Scot Loeffler guy and I think Beamer made a huge mistake bringing him in. Tech's offense had no identity.

I'm okay with Searles. He's a power blocking guy. He worked for Mark previously so he knows what Mark wants out of his offensive linemen.

Grimes is a good coach.
Not sure about Loeffler.
He was putrid at Auburn.

 

[Pentagon Cane]

Larry Coker is not Nick Saban.

Don't know why he didn't link up with Saban later, but when Saban went to the Dolphins, he hired Hudson Houck to coach the OL. Houck was regarded as one of the best ever.

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

I didn't watch much of Texas when Searels was working there, but no question his OLines at VT have been terrible.
But alot of this can be attributed to terrible recruiting of that position before he was there and, as you know, that is not
a position that you can necessarily plug in first and second year guys and succeed.
Also, that Hokie offense had other issues in addition to Oline, including garbage skill players with the exception
of maybe Ford at WR and (IMO) McMillian at RB.
Recruiting at that school has been pretty bad these last 2-3 years...lots of Va kids leaving the state or even
going to UVA.....one could argue Mike London left Mendenhall more talent than Beamer did Fuente.
FWIW, if you have ask most Hokies about him, they will tell you he's a good coach given with what he has had to
work with.

Well, they were worse the prior year under Jeff Grimes. I'm not a Scot Loeffler guy and I think Beamer made a huge mistake bringing him in. Tech's offense had no identity.

I'm okay with Searles. He's a power blocking guy. He worked for Mark previously so he knows what Mark wants out of his offensive linemen.

Grimes is a good coach.
Not sure about Loeffler.
He was putrid at Auburn.

Yes, and Grimes was his OL coach at Auburn. The Tech line was not very good his year in Blacksburg. Personally, I don't get too wrapped around the axle because you have to coach what you got. One or two years is not a real good barometer. Especially with offensive lineman. In many circumstances they take time to develop unless your program is bringing in studs year in year out.

 

[MedleyCane]

I can't get into the "he coached under Saban, so he's automatically great" thing. I need more than that. His lines at Texas and VT were nothing to write home about. I don't remember Texas being all that great running the ball while he was there. They were pretty soft.

I didn't watch much of Texas when Searels was working there, but no question his OLines at VT have been terrible.
But alot of this can be attributed to terrible recruiting of that position before he was there and, as you know, that is not
a position that you can necessarily plug in first and second year guys and succeed.
Also, that Hokie offense had other issues in addition to Oline, including garbage skill players with the exception
of maybe Ford at WR and (IMO) McMillian at RB.
Recruiting at that school has been pretty bad these last 2-3 years...lots of Va kids leaving the state or even
going to UVA.....one could argue Mike London left Mendenhall more talent than Beamer did Fuente.
FWIW, if you have ask most Hokies about him, they will tell you he's a good coach given with what he has had to
work with.

Well, they were worse the prior year under Jeff Grimes. I'm not a Scot Loeffler guy and I think Beamer made a huge mistake bringing him in. Tech's offense had no identity.

I'm okay with Searles. He's a power blocking guy. He worked for Mark previously so he knows what Mark wants out of his offensive linemen.

Grimes is a good coach.
Not sure about Loeffler.
He was putrid at Auburn.

Yes, and Grimes was his OL coach at Auburn. The Tech line was not very good his year in Blacksburg. Personally, I don't get too wrapped around the axle because you have to coach what you got. One or two years is not a real good barometer. Especially with offensive lineman. In many circumstances they take time to develop unless your program is bringing in studs year in year out.

Yeah, VT was moving TEs and DEs to OLine and it was being done out of desperation.
Not a good situation.