• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts access private forums and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

Vigen is staying at MSU

ABQCat said:
Last year Vigen was the top choice at Wazzu and offered a 5-year deal starting at $1.25M per year with incentives up to $2M. Vigen's offer was pulled and given to Jimmy Rogers of SDSU when Vigen demanded to stay and coach the Championship. CDA, PR and many other on this site had that completely wrong. Not surprising.

This year is different. I don't know exact details yet, and like last year, I wouldn't post them here even if I did know specifics until it was all public knowledge. However in my limited understanding/best guess, I think Vigen was prepared to leave right away and there was a plan in place with an interim HC to take this team to Nashville. Something else in the negotiation went sideways right before the signature page, but it's not a repeat of last year.

Vigen remains in very high demand for a G6 HC position. I give it only a small possibility that he's back next year. That's good news for you guys. He's a helluva good coach.
Click to expand...
I had nothing wrong last year on Vigen. I'm not sure I commented. If I did, I would have said that WSU will not wait for a coach until after the playoffs. Why do you just make up stuff?

What you said in your second para makes sense. Vigen would know from last year that Oregon St was not going to wait until after playoffs, even though the Cats will be done in a few weeks. It would have made no sense for him to even apply this year if he was going to say he wanted to stay through the playoffs. You are welcome to Vigen. He's good but not great.
 
I think OSU could have missed the mark here. Does this guy have possibilities, yes for sure. But I’m my opinion BV has shown he can recruit and develop not only wide receivers like the new OSU coach but, BV shown he can do it across the board and on way less funds and facilities. IMAO.
But I do wish OSU the best in this hire and he can build something solid.
 
OrgonGriz said:
I think OSU could have missed the mark here. Does this guy have possibilities, yes for sure. But I’m my opinion BV has shown he can recruit and develop not only wide receivers like the new OSU coach but, BV shown he can do it across the board and on way less funds and facilities. IMAO.
But I do wish OSU the best in this hire and he can build something solid.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking the Beavers dropped the ball here, Vigen could have brought a good number of players with him and has proven he can build a program. Let's see if hiring an assistant without HC experience 2.0 works this time.
 
uofmman1122 said:
Exactly, the idea that he's holding out for a better offer is wild to me.

The only step up from that school would be one that's not going to take a chance on an FCS coach. Wisconsin? Michigan State? Stanford?

He's got no shot at any of those places.

So again, it's one of two things:
He didn't get offered the job, which seems surprising given all the leaks, or
He got offered, but turned it down because he didn't want to leave MSU in the lurch because they wanted him to leave early.

This seems most likely, to me, but I also think it's pretty stupid. Good on him for being principled, but I don't think you're going to find a job in the next year or two in the west/midwest that's all that more appealing than Oregon State.

MSU can sweeten your contract maybe $100k at most, but turning down $2M per year for that seems extremely dumb.

For Vigen's sake, I hope they just rejected him.
Click to expand...
Wow, looks like I was right.

"Vigen and Oregon State arrived at an early impasse over his potential start date in Corvallis. OSU wanted the new coach to start right away. The FCS playoffs are about to begin and could drag out for weeks. Vigen wanted to stay with his team throughout the playoffs. That was a dealbreaker for Barnes."
Click to expand...
OSU also allegedly asked Polasek which players he would bring with him in his interview (and I'm sure asked Vigen the same).

Welcome to college football in 2025. If you want to be a big-time FBS college football coach from the FCS, you're gonna have to get your hands dirty on the way out.
 
uofmman1122 said:
Wow, looks like I was right.


OSU also allegedly asked Polasek which players he would bring with him in his interview (and I'm sure asked Vigen the same).

Welcome to college football in 2025. If you want to be a big-time FBS college football coach from the FCS, you're gonna have to get your hands dirty on the way out.
Click to expand...
I can respect Vigen wanting to stay with his guys through the playoffs but he might have permanently hurt his chances to coach in the FBS. This is twice now that he's rejected a coaching job due to not wanting to leave early, FBS schools will take that into account now in the hiring process and with the timing of the transfer portal and how much they're going to pay him I don't blame them for wanting and expecting him to immediately start.

He's either going to have to find a team that feels he is worth the wait or tweak his principles. There's also a part of me that's wondering if he might be holding out for the Wyoming job, which not surprisingly would probably be willing to wait for him.
 
Last edited:
Ut-Grizfan said:
I can respect Vigen wanting to stay with his guys through the playoffs but he might have permanently hurt his chances to coach in the FBS. This is twice now that he's rejected a coaching job due to not wanting to leave early, FBS schools will take that into account now in the hiring process and with the timing of the transfer portal and how much they're going to pay him I don't blame them for wanting and expecting him to immediately start.

He's either going to have to find a team desperate enough to grab him/feel he's worth the wait or tweak his principles. There's also a part of me that's wondering if he might be holding out for the Wyoming job, which not surprisingly would probably be willing to wait for him.
Click to expand...
You seem to be creating a reality here with very little available evidence that supports it.
 
Ut-Grizfan said:
This is twice now that he's rejected a coaching job due to not wanting to leave early, FBS schools will take that into account now in the hiring process and with the timing of the transfer portal and how much they're going to pay him I don't blame them for wanting and expecting him to immediately start.
Click to expand...
Vigen did not reject an offer he never got. He withdrew when he found out he would not get the offer. While FBS teams may be shy of hiring an FCS coach for a lot of reasons, getting rejected is not one of them.
 
ABQCat said:
This year is different. I don't know exact details yet, and like last year, I wouldn't post them here even if I did know specifics until it was all public knowledge. However in my limited understanding/best guess, I think Vigen was prepared to leave right away and there was a plan in place with an interim HC to take this team to Nashville. Something else in the negotiation went sideways right before the signature page, but it's not a repeat of last year.

Vigen remains in very high demand for a G6 HC position. I give it only a small possibility that he's back next year. That's good news for you guys. He's a helluva good coach.
Click to expand...
Hmm, seems like it’s an exact fucking repeat of last year. He demanded something OSU didn’t want and was then rejected as a candidate. If I was an FBS AD (I’m not because I always demand terms that the schools reject), I sure wouldn’t waste my time on him now given his track record. Unwillingness to buy in from day one would be a deal breaker.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
Hmm, seems like it’s an exact fucking repeat of last year. He demanded something OSU didn’t want and was then rejected as a candidate. If I was an FBS AD (I’m not because I always demand terms that the schools reject), I sure wouldn’t waste my time on him now given his track record. Unwillingness to buy in from day one would be a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
We will see. In any event, I am glad he stayed. He has done a good job with the program.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
Hmm, seems like it’s an exact fucking repeat of last year. He demanded something OSU didn’t want and was then rejected as a candidate. If I was an FBS AD (I’m not because I always demand terms that the schools reject), I sure wouldn’t waste my time on him now given his track record. Unwillingness to buy in from day one would be a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
I just don't get it.

The guy clearly wants to leave and had two pretty good opportunities, relative to staying in Bozeman (despite what FCS people may try to say about WSU or OSU).

As ABQ mentioned, short of him stealing all their good players before their next game, they would handle it just fine. His only options now might be if Wyoming decides to fire Sawvel in the next 2 years, or maybe if Eck gets poached at New Mexico, both of which are worse spots than WSU and OSU. He's definitely not getting a P4 job.

Maybe he realizes he's in a tight spot, and tries for a P4 coordinator job after this season, ala Choate. It seems like that would be a much easier stepping stone for him to FBS coach than where he's at now with a lot fewer headaches for his conscience. I dunno.
 
ABQCat said:
Last year Vigen was the top choice at Wazzu and offered a 5-year deal starting at $1.25M per year with incentives up to $2M. Vigen's offer was pulled and given to Jimmy Rogers of SDSU when Vigen demanded to stay and coach the Championship. CDA, PR and many other on this site had that completely wrong. Not surprising.

This year is different. I don't know exact details yet, and like last year, I wouldn't post them here even if I did know specifics until it was all public knowledge. However in my limited understanding/best guess, I think Vigen was prepared to leave right away and there was a plan in place with an interim HC to take this team to Nashville. Something else in the negotiation went sideways right before the signature page, but it's not a repeat of last year.

Vigen remains in very high demand for a G6 HC position. I give it only a small possibility that he's back next year. That's good news for you guys. He's a helluva good coach.
Click to expand...
I think this is probably correct except I don't believe Coach Vigen turned down the job because he insisted on coaching the playoffs.
I think in both cases of WSU last year and OSU this year it came down to salary. Both schools were offering just a bit more than $1 mil. He's looking for $2+ mil. Both schools are likely career killers for a coach that is 50yo. He wants a contract of more than $2 million of three to four years and he'd be gone playoffs or not.
He's going to get that much from someone if he doesn't wait too many more years toiling away at Montana State.
It is cute how the griz fans are here talking about how nobody wants him or that he is disastisfied at his current job.
 
indian-outlaw said:
I think this is probably correct except I don't believe Coach Vigen turned down the job because he insisted on coaching the playoffs.
I think in both cases of WSU last year and OSU this year it came down to salary. Both schools were offering just a bit more than $1 mil. He's looking for $2+ mil. Both schools are likely career killers for a coach that is 50yo. He wants a contract of more than $2 million of three to four years and he'd be gone playoffs or not.
He's going to get that much from someone if he doesn't wait too many more years toiling away at Montana State.
It is cute how the griz fans are here talking about how nobody wants him or that he is disastisfied at his current job.
Click to expand...
I don't understand why people keep saying OSU is a career killer.
 
uofmman1122 said:
I just don't get it.

The guy clearly wants to leave and had two pretty good opportunities, relative to staying in Bozeman (despite what FCS people may try to say about WSU or OSU).

As ABQ mentioned, short of him stealing all their good players before their next game, they would handle it just fine. His only options now might be if Wyoming decides to fire Sawvel in the next 2 years, or maybe if Eck gets poached at New Mexico, both of which are worse spots than WSU and OSU. He's definitely not getting a P4 job.

Maybe he realizes he's in a tight spot, and tries for a P4 coordinator job after this season, ala Choate. It seems like that would be a much easier stepping stone for him to FBS coach than where he's at now with a lot fewer headaches for his conscience. I dunno.
Click to expand...
Not sure what is behind Sixx’s failure to get hired for these jobs. He looks solid on paper and advances as a finalist. Maybe he doesn’t interview well? Maybe he just didn’t connect with the ADs he interviewed with?

Regardless, I agree the Wyoming job might be his best opportunity in the future. They know him there and maybe it’s a better fit for his aw-shucks, low energy personality?
 
Ursa Major said:
Not sure what is behind Sixx’s failure to get hired for these jobs. He looks solid on paper and advances as a finalist. Maybe he doesn’t interview well? Maybe he just didn’t connect with the ADs he interviewed with?

Regardless, I agree the Wyoming job might be his best opportunity in the future. They know him there and maybe it’s a better fit for his aw-shucks, low energy personality?
Click to expand...
Well, to be sure, "the FCS playoffs at my current school are more important than this job" is not a winning message for a coaching candidate in this day and age of college football.
 
uofmman1122 said:
Well, to be sure, "the FCS playoffs at my current school are more important than this job" is not a winning message for a coaching candidate in this day and age of college football.
Click to expand...
That story seems to be an easy canard, especially for the OSU failure. If that was the reason for both hiring failures than you have a guy that doesn’t learn from his mistakes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top