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How Do You Feel About EW Coach Hires ?

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oldngrizzly

Well-known member
I know we have a a very limited number of hard core Egriz on the forum right now so taking that in consideration I would expect you to say wait and see what happens but it seems pretty unusual that all the coaches from a losing team are hired by BK. So do you think it's the right move?
 
Remains to be seen of course. The question I’ve found myself asking is how big of a control freak is Aaron Best? It seems to me that he just has a complete stranglehold on the program and is single handedly responsible for their demise. How can a guy like Eric Sanders who spent ten years in the NFL and has also worked at multiple P4 programs not have any success as a DC at Eastern? I understand they can’t get the caliber of players that we can, and maybe that’s the entirety of the issue at Eastern, but it does make you wonder.
 
Griz til I die said:
Remains to be seen of course. The question I’ve found myself asking is how big of a control freak is Aaron Best? It seems to me that he just has a complete stranglehold on the program and is single handedly responsible for their demise. How can a guy like Eric Sanders who spent ten years in the NFL and has also worked at multiple P4 programs not have any success as a DC at Eastern? I understand they can’t get the caliber of players that we can, and maybe that’s the entirety of the issue at Eastern, but it does make you wonder.
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Apparently Best is very controlling. His history is riddled with driving off good coaches. Prime example is how our OC abruptly left mid season who put together a great offense. I actually think EWU gets decent talent despite being in the dumps. We just don't know how to use said talent.

I don't know how great of a hire he is but probably not going to be a bad hire. EWUs defense was clearly playing better for whatever that's worth. Though you must remember EWU hasn't had a history of great defenses even during most of the Baldwin era. We won due to his ridiculously good offenses.
 
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oldngrizzly said:
I know we have a a very limited number of hard core Egriz on the forum right now so taking that in consideration I would expect you to say wait and see what happens but it seems pretty unusual that all the coaches from a losing team are hired by BK. So do you think it's the right move?
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Reviewing the defensive stats from last years Griz game vs. Eastern Washington. EWU defense held Montana to 13 total first downs (3 rushing). 101 net rushing yards. Eli Gilman 83 yards rushing for average 4.4 per carry. Total yards 351 and held Griz to 29 points including 0 in the fourth quarter. Griz held on in a nail biter but the Griz offense struggled getting back on track after strong start. I believe EWU defensive coaching staff should take some credit for giving the Griz offense trouble in that game. Let’s see what they can do with some higher caliber players operating inside Washington/ Griz stadium.
 
footballdood said:
Apparently Best is very controlling. His history is riddled with driving off good coaches. Prime example is how our OC abruptly left mid season who put together a great offense. I actually think EWU gets decent talent despite being in the dumps. We just don't know how to use said talent.

I don't know how great of a hire he is but probably not going to be a bad hire. EWUs defense was clearly playing better for whatever that's worth. Though you must remember EWU hasn't had a history of great defenses even during most of the Baldwin era. We won due to his ridiculously good offenses.
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Thx for your post. Very informative. I have seen your name, but never paid much attention to your posts. I will from now on.
 
Griz til I die said:
Remains to be seen of course. The question I’ve found myself asking is how big of a control freak is Aaron Best? It seems to me that he just has a complete stranglehold on the program and is single handedly responsible for their demise. How can a guy like Eric Sanders who spent ten years in the NFL and has also worked at multiple P4 programs not have any success as a DC at Eastern? I understand they can’t get the caliber of players that we can, and maybe that’s the entirety of the issue at Eastern, but it does make you wonder.
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Best is a disaster. Lets recall how he misused Michael wortham, as just one example. No clue how well these defensive coaches will do here, but they had Eastern's defense stout at the end of last season, and thats working with a lesser talent pool. Eastern problems start with their total lack of support institutionally, and aaron Best as the head coach.
 
I’m actually quite impressed with who we landed on the defensive side. I have said this in some other posts. But for the timing (February already) and the fact they are committing to a coach with a one year contract….these are solid hires. People are getting too wrapped up with the EWU part of this. If you looked at their resumes, we got guys who coached in the NFL, FBS, and the Big Sky Conference. Having familiarity with the Big Sky is good too IMO.
 
I’m going to wait for a better sample size before my final analysis on them. I will say, with a bias towards their recent performance sample at EWho, I’m not as confident as I’d hoped to be with new coaches. However, I’ll wait and see until after the first couple of regular season games.
 
1. Experience and knowledge against teams in the conference

2. Sanders called plays at EWU, having a DC with experience running a defense has to help

3. Montana's talent on defense is better than anything these guys will have probably worked with

4. These guys aren't 1 foot into retirement or the nursing home

5. Real hard to get in talent when your HC is on a 1 year deal

6. They're going to adapt the defense to what they know and not force themselves into the 3-3-5

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All things considered, pretty great hires. I don't have high hopes for a lights out / stellar defense but my hope is that this staff with their experience can put the players in spots to succeed and can run a sound system. If the Griz offense does what we need/hope they can do - we don't need a world beater defense, we just need one that can take the ball away at the right times, make some stops, and set the offense up to do their thing.
 
I’m cautiously optimistic.

On paper, they’re not exciting hires. However, it’s hard to find a worse place to coach than Cheney under Aaron Best. That guy is the absolute worst. I’m sure that coaching in Missoula under BK will be a huge improvement, and we should see much better results than what they were doing at eastern.

That said, I still would bet that the cats run for over 250 against us in November.

At the very least, we should have something new to complain about next year. Im excited about that.
 
Thank you for taking time to post. I expected that you might not answer the question in a genuine manner but that was not the case. I don't have an opinion if the coaches are good or poor hires so that is the reason for my thread. Some very good opinions have been posted from posters that have much more incite that I.
 
brewskis said:
I’m cautiously optimistic.

On paper, they’re not exciting hires. However, it’s hard to find a worse place to coach than Cheney under Aaron Best. That guy is the absolute worst. I’m sure that coaching in Missoula under BK will be a huge improvement, and we should see much better results than what they were doing at eastern.

That said, I still would bet that the cats run for over 250 against us in November.

At the very least, we should have something new to complain about next year. Im excited about that.
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From the way BK described it yesterday, it sounds like the defensive staff will have free reign to run the defense however they see fit. As we know, Bobby micro managed the defense a lot (and occasionally the offense) so if you allow your DC and his coaches to do their jobs without anyone breathing down their necks, then that could bode well for the D. We'll just have to see!
 
nicktaber58 said:
Best is a disaster. Lets recall how he misused Michael wortham, as just one example. No clue how well these defensive coaches will do here, but they had Eastern's defense stout at the end of last season, and thats working with a lesser talent pool. Eastern problems start with their total lack of support institutionally, and aaron Best as the head coach.
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I have heard from people connected to that program that Best is not the best to work for. He has never given any support to his defense.
 
I do recall BK talking about Sander‘s first day on the job and BK came in and Sanders already had some huge elaborate spreadsheet and whiteboard already put together, with all kinds of Griz players strengths weaknesses, strategies, film cut up and ideas of what he wanted to do and where he wanted to put guys etc. pretty damn impressive for day one
 
HookedonGriz said:
I do recall BK talking about Sander‘s first day on the job and BK came in and Sanders already had some huge elaborate spreadsheet and whiteboard already put together, with all kinds of Griz players strengths weaknesses, strategies, film cut up and ideas of what he wanted to do and where he wanted to put guys etc. pretty damn impressive for day one
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I mean seriously. He just traded in his '82 Datsun truck for a brand new F250. I think id be excited to drive that mother too😂😂.
 
Griz til I die said:
From the way BK described it yesterday, it sounds like the defensive staff will have free rein to run the defense however they see fit. As we know, Bobby micro managed the defense a lot (and occasionally the offense) so if you allow your DC and his coaches to do their jobs without anyone breathing down their necks, then that could bode well for the D. We'll just have to see!
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Somewhat related…I haven’t seen anything regarding the status of Kent Baer. Chat GPT says he continues to be a Senior Analyst in 2026 for UM. I hope this is factual. He would certainly add value to our DC (who’s position group is the linebackers) by allowing him to roam freely from group to group and in film review and game prep.
 
Art Spooner said:
Somewhat related…I haven’t seen anything regarding the status of Kent Baer. Chat GPT says he continues to be a Senior Analyst in 2026 for UM. I hope this is factual. He would certainly add value to our DC (who’s position group is the linebackers) by allowing him to roam freely from group to group and in film review and game prep.
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From what I've heard it sounds like he's gonna stay in that D Analyst role.
 
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