Window to hire Head Coach In Waiting

[GrizBacker04]

With Rosenbach leaving to go to WSU, is this the opportunity UM has to go the route of hiring a "head coach in waiting?" Make this more of a search for a head coach, with the understanding that after next year, he will be the head man once Delaney's contract is up. There are arguments both for and against the head coach in waiting idea, and there are cases where it has gone smoothly and cases where it hasn't gone smoothly. I think though that this is probably a situation where it could work and work well.

While Delaney is coming back next year and he clearly is invested in the program, I think even he knows he is not the long-term answer and even if the Griz win the chipper next year, he is done after next season. He was already in retirement once, so I can't imagine him being really against retiring after next year. And while he did UM a favor by coming out of retirement, UM also did him a favor by giving him an extension for really no reason at all. Plus, it is not like Bobby Bowden, who was chasing Joe Paterno and wanted to try and hang on to try and get cheap wins to break a record and needed to be forced to retire.

Currently there is a not a viable heading coaching candidate currently on the staff to become the head coach after 2013. Gregorak would be just finishing up his second year as a DC, and while he would obviously want the job, deep down he knows he is not ready and would probably understand that he would not be the head coach in waiting.

Hiring a head coach in waiting would also allow UM to look at more qualified people, rather than position coaches looking for their first OC position which could result in another bumpy year of play calling and such. It obviously hurt Rosenbach not having Pflu give his thoughts and direction on calling plays throughout the year.

So that is my two cents. Rosenbach leaving (no matter what the reasons are) could turn out to be the way Haslem is able to hire the next UM head coach sooner than most people thought.

 

[Uncle Si]

You're thinking way too far outside the box. This administration would have no idea what you're talking about.

Great idea tho, might enable is to get somebody that is quality

 

[grizpack]

I like it. It would keep recruiting in place. Give the assistants a chance to audition for their jobs. Give players a chance to get to know the next guy. Give MD a graceful exit. Give Kent a chance to start looking right now, yet take his time to get the best guy available.

 

[maroonandsilver]

I like it. It would keep recruiting in place. Give the assistants a chance to audition for their jobs. Give players a chance to get to know the next guy. Give MD a graceful exit. Give Kent a chance to start looking right now, yet take his time to get the best guy available.

+1 :clap: :clap: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Given our unwillingness to spend a reasonable amount of money and/or offer long-term deals to coaches, this will continue to be a revolving door at UM.

 

[griz4life]

If you're OC, the only thing you would be assured of in the future is a possibility of being considered a candidate for head coach in the future. There's no way UM is going to promise you a future HC job in your contract.
You could just as easily be passed over for the job in a year's time and be out on the street when the next HC is hired.

 

[GrizBacker04]

If you're OC, the only thing you would be assured of in the future is a possibility of being considered a candidate for head coach in the future. There's no way UM is going to promise you a future HC job in your contract.
You could just as easily be passed over for the job in a year's time and be out on the street when the next HC is hired.

Why couldn't UM make that kind of commitment? It has been done several times before, including at Oregon, Wisconsin, FSU, West Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, etc.

 

[GrizLA]

If you're OC, the only thing you would be assured of in the future is a possibility of being considered a candidate for head coach in the future. There's no way UM is going to promise you a future HC job in your contract.
You could just as easily be passed over for the job in a year's time and be out on the street when the next HC is hired.

Why couldn't UM make that kind of commitment? It has been done several times before, including at Oregon, Wisconsin, FSU, West Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, etc.

That has worked well in other places, but then, they had the full support of the President of those universities while UM seems to be either poorly administered or simply inept,or whatever. If this President had been forthcoming on such major decisions, not all related to athletics, he might inspire confidence in UM, as it is, right now, I don't see it. UM is having rocky time, while MSU is moving forward....

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

I like it. It would keep recruiting in place. Give the assistants a chance to audition for their jobs. Give players a chance to get to know the next guy. Give MD a graceful exit. Give Kent a chance to start looking right now, yet take his time to get the best guy available.

+1 :clap: :clap: :thumb: :thumb:

:clap: :clap: :clap: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[OrgonGriz]

I was this same exact thing with TR leaving for WSU. It makes sense to me so I went ahead and sent an email to Engstrom and Kent H. If they give it consideration one never knows. But at least if they had not thought of it the bug is in there ear so to speak.

This would provide the opportunity to look for a candidate that has the ability of being a head coach and that could serve as the OC for this next year. I think it would show direction and some sense of stability going forward.

If I was a recruit with all that has happened over the past year I would think twice about commitment to UM. Knowing the "head" coach looks to only be there one more year and what was produced last year, that's a hard sell in my opinion. However if you have a " head coach in waiting" at least the recruit sees what he will be part of.

Sure you can say there would be discord with MD as head coach and a head in waiting. I believe we will have discord this next year regardless because this team knows the MD will be gone most likely by 2014.

I think even with the investigations we could bring in a solid coach. However I don't think we will be able to get by with a year to year hire as we have one in the past. I think we might have to be willing to pony out a few more bucks and offer at least a 3 yer deal to start.

If our administration can not see this then we maybe down for years to come. It's up to Engstrom and Kent H to level this thing out. Know is not a time to take a back seat and be along for the ride.

 

['68griz]

I think even with the investigations we could bring in a solid coach. However I don't think we will be able to get by with a year to year hire as we have one in the past. I think we might have to be willing to pony out a few more bucks and offer at least a 3 yer deal to start.

If our administration can not see this then we maybe down for years to come. It's up to Engstrom and Kent H to level this thing out. Know is not a time to take a back seat and be along for the ride.

But, if he doesn't care, or, even worse, truly hopes to de-emphasize athletics, then we are all in for a long sad downhill ride.

 

[becker2117]

I think even with the investigations we could bring in a solid coach. However I don't think we will be able to get by with a year to year hire as we have one in the past. I think we might have to be willing to pony out a few more bucks and offer at least a 3 yer deal to start.

If our administration can not see this then we maybe down for years to come. It's up to Engstrom and Kent H to level this thing out. Know is not a time to take a back seat and be along for the ride.

But, if he doesn't care, or, even worse, truly hopes to de-emphasize athletics, then we are all in for a long sad downhill ride.

I have never met the guy, and have very rarely heard him speak. If you have do you really think this is something he is looking to do? If so, what in the hell would cause the president of the University to want to do such a thing?

 

[PlayerRep]

I think even with the investigations we could bring in a solid coach. However I don't think we will be able to get by with a year to year hire as we have one in the past. I think we might have to be willing to pony out a few more bucks and offer at least a 3 yer deal to start.

If our administration can not see this then we maybe down for years to come. It's up to Engstrom and Kent H to level this thing out. Know is not a time to take a back seat and be along for the ride.

But, if he doesn't care, or, even worse, truly hopes to de-emphasize athletics, then we are all in for a long sad downhill ride.

I have never met the guy, and have very rarely heard him speak. If you have do you really think this is something he is looking to do? If so, what in the hell would cause the president of the University to want to do such a thing?

Perhaps pressure by some faculty, some feminists/women, some others (Pat Williams), etc. to bring down football several notches or de-emphasize it. I've heard that Engstrom doesn't understand much about sports, or care much about them. Attending events is supposedly his idea of supporting athletics. When he was hired, he said he would match dollars donated for facilities, but he backed away from that almost immediately.

 

[bigskyguy]

I think even with the investigations we could bring in a solid coach. However I don't think we will be able to get by with a year to year hire as we have one in the past. I think we might have to be willing to pony out a few more bucks and offer at least a 3 yer deal to start.

If our administration can not see this then we maybe down for years to come. It's up to Engstrom and Kent H to level this thing out. Know is not a time to take a back seat and be along for the ride.

But, if he doesn't care, or, even worse, truly hopes to de-emphasize athletics, then we are all in for a long sad downhill ride.

I have never met the guy, and have very rarely heard him speak. If you have do you really think this is something he is looking to do? If so, what in the hell would cause the president of the University to want to do such a thing?

Perhaps pressure by some faculty, some feminists/women, some others (Pat Williams), etc. to bring down football several notches or de-emphasize it. I've heard that Engstrom doesn't understand much about sports, or care much about them. Attending events is supposedly his idea of supporting athletics. When he was hired, he said he would match dollars donated for facilities, but he backed away from that almost immediately.

Maybe he thinks everyone should just get a participation medal and not hurt others self esteem by being better than them.

 

[HighLineGRIZ]

If you're OC, the only thing you would be assured of in the future is a possibility of being considered a candidate for head coach in the future. There's no way UM is going to promise you a future HC job in your contract.
You could just as easily be passed over for the job in a year's time and be out on the street when the next HC is hired.

This. I really don't like the Head Coach in Waiting strategy. Mostly because it limits who you can solicit for the job. With this, we would only be able to go after offensive coordinators for the HC gig. Effectively, you cut your prospect list in half and rule out many strong candidates who have defensive backgrounds. Not saying your out of line at all though Grizbacker, this strategy has been very successful at Wisconsin, Oregon, and FSU like you pointed out, but its also been unsuccesful too. I think the best you can do is offer the OC a chance to be considered for the head job and point out that he would have a strong advantage if he produced positive results.

 

[Grizbacker1]

With Rosenbach leaving to go to WSU, is this the opportunity UM has to go the route of hiring a "head coach in waiting?" Make this more of a search for a head coach, with the understanding that after next year, he will be the head man once Delaney's contract is up. There are arguments both for and against the head coach in waiting idea, and there are cases where it has gone smoothly and cases where it hasn't gone smoothly. I think though that this is probably a situation where it could work and work well.

While Delaney is coming back next year and he clearly is invested in the program, I think even he knows he is not the long-term answer and even if the Griz win the chipper next year, he is done after next season. He was already in retirement once, so I can't imagine him being really against retiring after next year. And while he did UM a favor by coming out of retirement, UM also did him a favor by giving him an extension for really no reason at all. Plus, it is not like Bobby Bowden, who was chasing Joe Paterno and wanted to try and hang on to try and get cheap wins to break a record and needed to be forced to retire.

Currently there is a not a viable heading coaching candidate currently on the staff to become the head coach after 2013. Gregorak would be just finishing up his second year as a DC, and while he would obviously want the job, deep down he knows he is not ready and would probably understand that he would not be the head coach in waiting.

Hiring a head coach in waiting would also allow UM to look at more qualified people, rather than position coaches looking for their first OC position which could result in another bumpy year of play calling and such. It obviously hurt Rosenbach not having Pflu give his thoughts and direction on calling plays throughout the year.

So that is my two cents. Rosenbach leaving (no matter what the reasons are) could turn out to be the way Haslem is able to hire the next UM head coach sooner than most people thought.

Sounds great in theory, but remains to be seen how practical that is.

 

[Spanky]

I would hope that Engstrom has been hearing from many people encouraging him to maintain a championship level football program at UM. Especially, large donors should get his ear, so time will tell.

 

[mtgrizrule]

I would hope that Engstrom has been hearing from many people encouraging him to maintain a championship level football program at UM. Especially, large donors should get his ear, so time will tell.

Better yet, I hope anyone that has the ears of the BOR, speaks to them what a colossal mistake Engstrom's has been.

 

[stubbins]

I would hope that Engstrom has been hearing from many people encouraging him to maintain a championship level football program at UM. Especially, large donors should get his ear, so time will tell.

Better yet, I hope anyone that has the ears of the BOR, speaks to them what a colossal mistake Engstrom's has been.

Pat Williams thinks he's doing a great job....and more importantly, so does Mrs. Williams! There's the dude that needs to move on if the BOR is going to do anything about the head fucker...