Coachery

Hey ER Voll, I too found out I have a rare cancer back in April and have been undergoing treatment ever since. Finished chemo December 29th with good results. It was not a good 2020 for me either. Keep fighting the fight brother. Go Vols and Coach Heupel!
Hang in there, we we all get through this together, coaching hire and cancer.
 
After starting this thread, I guess I should follow up now that the dust has settled. My friend has been in the midst of helping a staff member exit, and I’ve been trying to be respectful of that transition. People and families are more important than message boards. That said, there are a couple of things I’ve heard that are non-controversial, while possibly of interest. We negotiated with Franklin, Elliot and Heupel only. Franklin played his hand much longer than anyone expected. He kept leaving the door open, but never accepted reasonable terms. The slow pace of that probably fatigued the Elliot deal. He had a full proposed staff etc. One can assume he was very serious. I just think our inability to act on that deal wore down his enthusiasm. Heupel was genuinely a place DW didn’t want to go, given his affection for UCF. That said, he might be the best choice of the three. He’s a head coach. He has no ego. He is an honest guy who DW trusts etc. my friend has become more optimistic about the NCAA as well. Apparently the aggressive way we intervened was by the book, and lauded by Glazier etc. We would’ve been in much worse shape if we turned the information over without acting decisively. I’ll share more once my friend is on the other side of his exit negotiations. There are several coaches who acted in good faith, and put the kids and the school first. It’s been good to hear that. Hearing how Pruitt ran the staff and the program makes me feel relieved that we’ve moved on. Many of the things my friend told me back in December have come to fruition months later. It’s interesting to see how long it takes for these things to unfold. In hindsight, there is probably no way a Tennessee search was going to be simple or clean, but I’m hopeful about the result. More to come...
 
After starting this thread, I guess I should follow up now that the dust has settled. My friend has been in the midst of helping a staff member exit, and I’ve been trying to be respectful of that transition. People and families are more important than message boards. That said, there are a couple of things I’ve heard that are non-controversial, while possibly of interest. We negotiated with Franklin, Elliot and Heupel only. Franklin played his hand much longer than anyone expected. He kept leaving the door open, but never accepted reasonable terms. The slow pace of that probably fatigued the Elliot deal. He had a full proposed staff etc. One can assume he was very serious. I just think our inability to act on that deal wore down his enthusiasm. Heupel was genuinely a place DW didn’t want to go, given his affection for UCF. That said, he might be the best choice of the three. He’s a head coach. He has no ego. He is an honest guy who DW trusts etc. my friend has become more optimistic about the NCAA as well. Apparently the aggressive way we intervened was by the book, and lauded by Glazier etc. We would’ve been in much worse shape if we turned the information over without acting decisively. I’ll share more once my friend is on the other side of his exit negotiations. There are several coaches who acted in good faith, and put the kids and the school first. It’s been good to hear that. Hearing how Pruitt ran the staff and the program makes me feel relieved that we’ve moved on. Many of the things my friend told me back in December have come to fruition months later. It’s interesting to see how long it takes for these things to unfold. In hindsight, there is probably no way a Tennessee search was going to be simple or clean, but I’m hopeful about the result. More to come...

Too bad we whiffed on Franklin. Damn.
 
After starting this thread, I guess I should follow up now that the dust has settled. My friend has been in the midst of helping a staff member exit, and I’ve been trying to be respectful of that transition. People and families are more important than message boards. That said, there are a couple of things I’ve heard that are non-controversial, while possibly of interest. We negotiated with Franklin, Elliot and Heupel only. Franklin played his hand much longer than anyone expected. He kept leaving the door open, but never accepted reasonable terms. The slow pace of that probably fatigued the Elliot deal. He had a full proposed staff etc. One can assume he was very serious. I just think our inability to act on that deal wore down his enthusiasm. Heupel was genuinely a place DW didn’t want to go, given his affection for UCF. That said, he might be the best choice of the three. He’s a head coach. He has no ego. He is an honest guy who DW trusts etc. my friend has become more optimistic about the NCAA as well. Apparently the aggressive way we intervened was by the book, and lauded by Glazier etc. We would’ve been in much worse shape if we turned the information over without acting decisively. I’ll share more once my friend is on the other side of his exit negotiations. There are several coaches who acted in good faith, and put the kids and the school first. It’s been good to hear that. Hearing how Pruitt ran the staff and the program makes me feel relieved that we’ve moved on. Many of the things my friend told me back in December have come to fruition months later. It’s interesting to see how long it takes for these things to unfold. In hindsight, there is probably no way a Tennessee search was going to be simple or clean, but I’m hopeful about the result. More to come...

Thanks again !!!! As always it is very interesting to see what goes on "behind the curtain" so to speak. Really looking forward to any other info you may have in the future.
 
Too bad we whiffed on Franklin. Damn.
Did we whiff on Franklin or did Franklin whiff on us? Sounds like greed was his only obstacle. The administration and fans at PSU can't be happy, and if he sees another subpar year I suspect the seat will be hot without a big time job to fall into.
UT fans are unrealistic but he would have two years of honeymoon and a fat parachute to slow the fall if he didn't meet our lofty expectations. I think ultimately he'll be the biggest loser in this.
 
After starting this thread, I guess I should follow up now that the dust has settled. My friend has been in the midst of helping a staff member exit, and I’ve been trying to be respectful of that transition. People and families are more important than message boards. That said, there are a couple of things I’ve heard that are non-controversial, while possibly of interest. We negotiated with Franklin, Elliot and Heupel only. Franklin played his hand much longer than anyone expected. He kept leaving the door open, but never accepted reasonable terms. The slow pace of that probably fatigued the Elliot deal. He had a full proposed staff etc. One can assume he was very serious. I just think our inability to act on that deal wore down his enthusiasm. Heupel was genuinely a place DW didn’t want to go, given his affection for UCF. That said, he might be the best choice of the three. He’s a head coach. He has no ego. He is an honest guy who DW trusts etc. my friend has become more optimistic about the NCAA as well. Apparently the aggressive way we intervened was by the book, and lauded by Glazier etc. We would’ve been in much worse shape if we turned the information over without acting decisively. I’ll share more once my friend is on the other side of his exit negotiations. There are several coaches who acted in good faith, and put the kids and the school first. It’s been good to hear that. Hearing how Pruitt ran the staff and the program makes me feel relieved that we’ve moved on. Many of the things my friend told me back in December have come to fruition months later. It’s interesting to see how long it takes for these things to unfold. In hindsight, there is probably no way a Tennessee search was going to be simple or clean, but I’m hopeful about the result. More to come...
What is the temperature around the football program moving forward with Heupel?
 
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I would have supported a Franklin hire, but something tells me he peaked at Vandy. Might be one of those HC’s who absolutely has to have a strong staff. I dunno, but...

Go Vols.
 
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After starting this thread, I guess I should follow up now that the dust has settled. My friend has been in the midst of helping a staff member exit, and I’ve been trying to be respectful of that transition. People and families are more important than message boards. That said, there are a couple of things I’ve heard that are non-controversial, while possibly of interest. We negotiated with Franklin, Elliot and Heupel only. Franklin played his hand much longer than anyone expected. He kept leaving the door open, but never accepted reasonable terms. The slow pace of that probably fatigued the Elliot deal. He had a full proposed staff etc. One can assume he was very serious. I just think our inability to act on that deal wore down his enthusiasm. Heupel was genuinely a place DW didn’t want to go, given his affection for UCF. That said, he might be the best choice of the three. He’s a head coach. He has no ego. He is an honest guy who DW trusts etc. my friend has become more optimistic about the NCAA as well. Apparently the aggressive way we intervened was by the book, and lauded by Glazier etc. We would’ve been in much worse shape if we turned the information over without acting decisively. I’ll share more once my friend is on the other side of his exit negotiations. There are several coaches who acted in good faith, and put the kids and the school first. It’s been good to hear that. Hearing how Pruitt ran the staff and the program makes me feel relieved that we’ve moved on. Many of the things my friend told me back in December have come to fruition months later. It’s interesting to see how long it takes for these things to unfold. In hindsight, there is probably no way a Tennessee search was going to be simple or clean, but I’m hopeful about the result. More to come...
Nice that our "acting aggressively" also saved us 12 million bucks. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
 
What is the temperature around the football program moving forward with Heupel?[/QUOTE
It’s hard for any of these kids to trust the plan given what’s happened. I think the young kids are buying in, and some of the older guys. We’ve lost 18 players since November. That’s going to be hard to overcome. He sounds like an honest guy and a good coach, but he’ll need time.
 
Good luck with your health and be well.

Thanks for sharing. Franklin would have been a home run Day 1, but once the honeymoon is done, that salary in this situation screams toxicity. “Only 7 wins for this salary?”

I’m surprised there weren’t more we went to with “just” top 10 money, but probably many didn’t even respond to our search firm.

No offense, but the qualifier “to my knowledge” by Hart Jr is often exploiting plausible deniability in my profession. But Dykes would never be contacted if it wasn’t a yes, Danny would know of the interest with his sister at SMU.

Regardless, a good hire. I really don’t think we get much certainty outside of those elite candidates. I would have preferred more signs of value added as a HC, from building a program or doing more with less, but CJH is a promising young HC
Ha! You are totally right about "plausible deniability", I thought about that after I wrote it. Hart Jr also fits in very well at SMU, if you have ever known anyone who has gone there you know what I mean.
 
Stoerner have you heard any real news on any progress of hiring Coaches on the defensive side of the ball. I enjoyed your reading and postings on the RF we can do better if we chose. A lot of good points made by mostly rational people.
 
I’m afraid I haven’t been nearly as close to the fountain in this cycle. As I said earlier, the final bits of the last staff leaving put a dent in my access. My friend still hears from boosters, but no longer has a conversation with a coach several times a day. The few pieces I’ve heard confirmed that we’re following our usual pattern of making up stories when we don’t have one. The “diversity hire” is a bit overstated. There were some team members who were bothered by Tee’s exit, and noted the very white look of the O staff. The university is committed to having a diverse staff, but DW is not pushing mandatory quotas. It’s also nonsense that DW is controlling the hire. Obviously he and Heupel will collaborate on these hires. Their jobs depend on it, but he’s not sitting on Heupel, and telling him yes or no. We’ve interviewed far fewer people than the media has indicated. Of course Hyams story was nonsense, but Hubbs and AP haven’t been close to the trail too often. We spent a long time on Washington, invited him to the university to visit, handled all his needs. It was very close to happening. I don’t know if anyone understands why it fell apart. We alerted OSU we were going to talk to him as a courtesy. That may be why they’ve remained quiet, also as a courtesy. I wouldn’t be shocked if that deal still isn’t dead. Many of the others are just stories of agents gauging interest. Steele has had a family member ill and has been away off and on. That said, I would not count him out coaching LB. For all the flack he takes, he’s actually been very helpful to DW and Heupel in organizing a plan for 2022 recruiting. Garner is obviously going to be a boon there too. Our staff in recruiting and general AD is entirely remade with a young, but very smart group. I think they’ll do very well. The sad casualty of the last administration is the loss of many coaches and staff with long time served at UT. Past AD made lots of promises to coaches and staff that weren’t delivered on. We didn’t treat Tee or Jay well. Hopefully that can be patched up over time. I wish I knew more. In hindsight the details I received from the last search had lots of great back stories. I’ll try to type those up sometime. As for the DC search, I’m sorry to say I don’t know much.
 
This is funny. We have 2 minority coaches on the offensive side of the ball in Burns and Mack. The same number in Athens, Tuscaloosa, and probably a number of other campus locations.
Not to consult you on what you do and don’t find funny, but you’ll recall that those two weren’t hired in the first press wave that announced Ellarbee, Golesh and Halzle. That’s when the kids reacted to the loss of Tee.
 
Did we whiff on Franklin or did Franklin whiff on us? Sounds like greed was his only obstacle. The administration and fans at PSU can't be happy, and if he sees another subpar year I suspect the seat will be hot without a big time job to fall into.
UT fans are unrealistic but he would have two years of honeymoon and a fat parachute to slow the fall if he didn't meet our lofty expectations. I think ultimately he'll be the biggest loser in this.
A lot of home runs are hit with two strikes on the batter. They may hit a few foul balls , but they get the big hits.
 
Not to consult you on what you do and don’t find funny, but you’ll recall that those two weren’t hired in the first press wave that announced Ellarbee, Golesh and Halzle. That’s when the kids reacted to the loss of Tee.

No need to consult as I have been told humor is one of my strong suits. In any event, it looks like the crux was the handling of the Tee situation and not the premature assessment of the coaching staff.
 
No need to consult as I have been told humor is one of my strong suits. In any event, it looks like the crux was the handling of the Tee situation and not the premature assessment of the coaching staff.
Right or wrong it was the perceived correlation of the two.
 

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