[Fwd: [Husker] Solich]

[Steve Reichenbach]

> 
> [I] have a great amount of respect for the likes of Turner Gill, Ron Brown,
> and the like.  These were/are very principled people with a lot of 
> integrity.  I am like you.  I hated to see them go.  But the fact of the 
> matter is when a new Head Coach comes in he is going to want his own 
> people.  That is just the way it is.  No new Head Coach from the outside is 
> going to retain all the assistants in totality.  It just isn't done that way.
> 
> Bob Beach

To those of you who are tired of the assistant coaches thread, I'd
say that the assistant coaches are arguably the most important element
of a successful program.

To Bob, I say you are changing the argument in two ways: (a) by stating
"all the assistants in totality" and (b) pointing to coaching changes
at unsuccessful programs (unlike at NU which was 10-3 with a bowl win).
The real issue is whether Callahan would have done better to have tried
to retain SOME of the assistant coaches that he fired and, in that
context, whether or not your claim that "no new head coach" keeps
assistants so therefore Callahan shouldn't be criticized for not
keeping assistant coaches is a good defense of Callahan's personnel
actions.  Let's call it the "it just isn't done that way" defense that
defelects all criticism of Callahan's personnel decisions.

The changes on the offensive side of the ball --- where Callahan has
his focus --- were not surprising.  I liked Barney Cotton as an
offensive coach at NU (and think he has done well at ISU), but Callahan
has a specific scheme that is a big change and it makes sense that he
has assistants (such as Norvell) who were familiar with his scheme.
Moreover, this was a big change in the offensive approach.  So, this
isn't about Turner Gill (who was retained by Callahan, which surprised
me) and Ron Brown.  The more questionable changes were on the defensive
side.  Callahan fired Marvin Sanders (now co-DC at UNC and an NU alum)
to hire Elmassian as secondary coach, fired Bo Pellini to hire Kevin
Cosgrove, and fired Jimmie Williams to hire Bill Busch (from Utah,
where Busch was among defensive assistant coaches retained by Urban
Meyer).  Those did not all appear to be great personnel improvements at
the time and many people (including me) have stated that Callahan might
have done better had he tried and succeeded keeping some assistant
coaches.  THAT is the point of contention ---- not whether Callahan
should have kept "all the assistants in totality".  The results this
year on defense and special teams haven't provided any evidence that
those coaching changes were good.  (On the other hand, the performance
of the offensive line gives credit to Dennis Wagner and the potential
recruiting success seems to give credit John Blake.)

On the second point, you use the example of most coaching changes that
happen at unsuccessful programs with a complete (or nearly complete
firing) of the unsuccessful staff.  That wasn't the case at NU.  The
team was 10-3 and closed the season with a big road win at CU and a
bowl victory.  The defense, in particular, had a good year (e.g.,
compared to this year).  So, what happens in coaching changes at
successful college programs?  There seem to be many changes this year
--- 22 out of about 105 Division 1-A programs.  Only 7 of those 22
programs had winning records.  Three of those six (Utah, Miami - Ohio,
and Oklahoma State) promoted assistants to the head coaching position
and those new head coaches will keep assistants (if they can).  The
others are LSU, Pittsburgh, Florida, and South Carolina.  Spurrier
retained three assistant coaches at South Carolina.  At least two of
the incoming head coaches (Wannstedt at Pittsburgh and Miles at
Oklahoma State) have stated that they are receptive or want to keep
assistant coaches.  I don't know if Urban Meyer at Florida has talked
about keeping any assistants, but Zook is trying to move them to
Illinois and other schools are trying to hire them.  So, in at least 6
of the 7 coaching changes at winning programs (only one of which had a
better record than NU did in 2003), it seems that more assistants will
stay than were retained by Callahan.  Of these situations, Pittsburgh's
hiring of Wannstedt may be the most like the change at NU --- Harris
seemed to be on the hot seat at the beginning of the year (as Solich
was at the start of his last year), he had a pretty good at 8-4 (not
as good as 10-3 NU last year, but got in the BCS from a weaker
conference), and the incoming coach was just fired from the NFL.  At
Pittsburgh, as at NU last year, the question will be whether Wannstedt
would do better to keep assistants or whether he would do better to
bring in a whole new staff.  Your argument seems to be that no new head
coach would try to keep assistants, but it is Wannstedt's decision.
I don't know as much about Pittsburgh's staff as I did about NU's and
I don't know how many of them are being offered jobs by Harris at
Stanford (which is a very pretty place even if outrageously expensive),
but Wannstedt is going to be judged on his success and not on his
friendships with the assistant coaches, so he ought to hire on the same
basis he'll be judged.  Contrary to what you claim, it will NOT be
unprecedented or even surprising if Wannstedt keeps several assistants
from a fairly successful staff.

Callahan's personnel actions with assistant coaches are very legitimate
for criticism and your defense is to point to coaching changes at losing
programs and say: "See, it happens all the time," and: "See, Solich
fired assistants at 4-7 Ohio."  (which started this thread).  To that,
I say: "So what?  The real issue is whether Callahan made good decisions
or bad ones."  I hope these coaches work out, but so far changes that
were questioned at the time haven't been successful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

12-0 Utah Urban Meyer Kyle Whittingham 
     Urban Meyer (HC) to Florida
     Mike Sanford (OC) to UNLV
     Kyle Whittingham (DC) from Utah
     Hired from within the staff.
9-3 LSU Nick Saban Les Miles 
    Nick Saban (HC) to Miami Dolphins
    Les Miles (HC) from Oklahoma State
    "Miles said he would be receptive to retaining all of LSU's assistant
    coaches...."
    http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-15/1104821865159160.xml
8-5 Miami (Ohio) Terry Hoeppner Shane Montgomery 
    Terry Hoeppner (HC) to Indiana
    Shane Montgomery (OC) from Miami (Ohio)
    Hired from within the staff.
8-4 Pittsburgh Walt Harris Dave Wannstedt 
    Walt Harris (HC) to Stanford
    Dave Wannstedt (HC) from Miami Dolphins
    "Wannstedt ... wants to retain some of Harris' assistants, including
    defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads ...."
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/ncaa/12/23/bc.fbc.pitt.wannstedt.ap/index.html
7-5 Oklahoma State Les Miles Mike Gundy 
    Les Miles (HC) to LSU
    Mike Gundy (OC) from Oklahoma State
    Hired from within the staff.
7-5 Florida Ron Zook Urban Meyer 
    Ron Zook (HC) to Illinois
    Urban Meyer (HC) from Utah
    ???
6-5 South Carolina Lou Holtz Steve Spurrier 
    Lou Holtz (HC) retired
    Steve Spurrier (HC) from Washington Redskins
    Spurrier retained three assistant coaches
6-6 Syracuse Paul Pasqualoni ---
6-6 Notre Dame Tyrone Willingham Charlie Weis 
5-6 New Mexico State Tony Samuel Hal Mumme 
5-6 BYU Gary Crowton Bronco Mendenhall 
4-7 Stanford Buddy Teevens Walt Harris 
4-7 Ole Miss David Cutcliffe Ed Orgeron 
4-7 Ohio Brian Knorr Frank Solich 
3-8 Utah State Mick Dennehy Brent Guy 
3-8 Indiana Gerry DiNardo Terry Hoeppner 
3-8 Illinois Ron Turner Ron Zook 
2-9 UNLV John Robinson Mike Sanford 
2-9 San Jose State Fitz Hill Dick Tomey 
2-9 East Carolina John Thompson Skip Holtz 
1-10 Western Michigan Gary Darnell Bill Cubit 
1-10 Washington Keith Gilbertson Tyrone Willingham