KU - it's sounding more and more like it's down to Moncken (Army) and Fritz (Tulane). Either way, an option offense will be a chore each week for opposing Big 12 D coordinators to prepare for--even with KU's talent level. USC - not exactly coaching related, but this one is too funny not to post: A rather clever young homeless man (the "Imposter") snuck into various USC facilities, slept in a suite at the Coliseum, ate at the athletes dining hall for free, and even shared a hot tub with athletes. Apparently, he just waltzed right in like he belonged. USC Morning Buzz: Imposter Did Even More Than Thought
He only got caught because he put on a uniform and was catching punts. USC Saturday Buzz: More Details On The Imposter
Awesome. That's even better that our 28 year old Ron Weaver or such, who attended Texas and played football under an assumed name.
Ole Miss - Randy Clements (former long-term Briles assistant) has been fired as the Rebels OL coach. The termination occurred 3 days after Ole Miss' Spring game--"The Grove Bowl." While Kiffin stated the decision was made "for football reasons", it does not appear to be due to last year's OL performance... "Ole Miss led the SEC in rushing last season (210.6 yards per game) and was fourth in sacks allowed (19)." Those are the sort of things you like to see from your OL. Perhaps non-insiders are not privy to the 'real story' as to why Kiffin canned Clements ... "So wait, do I have to turn in the company car?" "So when Briles offered up pretty girls, some really good recruits from Texas would even sign up to play for Baylor." Ole Miss has fired offensive line coach Randy Clements Ole Miss fires offensive line coach Randy Clements
Some LSU fans are pushing for Big Ed to hire the now-unemployed Randy Clements--at least as an offensive analyst. LSU Football: Ed Orgeron should make a Nick Saban like move (She knows about the Baylor scandal and is not amused...)
KU hires Lance Leipold (Buffalo) as their new head coach. 37-33 as head coach of U of Buffalo—a place not far from the level of KU when it comes to post 1960s historical football success. So that’s a pretty good record for U of Buffalo. Leipold had an excellent record at head coach in Div 3 with UW-Whitewater where he won 6 national championships. That’s pretty impressive. This is a good hire I think. And KU may slowly build up to a decent enough program, in time. Welcome to the Big 12– at KU. Unless you’re Mangino, you’re going to struggle some at that platform in this conference. You’ll soon find out this ain’t Div 3 or the U of Buffalo. At least they didn’t hire an option offense coach. That would be a tough week of preparation for the D—even with a big talent advantage.
Wow. Kansas doesn’t learn from it’s own mistakes. In 2009 they hired Fort Worth native Turner Gill away from U of Buffalo. He promptly went 5-19 in his 2 seasons as head coach at Kansas and was shown the door. Not sure they should be looking at Buffalo as the hot bed of next coaches.
Gill was 19-29 at U of Buffalo, including 5-7 in his final season. In his very best season at Buffalo, I think he may have had one or two more wins than losses. While both Gill and Leipold came from U of Buffalo, the similarities end there. Think of it like this: UNC hired Mack Brown after his stint at UT. UNC would not have hired Charlie Strong after his stint at UT. Also, Leipold’s 6 national championships, at any level, is very impressive.
All that being said, KU would have made more waves if they hired an option coach from Tulane, Army, or Navy. That would have made a very difficult task for opponents to defend, regardless of the talent differential. Mangino would have made an even bigger splash. He’s KU’s most successful coach since the Cro-Magnon era. Bottom line, KU could have done better, but they did well.
What I've read is Moenken from Army was a serious candidate. Think Leipold had stronger ties to the region.
Army’s coach was discussed widely as a serious candidate for KU. A successful option coach could over-perform (based on comparative talent level) in the Big 12 due to the opponent’s difficulty of defensive preparation. It takes a disciplined assignment defense. We don’t see anything remotely like Army’s offense. It would be a good option (pun fully intended) for a school like KU that is normally at the back of the pack.
Turner Gill signed his own death warrant and brought that cancer to Lawrence with him. Once he hired Chuck Long, no other coach was going to KU. Not even "red devil chemo" can cure that cancer.
Don't know where to put this but what's up with Chip Brown? Guy always looks and sounds like he just got off riding a roller coaster for 3 hours.
Well I see the odd man out in the LSU QB competition is hitting the portal..........started 5 games until Brad Johnson's son Max beat him out......... LSU Quarterback TJ Finley Entering NCAA Transfer Portal
SMU - Kenny Perry is the Ponies' new Special Teams Coordinator. Perry is a former KU co-DC, CBs, and special teams coach, and a former TCU CB coach. Perry previously served as an analyst at SMU. Perry has also coached for the Dallas Renegades and at 2 Arlington high schools (Bowie and Sam Houston) and Haltom City high school. Obviously, that's good for recruiting the DFW Metroplex. Hopefully not too good, as we sign players from Arlington Bowie from time-to-time. He played DB for UH in the John Jenkins era (so he's had a brush with coaching greatness ). Looks like a solid hire for SMU. SMU promotes Kenny Perry to special teams coordinator Kenny Perry (American football) - Wikipedia
MICHIGAN The Wolverines are expected to add Steve Clinkscale (Kentucky DBs) as their new DB coach, and pass game coordinator on the D side of the ball (I didn't know we had those yet...). The buzz on this has been pretty buzzy, and at least one source is reporting it's a done-deal. Prior to Kentucky, Clinkscale coached at Cincinnati, Illinois, Toledo, and Western Carolina. BREAKING: Michigan hires Kentucky’s Steve Clinkscale as pass game coordinator/DB coach
Kansas Lance Leipold looks like he'll be a good coach, but he'll likely have a rough few years early on with the talent he has to work with. Leipold's assistants are a blend of KU guys and U of Buffalo guys. OC -- Andy Kotelnicki - Buffalo QBs -- Jim Zebrowski - Buffalo RBs -- Jonathan Wallace - KU WRs -- Emmett Jones - KU OL -- Scott Fuchs - Buffalo DC -- Brian Borland - Buffalo LBs -- Chris Simpson - Buffalo CBs -- Chevis Jackson - KU DL -- Kwahn Drake - KU OLB/ST -- Jake Schoonover - KU Lance Leipold announces KU football coaching staff Lance Leipold's 1st KU coaching staff blends former Buffalo assistants with KU holdovers
Ole Miss Ole Miss is mining some young coaching talent from the small schools. Jake Thornton (Gardner-Webb OL coach, and former Tenn Tech OL coach) will coach the Rebels’ OL.
Not to cast dispersions on Mr Thornton, but there aren't many experienced coaches going to cast their lot with Kiffin and Oxford if they have other choices. Would you?
I hear ya. Just trying to keep it positive. An alternative post might go something like this: “Unable to attract any serious coaching talent, Lane Kiffin had to dredge deep down into the bottom feeding muck of the coaching pond to get a new coach from that noted major college football powerhouse Gardner-Webb—wherever that is. Expect multiple concussion protocols per game for Ole Miss’s QBs as they would’ve been much better off hiring a decent high school coach to coach their OL.”
Kansas State Brian Lepak joins the Wildcats as the Offensive Quality Control Coach and Assistant Director of Recruiting. Lepak most recently coached Southern U's offensive line and was Southern's run game coordinator. Prior to that, Lepak played OL at Oklahoma, and was an OL graduate assistant for OU and U of Indiana. Kansas State football hires Southern University OL coach, Oklahoma alum Brian Lepak to support staff Kansas State hires Brian Lepak to coaching staff