Three names that keep popping up are Mike MacIntyre, Sonny Dykes and Gary Andersen. All three have extremely similar track records. They are all having career seasons after several mediocre seasons beforehand. Is this a sign that these coaches are program builders who have finally turned around their teams after several mediocre seasons prior? Or are their current seasons a flash in the pan? Lets look closer.
Mike MacIntyre: Current SJ State HC. Previous records of 1-12, 5-7. Now 8-2. Why the turnaround? MacIntyre brought in a new QB named David Fales, who most believe is the best QB SJ State has ever seen. So was it MacIntyre who is turning around SJ State or is Fales SJ State's version of AR? Another problem with Mac is that they play in the WAC. Their most impressive win was over Navy and they lost both of their games against legitimate competition (although stanford game was close, they got blown out at home against Utah State).
Gary Andersen: Current Utah State HC. Previous records of 4-8, 4-8, 7-6. Current record of 8-2. Why the turnaround? Enter soph QB Chuckie Keeton who will most likely break every Utah St. QB record once he is done. So again, was it Andersen who turned around the program? Or is Andersen closer to being a 4-8 coach with an all-world QB? Andersen also has the misfortune of playing in the WAC, although they do have decent wins over Utah and SJ state and had close losses to BYU and Wisconsin.
Sonny Dykes: Current Louisiana Tech HC. Previous records of 5-7, 8-5. Current record of 9-1. Good wins over Illinois, Houston and Virginia. Impressive two point loss to Texas A&M. So why the turnaround? Enter Colby Cameron, who set an NCAA record for not throwing an INT in 358 pass attempts. He is also a dark horse Heisman candidate. With Dykes, I think you could make the argument that its his system that makes his QB's so good. But Dykes didn't score the amount of points or have the same level of QB play last year (with a different QB). So is it Cameron or Dykes? I think the jury is still out.
Bottom line, with all three coaches above, its possible that they have finally turned around their programs and they are now finally seeing the fruits of their labors. OR its equally possible that they are all riding the coattails of their Star QB's and their previous mediocre records are more indicative of their coaching level. I think Dykes may have the best argument, because he does have a unique offensive system, so maybe he is worth a look. The other two candidates?-way too short of a track record and way too many question marks. Especially the big red flag that they both have all-star QB's right now and have not won prior.
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Who I would like to see (if we can't land Petersen) is Dave Doeren who is currently the HC at Northern Illinois. He's only had two seasons as the HC, but his last season he was 11-3. This season 9-1 with a narrow loss to Iowa in a game they probably should have won. He was previously the DC at Wisconsin back when their defenses were extremely stout, so he has big time coordinator experience. The big difference I see with Doeren when compared to the other coaches listed above is that he's had two good seasons in a row (not just one). And the most important part is that Doeren has done it with TWO different QB's. So its much more likely that Doeren's success has more to do with him than his QB's.
One other thing, for those worrying about our academics. His team is 9th in the NCAA in APR. Not sure how much that had to do with him (since he probably wasn't around for those years), but it shows he can coach at a school that places an emphasis on academics.
Lastly, I've linked a page that talks about his offensive and defense philosophies. I'd like to point a few things out from this page: http://www.niuhuskies.com/niu-football/our-game.html
"We do not run a ton of plays but we do believe in running them from a variety of looks. The end result is our players playing extremely fast and physical football."
"Our design is very simple, sound, and adjustable to the various looks we will see throughout the season from defensive teams."
"We will feature our playmakers"
"Once you are here we will modify our schemes to fit and feature our playmaker's abilities with the design. We are all about using our player's strength's and hiding our player's weaknesses."
These are all characteristics that Tedford DOES NOT have. Doeren is young, energetic and a great recruiter. He's going to get offers from some BCS schools this year (Purdue sounds like the primary suitor right now), but I think we are a more attractive destination than some of the middling Big Ten schools.
So assuming we go with the young up and coming coach, my preference is clearly Doeren. In my opinion, its too much of a risk to hire a coach who is having one career season with a star QB.
Mike MacIntyre: Current SJ State HC. Previous records of 1-12, 5-7. Now 8-2. Why the turnaround? MacIntyre brought in a new QB named David Fales, who most believe is the best QB SJ State has ever seen. So was it MacIntyre who is turning around SJ State or is Fales SJ State's version of AR? Another problem with Mac is that they play in the WAC. Their most impressive win was over Navy and they lost both of their games against legitimate competition (although stanford game was close, they got blown out at home against Utah State).
Gary Andersen: Current Utah State HC. Previous records of 4-8, 4-8, 7-6. Current record of 8-2. Why the turnaround? Enter soph QB Chuckie Keeton who will most likely break every Utah St. QB record once he is done. So again, was it Andersen who turned around the program? Or is Andersen closer to being a 4-8 coach with an all-world QB? Andersen also has the misfortune of playing in the WAC, although they do have decent wins over Utah and SJ state and had close losses to BYU and Wisconsin.
Sonny Dykes: Current Louisiana Tech HC. Previous records of 5-7, 8-5. Current record of 9-1. Good wins over Illinois, Houston and Virginia. Impressive two point loss to Texas A&M. So why the turnaround? Enter Colby Cameron, who set an NCAA record for not throwing an INT in 358 pass attempts. He is also a dark horse Heisman candidate. With Dykes, I think you could make the argument that its his system that makes his QB's so good. But Dykes didn't score the amount of points or have the same level of QB play last year (with a different QB). So is it Cameron or Dykes? I think the jury is still out.
Bottom line, with all three coaches above, its possible that they have finally turned around their programs and they are now finally seeing the fruits of their labors. OR its equally possible that they are all riding the coattails of their Star QB's and their previous mediocre records are more indicative of their coaching level. I think Dykes may have the best argument, because he does have a unique offensive system, so maybe he is worth a look. The other two candidates?-way too short of a track record and way too many question marks. Especially the big red flag that they both have all-star QB's right now and have not won prior.
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Who I would like to see (if we can't land Petersen) is Dave Doeren who is currently the HC at Northern Illinois. He's only had two seasons as the HC, but his last season he was 11-3. This season 9-1 with a narrow loss to Iowa in a game they probably should have won. He was previously the DC at Wisconsin back when their defenses were extremely stout, so he has big time coordinator experience. The big difference I see with Doeren when compared to the other coaches listed above is that he's had two good seasons in a row (not just one). And the most important part is that Doeren has done it with TWO different QB's. So its much more likely that Doeren's success has more to do with him than his QB's.
One other thing, for those worrying about our academics. His team is 9th in the NCAA in APR. Not sure how much that had to do with him (since he probably wasn't around for those years), but it shows he can coach at a school that places an emphasis on academics.
Lastly, I've linked a page that talks about his offensive and defense philosophies. I'd like to point a few things out from this page: http://www.niuhuskies.com/niu-football/our-game.html
"We do not run a ton of plays but we do believe in running them from a variety of looks. The end result is our players playing extremely fast and physical football."
"Our design is very simple, sound, and adjustable to the various looks we will see throughout the season from defensive teams."
"We will feature our playmakers"
"Once you are here we will modify our schemes to fit and feature our playmaker's abilities with the design. We are all about using our player's strength's and hiding our player's weaknesses."
These are all characteristics that Tedford DOES NOT have. Doeren is young, energetic and a great recruiter. He's going to get offers from some BCS schools this year (Purdue sounds like the primary suitor right now), but I think we are a more attractive destination than some of the middling Big Ten schools.
So assuming we go with the young up and coming coach, my preference is clearly Doeren. In my opinion, its too much of a risk to hire a coach who is having one career season with a star QB.