FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wally_wabash]

Things keep changing somewhat fast the past 2-3 days.  Apparently, there will be some additional changes at Minnesota and Western, more than initially thought.  ESPN reports that Western Michigan OC Kirk Ciarroca has been offered the same position at Minnesota by Fleck and that Robb Smith, DC at Arkansas is being hired by Fleck also for DC position.

Which means that Western is looking for an OC per new HC Tim Lester; apparently (it has been reported tonight over on the CCIW board) that Jeff Thorne of North Central College turned that position down to stay at NCC.  Coaching carousel continues!

It was the quarterbacks coach job, according to the discussion.

Yeah, Mugsy speculates (and I concur) that had the offer been OC the response might have been different.  D3 HC to any D1 OC is one thing; D3 HC to MAC position coach is something else, if one is trying to rise in the profession.

Not sure I follow this given that Tim Lester went from D3 HC to FBS position coach and is now an FBS HC in just four seasons.  That transition hasn't hampered his career, clearly. 

[formerd3db]

Things keep changing somewhat fast the past 2-3 days.  Apparently, there will be some additional changes at Minnesota and Western, more than initially thought.  ESPN reports that Western Michigan OC Kirk Ciarroca has been offered the same position at Minnesota by Fleck and that Robb Smith, DC at Arkansas is being hired by Fleck also for DC position.

Which means that Western is looking for an OC per new HC Tim Lester; apparently (it has been reported tonight over on the CCIW board) that Jeff Thorne of North Central College turned that position down to stay at NCC.  Coaching carousel continues!

It was the quarterbacks coach job, according to the discussion

Yes, I had seen that and my inadvertent mistake.  I meant to say Western is still looking for an OC and clarify that Thorne apparently turned down the assistant coaching position for QBs.  Regardless, I am wondering if you or anyone else have heard of any names who might be on the short list for either slot? I have no clue nor have heard via rumor mill of any names from anywhere who might be in the more public forefront for those choices.  Of course, most of these types of changes take place behind the scenes and at the conventions.  Most likely a choice and announcement will be made in the next week or two.

Also, Pat, Wally and Mr. Ypsi-have you noticed that on some of the venues i.e. such as Xfinity, they have not even posted the announcement about Lester yet and Western announced it on Sat.  Of course, that is not surprising since it is the MAC and those other venues consider them mid-majors, not even of the likes of California, of which they had made an more immediate posting of Wicox's hiring there.

I also saw where former U of Michigan standout and assistant coach Erik Campbell left Michigan again (he had been back on staff as what was essentially Harbaough's offensive quality control coach/assistant and is now assistant at Connecticut with the new HC there, who he knew previously.  Makes sense since his last Michigan position was essentially entry level for young coaches and Campbell had been at full assistant roles at all his coaching stops including with Harbaugh at Standford as I recall.  No room to return to a  move up position at Michigan, at least for now, so, again, I can understand his making the move.

[Pat Coleman]

Things keep changing somewhat fast the past 2-3 days.  Apparently, there will be some additional changes at Minnesota and Western, more than initially thought.  ESPN reports that Western Michigan OC Kirk Ciarroca has been offered the same position at Minnesota by Fleck and that Robb Smith, DC at Arkansas is being hired by Fleck also for DC position.

Which means that Western is looking for an OC per new HC Tim Lester; apparently (it has been reported tonight over on the CCIW board) that Jeff Thorne of North Central College turned that position down to stay at NCC.  Coaching carousel continues!

It was the quarterbacks coach job, according to the discussion.

Yeah, Mugsy speculates (and I concur) that had the offer been OC the response might have been different.  D3 HC to any D1 OC is one thing; D3 HC to MAC position coach is something else, if one is trying to rise in the profession.

Not sure I follow this given that Tim Lester went from D3 HC to FBS position coach and is now an FBS HC in just four seasons.  That transition hasn't hampered his career, clearly.

Yes, but there's a difference between being a position coach at Syracuse and being one at Western Michigan.

[formerd3db]

Things keep changing somewhat fast the past 2-3 days.  Apparently, there will be some additional changes at Minnesota and Western, more than initially thought.  ESPN reports that Western Michigan OC Kirk Ciarroca has been offered the same position at Minnesota by Fleck and that Robb Smith, DC at Arkansas is being hired by Fleck also for DC position.

Which means that Western is looking for an OC per new HC Tim Lester; apparently (it has been reported tonight over on the CCIW board) that Jeff Thorne of North Central College turned that position down to stay at NCC.  Coaching carousel continues!

It was the quarterbacks coach job, according to the discussion.

Yeah, Mugsy speculates (and I concur) that had the offer been OC the response might have been different.  D3 HC to any D1 OC is one thing; D3 HC to MAC position coach is something else, if one is trying to rise in the profession.

Not sure I follow this given that Tim Lester went from D3 HC to FBS position coach and is now an FBS HC in just four seasons.  That transition hasn't hampered his career, clearly.

Yes, but there's a difference between being a position coach at Syracuse and being one at Western Michigan.

And other than $ (i.e. salary) and some prestige, that would be...??

[Pat Coleman]

Things keep changing somewhat fast the past 2-3 days.  Apparently, there will be some additional changes at Minnesota and Western, more than initially thought.  ESPN reports that Western Michigan OC Kirk Ciarroca has been offered the same position at Minnesota by Fleck and that Robb Smith, DC at Arkansas is being hired by Fleck also for DC position.

Which means that Western is looking for an OC per new HC Tim Lester; apparently (it has been reported tonight over on the CCIW board) that Jeff Thorne of North Central College turned that position down to stay at NCC.  Coaching carousel continues!

It was the quarterbacks coach job, according to the discussion.

Yeah, Mugsy speculates (and I concur) that had the offer been OC the response might have been different.  D3 HC to any D1 OC is one thing; D3 HC to MAC position coach is something else, if one is trying to rise in the profession.

Not sure I follow this given that Tim Lester went from D3 HC to FBS position coach and is now an FBS HC in just four seasons.  That transition hasn't hampered his career, clearly.

Yes, but there's a difference between being a position coach at Syracuse and being one at Western Michigan.

And other than $ (i.e. salary) and some prestige, that would be...??

Not to put too fine a point on it but Tim Lester just proved it -- position coach at a "BCS" school is a much closer trip to head coach at Western Michigan than position coach at Western Michigan is.

And I wouldn't rule out salary and prestige, either.

[formerd3db]

You are right for the most part, although that also would depend on whether someone like Thorne would be moving up with those aspirations of being a head coach at FBS.  Some coaches have their goals as just getting to that level as an assistant and no desire to eventually seek a HC position.  Obviously, "to each his own."  Also, it wasn't too long ago at some schools, for example Michigan State (I could name a few other schools as well with regards to some FBS assistant coaches I know of/about their situations), that the salaries of a coordinator and specialty position assistant coach were not all that far apart.  Of course, for most FBS schools now (although not all) that has changed tremendously.

One other aspect, which is unrelated to the discussion we have been having and that I would like to mention, just for "completeness of the story" in general and which was inadvertently not mentioned before is that Lester was also head coach at DII St. Joseph College in Indiana.  That also did not hurt on his resume.

[sac]

And I wouldn't rule out salary and prestige, either.

Syracuse has or had the lowest paid staff in the ACC, I'm pretty sure WMU had the highest paid staff in the MAC, I'm not sure individual salaries for assistants would be all that different.  As for prestige, it depends on how wow'd you would be by a resume that says you row'd a boat.

[sac]

Davenport head coach Lou Esposito resigned to take another position which has yet to be announced.

Esposito has worked at WMU before and I believe was even at St. Joseph at the same time as Lester, so read between the lines maybe.  Not sure how this affects the MIAA since Davenport is going to the GLIAC and D2 next Fall.  I wouldn't envy the new guy who comes into that highly competitive situation with a new program.

[OC_SID]

Davenport head coach Lou Esposito resigned to take another position which has yet to be announced.

Esposito has worked at WMU before and I believe was even at St. Joseph at the same time as Lester, so read between the lines maybe.  Not sure how this affects the MIAA since Davenport is going to the GLIAC and D2 next Fall.  I wouldn't envy the new guy who comes into that highly competitive situation with a new program.

Footballscoop.com reports that Esposito is going to work for Lester at WMU.

[formerd3db]

Yes, Esposito was defensive line coach previously at Western Michigan from 2010-2012 under former head coach Bill Cubit.  Esposito's association with Lester goes back also to St. Joseph's College (DII in Indiana).  Esposito was head coach at St. Joseph's for 5 years, but also was at Ferris State with Annese until taking over establishing the new program from scratch at Davenport in 2014.  So it is not surprising he would leave Davenport to join Lester at Western. 

Esposito put together a good staff at Davenport and they had a decent first year this past season at 2016 at 6-5 (after just having practices all season back in 2015).  As to how this will affect the MIAA, I have always said that recruiting for scholarship level with the DIIs has hurt the MIAA schools over the past decade+ (and even some coaches in the MIAA have agreed with that). Some people at some of the MIAA schools have said that the DII recruiting such as now with Davenport joining that category (along with even Hillsdale going to the new OH DII conference as well as the NAIA newbies Concordia-Ann Arbor, Siena Heights, and now even Lawrence Tech re-establishing football at the NAIA level) won't have much effect because some of the student-athletes who might receive scholarships would not qualify for admission to some MIAA schools. However, I don't believe that (know of many cases where that has not been the case) and am of the opinion it will continue to have some fair amount of effect. 

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Davenport chooses its second head coach from within the existing staff (their interim hc has DI exeperience at Colgate) or go outside.  I would think that staying within, at least for now, would be the better move since the current staff has been involved with establishing the program and direction/philosophy under Esposito.

BTW. referring back to St. Joseph's, I had wondered where their previous successful hc of 3 years Cory Sanders went when he left in late 2014 and saw where he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the University of West Florida FCS, which added football to is athletic programs (they have had baseball for a long time).  Also, as is being discussed over on the OAC board, JCU hired U of Michigan defensive analyst Finotti as hc., but that makes sense since he has ties in the area and was very successful hc in that area before going to Harbaugh's staff.  Anyway, always interesting to see the coaching carousel. 

[Uncle Rico]

sflzman: +k, right on the mark.

sac:  Not surprising.  IMO, that is the logical choice and a very good one for Olivet.  Sometimes it is just best to "stay within house".

Knew coach Moose from his Trine days.  He is a great person and I wish him nothing but the best (except when they play Trine).   

[formerd3db]

Late reply here, but good to hear from you Uncle Rico.  I had heard good things about Coach M also, so with your knowledge of him from when your son played at Trine, and what Coach M has contributed/handled his OC position at Olivet, sounds like Olivet should be okay.

Other topic:

In DI news, it is sad to see that Oregon fired newly hired OC David Reaves due to the DUI.  He is the son of former Florida standout QB John Reaves of several years ago.  He came to Oregon with new HC Willie Taggart from Univ of South Florida.  A good coach, with wife and two children.  Very sad he made that mistake of which people have been preaching about for years for people to just simply avoid.  It can cause havoc on one's life aside from ruining it.  Hopefully, he can eventually recover from this, will have learned a valuable lesson albeit at a high price and someone perhaps give him a second chance eventually.  I hate seeing news like this, but...    Comments anyone?

[sac]

Olivet punter Ryan Anderson has signed with Rutgers for his final year of eligibility.

[sflzman]

Olivet punter Ryan Anderson has signed with Rutgers for his final year of eligibility.

One could give a strong argument that this is a lateral move

[sac]

Olivet punter Ryan Anderson has signed with Rutgers for his final year of eligibility.

One could give a strong argument that this is a lateral move

Oh snap!