FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

I think both Wabash and Capital will attract some marquee candidates. Since this is the D-3 level, unless one is a total insider, speculation at times is just wild-guessing on who may want to move from their current job.

It's funny, I pegged the coach at Wartburg as a candidate to move to Wabash, because of his Indiana ties, and here someone mentioned Coe's coach to Capital. Hmmm...perhaps everyone is selling the IIAC short!

[JK]

I think the Capital job would be Jim Bickel's IF HE WANTS IT.  He has been a big part of Capital's recent successes as the D-coord.  It has already been reported that he is not going with Collins to SVSU, and it makes sense, particularly at the D3 level, to hire from within at a very successful program IF the candidate has a decent resume, which Bickel has.

If not, O-line coach Mike Ancona has been at Cap a while and is the "second in command" so to speak of the Cap offense (Collins was HC/ O-coord).  His resume isn't as deep as some candidates, but he knows the players and systems and is young enough to give Cap several great years.  Don't forget Collins was just 30 when he was hired at Cap.

If no one from within becomes a viable candidate, there are several guys with HC experience who have Capital ties.  Kevin Daugherty was an assistant for Collins in his first few years and is now the HC at Lakeland.  Kevin is also married to a Capital grad. 

Rich Duncan was an assistant in my time at Cap, and is now the HC at Aurora.

Matt Collins was the O-line coach before Ancona and, last I knew, was the O-coord at his alma mater at Northern Michigan.  I don't know if he would be interested in coming back to Columbus.  A HC gig might lure him away.

Mike Kauffeld was the D-coord when I was at Cap and is a former Cap All-American.  I have no idea what he is doing now, but I know he left Cap to be the HC at Teays Valley.  If he's still in football, he might want to come back to his alma mater.

Just some thoughts.  There are several other young candidates out there who are Capital Grads who have been successful at both High School and College Levels (Travis Everhart, Justin Buttermore off the top of my head) who might also emerge.

We will see where this leads, but I expect Capital to start close in and then work out, like most successful programs do.

[short]

Being the OC at 0-10 Hiram is not what Capital is looking for in their next Head Coach.

[JK]

Being the OC at 0-10 Hiram is not what Capital is looking for in their next Head Coach.

I am sure last year wasn't Travis' high point, but he has been pretty successful everywhere else.  Besides, Hiram's offense wasn't horrible, their defense was waaay worse.

I didn't say Tavis would be my first choice anyway.  I think he would be pretty far down the list, actually.

[seventiesraider]

WVU in the Fiesta Bowl is looking a lot like WWW in the Stagg Bowl. Focused and Firing on all cylinders.

Looks like Rich Rodriguez made a downwards move to Michigan

Can we get a playoff between WVU and VT?

[Mr. Ypsi]

WVU in the Fiesta Bowl is looking a lot like WWW in the Stagg Bowl. Focused and Firing on all cylinders.

Looks like Rich Rodriguez made a downwards move to Michigan

Can we get a playoff between WVU and VT?

Quite the contrary, if he can produce a team like that at WVU, imagine what he can do with Michigan's reputation and resources.  (And Michigan showed that it wasn't really overrated - once Henne and Hart played together healthy for the first time in months.)

And why leave Georgia, USC, Mizzou, etc., out of a desired playoff?  The way the regular season and bowls have gone, a playoff is obviously desirable, but I'm not sure even an 8-team playoff would have been enough to guarantee the 'best' team winning the title!  (Maybe there simply isn't a 'best' team this year, except on any given week - sounds like it could be a mantra for disgruntled Raider fans! )

[pg04]

Yeah, rather than VT and WVU, I want USC and UGA!  Both those two teams could beat the teams in the Championship game, in my opinion.  But what do I know?  I'm not a computer. 

[reality check]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

[JT]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

His name has been thrown around about a HC NFL job.  That's where he's heading next.

[SaintsFAN]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

Not a chance, RC.  I heard he's LK's successor....

[JK]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

His name has been thrown around about a HC NFL job.  That's where he's heading next.

Reality,

I like it.  Unfortunately, like JT says, it is more likely he will land, if not this year than fairly soon, some place that pays much, much better than Capital  

What's amazing to me is the age of some of these guys.  When Collins was hired at Cap 11 years ago, he was 30, and there was discussion that he might be "too young," even at the D3 level.  Now, Lane Kiffin is an NFL HC at 32-33, and McDaniels (who is 31-32, I think) is a guy a lot of people in NFL circles have identified as a "future HC," and likely very soon.  In the D1 ranks, Major Applewhite's name is one I have heard mentioned a lot as a "future HC," and he is early 30's.  Used to be that you had to "pay your dues," which meant 10+ years of working your way "through the ranks," and even then it seemed you had to be a certain age.  It's good to see that some young guys who can coach are now able to be recognized for their abilities and not their age.

[JK]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

Not a chance, RC.  I heard he's LK's successor....

That's a good one.  Having Graduated from Canton McKinley, he might want to "return to his roots" in the area.

Since we are living in a fantasy world right now, I say we woo Jim Heacock away from Ohio St.  I mean, he's already in Columbus, he's a Musky grad so he has OAC ties, and he has a successful resume, including stints as a HC.  I'm sure he's probably tired of being a coordinator and would like to get back to being the Head guy someplace, right? 

(Using the same criteria, Dick Tressel would also be a viable candidate for the Cap job)

[JT]

You know there's another OAC alum who has some Coordinator experience that might want to come back to coach in Ohio.  All Capital would need to do is throw in a couple purple hoodies and go with the "your current boss is a D-III alum and look at his success as a HC" angle. 

Besides, Capital has to be an upgrade from New England right?

I say CAP goes after Josh McDaniels!

His name has been thrown around about a HC NFL job.  That's where he's heading next.

Reality,

I like it.  Unfortunately, like JT says, it is more likely he will land, if not this year than fairly soon, some place that pays much, much better than Capital 

What's amazing to me is the age of some of these guys.  When Collins was hired at Cap 11 years ago, he was 30, and there was discussion that he might be "too young," even at the D3 level.  Now, Lane Kiffin is an NFL HC at 32-33, and McDaniels (who is 31-32, I think) is a guy a lot of people in NFL circles have identified as a "future HC," and likely very soon.  In the D1 ranks, Major Applewhite's name is one I have heard mentioned a lot as a "future HC," and he is early 30's.  Used to be that you had to "pay your dues," which meant 10+ years of working your way "through the ranks," and even then it seemed you had to be a certain age.  It's good to see that some young guys who can coach are now able to be recognized for their abilities and not their age.

The thing that might preclude Josh from being considered for the Dolphins is that he probably won't want to be in the AFC East opposing Belechick.  Course that didn't stop Mangini.  But I've heard Josh's name being brought up on the radio sports talk shows lately.

And as far as age goes, it really comes down to pedigree.  The Parcells-Belechick family tree has strong NFL roots.  Plus with all the time and effort it takes to be a NFL HC, its looking like the younger guys have the stamina and the fortitude (see: Petrino, Saban).

[Spence]

WVU in the Fiesta Bowl is looking a lot like WWW in the Stagg Bowl. Focused and Firing on all cylinders.

Looks like Rich Rodriguez made a downwards move to Michigan

Can we get a playoff between WVU and VT?

Quite the contrary, if he can produce a team like that at WVU, imagine what he can do with Michigan's reputation and resources.  (And Michigan showed that it wasn't really overrated - once Henne and Hart played together healthy for the first time in months.)

And why leave Georgia, USC, Mizzou, etc., out of a desired playoff?  The way the regular season and bowls have gone, a playoff is obviously desirable, but I'm not sure even an 8-team playoff would have been enough to guarantee the 'best' team winning the title!  (Maybe there simply isn't a 'best' team this year, except on any given week - sounds like it could be a mantra for disgruntled Raider fans! )

He can't produce a better team at Michigan than WVU because you can't produce a better team anywhere than WVU was last night. No one in the nation beats them last night. No one.

Michigan's resources are vastly overrated. They've always done things on the cheap up there because they could. They had "Michigan men" as coach who didn't make the demands that have been made other places. WVU's weight room I'm told dwarfs Michigan's, and the two programs are similar in terms of being absolutely dependent upon recruiting talent from other states and regions. Other than championships won under Fielding Yost and a half a title in the last 50some years, I don't see the big difference in terms of what each program's ceiling is.

[D3 Poster]

Hey don't forget to give Marietta some props in the coaching area...Glaser moved from Marietta to UW-EC and was in the playoffs in year two and Wiese was a finalist at UW-WW last year.