Dino Babers

[Globetrotter]

I find it hard to believe we're on the eighth page of this thread and no one has started a list of potential replacements for Coach Babers when he leaves.

DJ Durkin.

[Critical Thinker]

I find it hard to believe we're on the eighth page of this thread and no one has started a list of potential replacements for Coach Babers when he leaves.

Southern Illinois' basketball coach.

[Flipper]

Omar Jacobs

[Tricky_Falcon]

Can't wait to see what Dino can do with this program! Looks like a very good hire by Kingston.

[Baylor1234]

I think you will be happy with him. To one of the earlier quotes Baylor's offense is not a run and shoot. Power running, vertical passing, spread the field.

I would expect you guys will start to recruit Texas more for skill players.

[threestooges]

Re: the press conference. I was there, and there were 5 or 6 players seated in the second or third row, behind the Babers family. I'm guessing there were a few more players in the crowd as well. I was surprised that the press conference was as short as it was, but I think the local media wanted to save all of their questions for the one-on-one interviews that came after the press conference. They all had such brilliant questions that they needed to save them for their exclusive interviews, to put their full brilliance on display.

[footballguy51]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

[Globetrotter]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

Great points about the potential negatives of him leaving so quickly with an odd system. I think coach Stud or Durkin would both be guys for down the road.

[hammb]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

He's going to change our offense to the cutting edge of what is dominating college football. How is that a BAD thing? And if you think they'll only know how to pass block you're sadly mistaken...the system is predicated on power running as well. You're just not doing it out of bunched up formations, you're spreading the field horizontally and vertically. You make the defense cover the entire field. Then you speed up the tempo so that they cannot substitute. Then when they're sucking wind, you ram it straight down their throats.

This type of offense is the cutting edge of modern football. It is absolutely what would have been my #1 criteria in hiring a head coach...somebody that can bring those principles here to the MAC where they should be able to flat out dominate.

If he leaves, he leaves. I don't really care. I'd rather have a great coach for 2 years than mediocrity for the terms of the contract. I like Stud, and he might have been a good choice as well. Same for Durkin. But I don't see how anybody can complain about potentially hiring the next Urban Meyer.

The bottom line will always be you cannot afford the good coaches long term, and you don't want the ones you can. It'll always be that way. Don't fight it, embrace it. Then in 3 years if Babers bolts, get out that short list and look for the next young innovator.

[Flipper]

If we're running uptempo offense, hiring the right conditioning coach will be crucial...

[Globetrotter]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

He's going to change our offense to the cutting edge of what is dominating college football. How is that a BAD thing? And if you think they'll only know how to pass block you're sadly mistaken...the system is predicated on power running as well. You're just not doing it out of bunched up formations, you're spreading the field horizontally and vertically. You make the defense cover the entire field. Then you speed up the tempo so that they cannot substitute. Then when they're sucking wind, you ram it straight down their throats.

This type of offense is the cutting edge of modern football. It is absolutely what would have been my #1 criteria in hiring a head coach...somebody that can bring those principles here to the MAC where they should be able to flat out dominate.

If he leaves, he leaves. I don't really care. I'd rather have a great coach for 2 years than mediocrity for the terms of the contract. I like Stud, and he might have been a good choice as well. Same for Durkin. But I don't see how anybody can complain about potentially hiring the next Urban Meyer.

The bottom line will always be you cannot afford the good coaches long term, and you don't want the ones you can. It'll always be that way. Don't fight it, embrace it. Then in 3 years if Babers bolts, get out that short list and look for the next young innovator.

While I do agree with you I certainly see his point. You don't want to get Rich Rodded into recruiting a bunch of guys that don't fit any other system and then have that guy leave and you are stuck with a bunch of guys that don't fit a system you have so there are a bunch of dead years. With that said I think that at BG, you take the risk and assume that the next coach can find some level of success with the players that were already there.

[hammb]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

He's going to change our offense to the cutting edge of what is dominating college football. How is that a BAD thing? And if you think they'll only know how to pass block you're sadly mistaken...the system is predicated on power running as well. You're just not doing it out of bunched up formations, you're spreading the field horizontally and vertically. You make the defense cover the entire field. Then you speed up the tempo so that they cannot substitute. Then when they're sucking wind, you ram it straight down their throats.

This type of offense is the cutting edge of modern football. It is absolutely what would have been my #1 criteria in hiring a head coach...somebody that can bring those principles here to the MAC where they should be able to flat out dominate.

If he leaves, he leaves. I don't really care. I'd rather have a great coach for 2 years than mediocrity for the terms of the contract. I like Stud, and he might have been a good choice as well. Same for Durkin. But I don't see how anybody can complain about potentially hiring the next Urban Meyer.

The bottom line will always be you cannot afford the good coaches long term, and you don't want the ones you can. It'll always be that way. Don't fight it, embrace it. Then in 3 years if Babers bolts, get out that short list and look for the next young innovator.

While I do agree with you I certainly see his point. You don't want to get Rich Rodded into recruiting a bunch of guys that don't fit any other system and then have that guy leave and you are stuck with a bunch of guys that don't fit a system you have so there are a bunch of dead years. With that said I think that at BG, you take the risk and assume that the next coach can find some level of success with the players that were already there.

See, I think the big difference is that Rich Rod was trying to run a system that could only work with one set of players. Everybody had to be a speedy quick athlete. From the QB to the RB to the WRs, and even the OL. He wanted everybody small and light to move super fast. There was no power component to that offense at all. Which is why it failed in the Big 10. Without having a power component of his own the defenses were able to overpower his line up front and render all the speed and quickness meaningless.

If you look at Baylor (and I keep using them because quite frankly I have never seen EIU play except for cutups of Garopollo), their OL is HUGE. They can absolutely steamroll guys when asked to do so.

The system is predicated on a lot of basic principles that have worked in football for years:
1. Power running
2. Diversity/Balance
3. Spread the defense horizontally (something first really seen in the early 2000s, but has been a staple of football since).

Where this differs from the more traditional approach is that it is largely pass first to then transition to the power run, versus the traditional opposite. It also incorporates an uptempo playcalling that helps tire out the defense quicker (and get more plays for your offense). And unlike many of the newer spread offenses (RichRod especially) it spreads the field vertically as well as horizontally.

To Flipper's point, you're right. We absolutely must get a conditioning coach that is used to this sort of offense (I fully expect him to bring in somebody he's worked with before at EIU or Baylor). It is also a principle that is reinforced during every single practice drill from the moment they first step on the field. Read some of Chip Kelly's writings on how he conducts practice. Briles does much of the same. They run every drill, every play, up tempo. That combined with the right conditioning coach is going to be imperative. You can't run uptempo if your own team can't maintain the pace.

What I see is if Babers is successful in implementing what he did at EIU, then bolts in a couple years he'll leave us with a team that is better conditioned than our opposition, has a better WR corps than our opposition, and still has the ability to block with some power when necessary. The TE is not a major component though, so quite possibly we won't have many of them around for whoever takes over the job. I'm not too worried about any of it at this point though. I'm just here to enjoy the ride. Quite frankly, I think this is a coaching hire that has the potential to do with us what Urban did at Utah.

[Globetrotter]

I was there as well. Extremely short, and I was disappointed with that. He didn't really say anything interesting, didn't introduce his family (who was sitting right there), and didn't really address anything. To me, it signals that he's only taking this job to get HC experience in FBS so he can move elsewhere quickly (Urban Meyer). To me, this was a bad hire because he's going to change our offense to something insane and then bolt, and we'll be left with a ton of receivers, no viable tight ends, and linemen that can only pass block. Studrawa would have been the MUCH better choice in my opinion.

He's going to change our offense to the cutting edge of what is dominating college football. How is that a BAD thing? And if you think they'll only know how to pass block you're sadly mistaken...the system is predicated on power running as well. You're just not doing it out of bunched up formations, you're spreading the field horizontally and vertically. You make the defense cover the entire field. Then you speed up the tempo so that they cannot substitute. Then when they're sucking wind, you ram it straight down their throats.

This type of offense is the cutting edge of modern football. It is absolutely what would have been my #1 criteria in hiring a head coach...somebody that can bring those principles here to the MAC where they should be able to flat out dominate.

If he leaves, he leaves. I don't really care. I'd rather have a great coach for 2 years than mediocrity for the terms of the contract. I like Stud, and he might have been a good choice as well. Same for Durkin. But I don't see how anybody can complain about potentially hiring the next Urban Meyer.

The bottom line will always be you cannot afford the good coaches long term, and you don't want the ones you can. It'll always be that way. Don't fight it, embrace it. Then in 3 years if Babers bolts, get out that short list and look for the next young innovator.

While I do agree with you I certainly see his point. You don't want to get Rich Rodded into recruiting a bunch of guys that don't fit any other system and then have that guy leave and you are stuck with a bunch of guys that don't fit a system you have so there are a bunch of dead years. With that said I think that at BG, you take the risk and assume that the next coach can find some level of success with the players that were already there.

See, I think the big difference is that Rich Rod was trying to run a system that could only work with one set of players. Everybody had to be a speedy quick athlete. From the QB to the RB to the WRs, and even the OL. He wanted everybody small and light to move super fast. There was no power component to that offense at all. Which is why it failed in the Big 10. Without having a power component of his own the defenses were able to overpower his line up front and render all the speed and quickness meaningless.

If you look at Baylor (and I keep using them because quite frankly I have never seen EIU play except for cutups of Garopollo), their OL is HUGE. They can absolutely steamroll guys when asked to do so.

The system is predicated on a lot of basic principles that have worked in football for years:
1. Power running
2. Diversity/Balance
3. Spread the defense horizontally (something first really seen in the early 2000s, but has been a staple of football since).

Where this differs from the more traditional approach is that it is largely pass first to then transition to the power run, versus the traditional opposite. It also incorporates an uptempo playcalling that helps tire out the defense quicker (and get more plays for your offense). And unlike many of the newer spread offenses (RichRod especially) it spreads the field vertically as well as horizontally.

To Flipper's point, you're right. We absolutely must get a conditioning coach that is used to this sort of offense (I fully expect him to bring in somebody he's worked with before at EIU or Baylor). It is also a principle that is reinforced during every single practice drill from the moment they first step on the field. Read some of Chip Kelly's writings on how he conducts practice. Briles does much of the same. They run every drill, every play, up tempo. That combined with the right conditioning coach is going to be imperative. You can't run uptempo if your own team can't maintain the pace.

What I see is if Babers is successful in implementing what he did at EIU, then bolts in a couple years he'll leave us with a team that is better conditioned than our opposition, has a better WR corps than our opposition, and still has the ability to block with some power when necessary. The TE is not a major component though, so quite possibly we won't have many of them around for whoever takes over the job. I'm not too worried about any of it at this point though. I'm just here to enjoy the ride. Quite frankly, I think this is a coaching hire that has the potential to do with us what Urban did at Utah.

I would much rather gamble that he hits and leaves, then get someone who is vanilla who is here for ten years.

[mscarn]

You don't want to get Rich Rodded into recruiting a bunch of guys that don't fit any other system and then have that guy leave and you are stuck with a bunch of guys that don't fit a system you have so there are a bunch of dead years.

Absolutely right. It says a lot about Clawson's recruiting that so many of the current players are adaptable to any system.

This has to be a football program, not a plug and play video game. Everything from recruiting to academics to strength training needs to be organized and run at a high level for any system (even the best in college football) to have a chance. Hopefully this is where his head coaching experience comes into play.

[Redwingtom]

I find it hard to believe we're on the eighth page of this thread and no one has started a list of potential replacements for Coach Babers when he leaves.

Baby Puss?

Although The Great Gazoo would be...well...great!