Blade Reports Brandon Extension Likely

[It's the Journey...]

I have been watching this thread silently, but I think I will chime in now.

You keep getting answers you are not accepting.

Attendance: This is a major issue, Brandon is the CEO of falcon football, I would like to see him be more visible like Urban Meyer was in order to try to right that ship.

I think any coach could do more to increase attendance. But the most important thing any coach can do it have the team prepared to play and win the game. Urban did a lot of promotion all over campus but it had a price. It made me sick to hear the crowd chanting "Urban Meyer" after the team busted their asses to win. They were treated as second class citizens to Urban who was promoting himself more than Falcon Football. Once the season starts I want my head football coach focused on one thing, and that is the next team we are playing. If he has time to do more, great. If he needs every minute to get the team prepared to play then that is what I want him doing.

Lame duck coach: I understand the merits here, but if they like the coach then they will play their guts out to make sure he is back. The point you were making prior is that recruiting would be hurt for 2009. That is why I brought basketball into the mix. I would say recruiting was not hurt at all because of the new coach. Basketball and Football are different animals but it is the same type of scenario, and we likely ended up with better players with the new coach coming in.

I think the timing of recruiting between basketball and football is where the difference is. It seems to me the football recruiting and signing period is closer to the end of the season in football than it is in basketball. In our case with men's basketball we had a little time to consider who would be the right choice for head coach and Orr still had some time to recruit. I don't see that happening in football because of the timing. Everyone knew Dakich was a lame duck but Orr had time to get players. If we made Brandon a lame duck the new coach would not have as much time and we may lose a whole class because of it. I do not want to make that sacrifice. That is why I have been consistent in saying we either cut him lose now or extend him 1 year.

The family: Ellis dad was anti, other parents have said that their sons might even transfer, etc. These were directly at the coach. Saying it is a family you have to draw a link to the coach. Had Torresso said I love coach Brandon he relates to us like a father and it is like a family here. Thats a different kind of statement. Each time I have said that I have qualified it with I dont know what the real relationship is. I am sure that there are countless voices from insiders that could give us the real scoop. When Brandon was named coach you had mentioned that the players made the effort to get them in that position. Is such a movement afoot now to get him an extension?

I am not even going to touch this one. I firmly believe not even the families of the players know everything that is going on. If they players feel strongly about Brandon's status as head coach one way or another the should use the process in place through the athletic department to air their grievances. I do not feel we should know about that. It is between the players and the coaches and the administration and that is where it should stay in my opinion. There is a process, it can be anonymous, and it does work.

Extension: The question was how could the sentiment switch so abruptly in 4 weeks. Week 8 the sentiment was that the board wanted him gone. Week 12 an extension is a great idea.

In week 8 of the season we were 4-4 and looked like a turd swirling in the bowl. In week 12 we were 8-4 and looked like a team with life. In week 8 I don't think a lot of people were looking at the effects of a lame duck coach on recruiting because of the way the season was heading. The focus of conversation at that time was where will the money come from to buy out his contract. In week 12, with the BEST record in the MAC, a WIN over Toledo, and a BOWL BID, the money went to the back burner and the effect on recruiting became a more important issue.

I have given my opinion before but I would give him 1 more year now and 1 depending on the result of the bowl game. BUT, I would make it very clear that the money to buy him out is available and any more stretches like October will earn him the right to pack his things and find employment elsewhere. He has done too well not to extend him, but he has to know how thin the tightrope he is walking actually is.

[Globetrotter]

I have been watching this thread silently, but I think I will chime in now.

You keep getting answers you are not accepting.

Attendance: This is a major issue, Brandon is the CEO of falcon football, I would like to see him be more visible like Urban Meyer was in order to try to right that ship.

I think any coach could do more to increase attendance. But the most important thing any coach can do it have the team prepared to play and win the game. Urban did a lot of promotion all over campus but it had a price. It made me sick to hear the crowd chanting "Urban Meyer" after the team busted their asses to win. They were treated as second class citizens to Urban who was promoting himself more than Falcon Football. Once the season starts I want my head football coach focused on one thing, and that is the next team we are playing. If he has time to do more, great. If he needs every minute to get the team prepared to play then that is what I want him doing.

I loved when they were chanting Urban Meyer

Lame duck coach: I understand the merits here, but if they like the coach then they will play their guts out to make sure he is back. The point you were making prior is that recruiting would be hurt for 2009. That is why I brought basketball into the mix. I would say recruiting was not hurt at all because of the new coach. Basketball and Football are different animals but it is the same type of scenario, and we likely ended up with better players with the new coach coming in.

I think the timing of recruiting between basketball and football is where the difference is. It seems to me the football recruiting and signing period is closer to the end of the season in football than it is in basketball. In our case with men's basketball we had a little time to consider who would be the right choice for head coach and Orr still had some time to recruit. I don't see that happening in football because of the timing. Everyone knew Dakich was a lame duck but Orr had time to get players. If we made Brandon a lame duck the new coach would not have as much time and we may lose a whole class because of it. I do not want to make that sacrifice. That is why I have been consistent in saying we either cut him lose now or extend him 1 year.

I see your point but if the coach is gone by November wouldn't he have more time to recruit?

The family: Ellis dad was anti, other parents have said that their sons might even transfer, etc. These were directly at the coach. Saying it is a family you have to draw a link to the coach. Had Torresso said I love coach Brandon he relates to us like a father and it is like a family here. Thats a different kind of statement. Each time I have said that I have qualified it with I dont know what the real relationship is. I am sure that there are countless voices from insiders that could give us the real scoop. When Brandon was named coach you had mentioned that the players made the effort to get them in that position. Is such a movement afoot now to get him an extension?

I am not even going to touch this one. I firmly believe not even the families of the players know everything that is going on. If they players feel strongly about Brandon's status as head coach one way or another the should use the process in place through the athletic department to air their grievances. I do not feel we should know about that. It is between the players and the coaches and the administration and that is where it should stay in my opinion. There is a process, it can be anonymous, and it does work.

Extension: The question was how could the sentiment switch so abruptly in 4 weeks. Week 8 the sentiment was that the board wanted him gone. Week 12 an extension is a great idea.

In week 8 of the season we were 4-4 and looked like a turd swirling in the bowl. In week 12 we were 8-4 and looked like a team with life. In week 8 I don't think a lot of people were looking at the effects of a lame duck coach on recruiting because of the way the season was heading. The focus of conversation at that time was where will the money come from to buy out his contract. In week 12, with the BEST record in the MAC, a WIN over Toledo, and a BOWL BID, the money went to the back burner and the effect on recruiting became a more important issue.

I have given my opinion before but I would give him 1 more year now and 1 depending on the result of the bowl game. BUT, I would make it very clear that the money to buy him out is available and any more stretches like October will earn him the right to pack his things and find employment elsewhere. He has done too well not to extend him, but he has to know how thin the tightrope he is walking actually is.

I am not sure how he can be extended and then be walking a tightrope, I guess I dont see the two poles being the only choices, but I do see what you are getting at if they actually are.

[It's the Journey...]

Attendance: This is a major issue, Brandon is the CEO of falcon football, I would like to see him be more visible like Urban Meyer was in order to try to right that ship.

I think any coach could do more to increase attendance. But the most important thing any coach can do it have the team prepared to play and win the game. Urban did a lot of promotion all over campus but it had a price. It made me sick to hear the crowd chanting "Urban Meyer" after the team busted their asses to win. They were treated as second class citizens to Urban who was promoting himself more than Falcon Football. Once the season starts I want my head football coach focused on one thing, and that is the next team we are playing. If he has time to do more, great. If he needs every minute to get the team prepared to play then that is what I want him doing.

I loved when they were chanting Urban Meyer

I come from the school of thought that the name on the FRONT of the jersey is more important than the name on the BACK. Urban Meyer is very much a "name on the back" kind of guy.

Lame duck coach: I understand the merits here, but if they like the coach then they will play their guts out to make sure he is back. The point you were making prior is that recruiting would be hurt for 2009. That is why I brought basketball into the mix. I would say recruiting was not hurt at all because of the new coach. Basketball and Football are different animals but it is the same type of scenario, and we likely ended up with better players with the new coach coming in.

I think the timing of recruiting between basketball and football is where the difference is. It seems to me the football recruiting and signing period is closer to the end of the season in football than it is in basketball. In our case with men's basketball we had a little time to consider who would be the right choice for head coach and Orr still had some time to recruit. I don't see that happening in football because of the timing. Everyone knew Dakich was a lame duck but Orr had time to get players. If we made Brandon a lame duck the new coach would not have as much time and we may lose a whole class because of it. I do not want to make that sacrifice. That is why I have been consistent in saying we either cut him lose now or extend him 1 year.

I see your point but if the coach is gone by November wouldn't he have more time to recruit?

If the coach is gone by November then he left mid season. How many schools do you know of who hired a head coach mid season? A school in that situation will name an interim because they have to. And how many coach with jobs would leave to go to another school mid season? You would not even get permission to talk to another coach under contract with another school until the season ended at the end of November. In that case recruiting is hurt even more than having a lame duck coach.

Extension: The question was how could the sentiment switch so abruptly in 4 weeks. Week 8 the sentiment was that the board wanted him gone. Week 12 an extension is a great idea.

In week 8 of the season we were 4-4 and looked like a turd swirling in the bowl. In week 12 we were 8-4 and looked like a team with life. In week 8 I don't think a lot of people were looking at the effects of a lame duck coach on recruiting because of the way the season was heading. The focus of conversation at that time was where will the money come from to buy out his contract. In week 12, with the BEST record in the MAC, a WIN over Toledo, and a BOWL BID, the money went to the back burner and the effect on recruiting became a more important issue.

I have given my opinion before but I would give him 1 more year now and 1 depending on the result of the bowl game. BUT, I would make it very clear that the money to buy him out is available and any more stretches like October will earn him the right to pack his things and find employment elsewhere. He has done too well not to extend him, but he has to know how thin the tightrope he is walking actually is.

I am not sure how he can be extended and then be walking a tightrope, I guess I don't see the two poles being the only choices, but I do see what you are getting at if they actually are.

If you get a promotion at work do you then get to do nothing? An extension rewards him for what he has done in the past. The warning will dictate the future. You have done well, but I don't think either of us are happy yet." It's a simple matter of being upfront with expectations.

[Globetrotter]

I should have been more clear with November. I meant end of November.

[BGorDeath]

Is this discussion still going on? Shouldn't it have ended at page 3?

[h2oville rocket]

I've got to be honest with you, the notion that we'd let a HC with a winning record go into a lame duck season without offering him an extension is just about the dumbest idea I've heard advanced on this board...no offense..

You really haven't been paying attention. Check the Free-for-All forum some time. Dumber ideas on a daily basis, many of them mine. No offense.

[1987alum]

First off, there have been plenty of times that Flip has taken me to task for my positions, so don't think you're "special" because he's calling you out here.

Attendance: This is a major issue, Brandon is the CEO of falcon football, I would like to see him be more visible like Urban Meyer was in order to try to right that ship.

A few thoughts here ...

1) Brandon is NOT the "CEO of Falcon Football". That title would reside with Mr. Christopher. Brandon would be more of a General Manager (and I mean that in a business-world sense).

2) You keep saying he needs to be more visible, but I hear from others that he's plenty visible.

3) The #1 way Brandon can help attendance is to field an exciting, winning team. He's done that.

Lame duck coach: I understand the merits here, but if they like the coach then they will play their guts out to make sure he is back. The point you were making prior is that recruiting would be hurt for 2009. That is why I brought basketball into the mix. I would say recruiting was not hurt at all because of the new coach. Basketball and Football are different animals but it is the same type of scenario, and we likely ended up with better players with the new coach coming in.

Different animals, indeed. I think it's important to look beyond Wood County in this portion of the discussion, because it's highly unusual for a D-1A football coach to play as a lame duck. You seem to dismiss the impact on recruiting here and I think that's quite dangerous.

A bad year recruiting in basketball hurts, but add a good player or two the next year and you've made it up. But a botched year recruiting in football hurts on a much larger scale. It's simply a matter of numbers. Worse yet, it can take years for that to manifest itself (look at Brandon's initial recruiting class, thrown together in a short timeframe after Urban Meyer's exit).

I am sure that there are countless voices from insiders that could give us the real scoop. When Brandon was named coach you had mentioned that the players made the effort to get them in that position. Is such a movement afoot now to get him an extension?

Not sure we'll get detailed inside information, but I'd be interested to hear from folks who were at the football banquet, because it's my understanding that the players made it obvious how they felt about Brandon.

Extension: The question was how could the sentiment switch so abruptly in 4 weeks. Week 8 the sentiment was that the board wanted him gone. Week 12 an extension is a great idea.

It's a fluid situation. It would have been easy, very easy for this team to give up at the end of October. Look at last year. I was at the Temple loss and I can tell you that it appeared that no one (outside of Briggs, maybe) appeared to want to be on the field that day. This team could have reacted to the Miami & Ohio losses the same way.

But you know what, they didn't. And you have to give Brandon some credit for that. Maybe he learned something last year. Maybe he's matured as a coach. The bottom line is, this team has developed over the course of the season. They looked at themselves in the mirror, realized they were 4-4 going into the homestretch and changed their attitude.

So how could the sentiment switch so abruptly? Simple. The results on the field changed abruptly.

[Flipper]

Excellent points Karl...not a dumb idea in the lot ...I might take the time to add that no one was talking about a contract extension when the team was sitting at 3-1 after beating Temple either...

Additionally...if you think holding a gun to your coach's head is the tool to motivate your team, you might just as well fire that coach right now. A team that is focused on winning a title, a bowl game and fisnishing the year nationally ranked should not need any additional motivation. Under that scenario, the status of the coach would be regarded as a HUGE FRICKING DISTRACTION.

Globetrotter has made a few revealeing comments...he's 27....so he was probably a student during Meyer's tenure. He LOVED chanting the name Urban Meyer ...Urban Meyer was more visible than Gregg Brandon...Urban Meyer was this...Urban Meyer was that...Globetrotter, get over the romanticised view of your college days and Urban Meyer...He ain't coming back...

[hammb]

Globetrotter has made a few revealeing comments...he's 27....so he was probably a student during Meyer's tenure. He LOVED chanting the name Urban Meyer ...Urban Meyer was more visible than Gregg Brandon...Urban Meyer was this...Urban Meyer was that...Globetrotter, get over the romanticised view of your college days and Urban Meyer...He ain't coming back...

The problem is simple. It's something that's taken me quite awhile to come to grips with, and it sucks. For 2 years we had one of the best football coaches in the country. Urban Meyer is probably the best football coach we've ever had at BG and that's including guys like Nehlen & Perry, etc. For my money Urban is the best coach in football today, and I love watching his teams play.

Unfortunately at BG we cannot hope to have coaches like Urban Meyer. Sure we may find one every once in awhile, but they will promptly leave, and we're left looking for ANOTHER Urban Meyer. Problem is there aren't that many of them out there, and every other school in the country is looking for them too.

I don't think Gregg Brandon is a great coach. If he were he wouldn't be here working for a bottom 10 salary anymore. But he might not be a terrible coach either. Myself & Globetrotter are probably guilty of comparing him to Urbie, but I think we were spoiled and will probably never see a coach of that quality at BG again.

I'm still not comfortable giving him a long term extension, but a year or two is warranted. Until we are prepared to financially commit ourselves to paying a real salary we're probably going to be stuck with mediocre coaches. For what we pay I think we could do worse.

[factman]

Doyt never lost to Toledo!!! Can Urban say that?

pssst.................he is also in the Football Coaches Hall of Fame!

[VDub26Falcon]

I've got to be honest with you, the notion that we'd let a HC with a winning record go into a lame duck season without offering him an extension is just about the dumbest idea I've heard advanced on this board...no offense..

You really haven't been paying attention. Check the Free-for-All forum some time. Dumber ideas on a daily basis, many of them mine. No offense.

And the dumb ideas in the "Other Schools" forum are usually brought on by tek.

[tiznow]

I wasn't around during Doyt, but Urban was only here two years and no bowl bids. I don't think he can be classified as the best coach ever at BG. He did a great job at turning around the program, but in those two years BG never won the MAC. Under Doyt, BG won 5 MAC championships and a national title.

[transfer2BGSU]

Urban and Moe never took a BG team to a bowl game.

Urban didn't win the right games when was at BG. Beating Northwestern had no impact on attaining the No. 1 goal - win the MAC West.

Yes, Urban beat Toledo one year but remember that Toledo didn't play a number of the first team because they were going to play Marshall the following week for the MACC.

Urban didn't want to be at BG and split town before he could finish business. Brandon wants to be here. He has earned his five year extension.

[JoeFalcon]

I wasn't around during Doyt, but Urban was only here two years and no bowl bids. I don't think he can be classified as the best coach ever at BG. He did a great job at turning around the program, but in those two years BG never won the MAC. Under Doyt, BG won 5 MAC championships and a national title.

Exactly. The myth of what Urban actually accomplished when he was at BG seems to irrationally expand every year. At the going rate, in 20 years we'll here of the fun everyone had at the ring ceremony after the championship Urban won by designing a gameplan that sacked Ben Roethlisberger 12 times. He has gone on to achieve great things (also with other coaches players) which has bamboozled some people into thinking he walked across on the Maumee River when he was at BG.

He took over a program with loads of talent on hand (3 currently in the NFL and another who had a cup of coffee) that led every MAC East game but Marshall going into the 4th quarter. He revamped the offense, kicked some ass and won the games we would have lost the previous year. He did this with the same defensive coordinator and system Blackney had and a guy by the name of Gregg Brandon calling the plays on offense.

A quality coaching job? Absolutely. A legendary virtuoso performance to be only mentioned in hush, reverential tones and never to be replicated at BG again? Pure baloney.

He failed to win even a divisional title, got embarassed vs. South Florida in 2002 and made a bonehead fake punt call that likely cost us the Toledo game that same year where we badly faded down the stretch after peaking too early. He undoubtably recruited some talented players, but there were also numerous costly washouts, and his departure in 2002 hampered the 2003 recruiting class and led (at least in part) to the personnel issues we endured last year.

He gets enough deserved credit for his other successes without the embellishing seen so often here.

[Dayons_Den]

Urban changed the football culture at BG in a similar way that Marshall changed the culture accross the M.A.C. when they re-joined.