Qualities of the next head coach

[MarkL]

We've named some candidates to look at and with the exception of Adam Sandler's stunt double, I like the list. But how about some qualities of who we would like as a candidate? For all we know, someone is going to come out of left field.

- Head coaching or assistant HC experience. Clawson had it and that was integral to building the program from the foundation up. Is it essential to have been a HC? No, but it would be nice to have someone who's been right there. Obviously that didn't bother Doeren, but just about anybody can say Brandon was in over his head when it came to managing the big picture of the program.
- Family values. We hear it from almost every commit - BGSU is a family atmosphere. Keep that.
- Connect with the fans and alums. Kingston has hit this one home. Clawson did a good job. Meyer did a great job. Orr has not. This is an essential attribute for the coming hire.
- Offensive philosophy. I'm not sure if I could say what offensive philosophy I would want, just that the new coach has a solid offensive philosophy. This is a conference with a lot of outstanding offenses and being just OK on O and not having a solid philosophy of who we were is why we finished 8-4, not 10-2 or better last year. If somebody came in and wanted to chuck it all over the field a la Texas Tech, I'd sure be interested. If somebody wanted to power run the ball, I'd also be interested. Heck, I'd even listen if somebody wanted to run the triple option or the wishbone.
- And on the above, don't mess with a good thing, at least for now. Keep what is already there given who is returning and transition to a new offense. No RichRods!!
- Values defense. We've seen lots of MAC teams that can score 40+ but allow 50+. We have been different, and I'd like to keep that.
- Embraces the rivalries. 4 straight losses to that team up north cannot continue. I'm not saying Clawson didn't embrace the rivalry seeing as it was a completely different team after that loss, but I'm not sure I saw the intensity I wanted to see for 60 minutes. I would like to see the team come out physically and pound those guys into the ground from the first play.
- Understands Ohio recruiting. Clawson didn't have a ton of understanding in this realm but his assistants did. We were outstanding in recruiting Ohio.
- Bowling Green connection. Obviously didn't matter with Clawson, but it would be nice to hire somebody who has a real connection to the university. It might mean some more loyalty or at least a solid understanding of what all is required to win here.
- Brown. If somebody says they would like to see us in brown jerseys in the interview and embraces that half of our color scheme, hire that man on the spot!

Greg Christopher hit a home run in hiring Clawson. I'm hoping Kingston can do even better.

[Schadenfreude]

- Brown. If somebody says they would like to see us in brown jerseys in the interview and embraces that half of our color scheme, hire that man on the spot!

Boom.

[mscarn]

1. Recruiting
2. Recuiting
3. Recruiting
4. Maintain the academic support structure of Coach Pechac
5. Maintain the strength and conditioning system of Coach Hourigan
6. Recruiting
7. Have a up-tempo, dynamic offense that gets the ball to players in space
8. Recruiting
9. Don't waste time on shallow, PJ Fleck style promotional and "community relations" nonsense and focus on devleoping a football team first and foremost.
10. Recruiting

[guest44]

DJ Durkin and make the offer today

[footballguy51]

1. Recruiting
2. Recuiting
3. Recruiting
4. Maintain the academic support structure of Coach Pechac
5. Maintain the strength and conditioning system of Coach Hourigan
6. Recruiting
7. Have a up-tempo, dynamic offense that gets the ball to players in space
8. Recruiting
9. Don't waste time on shallow, PJ Fleck style promotional and "community relations" nonsense and focus on devleoping a football team first and foremost.
10. Recruiting

Agree with all but 7 and 10. Our offense works really well the way it is. Why do something stupid like going up-tempo? And for #10, I don't like you listing Recruiting as #10. It should be #9.

[MarkL]

1. Recruiting
2. Recuiting
3. Recruiting
4. Maintain the academic support structure of Coach Pechac
5. Maintain the strength and conditioning system of Coach Hourigan
6. Recruiting
7. Have a up-tempo, dynamic offense that gets the ball to players in space
8. Recruiting
9. Don't waste time on shallow, PJ Fleck style promotional and "community relations" nonsense and focus on devleoping a football team first and foremost.
10. Recruiting

I think you forgot to mention recruiting

[komet_falcon]

We need a coach with head coaching experience and a guy who ran a fortune 500 company we need Joe Moglia .

[Globetrotter]

DJ Durkin and make the offer today

I am 98% in this boat. I think this is a perfect timing scenario for both us and him.

[hammb]

1. I've stated countless times on here that for BG I think the ability of a coach to connect with the fanbase and the community is huge. Maybe not the most important thing, but it's something that needs to be very high on the list. Build support and an atmosphere that makes people want to go out and watch the team again. More following means more money for the department.

2. I think we're still early enough that we can be ahead of the curve with the uptempo offense. I want a young dynamic offensive mind. If the HC has a defensive background, I'm ok with that, so long as he's not one of these guys that is afraid of offense and trying to protect his defense by controlling the ball/clock. If he's defensive minded I would want to know for sure who he was bringing in as OC and have confirmation he could get him. I want a guy that wants an aggressive quick strike offense that can put up points all over the place. We've got a great stable of RBs & WRs and a Sophomore QB that has really grown as the season went along. I want to see what a truly dynamic offensive guy can do with this talent.

3. That brings me to the next thing...what sort of staff can he assemble. That's the biggest one that usually doesn't get discussed. I'd like to see a lot of our defensive coaches stick around, if possible.

4. Recruiting. He must be able to sell. This is pretty much an obvious one which is why I didn't put it higher...everybody knows the ability to recruit is a huge attribute (if not the biggest) for any college coach.

5. Embrace being BG for being BG. Realize that we're not a football factory. You need to recruit, but not by compromising our standards academically or socially. Continue doing things the right way. Clawson has won a conference title while keeping us in very good standing, I expect the new guy to do the same.

6. Put emphasis on winning games against BCS competition and propelling BG football to the levels of Boise/Fresno. I want to have guys that are going high in the NFL draft every year from BG. I want to be the team that all BCS teams fear on their schedule because we're not just some lousy program from the MAC. I want BG football to transcend the MAC and I think you only get that by hiring a coach that sets that as a goal. Winning the MAC is awesome...it feels great to be MAC champs. I want more.

[mscarn]

There have been many comparisons drawn to Campbell at Toledo and Carey at NIU regarding the effectiveness/wisdom of promoting assistants. There's another example in the MAC we should take heed of: Dan Enos at Central Michigan.

They were coming off a MAC championship. Their coach took a job for more money. They ignored several qualified internal candidates and brought him in from Michigan State, where he talked about upgrading the program to a Boise level and accomplishing it by changing schemes and structures that worked.

5 years and 0 championships later the program is the definition of stale with CMU fans calling for his job and a return to what worked for them in the past.

[Flipper]

I really think you need to do your due diligence here...it's the highest profile coaching gig. If he's interested, you might well decide Elko is the guy, but you owe it to him and the University to go through the process and make be certain of that

[MarkL]

Right on Flip. Elko is my top pick but I would want him to earn it and prove he is a better candidate than any other candidate by going through the same process.

[mscarn]

There's definitely something to be said for going through a process, but what is Elko going to say during an interview that will lose him the job? Is he suddenly going to pledge solidarity to the faculty association and recommend cutting the football budget?

All the assistants are going to say roughly the same things and I'm still hesitant in prioritizing rhetoric and promises over results. What separates Elko is that he has proven results at BG, not in another program with different resources and circumstances.

[hammb]

There's definitely something to be said for going through a process, but what is Elko going to say during an interview that will lose him the job? Is he suddenly going to pledge solidarity to the faculty association and recommend cutting the football budget?

All the assistants are going to say roughly the same things and I'm still hesitant in prioritizing rhetoric and promises over results. What separates Elko is that he has proven results at BG, not in another program with different resources and circumstances.

Elko has as many results as a head coach at BG as you or I do.

The job isn't his to lose. Approaching it that way would be a huge mistake for Kingston, and I don't think he'll do that.

I don't think at all that the assistants will all say the same things. I think all of us have thought about how we would operate things if we were made CEO. That's basically what a head coach is, CEO of Football. I'd be willing to bet that every single one of them has unique ideas about the direction they'd like to take the BG Football program. It's Kingston's job to listen to those ideas and determine which of them fit with the vision he and the University have for the program.

I've seen countless great coordinators fail miserably as head coaches at the collegiate and NFL levels. You don't make a coaching hire based on track record as an assistant, you make it based on what you think the ability is as a head coach.

[Flipper]

There's definitely something to be said for going through a process, but what is Elko going to say during an interview that will lose him the job? Is he suddenly going to pledge solidarity to the faculty association and recommend cutting the football budget?

All the assistants are going to say roughly the same things and I'm still hesitant in prioritizing rhetoric and promises over results. What separates Elko is that he has proven results at BG, not in another program with different resources and circumstances.

If the goal is to find the best candidate already here...go ahead and hire Elko. If the job is to find the best candidate...do your homework and interview more candidates...including Elko. You might found that he's the guy and you might find someone better. That's what an AD is supposed to do...he's supposed to do what's right for the University, not what's convenient or politically popular