BGSU33 wrote:Did anyone else get the impression that Mike Jinx did not actually apply for the BG job, but was instead contacted by BG about it? After reading the articles and watching the video, if I remember correctly, he made some sort of a comment about his AD telling him there was interest from BG in him about the position.
You'd be surprised how many people get jobs this way, typically via headhunter firms. I've certainly received interviews and job offers to places I've never applied. If you've got what an employer wants, they'll come calling.
I'm aware of it happening in the professional world as my wife gets calls like that often, but I wasn't as aware of it happening in coaching as much, especially from a guy like Jinx with no head coaching experience at the collegiate level. I do remember hearing something about that happening with Terry Bowden at Akron. I remember reading something about how he wasn't even looking at the Akron job but while coaching at North Alabama the Zips came calling. But of course, he had a lot of previous head coaching experience, especially as the head coach at Auburn. I just found it a little curious about Jinx that if he indeed wasn't looking at BG, what exactly made them look to him?
These guys typically put out feelers with agents, ADs and buddies of theirs in the coaching realm to see what the temperature is of sorts regarding other teams' interests. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Jinks did this season given how quickly he's moved in hiring his assistants, he had to have been told from somebody that other schools would be interested.
Also, I'm sure Kingston was well aware that Dino was moving on after this season and already had people in mind for the head gig, he basically mentioned it as much when he confessed to watching other teams play on the weekends. He had obviously heard of Jinks through someone, whether it be TT's AD or people he met at conventions (which they hold in the offseason). You don't just pluck a RB coach from a Big 12 school without knowing something about him beforehand. There's a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into decisions like this, even more so with Kingston considering how no one had anything to report on the vacancy until it was filled, which I'm still amazed at given the frequency news gets broken with so many insiders being on Twitter.
Globetrotter wrote:I'm hoping Kinsgston has a short list for every single sport we have.
He seems like a pretty darn good AD, so I think you can rest assured he keeps a file of coaches he'd contact (for each sport) if the current coach would leave. It's the nature of the beast at this level. What is surprising, at least so far, is the names that have cropped up (and how quickly) when BG has had a coaching change.
I am willing to bet Kingston crossed paths with Jinks at a convention in the last year or so and was impressed with his personality. So when Babers resigned his position, Kingston remembered a conversation with a young, likeable, up and coming coach at Texas Tech. And I am also willing to bet Jinks hit a home run on the interview. With how fast this hire happened, I'm sure Kingston had an idea from the beginning.
MarkL has spoken.
You may all now return to your daily lives.
MarkL wrote:I am willing to bet Kingston crossed paths with Jinks at a convention in the last year or so and was impressed with his personality. So when Babers resigned his position, Kingston remembered a conversation with a young, likeable, up and coming coach at Texas Tech. And I am also willing to bet Jinks hit a home run on the interview. With how fast this hire happened, I'm sure Kingston had an idea from the beginning.
I'm willing to bet that Jinks and Kingston met playing Madden 16 online....Kingston couldn't stop Jinks' high powered offense and decided then and there that was his next coach should Babers leave.
Or I am willing to bet secretly Kingston has a man crush on Kliff Kingsbury and was looking for any excuse to talk to him on the phone.....when Babers left, that was his chance and he made the call and Kingsbury recommended Jinks.
How's everyone feeling about this hire 9 months later??? Pretty funny to go back and read some the posts...So many positive reviews for hiring Jinks and what a great job Kingston did...lol.
Flipper wrote:Shows what I know....here I was calling the possibility of hiring Kendal Briles nutty and we go out and hire his doppelganger.
Looking forward to seeing today's press conference
I still think this is a better hire than Kendall Briles (and you'll be hard pressed to find a bigger Briles fan than I). I say that because at least he has led HS programs (and Texas HS football is a big deal). He also coached in the Army All American game...you don't do that unless you can coach.
From what I've seen of the resume I love this hire.
I do wonder what we'll look like on offense going forward. I know everybody sees Texas Tech and says it's another offense the same as what we have been running, but that's really not accurate. At least not with what Texas Tech was doing under Leach. I haven't watched them much under Kingsbury, and I figured the system he ran would be similar to what he played in under Leach, but looking at the stats perhaps it IS closer to what we've seen with Dino. Under Leach the air raid (he was one of the fathers of the system at Kentucky actually) was a spread it out horizontally and simplistic pass concepts. It was a pass heavy offense with little running, and unlike the Briles/Babers system they didn't spread the field vertically nearly as much as they did horizontally. It was a system based on simple concepts; pre snap looks pre-determined if the QB was gonna look left or right. Each side was running a route combo that basically made the QB's job one simple read (after taking the presnap usually from the sideline). QB would read one DB and that would determine which route he was throwing to on that side of the field. Very simple, very difficult to stop. Briles/Babers employed a lot of this, but did so by stretching the field vertically, and incorporating the run game to a much larger degree.
Now under Kingsbury Texas Tech has definitely run the ball more than they did under Leach. I'm also guessing that they've started throwing the ball downfield more as well since the QB completion percentage and yards/attempt numbers are more in line with what Johnson posted this year.
I'm curious how Jinks feels about tempo as well. The Briles/Babers/Kelly quick tempo game was NOT traditionally something that Mike Leach did at TT, but I'm not sure if Kingsbury has adopted some of that or not. And obviously, I don't know if Jinks will want to carry that forward or not.
Either way I see this as an excellent hire. Seems like a highly respected young coach that has roots in a high scoring offensive system. I hope that he keeps the "Falcon Fast" stuff, because to me THAT Is what made Babers' offense special, and it's the best way to play football. I hope he has Dino's guts and confidence in the system as well. Punting on 4th & short is almost always stupid, and I love that we have had a HC that realized that...I hope Jinks does as well. Dino was ahead of the curve with football concepts, and I hope Jinks is as well. The offense should be fun, but Dino was more than just a flashy system...he backed it up with how he called every other aspect of the game.
Always tough to judge a hire based on resume...especially when it's so limited, but I was dead wrong. Still think he was a better candidate than Kendall Briles was, but that's not really saying much.
It's clear that even being a highly respected young coach from a high-scoring offensive system doesn't mean he was prepared for the job. He is clearly in WAY over his head here...
You can grow into your job...Fleck was horrid at WMU his first year...hell, people thought Jimmy Johnson was retarded his first year coaching at Dallas because his approach were too simple and collegiate Going to have to hope that Jinks snaps out of this and starts ...you know...coaching ..this team. The simple stuff like "Hey safeties...we really shouldn't have guys open 40 yards down the middle of the field on each passing down"
Or we wait two years and hope for the intro of head coach Nick Monroe
It's not the fall that hurts...it's when you hit the ground.
