Potential replacement?

[vwfalcon]

I'll leave my 2 cents here. I currently manage 4 of the bars in downtown BG. I've seen the good... I've seen the bad. I also interact with the players rather frequently. I know who they are, they know who I am. That being said, the conversations I've had with some of the guys over the past couple seasons have been interesting. More than a few of them had stated about how they respected Jinks as a man, but thought he had no direction as a head coach. After the mid season move as would be expected there was some uncertainty in their tones. Over the past few weeks, I've personally seen a change in their demeanor as well as words. I can tell you that the guys LOVE Coach Pelini. More than a handful had expressed how they hope he gets the position full time. He has the respect and admiration of the team. They believe in him as a leader, I also believe that he has the experience and connections to assemble a solid staff around him. Just because he would potentially be promoted to head coach doesn't mean he is required to retain the current coaching staff, he would be able to hire his own staff.

The other thing to think about is that it is a state level job opening, so they probably can't just give him the official title until the job posting has officially been listed and multiple interviews are conducted. There are certain procedures that must be followed with state job listings.

At the end of the day, I just want someone the players believe in, respect, and will play hard for. I'm absolutely comfortable with Pelini taking the lead of this program. He was brought in to a bad situation and is starting to make the most of it. I say let him see the transition through.

[jpfalcon09]

Everett Withers is out at Texas State. Wouldn't be shocked if Mike Jinks is a candidate for that job. There are now six openings.

Why? How is Jinks qualified for that job? I'm sure there are plenty of former Texas high school coaches that became college head coaches who won more than 7 games in 3 years.
Jinks should go back to either high school coaching or college as an assistant. It would be better for his career.

Just spitballing from Bobcat fans on Twitter. They think Jinks would have success being back in Texas. I agree he's better suited for a coordinator position.

[jpfalcon09]

I'll leave my 2 cents here. I currently manage 4 of the bars in downtown BG. I've seen the good... I've seen the bad. I also interact with the players rather frequently. I know who they are, they know who I am. That being said, the conversations I've had with some of the guys over the past couple seasons have been interesting. More than a few of them had stated about how they respected Jinks as a man, but thought he had no direction as a head coach. After the mid season move as would be expected there was some uncertainty in their tones. Over the past few weeks, I've personally seen a change in their demeanor as well as words. I can tell you that the guys LOVE Coach Pelini. More than a handful had expressed how they hope he gets the position full time. He has the respect and admiration of the team. They believe in him as a leader, I also believe that he has the experience and connections to assemble a solid staff around him. Just because he would potentially be promoted to head coach doesn't mean he is required to retain the current coaching staff, he would be able to hire his own staff.

The other thing to think about is that it is a state level job opening, so they probably can't just give him the official title until the job posting has officially been listed and multiple interviews are conducted. There are certain procedures that must be followed with state job listings.

At the end of the day, I just want someone the players believe in, respect, and will play hard for. I'm absolutely comfortable with Pelini taking the lead of this program. He was brought in to a bad situation and is starting to make the most of it. I say let him see the transition through.

Interesting. It's so hard to gauge from the past couple weeks because of the talent they've faced, but I would agree we've seen more effort and in general more cohesiveness among the team. I still don't think Pelini gets the job, there's a lot of recency bias in play with him and he wouldn't have been on the radar had he not already been on the staff, but we'll see.

[Class of 61]

IIRC, The players were all enthused about Brandon after Meyer left. It’s fairly logical that they’d be familiar with Pelini, and might actually enjoy playing for him, even defense was pretty well torched thru out the season.

[Flipper]

I appreciate the sentiments of the players...but the AD needs to take a long hard look at the state of the program and let his vision for it guide his decision. That is...after all...his job

[MarkL]

If Pelini is offered the full time job ... and I'm starting to sense that is the case ... it should not be because the players love him or because he finished the team strong. It should be because he beat out other qualified candidates.

[MarkL]

At this point my number 1 is Curt Cignetti. His Elon team is off to the playoffs. Their #1 QB got hurt a month ago and their team has slumped since. It is only Cignetti's second year so depth is not there yet to absorb a major injury. They were 4-1 when he got hurt, including a win over JMU. 2-3 since.

[Falconfreak90]

If Pelini is offered the full time job ... and I'm starting to sense that is the case ... it should not be because the players love him or because he finished the team strong. It should be because he beat out other qualified candidates.

Agreed. If Coach Pelini is the best candidate who applies for the job, so be it. And I'm confident Moose will look at EVERYTHING before making a selection. I see Moose and Cal ride all over the place during game days on the golf cart. He knows we need to get this thing back in gear to get butts back in the seats. I'm just happy we got a couple wins and the team responded. I know the Doyt will be empty Friday but I can't wait to get there. Hard to believe this season is coming to an end...seems like yesterday we were basking in the sunlight at Autzen Stadium.

[Antimob]

Pelini's really good. He's shown his value over the last two games. The OC at Toledo used to work for him and he'd be able to build a great staff. Because of the false accusations in his past he might be a Keith Dambrot-type hire where he'd stick around a while, build a career and not jump immediately at the next opportunity.

Fixing the offensive/defensive lines and working to reduce the 3 and outs on offense were exactly what was needed. He recognized it and made it happen.

I'm torn because there's a lot of really good candidates out there as well that could also do very well. At the very least he should be a legitimate contender and have to have someone come in and absolutely blow Moose away in the interview process to get the job.

[Flipper]

I'm really torn on this one...I don't care about his performance statistically as a DC here any more than I cared about Clawson's run as the OC at TN. That isn't the job we're hiring for. He does have the team playing harder on both sides of the ball and they have not quit on each other...and those are huge points in his favor. The question...broadly speaking...is does being the guy that keeps the boat from sinking qualify you to get the job to rebuild the boat? I've done both jobs in a different profession...it is a vastly different skill set (actually building "a boat" is harder).

The players love him..that counts for something, but a large number of them are walking out the door of the program when the clock hits 0.00 Friday, so I'm not sure how much weight to put behind that.

I'm glad I'm not making this choice....it seems like a tough one

[Siborg]

I'd be ok with Pelini. I don't expect him to be the coach, but it might be a good solid choice. Its rare you get a true test of a coach before you hire them. A month ago I would not have thought we could beat Buffalo but now I think we can. If we do well against Buffalo, he might get the nod.

I wouldn't offer a 5 year deal, but maybe a 3 year deal would work. It also might hinge on how well he's doing with recruiting. The upheaval of coaching changes must have a negative impact on recruiting. 3 coaching changes in 5 years is rough. Not picking Pelini, makes it 4 coaching changes in 5 years. I guess you could say 6 head coaches in 5 years (2 bowl game losses included).

[jpfalcon09]

Todd Walker said on today's broadcast that someone has already accepted the job. Didn't offer anything else.

[Class of 61]

One thing I’ve noticed looking at our tentative list of commits is a significant number of NE Ohio kids so far, even w/ one decommited. I know some have laughed when I’ve mentioned this in past. But we’ve had some of our best teams over the yrs. when this has happened. Recently have done well in SW Ohio, but so so in NE. Is Pelini part of this?

[jpfalcon09]

One thing I’ve noticed looking at our tentative list of commits is a significant number of NE Ohio kids so far, even w/ one decommited. I know some have laughed when I’ve mentioned this in past. But we’ve had some of our best teams over the yrs. when this has happened. Recently have done well in SW Ohio, but so so in NE. Is Pelini part of this?

Van Wright and the staff are still recruiting and selling the university apart from the football program. If Pelini isn't retained which I think is going to happen, we'll see how many kids choose to re-open their commitment.

[jpfalcon09]

Marcus Milton says players are willing to go to the administration to keep Pelini as head coach. I think that's dangerous stuff to say publicly.