Gathered a few tidbits on the OC search for you guys tonight.
-I can tell you there are a handful of candidates out there, two of which I know the names of. However, I cannot share the names of those two candidates, as both have said they’ll likely turn down the opportunity and publicly deny an interview if word leaks. I absolutely hate being that guy in this situation, but I will be so I don’t hamper Tech and their efforts to hire someone. Hope you can understand that. When the search is over, I’ll give you both names. Can say both are very outside the box and interesting, however.
-Interviews are going on this week, several have also already happened.
-Coach Kingsbury is trying to go outside the family with his OC hire. He wants to bring in somebody outside of both the coaching tree and outside the Big 12 if he can. He wants a fresh set of eyes that can gameplay and bring both new insight to the room and draw up things that haven’t been done by all the teams in conference a ton.
So, there’s a few notes for ya.
-----
UPDATE (Wed. 6:53 p.m.): Alright guys, got some major updates for ya. Have been cleared to give you the two names I referenced before. I've got one more name in addition, too. So, three OC names for ya here. Have heard there may be other OC candidates as well.
Have heard Kliff will take his time on this hire. He wants to get it right, and he's not worried about hurrying along since they have the offensive class essentially wrapped up and signed outside of tailback.
So, without further ado. Some interesting names here...
Brian Wright, Toledo OC/QBs - Wright was a nominee for the Broyles Award in 2017, which honors the top assistant coach in the NCAA Division I-FBS. Under his direction, Toledo’s offense piled up 509.9 yards per game last season, eighth-best in the nation. The Rockets have averaged 291.9 yards passing per game, best in the MAC, and 218.0 yards rushing per game. Their 39.2 points per game are best in the MAC and 11th in the country. Toledo topped 50 points three times in 2017 and eclipsed 600 yards of total offense four times.Think a balanced spread attack if Wright was hired. Would guess you wouldn’t change too much as far as sweeping things schematically here.
Kent Austin, Hamilton (CFL) VP of Football Ops – Here’s the most intriguing/outside the box candidate in the group. He was the head coach for Hamilton for four years (13-16), taking them to back-to-back Grey Cups. Before that, he was the head coach at Cornell for a couple of years. The part to pay attention to, however, is that he was the OC at Ole Miss in 08 and 09. So he was on the other sideline as the playcaller in the Cotton Bowl game that season. The Rebels were 28th in scoring offense and rushing offense both that year, 2nd in both scoring and rushing in the SEC as well. When he left for Cornell, Austin had led Ole Miss to its then back-to-back best scoring seasons in school history.
They ran much more under center, downhill, classic pro-style stuff at Ole Miss then. Not sure how much influence he would have on changing the scheme at all. My guess would be not much, though you might insert more pro-style concepts into an air raid scheme that’s already got some pro-style/old school wrinkles in it now, particularly in the run game.
Kevin Johns, Western Michigan OC/QBs – Johns is a guy who makes a lot of sense fit-wise. He was an assistant under Kevin Wilson at Indiana for six seasons, and they ran a ton of spread concepts and had a pretty explosive offense, especially once Johns became the full time OC in 2013-16. From his bio page at Western Michigan:
During his tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers offense set 54 school records, including points, total yardage, passing yardage and rushing yardage in a single season. His unit topped the Big Ten in passing offense in 2012, 2013 and 2015. From 2012-15, IU was first in the Big Ten in passing yardage, second in total yardage, and fourth in rushing yardage per game. In 2016, the team was second in passing and third in total yardage.
Johns showed the ability to create a balanced offense in 2015 when the Hoosiers became the fourth team in FBS history with a 3,500-yard passer, two 1,000-yard rushers and one 1,000-yard receiver in the same year. That year, IU led the Big Ten in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense, becoming the first B1G team since Ohio State in 1995 to do so.
In 2014, Johns’ unit set the program single-season record with 3,163 rushing yards and averaged 263.6 rushing yards per game (ninth nationally, and third in the Big Ten) in 2014. It came a year after the Hoosiers were one of six teams (Baylor, Colorado State, Florida State, Marshall and Oregon) nationally to rank in the top 30 in scoring, total, passing and rushing offense and one of three programs (Baylor and Florida State) to average over 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards in 2013.
The 2013 Hoosier offense also became the first team in Big Ten history and the only team in the FBS with five 1,000-yard pass-catchers playing together at one time led by Latimer who earned second team All-Big Ten honors and closed out his career tied for fourth in 100-yard games (7th) and seventh in yardage (2,042) and catches (135) on the Indiana all-time lists. Wynn finished second in the B1G and tied for 19th nationally with 11 touchdowns, which ranks third on the IU single-season chart.
Johns was the wide receivers coach at Indiana before he was the QBs coach, and he was pretty well respected as one of the best WR coaches in the Big 10 when he was. This would be a hire that checks a lot of boxes schematically and experience-wise.
So, there ya go.
-I can tell you there are a handful of candidates out there, two of which I know the names of. However, I cannot share the names of those two candidates, as both have said they’ll likely turn down the opportunity and publicly deny an interview if word leaks. I absolutely hate being that guy in this situation, but I will be so I don’t hamper Tech and their efforts to hire someone. Hope you can understand that. When the search is over, I’ll give you both names. Can say both are very outside the box and interesting, however.
-Interviews are going on this week, several have also already happened.
-Coach Kingsbury is trying to go outside the family with his OC hire. He wants to bring in somebody outside of both the coaching tree and outside the Big 12 if he can. He wants a fresh set of eyes that can gameplay and bring both new insight to the room and draw up things that haven’t been done by all the teams in conference a ton.
So, there’s a few notes for ya.
-----
UPDATE (Wed. 6:53 p.m.): Alright guys, got some major updates for ya. Have been cleared to give you the two names I referenced before. I've got one more name in addition, too. So, three OC names for ya here. Have heard there may be other OC candidates as well.
Have heard Kliff will take his time on this hire. He wants to get it right, and he's not worried about hurrying along since they have the offensive class essentially wrapped up and signed outside of tailback.
So, without further ado. Some interesting names here...
Brian Wright, Toledo OC/QBs - Wright was a nominee for the Broyles Award in 2017, which honors the top assistant coach in the NCAA Division I-FBS. Under his direction, Toledo’s offense piled up 509.9 yards per game last season, eighth-best in the nation. The Rockets have averaged 291.9 yards passing per game, best in the MAC, and 218.0 yards rushing per game. Their 39.2 points per game are best in the MAC and 11th in the country. Toledo topped 50 points three times in 2017 and eclipsed 600 yards of total offense four times.Think a balanced spread attack if Wright was hired. Would guess you wouldn’t change too much as far as sweeping things schematically here.
Kent Austin, Hamilton (CFL) VP of Football Ops – Here’s the most intriguing/outside the box candidate in the group. He was the head coach for Hamilton for four years (13-16), taking them to back-to-back Grey Cups. Before that, he was the head coach at Cornell for a couple of years. The part to pay attention to, however, is that he was the OC at Ole Miss in 08 and 09. So he was on the other sideline as the playcaller in the Cotton Bowl game that season. The Rebels were 28th in scoring offense and rushing offense both that year, 2nd in both scoring and rushing in the SEC as well. When he left for Cornell, Austin had led Ole Miss to its then back-to-back best scoring seasons in school history.
They ran much more under center, downhill, classic pro-style stuff at Ole Miss then. Not sure how much influence he would have on changing the scheme at all. My guess would be not much, though you might insert more pro-style concepts into an air raid scheme that’s already got some pro-style/old school wrinkles in it now, particularly in the run game.
Kevin Johns, Western Michigan OC/QBs – Johns is a guy who makes a lot of sense fit-wise. He was an assistant under Kevin Wilson at Indiana for six seasons, and they ran a ton of spread concepts and had a pretty explosive offense, especially once Johns became the full time OC in 2013-16. From his bio page at Western Michigan:
During his tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers offense set 54 school records, including points, total yardage, passing yardage and rushing yardage in a single season. His unit topped the Big Ten in passing offense in 2012, 2013 and 2015. From 2012-15, IU was first in the Big Ten in passing yardage, second in total yardage, and fourth in rushing yardage per game. In 2016, the team was second in passing and third in total yardage.
Johns showed the ability to create a balanced offense in 2015 when the Hoosiers became the fourth team in FBS history with a 3,500-yard passer, two 1,000-yard rushers and one 1,000-yard receiver in the same year. That year, IU led the Big Ten in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense, becoming the first B1G team since Ohio State in 1995 to do so.
In 2014, Johns’ unit set the program single-season record with 3,163 rushing yards and averaged 263.6 rushing yards per game (ninth nationally, and third in the Big Ten) in 2014. It came a year after the Hoosiers were one of six teams (Baylor, Colorado State, Florida State, Marshall and Oregon) nationally to rank in the top 30 in scoring, total, passing and rushing offense and one of three programs (Baylor and Florida State) to average over 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards in 2013.
The 2013 Hoosier offense also became the first team in Big Ten history and the only team in the FBS with five 1,000-yard pass-catchers playing together at one time led by Latimer who earned second team All-Big Ten honors and closed out his career tied for fourth in 100-yard games (7th) and seventh in yardage (2,042) and catches (135) on the Indiana all-time lists. Wynn finished second in the B1G and tied for 19th nationally with 11 touchdowns, which ranks third on the IU single-season chart.
Johns was the wide receivers coach at Indiana before he was the QBs coach, and he was pretty well respected as one of the best WR coaches in the Big 10 when he was. This would be a hire that checks a lot of boxes schematically and experience-wise.
So, there ya go.
