Put your Football Head Coach ideas here

[Swarm94]

Still worth a phone call to see if Sam would consider taking on the challenge

[bbtds]

Former VU defensive coordinator Sam Bernardi would be a great choice.  He knows VU.  He successfully navigated the landscape recruiting / financial aid.  His defenses played championship defense.  He has successfully recruited Chicagoland.  Great choice

Has Sam Bernardi won as head coach at ANY level?

[414]

Highly doubt they would bring back any coaches that were let go in the past. Bernardi quit once, was rehired on Adam's staff and not retained when Carlson was hired.  He has not had head coaching experience. Would expect to see new blood with no ties to the current state of the program. 

[VUDad]

Key characteristic for new coach= willingness to change. Or at least to mix it up. The same few issues prevented wins. And prevented the intangible from developing; team chemistry. 

[Swarm94]

Must have someone who can develop a plan, a theme.   Tom Horne was the Head Coach in 1989.  He coached the last four years of D2 football.  He went 2 -27 -1 in his first three years.  The last year in D2 his team won three games.  In '93 which was first year in Pioneer they won 5.  In '94 they went 7 - 3.  They were also the First Pioneer Football league team to schedule a game with an IVY,  Yale in Soldier Field ('97 season).  Recruiting advantage. Recruited Chicagoland successfully and Lutherans from all over the country

[bluehorseshoe]

VU needs someone young and hungry to make a mark....Patriot league....IVY....someone who knows how to communicate to players with a record of changing things at a high level and will demand the culture and then facilities change!!! A coach who will bring in a staff that is cohesive and holds players accountable while at the same time instills a mentality of the even thinking that losing is possible is disgraceful. Enough is enough. Why is this message so tied to settling or being in the game? Get some speed and some swag and a smash mouth 'tude that is soooo sorely lacking! DO we really think Marist and Butler and others ran some complex D or exotic plays against VALPO? NO! They broke down film, saw the same things being done the same way with the same staff and players and went right after it. Its not complicated. We arent facing complex D's ...or the spread O of the HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL 5A - 8A FLA and TX level of speed....[/b] IT CAN BE DONE!

[VULB#62]

Bluehorseshoe, I agree with absolutely everything you posted - with one exception.  Young and hungry.  The hungry part I can go with.  It is the young part that I am uncomfortable with.  The reason I say this is that this job requires a level of maturity and management skill that goes beyond the practice and game field.  The number of young, brilliant Xs and Os guys who can whip a program into competitive shape in one year (maybe two) is very small, and they'll be scoffed up by BCS schools faster than you can blink.  For that reason, I strongly believe that this unique position (how many D-I football programs, that don't give scholarships, that have sub par facilities, that have lost so many games, can you count on one finger?) requires a person mature enough to have a good resume with a range of experiences and program management skills who is still young enough to be able to understand and communicate with the players. But I guess that begs the definition of "young."  My "young" would be late 30's, early 40's.  I'd be Ok with that level of experience.   This is too complex a problem to be solved by anyone available to us who has less experience.  I know this is stereotyping an age group, but, really, it takes time to develop experience.

[usc4valpo]

Watch out asking for young - you may get Lane Kiffin.

Fight on

[bbtds]

My "young" would be late 30's, early 40's.  I'd be Ok with that level of experience.   This is too complex a problem to be solved by anyone available to us who has less experience.

You do mean born after 1964 and before 1978, correct? Or did you mean born in the late 1930's till early 1940's? One man's "young" is another man's "really young."   

[VULB#62]

Yep, talking age not birth year. 

[Dean Woermer]

I think Chip brings up a valid point with Burnett who is at Morehead now. After looking up his resume he definitely has some big time previous experience and lots of FBS contacts he might be able to lure to Valpo. Being at Morehead he would also have a good understanding of the league and it's unique place in college football. Also saw he was at Defiance College for a few years so hes familiar with the non-scholarship philosophy.  He's obviously very familiar with recruiting and building a program like he was apart of at Ball State.


Karras would also be a good choice but I don't know if he would be interested.

[vu72]

More from Mike Hutton:

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23809706-556/mike-hutton-new-valparaiso-coach-has-to-get-players.html

[VULB#62]

More from Mike Hutton:

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23809706-556/mike-hutton-new-valparaiso-coach-has-to-get-players.html

Mike's article is sort of a duh! piece.  His premise is that the most important element is getting good players - implying that the current classes are sub-par. He talks about how the next coach should organize and go about recruiting.  He also thinks the PFL still has only 8 teams.   Under Carlson, the recruiting budget increased and the staff recruited more heavily than I can remember.  The result was at least two good classes (the last two) and a serviceable third class.  Have there been any difference makers -- well maybe not quite like Macchi and Giancola, but we've got players like Derbak, Hutson, Hoffman, Grask, Kuramata, Gladney and Green to name a few who could start on any PFL team.  The problem was not a dearth of talent, it was (1) the inaccurate evaluation of that talent, (2) not setting up an offense and defense that optimized that talent, and (3) when things started going south, not being flexible enough to adapt both program-wise and during games.  Could we use a transfer like Butler's Matt Lancaster right away?  You bet.  But the 2013 team was a 5 win team if it was only handled right.

But keep stirring the pot, Mike.  Valpo needs the reminders.

[valpotx]

More errors in his 'research.'  The PFL currently has 12 teams, not 8.  The 2000 season had 5 teams, not 4.  The 2003 season had 9 teams, not 4.

[VULB#62]

Yeah, I noticed all of them, but thought the 'thinks they still have eight' sufficed to make my point.

I really keyed on the hiring window -- 3-4 weeks. Carlson wasn't hired till January 15th.  It then took him a while to assemble a staff and that didn't help either, so he lost a good portion of the recruiting season.  Be great if the new guy was on board, has met with each of the players, and has his staff assembled and recruiting by Christmas.

[covufan]

I do have to say that our defense was not good, though I am sure they are good kids.  How many passing plays of 30+ or 40+ yards did we give up this year, and how many runs of 40/50+ yards??  Our defense in particular was just so much slower physically than our opponents.  You can try to blame it on the plays called, but some of the routes they ran were just straight up the field burning our secondary, or running it right up the middle to watch the Red Sea part...

We gave up 22 scoring plays from scrimage of more than 20 yards (Red Zone).  We only scored on 7 such plays.  We also gave up 6 return TDs (KR, INT, Fumble) and only had 2 such scores.  A defender being in the proper position, but not having the speed to catch someone is recruiting.  Our defense being out of position is coaching, in my book at least.

This is from last year.  I think if we get the right coaching in here, we can turn this around fairly quick.  In 2013 we again gave up 22 scoring plays from scrimage of more than 20 yards.  Our offense was able to increase their similar scoring plays to 15!  For returns (INT, fumble, KO, punt) we gave up 7 (2 against NDakota) and didn't get any ourselves.  If the coaching staff can put the defense in the right position, we can give up far fewer points next year.

[bluehorseshoe]

Good point on my posting 62...I would say "young" means an up and coming O or D coordinator that is looking to bring in some  staff, hire some new staff and recruit very well. The class of 2017 is loaded with good players and I would hate to see some of them leave when most really DID come here to try and turn the VALPO program around. And there are quite a few returning players that will really help. But the loyalty Carlson and others felt to some plays and players planted the seeds for mayhem and mind boggling losses as big plays were missed and TDs given up. You make a mistake on either side of the ball you are pulled, coached, coached again and then maybe sat for the game or a series or more. Players make plays, and we had...? forced fumbles, pick 6's, ran how many reverses, screens in the middle, option passes?? ...each game has 5-6 plays that determine an outcome and build a mindset whereby losing is unacceptable

[usc4valpo]

Just based on reading about Carlson's bumblings, micromanagement and full control over the playbook, I am fully confident things are going to be better and Valpo win at least 2 games next year.  MLB will find a better coaching staff in 2014.

[willy]

Just based on reading about Carlson's bumblings, micromanagement and full control over the playbook, I am fully confident things are going to be better and Valpo win at least 2 games next year. MLB will find a better coaching staff in 2014.

I'm excited to see who they bring in here.  There was a different atmosphere at the game on Saturday.  There was excitement in the stands and on the sidelines, something I had not seen before.  We were tied with Dayton with little time left before half and the kids and fans were both into the game.  I've seen how Valpo supports competitive teams and look forward to seeing if new leadership can gain the support of the Alumni, students and the community.  This could easily be turned around in a couple of years with the right leadership.

[usc4valpo]

This certainly sounds similar tot the USC situation, where any change was better than keeping Kiffin.

As a unioversity, Valpo needs to learn to be more assertive and make changes in a more prompt manner when necessary.   Keeping Carlson after the Morehead State game last year was a braindead decision.

[talksalot]

Should we warn the new person about the contracts already in place for the Non-Conference games in future years?

Here's the draft schedule I received about a year ago... when the William Jewel game was still not contracted...

2014:   @ Western Illinois and Home to St. Joes
2015:   @ Eastern Kentucky, @ St. Joes and Home to Sacred Heart
2016:   @ Illinois State and @ Sacred Heart

[VULB#62]

Should we warn the new person about the contracts already in place for the Non-Conference games in future years?

Here's the draft schedule I received about a year ago... when the William Jewel game was still not contracted...

2014:   @ Western Illinois and Home to St. Joes
2015:   @ Eastern Kentucky, @ St. Joes and Home to Sacred Heart
2016:   @ Illinois State and @ Sacred Heart

I think we can assume an away game at William Jewel next year.

[valpotx]

Hopefully our new coach will be fine with the games, and step up to the challenge.  Other teams schedule these types of games, and keep it within 21.

[IndyValpo]

Should we warn the new person about the contracts already in place for the Non-Conference games in future years?

Here's the draft schedule I received about a year ago... when the William Jewel game was still not contracted...

2014:   @ Western Illinois and Home to St. Joes
2015:   @ Eastern Kentucky, @ St. Joes and Home to Sacred Heart
2016:   @ Illinois State and @ Sacred Heart

First thing we schedule a 12th game.  Butler and several others in the PFL are playing 12.  We need to schedule a home win as an opener if possible.
Secondly we try to replace Western, Eastern and Illinois State if possible. I would think 2014 would be tough but remember we scheduled to play Wagner last year and that fell through for some reason.

[covufan]

We need to schedule a home win as an opener if possible.
Secondly we try to replace Western, Eastern and Illinois State if possible.

Hasn't the last four years taught us anything?  You can't schedule a win.

I think WE should stay out of the scheduling arena and leave it to the coaches and AD.  Ask the players and former players if they like the Western, Eastern and Illinois State games.  We want a coach and players that want these challenges, not shy away from them.