He does have some moxie and is definitely good enough to win in the Big Ten. He also throws a nice spiral. But he needs to be protected better, and I think he may be getting hit too much. I think the main concern for next season (and as IU football fans, it's all we usually ever have) is how many guys will stay? If some key players have proven they can compete at a high level, then they may want to play for someone other than a 4-8, 3-9 team. And while we have some decent players from the transfer portal, going that route is a roll of the dice.
Rod Carey and other ramblings
- Thread starter td75
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Wonder if McCulley is fast/quick enough for the NFL? He obviously has great size, and is showing really good hands, but outside of blown coverages, he doesn't often get much separation.
You have 3 proven, solid coaches in the building...
The best, and most realistic answer...in my opinion...
-Fire Allen.
-Name Carey Head Coach
-Name Bostad Offensive coordinator
-Give Fuente Special Teams and quarterbacks, overpay him, and elevate him somehow as an associate coordinator or something...not sure if that exists.
-Give Carey a sizeable budget to go find a great defensive staff. Top of the B10 levels of money.
-Give Carey a 4-5 year contract, but don't overdo the buyout.
-Structure in huge incentives for B10 wins, bowl games, etc...
The best, and most realistic answer...in my opinion...
-Fire Allen.
-Name Carey Head Coach
-Name Bostad Offensive coordinator
-Give Fuente Special Teams and quarterbacks, overpay him, and elevate him somehow as an associate coordinator or something...not sure if that exists.
-Give Carey a sizeable budget to go find a great defensive staff. Top of the B10 levels of money.
-Give Carey a 4-5 year contract, but don't overdo the buyout.
-Structure in huge incentives for B10 wins, bowl games, etc...
I think people read too much into these promises, most for internet chatter than actual coach promises to a player. Both QBs were young and inexperienced. We saw Sorsby with Deer in headlights last year and not great early this year. On this board, it seemed split who should start, even after early games.
I think Sorsby just started to thrive with more playing time, but his early play didn't really foreshadow his recent play, which is definitely elevated.
Now, we'll see if Tayven stays? What we do with Williams healthy next year? Do all three stay? Hopefully they all stay or at least two of them, always need a reliable backup.
I don't think Bostad would want to be OC. Think he is long term OL coach.
In this scenario, make Fuente OC, leave Bostad at OL.
But, taking Carey away from OC, is same we did with Allen, would that be a good idea? Only if Fuente would be OC in my mind.
I'd have to say unlikely all three stay.
Decent chance Dexter does considering how long he's been here and fighting through injuries.
Maybe Tayven stays if he's not close to graduating. He's used his free transfer so he'll have to sit. So maybe stick it out, try to win the spot, and hit the books hard to graduate so that if it doesn't work out he can do a grad transfer.
Its not ideal...but I also don't think its likely we could fire Allen, and hire a new Head Coach, and stipulate that Carey, Bostad, Fuente have to be the core of the offensive staff. I'm not schooled in how football head coaching hires go, but I don't think that'd be normal, at all...to not allow the new coach to choose his staff??
I just think moving on Allen, now, is essential. And we know we have 3 solid football coaches in the room.
I posted a couple days ago that if we aren't going to fire Allen now, that we should figure out how to force changes at the defensive and special teams coordinator positions, and pay handsomely (top of the B10 handsomely), to ensure we get good candidates. I don't trust Allen to make those picks, first of all. And then there's a very real "risk" that you get someone good, that leads to a bowl game next year, and the Allen tenure is extended.
I just have a big problem dragging a head coach along by propping him up with quality coordinators and coaches.
Its beyond obvious, at this point, that Allen can't win without good coordinators. Maybe that's true for any/all college head coaches?? But to me, with Allen, it seems like we've ended up winning despite Allen...not because of him. For the rare and short periods of time that we have won with him.
You're not going to get anybody if the administration handcuffs their hiring ability. IU firing Allen after this year is already going to be challenging enough as is, it's going to be even harder to fire him and the entire staff and start over. It's why I think if Allen is fired this year, Rod Carey is probably in line for the job. I don't hate the idea as it stands. We could do a lot worse than Rod Carey.
Why on gods green earth would you not do a search for a new head coach?
I would.
I would have last year.
Just throwing out a plan that likely ensures that the 3 decent coaches we have right now, remain in place. And build from there. To me, it seems like the most realistic plan for incremental success. When factoring in what the Admin likely has the stomach to do.
But I've posted numerous times that I'd blow the whole thing up. And make an effort reestablish what IU football could, and should be. That requires big ideas, and BIG money. Not sure IU's Admin has an appetite for either of those things. But I'd be impressed if Dolson made the bold move, like he did with Archie, to find the money and blow the whole thing up. He didn't end up closing on a Stevens or Donovan type for basketball. But the bold nature of the move is impressive to me. Shows that he cared about the basketball programs success. I'd be impressed if he did it for football now too.
Firing Allen after this season and eating his $20.8 million buyout is going to come with a price, both figuratively and literally. It's really going to hamstring who you can hire and who they can bring with them. It's a very real possibility that a Rod Carey/Bostad/Fuente/Tucker/Johnson package deal is the best combination that IU can not only hire but more importantly afford.
Rod Carey isn't my first choice by any means, but we can certainly do a lot worse. Hiring an up and comer on the cheap with little resources to hire a qualified support staff gets us nowhere.
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There's only ONE WAY Allen gets fired this year....if the buyout doesn't come from the IU Athletics budget, but from a donor(s). I don't see any way he gets fired after beating Wisconsin and probably anothe rwin coming in the next two weeks.
If that does end up being true...THEN, I think you have to take some of the decision making away from him in terms of his staff.
So you think an AD should make decisions about assistant football coaches instead of actual football coaches?
I mean, I get that this is message board fantasy land, but let's try to keep at least one foot in reality.
I'm just tired of having a shitty football program. And I'm hoping someone makes decisions to remedy it.
Keeping Allen isn't a good step...but maybe the buyout is too much to stomach...
If that's the case...history shows that Allen can't be trusted to pick his staff. Since the only reason he's still the coach is because of his buyout, who cares if you're neutering him...bring all the coaches in to a room, and only listen to Carey, Bostad, and Fuente... and reshape the defensive and special teams staff.
Or...just continue the uneven, overall sucky team and performances.
All anyone ever hears from you is "that's not realistic"..."fantasy land"... And I assume that's how our admin has operated for years. How about they do what's necessary to build a competitive B10 football program? And you can't get there without taking action, somehow.
Carey would be the most qualified candidate we've hired since Terry Hoeppner. Thinking IU is going to come up with $20 million just to pay Allen not to coach ON TOP of turning around and paying someone $5-6 million away from another P5 school is simply a pipe dream right now.
Again, we could do a lot worse than Rod Carey which includes allowing Tom Allen to return for a lame duck season.
In whose hands would you place that decision making, and why would that person be any more qualified to make coaching choices than Allen?
Group effort of Allen, Carey, Bostad, and Fuente. Weighing the opinions of Carey, Bostad, and Fuente as much, or more, than Allen.
And to answer your question...because they haven't proven to be horrible at it like Allen has more often than not.
You're going off the rails.
We need a new coach, but it may not happen this year. But doing coach by committee or whatever this is that you're suggesting seems like an absolute recipe for a far worse team/season/program than what we already have.
Do you not believe Allen already solicits the opinions of staff members and others when looking for assistants? I can assure you he does, even if the final decision is his. And if his subordinates can override his authority, then he shouldn’t have the authority to make those decisions. In other words, there’s no way it would ever work because it’s structurally flawed. If he can’t be trusted to do his job, then someone else needs to do his job. And if it’s simply a convoluted and ill conceived way to work around him, then it only makes the program worse and it should be immediately dismissed as a viable option.
Bell put way too much stock into Lucas speed. We were so one dimensional and even ran Lucas off tackle. McCulley is a WEAPON. Brutal matchup for any DB. He bails us out and gets a ton of PI against DB's. Bell never used McCulley nor settled on a QB in camp. Those were big misses and cost us. Sorsby is our guy and TA has a chance to finish strong and keep Carey and Bostad. If not, let him go. Remember that we have a habit of firing coaches and just bringing in guys who get the same results, then fire them. It's easy to get mad at TA but anyone that thinks we can be more than a 6 win possibly 7 team at best is fooling themselves
You're frustrated. For good reason. At the end of the day, all of us IU football fans just want to win. Something we haven't been able to do a lot of through the years. It's easy to want a guy fired, harder to replace him with a better option over the long haul. We've hired many coaches and they all seem to end up having similar records here. If they don't, they leave for brighter pastures. TA has some good pieces. Can he keep Carey? Are you guys willing to lose Sorsby, Howland, McCulley and start all over again with a new coach? TA is flawed. We've seen that. There would have to be a splash hire which I don't think there is.
Newsflash no head coach can win without quality coordinators. Next thing is go hire Mike Yurcich as OC and quarterbacks coach. He was at IU before, he is from Ohio. Has a great record everywhere he has been exscept Penn State who has fired 6 OCs in 10 years. Franklin is supposed to be an offensive guy but has fired 8 in 10 years?
Sure am. After Allen figured out the 30th or so different way he could lose a football game this weekend, I'm openly going off the rails...looking for solutions that will improve the program.
We have 3 decent football coaches in the building now...seemingly. We've had good football coaches under Allen before, and they all left, quickly. I'd love to figure out how to keep them in the building. And I give less than 1 rat's ass what Allen thinks about much of anything, at this point.
So yeah...I'd leverage the guys that appear to be competent. And I'd be wide ass open with Allen on why I'm doing it. He can embrace it, and help manage it, or he's free to leave.
Its not like we're risking a well run, successful football program, right now. There are too many "Worst in FBS" stats staring us in the face to worry about things getting worse.
If the current play isn't acceptable. And firing Allen isn't an option. What the hell else can we do, other than start utilizing the competent guys in the program more?
It appears we have a good OC. If Allen is still around, why do we need Yurcich?
You’re recommending that we remodel the kitchen and bathrooms while the house is on fire. The work may be needed, but it doesn’t matter much if it’s all rubble in an hour.
Head coach by committee, with Allen remaining as a figurehead?
With all due respect, dude, this is mind-numbingly stupid.
If he's going to keep him, it's actually the smart thing to do. If I'm Dolson I strongly recommend it.
It would be unworkable, untenable and likely a material breach of Allen's contract.
Like it or not, Allen's probably back next year as HC. It's likely Carey returns as OC. I'd say 50-50 as to whether Bostad returns, and less than that for Fuente.
Hey, South Alabama is having a mediocre year. Maybe we can lure Kane Wommack back as DC!
That is an interesting take. Since we are brainstorming here I had a little different take. Make Fuente HC, talk Allen into taking the DC and pay Carey and Bostad whatever it takes to keep them here. Go find a good special teams coach!
Fuente and Carey are about the caliber of coaches I'd expect IU to hire if/when Allen is shown the door...meaning it's more than likely going to be a crap shoot either way. I'd much rather take a chance on someone familiar with the roster that allows for continuity as there are some good young pieces already in Bloomington.
Blowing the whole thing just to hire a MAC guy or high end P5 coordinator could leave us in the same position 3-4 years down the road.
Re-hire Corso as HC. Would be good for at least one College Game Day in Bloomington. Bring back Matt Canada as OC and Brian Knorr as DC (Air Force is good!). I think Austin Starr is a dentist but maybe he'd consider heading up special teams for a year or two. Beats crowns and fillings.
Go Hoosiers!
And that group would be less expensive, and would also produce a ton of "Worst in FBS" graphics, like our current Head Coach has the last few years.
Willie Fritz who I would love but has stated he is retiring at Tulane.
When IU does make a change in HC it will be tough to bring in a coach that can change the program especially in the new B1G. USC has shown it isn't a sure bet bringing in a name coach - he had a coordinator problem too.
I have seen each week people question play calls at the end of games and up until this week we have not really lit up the scoreboard especially after halftime. Again he is a quarterback who has had success and one more guy on staff with play calling background is never a bad thing.
I'm all for it...just not sure where he fits if Carey, Bostad, and Fuente are still around.
I've been a guy championing a massive investment in our coordinator and position coaches salaries. So I'd love to have all 4 of these guys if they'd all have applicable spots, and could work well together.
Dolson likes that approach.
He hired Woody with 2 chaperones to create the 3-headed coaching juggernaut.
And then, it imploded. Woody had to have felt a bit slighted to have 2 guys hired by the AD to watch over things, even if it may have been done with good intentions. You either hire a head guy and trust him or you don’t.
Since we got Woody cheap, they can use the package deal for Brad Stevens to pitch in on Allen’s buyout.
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