If Doug Gillin called you...

[NewApp]

...and on the spot asked for you to make the App State HC hire, who are you picking?

Thankfully, no one is going to be put in this situation, but first name that comes to mind for me is probably Nate Woody and bring in Dwayne Ledford as OC.

I would assume it was a prank call and hang up.

[ericsaid]

Ruffin McNeill. Bring Oklahoma Position Coach for OC and try to retain a position coach from Satterfields staff as DC. Too much talent on offense for it to be a run and gun variant. Passing game needs to be more efficient and ECU will always be wrong for having fired McNeill to hire Scottie Montgomery. McNeill has a history of beating UNC and I expect the offense could allow App to not only stick around with USC but provide the same passing game diversity we saw this year against Penn State.

OC Lincoln Riley at ECU was the offensive savant responsible for beating Carolina

That's right. And he was a position coach at Texas Tech under Mike Leach who went with Ruffin to Greenville. Lincoln Riley was a great coach, but even his presence at ECU in 2015 wouldn't have helped improve the teams record dramatically. Ultimately ECU lost two QB's when Carden (holds many records at ECU) and Benkert graduated and was hurt, respectively. Justin Hardy was also a record setting Wide Receiver.

But Ruffin had one down year after he got the program on track to sustainability, an issue he wouldn't have at App, and that was due to factors that would have a great effect on many G5 programs.

Even after Riley left our offensive Staff was loaded with Air Raid guys. 3 guys either left before or after went to Washington State with Leach that I'm sure would love to be OC and probably leave there for a chance.

-Dave Nichols was the OC, had been with Mike Leach at Texas Tech and Sonny Dykes at Arizona and a JUCO OC that set all kind of records. He's back with Leach at Washington State. Clearly an Air Raid guy with a lot more experience than Riley ever had.

-Garret Riley, Lincoln's brother who was clearly being groomed by Lincoln and Nichols to be the next air raid guy. He's at Kansas now.

-Donnie Kirkpatick. He left ECU after Ruff was fired and went to JMU where they won a national title and averaged 47ppg as OC. He didn't run the air raid exclusively but clearly was trained in it spending 6 years under Ruff 5 under Riley. He's back at ECU now.

Point is Ruff would have no issue bringing in an Air Raid guy he's coached with most all of the ones that were with Leach and still are or probably has another young guy that's been learning under Riley. Might even call his younger brother back.

Ruff would be a good hire and spent a lot of time at App State previously. It seems that a certain poster here who knows more than others has been posting a lot about Horton. He must have found a Who and I hope to god that Who is not Horton's friend who was told he's coming to Boone.

Had it not been for the loss of Ruffin's top two QB's in 2015, ECU likely goes 7-5, 8-4 again. App fan's could easily see App losing an additional two games with Thomas being out, including losing to Troy and possibly even Louisiana.

[ASUGoose]

No thanks on Ruffin, Ledford, Sloan, Speir, Amato or Woody as HC.

My preference would be:
Tim Horton = HC
Ivey = DC & AHC (must keep 3-4 defensive scheme)
Dale Jones = Co-DC, inside linebackers
DJ Smith = outside linebackers
Greg Gasparato = Safeties (maybe all of secondary)
Taylor Lamb = QB coach
Trey Elder = WR or RB coach (pending Holt and Watts futures)
Nic Cardwell = TE coach

Allow Tim to fill the OC, ST, Oline, Strength coach and other gaps as needed.

[Appstate88]

No thanks on Ruffin, Ledford, Sloan, Speir, Amato or Woody as HC.

My preference would be:
Tim Horton = HC
Ivey = DC & AHC (must keep 3-4 defensive scheme)
Dale Jones = Co-DC, inside linebackers
DJ Smith = outside linebackers
Greg Gasparato = Safeties (maybe all of secondary)
Taylor Lamb = QB coach
Trey Elder = WR or RB coach (pending Holt and Watts futures)
Nic Cardwell = TE coach

Allow Tim to fill the OC, ST, Oline, Strength coach and other gaps as needed.

Clark?

[ASUGoose]

No thanks on Ruffin, Ledford, Sloan, Speir, Amato or Woody as HC.

My preference would be:
Tim Horton = HC
Ivey = DC & AHC (must keep 3-4 defensive scheme)
Dale Jones = Co-DC, inside linebackers
DJ Smith = outside linebackers
Greg Gasparato = Safeties (maybe all of secondary)
Taylor Lamb = QB coach
Trey Elder = WR or RB coach (pending Holt and Watts futures)
Nic Cardwell = TE coach

Allow Tim to fill the OC, ST, Oline, Strength coach and other gaps as needed.

Clark?

Allow Tim Horton to make that call (highlighted in my first note)

[Appstate88]

No thanks on Ruffin, Ledford, Sloan, Speir, Amato or Woody as HC.

My preference would be:
Tim Horton = HC
Ivey = DC & AHC (must keep 3-4 defensive scheme)
Dale Jones = Co-DC, inside linebackers
DJ Smith = outside linebackers
Greg Gasparato = Safeties (maybe all of secondary)
Taylor Lamb = QB coach
Trey Elder = WR or RB coach (pending Holt and Watts futures)
Nic Cardwell = TE coach

Allow Tim to fill the OC, ST, Oline, Strength coach and other gaps as needed.

Clark?

Allow Tim Horton to make that call (highlighted in my first note)

Got it.

[AppSt94]

No to Lamb at this point. Not sure that I want a guy coaching his former teammates.

[Yosef84]

Tim Horton, he's spent the past 7 years doing one of the most difficult/high pressure jobs in college football which is being a recruiting coordinator in the SEC West. That would be a huge advantage for us. His familiarity with Malzahns offense would refine and add wrinkles to our current read option game. Plus his experience at large SEC schools knowing how a big time program should be run is something we need.

What has Tim Horton done with the responsibility, or close to the responsibility, of a Head Coach?

What did Satterfield do close to a HC? He was a position coach then OC for what one year before coming back to app.

He was OC at both Toledo and FIU. Came back as Associate Head Coch and OC to App. Prior to leaving App he had a lot of input in game planning and likely was a leader of the coaching staff. There was a lot that Satterfield did.

He was position coach at Toledo. Then position coach at FIU year one to OC year two.

He was the QB Coach and Passing Game Coordinator at Toledo.
Also, while at App those last few years he was "officially" a position coach but he was the defacto OC. If you were around at the time, you know the reasons he didn't get the title, so let's PLEASE not go down that rabbit hole right now.

[Stonewall]

Auburn went after Bentley as OC and struck out , well reportedly. Is Horton a candidate , or was he , for that position ?If not , why not ? (thinking out loud)

[bcoach]

If he called anyone on this board I would recommend he be replaced. Fast. (:

[Apptrain]

I’d say “come on man, the suspense is killing me”.

[appstate77]

I hope he is doing his interviews from a nice motel suite in Charlotte or ATL. No one is getting up the mtn. for the next two days.

[T-Dog]

I believe Lamb will be at SCar for another year in grad school. Even if he isn't, I'm not sure about him being QB coach already. Maybe in 2-3 years.

[appstatealum]

I hope he is doing his interviews from a nice motel suite in Charlotte or ATL. No one is getting up the mtn. for the next two days.

Motel? If that's the case, I need to up my Yosef Club contribution.

[Appstate88]

Football Scoop says DG considering McNeil, Gattis, Woody.

I like Gattis or Woody over McNeil.

http://footballscoop.com/news/sunday-ni ... app-state/

[ukappfan]

I think Gattis would be the best shot if we could get him. I would also be happy with woody.

[appstatealum]

Of those three, I like Gattis.

[AppStFan1]

Of those three, I like Gattis.

I thought Gattis was perhaps a couple years away from being a head coach but he looks good. My only concern with Gattis besides being a little young is that he will only be here 2 years and then bolt.

If he as good as we expect, he is going to win double digit games back to back years and then get a P5 job. We better put a heavy buyout for the first 3-4 years to make him stay a little while. Maybe a 2-4M buyout since he would be leaving for a 2M or more type job.

[appstatealum]

Of those three, I like Gattis.

I thought Gattis was perhaps a couple years away from being a head coach but he looks good. My only concern with Gattis besides being a little young is that he will only be here 2 years and then bolt.

If he as good as we expect, he is going to win double digit games back to back years and then get a P5 job. We better put a heavy buyout for the first 3-4 years to make him stay a little while. Maybe a 2-4M buyout since he would be leaving for a 2M or more type job.

Yep, wouldn’t be a bad strategy. If we do go double digit seasons back to back, the next crop of guys will be lining up every time we have a vacancy..... I’m fine being done with the days of 15+ year guys if we maintain our winning culture and we keep staff in the program that understand what it means to be a “Mountaineer”.

[ASUGoose]

No thanks on Ruffin. Gattis I'm concerned with a potential head coaching learning curve for next year when we have the table set for a massive year on the field. That would be true with any of these candidates with no prior HC experience so we will see.