Football Staff

[TheMackAttack]

We're not going to be poaching a bunch of rising-star assistants from successful FBS programs. We just don't have the money for it. Satt was surprisingly successful at getting guys to make lateral moves, but mostly we're going to be hiring either young guys very early in their careers or older "journeyman" coaches. Probably some with App ties to help attract them, but not all.

Take a look at Satterfield's first staff, no lateral movement there.

Frank Ponce (co-OC/QB) - G5 position coach
Dwayne Ledford (co-OC/OL) - FCS position coach
Justin Stepp (WR) - P5 Grad Assistant
Chris Foster (RB) - FCS position coach
Dale Jones (LB) - Retained
Mark Ivey (DL) - High School Head Coach
Nate Woody (DC/LB) - FCS Coordinator
Scot Sloan (DB) - Retained
Brian Brown (CB) - P5 Grad Assistant

Once he established himself, we got lucky with Holt returning to NC and Clark returning to App. Watts was the only guy to truly make a lateral move, and there were rumors at the time that he was being pushed out at Middle Tennessee. At the same time, Satterfield promoted DJ Smith and Nic Cardwell from within and brought back Greg Gasparato, a former grad assistant, to fill openings in his staff.

I like both of these hires on their merits. By all accounts, Braswell has a very strong grasp of this defense and is in his mid 30s, so I'm confident he's going to be able to relate to the players well. DeBastiani has 10 years as an FCS coordinator and experience recruiting the Tidewater area. I'm happy with both of them and look forward to seeing who Clark fills out his staff with.

[HighPointApp]

[/quote]

Take a look at Satterfield's first staff, no lateral movement there.

Frank Ponce (co-OC/QB) - G5 position coach
Dwayne Ledford (co-OC/OL) - FCS position coach
Justin Stepp (WR) - P5 Grad Assistant
Chris Foster (RB) - FCS position coach
Dale Jones (LB) - Retained
Mark Ivey (DL) - High School Head Coach
Nate Woody (DC/LB) - FCS Coordinator
Scot Sloan (DB) - Retained
Brian Brown (CB) - P5 Grad Assistant

Once he established himself, we got lucky with Holt returning to NC and Clark returning to App. Watts was the only guy to truly make a lateral move, and there were rumors at the time that he was being pushed out at Middle Tennessee. At the same time, Satterfield promoted DJ Smith and Nic Cardwell from within and brought back Greg Gasparato, a former grad assistant, to fill openings in his staff.

I like both of these hires on their merits. By all accounts, Braswell has a very strong grasp of this defense and is in his mid 30s, so I'm confident he's going to be able to relate to the players well. DeBastiani has 10 years as an FCS coordinator and experience recruiting the Tidewater area. I'm happy with both of them and look forward to seeing who Clark fills out his staff with.
[/quote]

Nice post. Very logical and not based on emotion or feelings about doom and gloom. Well done sir.

[EastHallApp]

MackAttack - I was thinking of the three you mentioned with that “lateral move” comment (Clark, Watts, Holt). More about how he replaced departures than his initial staff. Good summary of the bigger picture, though.

[mike87]

short term vs long term. Drink was short term and made as big a splash as he could including short term hires. We got our 13 wins. Great Season. And he got a great job out of it as did those great hires. But you can't say it wasn't at the potential expense of the culture on the mountain. Clark's charge, at least from what he is saying publicly, seems to be to stabilize and keep our culture. Listen to what he says. Seems to be what got him the job so I'd say his hires have been pretty smart. That tallest midget might be just hitting a growth spurt.

I like short term big splash make adjustments when needed. Goodness I feel a very 2012 vibe with this.

How many years do you think we can go with big name, one and done coaches before academic performance, off field behavior issues and our culture suffers? Not to mention impact on recruiting. I think we recruit coaches like we recruit players. 2 and 3 stars with a chip. I like sexy hires too as a fan but I think the program does better with quality and stability.

[bigdaddyg]

short term vs long term. Drink was short term and made as big a splash as he could including short term hires. We got our 13 wins. Great Season. And he got a great job out of it as did those great hires. But you can't say it wasn't at the potential expense of the culture on the mountain. Clark's charge, at least from what he is saying publicly, seems to be to stabilize and keep our culture. Listen to what he says. Seems to be what got him the job so I'd say his hires have been pretty smart. That tallest midget might be just hitting a growth spurt.

I like short term big splash make adjustments when needed. Goodness I feel a very 2012 vibe with this.

How many years do you think we can go with big name, one and done coaches before academic performance, off field behavior issues and our culture suffers? Not to mention impact on recruiting. I think we recruit coaches like we recruit players. 2 and 3 stars with a chip. I like sexy hires too as a fan but I think the program does better with quality and stability.

Good points. Look at what some of these bigger schools, namely the middling SEC programs are doing. They go for the “big name “ guys like Kiffin and Leach. They might be good coaches but they aren’t miracle workers. If we keep getting the same type Jimmies and Joes and maintain stability with our core coaches- App guys and solid football guys we will be fine. How many G5’s overpay for far lesser results? I would think our ROI is top 20 also.

[App91]

short term vs long term. Drink was short term and made as big a splash as he could including short term hires. We got our 13 wins. Great Season. And he got a great job out of it as did those great hires. But you can't say it wasn't at the potential expense of the culture on the mountain. Clark's charge, at least from what he is saying publicly, seems to be to stabilize and keep our culture. Listen to what he says. Seems to be what got him the job so I'd say his hires have been pretty smart. That tallest midget might be just hitting a growth spurt.

I like short term big splash make adjustments when needed. Goodness I feel a very 2012 vibe with this.

How many years do you think we can go with big name, one and done coaches before academic performance, off field behavior issues and our culture suffers? Not to mention impact on recruiting. I think we recruit coaches like we recruit players. 2 and 3 stars with a chip. I like sexy hires too as a fan but I think the program does better with quality and stability.

A mix of both is the best possible scenario

[Yosef84]

It's fine to discuss how we feel at the staff / status of staff development but until the staff is complete, there really isn't a basis to compare. We won't get a resume like Roof in all likelihood. He had the best resume of anyone on the staff last year (including Drink) but he was the LEAST popular hire on the staff. Some still hang on to their negative opinions despite he obvious success. Rather than throw these things out as criticisms, I'll point out that the tendency to worry and look for possible flaws is a function of the fact that we ALL want the success to continue and genuinely CARE about App State football! That said....let's relax and let SC be coach. He has WAY more information than the synopsis being published. He knows more about App State football than anyone on this board and he is interviewing these guys and forming his decisions on much more informed basis than we are. Trusting him isn't "giving him a pass" at this stage unless you're just talking about less bitching and groaning.

I think the hires so far look pretty good. Yeah...no big splashes yet but the biggest splash we had last year stayed on campus about a week. FCS coaching might not set of fireworks for us, but FCS coaches have to do more work in developing and teaching players than high level P5 coaches who live on 4 and 5 star recruits! Lest anyone forget, we rely on developing talent to its max so that's a skill set we need.

We're all nervous but let's not get carried away. For the record, I don't see big over reactions so far. I see concerned fans. I'm hoping we don't start seeing the extreme "conclusive" brand of complaints like we had about Roof last year.

[mountaineerman]

short term vs long term. Drink was short term and made as big a splash as he could including short term hires. We got our 13 wins. Great Season. And he got a great job out of it as did those great hires. But you can't say it wasn't at the potential expense of the culture on the mountain. Clark's charge, at least from what he is saying publicly, seems to be to stabilize and keep our culture. Listen to what he says. Seems to be what got him the job so I'd say his hires have been pretty smart. That tallest midget might be just hitting a growth spurt.

I like short term big splash make adjustments when needed. Goodness I feel a very 2012 vibe with this.

How many years do you think we can go with big name, one and done coaches before academic performance, off field behavior issues and our culture suffers? Not to mention impact on recruiting. I think we recruit coaches like we recruit players. 2 and 3 stars with a chip. I like sexy hires too as a fan but I think the program does better with quality and stability.

A mix of both is the best possible scenario

I agree with that 100%. Mixing of both is definitely what is needed.

[booneboy92]

It's fine to discuss how we feel at the staff / status of staff development but until the staff is complete, there really isn't a basis to compare. We won't get a resume like Roof in all likelihood. He had the best resume of anyone on the staff last year (including Drink) but he was the LEAST popular hire on the staff. Some still hang on to their negative opinions despite he obvious success. Rather than throw these things out as criticisms, I'll point out that the tendency to worry and look for possible flaws is a function of the fact that we ALL want the success to continue and genuinely CARE about App State football! That said....let's relax and let SC be coach. He has WAY more information than the synopsis being published. He knows more about App State football than anyone on this board and he is interviewing these guys and forming his decisions on much more informed basis than we are. Trusting him isn't "giving him a pass" at this stage unless you're just talking about less bitching and groaning.

I think the hires so far look pretty good. Yeah...no big splashes yet but the biggest splash we had last year stayed on campus about a week. FCS coaching might not set of fireworks for us, but FCS coaches have to do more work in developing and teaching players than high level P5 coaches who live on 4 and 5 star recruits! Lest anyone forget, we rely on developing talent to its max so that's a skill set we need.

We're all nervous but let's not get carried away. For the record, I don't see big over reactions so far. I see concerned fans. I'm hoping we don't start seeing the extreme "conclusive" brand of complaints like we had about Roof last year.

I'm with you, and I'll ask this... Taylor Lamb is now coaching QB's for a not-so-great FCS program. If Clark decided to bring him back up in a couple or few years (no matter what Gardner-Webb's success rate is over those seasons), do you guys think we'll hear much complaining when it's announced?... I think not.

[Cro-Magnon App]

Just because a coach is young doesn't mean he can relate to players better than old coaches. That's a fallacy.

[EastHallApp]

We won't get a resume like Roof in all likelihood. He had the best resume of anyone on the staff last year (including Drink) but he was the LEAST popular hire on the staff.

“Best resume” is subjective. Do you value quantity of experience or quality of results? What they’ve done in the past vs. what you think they can do next?

Some of our fans put a lot of weight on how many years a guy has coached and how famous his employers were. That’s certainly worth considering, but it’s not everything.

[Appstate88]

2 coordinator spots remaining....OC and ST. Who’s out there and who wants it?
Is the OC answer going to be...
A - Former FCS Head Coach
B - Successful FCS Coordinator
C - Average G5 coordinator
D - P5 position coach
E - None of the above

Is the ST answer going to be...
A - FCS position coach
B - Successful FCS Coordinator
C - Average G5 coordinator
D - P5 position coach
E - None of the above

[hapapp]

The ST coach is going to do double duty. He will be a position coach and the ST coach.

[Yosef84]

We won't get a resume like Roof in all likelihood. He had the best resume of anyone on the staff last year (including Drink) but he was the LEAST popular hire on the staff.

“Best resume” is subjective. Do you value quantity of experience or quality of results? What they’ve done in the past vs. what you think they can do next?

Some of our fans put a lot of weight on how many years a guy has coached and how famous his employers were. That’s certainly worth considering, but it’s not everything.

It is certainly subjective and you're free to disagree but Roof had both quantity and quality of experience. Multiple blue chip P5 programs, national title at Auburn. I think it would be hard to compare anyone else's resume to his. Yeah, his years at Georgia Tech were less than dazzling but it was Georgia Tech! The average ranking of those GT Defenses was higher than the five years preceding his arrival and those since his departure. This argument is really tired and you are free to disagree but I think the data supports my statement.

[Saint3333]

The guy has been hired by 5 P5 programs, he’s doing something right.