zff Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 More from footballscoop.comAkron: We hear Akron is trying to lure Walt Harris to join the staff as quarterbacks coach / pass game coordinator. Quote
PittsburghZipsFan Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Posted February 16, 2009 More from footballscoop.comAkron: We hear Akron is trying to lure Walt Harris to join the staff as quarterbacks coach / pass game coordinator.It will be announced soon. Shane and Walt to Akron, man I am going to have to pay more attention to the Zips in 2009! Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Whoa, what's the offensive staff's budget now, anyway??? I might prefer to spend a little more on the defensive side of the ball. Nothing against Harris.....in fact if he is really willing to come in in THIS capacity, why not offer him the OC position in the 1st place? Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Note - Walt Harris to UA is not official. But the "buzz" is in the air.Two OUTSTANDING hires in Montgomery and Harris, should Harris pan-out. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Note - Walt Harris to UA is not official. But the "buzz" is in the air.Two OUTSTANDING hires in Montgomery and Harris, should Harris pan-out. Oh I'm in total agreement on that aspect. I'm just curious how much it cost to get them here. Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Note - Walt Harris to UA is not official. But the "buzz" is in the air.Two OUTSTANDING hires in Montgomery and Harris, should Harris pan-out. Oh I'm in total agreement on that aspect. I'm just curious how much it cost to get them here.I haven't looked at his Stanford contract, but I would guess he's still drawing a nice salary from the Cardinals? The Zips might be able to get him at a reasonable rate. I think he still lives in the Pittsburgh area, so if he had the itch to get back into coaching, UA would be a logical choice to do so. I'm sure Nicely would be happy. Quote
ZachTheZip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So now the "buzz" is that Montgomery and Harris are somehow going to be Co-Coordinators? Quote
zippy5 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 wow. I was a huge Pitt fan growing up (still am, but I'll root for Akron over them any day, since I go here...) and I loved Walt's offense. his defense as a coach, not so much, but if he's the OC, who cares?!!? The guy's a GREAT QB coach. and decent recruiter, with experience coaching in the B.E. for a while.I think this is an awesome hire, especially since he has had 2 interviews with Pitt for their OC job... Quote
Blue & Gold Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Wow, these are two potentially fantastic hires! The Zips are the soon-to-be Boise State of the MAC! It's thrilling that coaches of this caliber recognize our competitive advantage here @ UA and want to get on & conduct this train! Quote
ZachTheZip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Keep in mind that Harris to Akron is still unconfirmed. Keep your fingers crossed, though. Quote
PittsburghZipsFan Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Posted February 16, 2009 Keep in mind that Harris to Akron is still unconfirmed. Keep your fingers crossed, though.It's a done deal. Quote
ZachTheZip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Keep in mind that Harris to Akron is still unconfirmed. Keep your fingers crossed, though.It's a done deal.I really really want to believe you, but the way things are around here I hope you don't hold it against me if I am waiting for an official announcement. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Note - Walt Harris to UA is not official. But the "buzz" is in the air.Two OUTSTANDING hires in Montgomery and Harris, should Harris pan-out. Oh I'm in total agreement on that aspect. I'm just curious how much it cost to get them here.I haven't looked at his Stanford contract, but I would guess he's still drawing a nice salary from the Cardinals? The Zips might be able to get him at a reasonable rate. I think he still lives in the Pittsburgh area, so if he had the itch to get back into coaching, UA would be a logical choice to do so. I'm sure Nicely would be happy.He is definitely living in the PGH area (Shaler, see 1st link). Although the 2nd article is from last summer, it gives you an idea of his prowess in the passing game.Link 1Link 2BTW, I remember when Harris coached Pacific (before they dropped football) and had a QB by the name of Troy Kopp. The Tigers flat out "lit up the scoreboard" during those years. Incidentally, when UoP dropped FB, a young RB named Yasin Reeder was forced to transfer. He would up right here in Akron as I'm sure many of you recall. Quote
Blue & Gold Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So if this does work out with Harris, how do things shake down with hiring both Montgomery and Harris for Offensive positions? I'm a bit confused. Quote
ZachTheZip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Harris was the guy who recruited Luke Getsy to Pitt. He knows QBs. Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So if this does work out with Harris, how do things shake down with hiring both Montgomery and Harris for Offensive positions? I'm a bit confused.Harris looks to be the QB coach. Montgomery the OC. That's the way I see it. Quote
Buckzip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So if this does work out with Harris, how do things shake down with hiring both Montgomery and Harris for Offensive positions? I'm a bit confused.Harris looks to be the QB coach. Montgomery the OC. That's the way I see it.Wow, this is unbelieveable. Those are 2 name guys and they are coming to UA....I wonder if this is a lead in to JD being gone after 2009 if things don't turn around.It looks like we could have the next HC on the staff. Quote
Dr Z Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 For those of you that keep asking the question, when is the new stadium going to get us good recruits? It may be helping us hire coaches also. Quote
ZippyRulz Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 Wow, these are two potentially fantastic hires! The Zips are the soon-to-be Boise State of the MAC! It's thrilling that coaches of this caliber recognize our competitive advantage here @ UA and want to get on & conduct this train!It's the new on-campus stadium.I also see Kirk Ferentz got a new 7-year contract at Iowa. Since we've played them before, I wonder if we could get them to come to Akron for a game like Indiana is doing. Quote
ZippyRulz Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So if this does work out with Harris, how do things shake down with hiring both Montgomery and Harris for Offensive positions? I'm a bit confused.Harris looks to be the QB coach. Montgomery the OC. That's the way I see it.Wow, this is unbelieveable. Those are 2 name guys and they are coming to UA....I wonder if this is a lead in to JD being gone after 2009 if things don't turn around.It looks like we could have the next HC on the staff.Yeah, and maybe the next HC will return the favor and keep JD on the staff. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 So if this does work out with Harris, how do things shake down with hiring both Montgomery and Harris for Offensive positions? I'm a bit confused.Harris looks to be the QB coach. Montgomery the OC. That's the way I see it.Wow, this is unbelieveable. Those are 2 name guys and they are coming to UA....I wonder if this is a lead in to JD being gone after 2009 if things don't turn around.It looks like we could have the next HC on the staff.Yeah, and maybe the next HC will return the favor and keep JD on the staff.IF these two are hired into their expected positions, I see many potential coaching scenarios at the end of the 2009 season. But's there's no way JD stays on as part of the staff of a Monty or Harris regime, because that would mean the Zips underperformed in 2009. If that happens, they're probably all gone. Now JD leaving on his own after (say) a 9-3 season, with one of these guys taking over the reigns? That's at least possible. Quote
skip-zip Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 I wouldn't think that two guys of this caliber would take asst. coaching positions at MAC schools, so this is great news for us. Maybe the stadium/facilities (i.e. the commitment to football by the University) had something to do with them wanting to come here. I hope that also had an effect on the high ranked recruiting class that we had, and will continue to do so. JD is hiring these two guys (with approval), so I don't think this is any kind of coup to have guys on staff that could become the next head coach. And I don't want to start another discussion about what he needs to do to stay here, but I think he's fine as long as we continue to get better. I'd love to be in position again to move into first place in the MAC East late in the season. But this time, I want to WIN that game. Quote
GP1 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 I haven't looked at his Stanford contract, but I would guess he's still drawing a nice salary from the Cardinals?It's Cardinal, not Cardinals. If it was Cardinals, their mascot would be something other than a giant redwood tree.Anyhow, it's not April 1, so it can't be April Fools Day. Harris is an excellent QB coach and Jacq will benefit greatly from his teaching. Long term, what does this mean? I still think one way or another, JD is finished after 2009. I don't like the idea of Montgomery being the next head coach, but I do like the idea of Harris being the next coach. Harris took Pitt to a BCS bowl the year he was FIRED from Pitt (they haven't been back to one since). He is a strange guy, but the success was there at Pitt. Harris could be the next coach at Akron. Quote
you am i Posted February 16, 2009 Report Posted February 16, 2009 I haven't looked at his Stanford contract, but I would guess he's still drawing a nice salary from the Cardinals?It's Cardinal, not Cardinals. If it was Cardinals, their mascot would be something other than a giant redwood tree.Anyhow, it's not April 1, so it can't be April Fools Day. Harris is an excellent QB coach and Jacq will benefit greatly from his teaching. Long term, what does this mean? I still think one way or another, JD is finished after 2009. I don't like the idea of Montgomery being the next head coach, but I do like the idea of Harris being the next coach. Harris took Pitt to a BCS bowl the year he was FIRED from Pitt (they haven't been back to one since). He is a strange guy, but the success was there at Pitt. Harris could be the next coach at Akron.This is the second time you've said that Walt Harris was fired (or FIRED) from Pitt. I don't recall it that way. His last year at Pitt was 2004 and he was named the Big East Coach Of The Year that year. He also led Pitt to the Fiesta Bowl on 1/1/05, although they lost decisively to Urban Meyer's undefeated Utah team. According to a Pittsburgh newspaper article at that time, at the end of 2004 Harris's agent wanted Pitt to renegotiate his contract or let him go. It became a moot point when he took the Stanford job, although apparently he interviewed at Stanford without Pitt's permission. If they wanted to fire him, wouldn't they have been encouraging him to look for another coaching job? I recall that some people at Pitt were unhappy with him, but it seems unlikely that they would fire a guy who was just named the conference coach of the year and who took them to a BCS bowl. Are you sure about that? Or could it be that they "fired" him after he announced that was taking the Stanford job? Quote
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