Any Press is good press?

[g-mann17]

Bleacher Report

[Captain Kangaroo]

Bleacher Report

Looking at the errors pointed out in the comments beneath the column, it is obvious the guy either doesn't know what he's talking about, or simply whipped up something to meet a deadline. He may end up being correct...but it isn't due to his research and attention-to-detail...it would just be dumb luck. I will give Ianello the benefit of the doubt. He deserves it.

[Dr Z]

One of my friends that knows a mac coach told him that Rob is the most intelligent person he ever met. So Dan Scofield better reconsider.

[g-mann17]

Bleacher Report

Looking at the errors pointed out in the comments beneath the column, it is obvious the guy either doesn't know what he's talking about, or simply whipped up something to meet a deadline. He may end up being correct...but it isn't due to his research and attention-to-detail...it would just be dumb luck. I will give Ianello the benefit of the doubt. He deserves it.

I wasn't valuing his opinion so much as saying, our coaching hire is mentioned with USC, Tennessee, & Texas Tech. I think the mark of being great at something is knowing your own weaknesses. Ianello knows he lacks on field experience, so he went after an OC with a lot of experience, and Assistant Head Coach with a lot of experience. He went young with the DC but made sure he had some experience around Mallory to help with position specifics. He also did well in finding a spot for Okruch on the staff. I will be interested to see how the players progress into the new system come April.

[Let'sGoZips94]

My thing about Ianello is he is a recruiter more than anything. You can't coach god given talent, but you can recruit which is something we've been missing IMO. He's got a good staff around him to help him out. He's from Notre Dame so he had to learn something there. I'm with Captain and I'm giving him the BOD.

[ZachTheZip]

Notre Dame was terrible (by their standards) while Ianello was there. The only thing he learned coming from there is that it's wasy to recruit when you're the most well known football program in the country.I still don't understand how he deserves any "benefit of the doubt". Has he done something to earn it? I don't see anything on his resume that says he might be a good head coach. I don't see anything that tells me that he can keep a staff full of people with huge egos in check. All I see when I read reactions about him is "he's from Notre Dame in some capacity, and that's all you need to know so stop worrying".

[zip37]

Jerry Faust was 'from nostra domis" look where that got us, HOWEVER, the slate is clean he is 0-0 literally!

[GP1]

I still don't understand how he deserves any "benefit of the doubt".

I don't disagree.The only thing he deserves is an open mind. There is no guarantee anyone will be successful at any job. It's the MAC and anything can happen. Turner Gill won the MAC...will that make him a winner at Kansas? We'll see, but probably not. People on this board wanted winning lower level candidates...will that make them a winner in the MAC? Maybe, but the nature of coaching is getting fired so there is a good chance most will fail.In reality, this guy is taking a risk at Akron and we would be taking a huge risk with anyone we hired because we don't pay that well.This team needs on field coaching badly. They have the talent to be good and they need to get everyone rowing in the same direction. His challenge isn't recruiting, it is teaching young men how to play football and execute what he wants done.I don't like the way the AD went about hiring a buddy, but I don't hold that against his buddy. We have a lazy AD and not necessarily a bad coach. In fact, we really don't know what kind of coach we have yet. I hope the new coach works his ass off and can really get a group of underachievers to live up to their potential and win some games.I'm going to Arizona tomorrow. You guys behave yourselves while I'm gone and keep in mind it isn't the 1950s anymore.

[Dr Z]

I still don't understand how he deserves any "benefit of the doubt".

One, I'm a fan, so if I have hope for my team, I'll stay positive until I see something negative.Two, he hasn't lost one game as the Akron head coach yet. Three, he plays in the MAC. So yeah, I'm willing to give him the BOD.If you want to start crying about the guy before he coaches one frigin game of football, you might want to change your allegiance.

[Dave in Green]

Benefit of the doubt: To believe something good about someone, rather than something bad, when you have the possibility of doing either. I have to admit that there are some people who post on ZN who I have trouble bringing myself to give the benefit of the doubt.But Coach Ianello? No problem at all. The more I read about his background, the more impressed I become that he has the potential to develop into the kind of head coach that could never have been lured to UA if he had already proven that head coaching potential at another school.It's also possible that he might be a total failure as a head coach. But I like the upside odds better than the downside.

[InTheZone]

I think I was more pissed off than anybody about this hire, but after taking some time to step back and look at things more rationally, all we can really do is give the guy a chance and see what he can do, because obviously you never know. While I agree with the author of this article that this was a terrible hire and we could've done a lot better, I could be wrong and so could he. When Bowling Green hired Urban Meyer there were probably a few fans going "Urban WHO?". A MAC coaching hire is what it is, a crapshoot. We should all give this guy a year and see if he can coach. And I say a year, as opposed to 4 or 5 because there IS the talent on this team to win in a conference as shitty as the MAC has become RIGHT NOW. If he can't win with what he's got next year, he's not an elite coach, period. No choice but to give him a chance though.