What About Joe Moorhead?

[Captain Kangaroo]

Unlike Winters, he's schemed against Big East opponents for the past several seasons. We scored a lot of points, and had some of our Program's biggest wins while he was Zips OC.

He left UA for UConn before JD's final season, so perhaps TW is not biased against him?

Bio

Still recruiting the Ohio/PA area

[InTheZone]

Moorhead was another guy who always struck me as a douche bag on a personal level. Ego the size of Texas, and he's another guy who would just use this job as a stepping stone. Also, his offenses were good in comparison to what we've seen the last few years, but still didn't put up close to the numbers of Winters. Edge to the true Akron guy.

Winters > Moorhead

[Captain Kangaroo]

I never saw an ego with Moorhead. If he was walking through the Rubber Bowl parking lot prior to games, he'd always stop by and shake the hands of the people in our group. At the golf outings, he'd talk to you about recruiting...schemes...whatever you wanted to discuss for as long as you wanted to discuss it. I saw him as 100% ego-free.

Is he a great head coach? I'd leave that up to the committee to determine. But as a person, he's a super guy. And his resume' would put him in the Top 5 realistic candidates. He was a major part of some of the biggest wins in our school's D-1 football history.

[Jalapeño Zippy]

I never saw an ego with Moorhead. If he was walking through the Rubber Bowl parking lot prior to games, he'd always stop by and shake the hands of the people in our group. At the golf outings, he'd talk to you about recruiting...schemes...whatever you wanted to discuss for as long as you wanted to discuss it. I saw him as 100% ego-free.

Is he a great head coach? I'd leave that up to the committee to determine. But as a person, he's a super guy. And his resume' would put him in the Top 5 realistic candidates. He was a major part of some of the biggest wins in our school's D-1 football history.

Agreed Moorhead was always a great guy. He would be nice to have on staff again but I don't know what his commitment to Akron would be. I want a coach that plans on staying here and building a program. I don't want a coach looking to job hop to the next position at first offer.

[InTheZone]

I guess we had different experiences with him, we'll leave it at that.

As far as recruiting goes though, he was a major architect of the failed JD "Go big or go home" strategy of the early years. His big recruiting coup was the infamous "Glenville Four" in '04. We all know how that turned it out. He subsequently got out of town before the major implications of those recruiting blunders hit.

In terms of big wins, he was only co-offensive coordinator for the '05 march to the title (a march that included a dandy shut-out at the hands of Army). That title was mainly given to him to keep him from leaving and increase his pay, but Pry was still running the show. He was coordinator alone in '06 when we beat NC State, but if you remember correctly, that game was won 17-14 on a great defensive effort. If Paul Winters ever had half the defense we had in '05 and '06 we would've won 10 games a year.

Winters > Moorhead

[Dr Z]

I never thought of Joe before, but I think he would be worth an interview. To judge Mr Moorehead as anything other than at least a "nice guy" says something to me about your character judgement skills. CK is right, that guy would talk to you about Akron football until you were tired of talking. He was always willing to answer questions and give you his time. He seems like a tireless worker. One positive not mentioned above, would be the fact that I think Joe understands what it takes to be a successful college QB at Akron. I've said it umpteen times this season, our biggest problem was at the QB position. It will be the first and most important item for the next coach to address. There are plenty of coaches I would trust. I can only think of one that I would absolutely not trust, but I won't have to worry about that anymore.

[InTheZone]

I never thought of Joe before, but I think he would be worth an interview. To judge Mr Moorehead as anything other than at least a "nice guy" says something to me about your character judgement skills. CK is right, that guy would talk to you about Akron football until you were tired of talking. He was always willing to answer questions and give you his time. He seems like a tireless worker. One positive not mentioned above, would be the fact that I think Joe understands what it takes to be a successful college QB at Akron. I've said it umpteen times this season, our biggest problem was at the QB position. It will be the first and most important item for the next coach to address. There are plenty of coaches I would trust. I can only think of one that I would absolutely not trust, but I won't have to worry about that anymore.

I know more about Morehead's character than just seeing him with fans, when anybody with half a brain will be in kiss-ass mode (Ianello was obviously missing that half of his brain). I was teammates and friends with a lot of the guys he coached in his 4 years here and a lot of those guys had some less than stellar reviews for Mr. Moorehead's "character". My personal experience with him was in more social settings where some social lubricant perhaps brought out his more pompous side.

So yes, Dr. Z and Cap, if I'd had your experiences with him, and said what I said, I'd be a pretty bad judge of character. If you'd had mine and said what you said, that distinction would fall on you. Since we've obviously been exposed to different sides of the man, we'll just agree to disagree.

Character aside, I think there are stronger candidates out there that would be better for the program based on experience, qualifications, and success. I'm not opposed to him being in the conversation though.

[Dr Z]

How Joe Moorhead Created Penn State's Cutting-Edge Offense 

BRUCE FELDMAN

Wednesday September 20th, 2017

 

Moorhead: When I became the head coach, because I had 51% of the vote, that’s when it took off. At Fordham, we said we’re wiping the slate clean. We know what we want to do. We’re gonna create our language, create our rules. What you see now [at Penn State] was built from our first year at Fordham.

 

Breiner: When we first got here, Joe said, ‘Why don’t we just leave the tight end off the ball so that we could run the split-flow zone, which is really the cornerstone of our offense.’ Part of it was for that and part of it was personnel-wise. As we got going, there was no going back. The split-flow zone is who we are.

 

Moorhead worked as a graduate assistant at Pitt for two seasons, then spent four years as an offensive assistant at Georgetown. In 2004, former Pitt assistant J.D. Brookhart became the head coach at Akron and hired Moorhead to become the Zips’ wide receivers coach. Two seasons later, he was promoted to offensive coordinator, where he produced one of the MAC’s most potent attacks. UConn hired him in 2009 to run the Huskies’ offense.

 

Breiner: Within the first three weeks when we were at UConn, I knew he was special. His greatest skill as a coach is his ability to inspire confidence in the people around him, the coaching staff but more importantly the players. He gets people to buy into what he’s asking them to do but also gets them to believe that what they’re doing will be successful. He had me hook, line and sinker when he was teaching me the offense.

 

Roar Lions Roar Story on the SI Article

[Captain Kangaroo]

Joe gets the Mississippi State gig. Good for him!

[Dr Z]

I wish Joe all the luck in the world, but I hope it lines up that when coach Bowden retires, Joe might be available to come back to the U. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Joe and Luke Reunited

[LZIp]

Moorhead is available.

 

[Dr Z]

Man I still (see three posts up from 2017) wish the stars aligned. ?

[John Ward]

8 hours ago, Dr Z said:

Man I still (see three posts up from 2017) wish the stars aligned. ?

Not sure these stars aligning would have been good.

[Captain Kangaroo]

12 hours ago, John Ward said:

Not sure these stars aligning would have been good.

Put me in the corner of Joe Moorhead.

 

Took over a 1-10 Fordham team and completely turned their program around. Increased Penn State's offensive output by almost 100 yards per game after his arrival.

 

 

No one will ever really "win" at Mississippi State. They'll always be 2nd tier SEC. 

[a-zip]

On 1/6/2020 at 1:19 PM, Dr Z said:

Man I still (see three posts up from 2017) wish the stars aligned. ?

If we would have waited and not fired a coach we were financially obligated to (which we couldn't afford) ......the stars would have aligned nicely.  Oh well.

[Captain Kangaroo]

4 hours ago, a-zip said:

If we would have waited and not fired a coach we were financially obligated to (which we couldn't afford) ......the stars would have aligned nicely.  Oh well.

Every school fires a coach they are financially obligated to. No coach coaches through the last year of their contract without an extension. Paying an underperfoming coach not-to-coach is the price every school pays. It is a cost of doing business. 

 

But this is a Joe Moorhead thread. Not a budget thread. If you want to talk budget, you can do it here.

[Z.I.P.]

On 1/7/2020 at 5:08 AM, Captain Kangaroo said:

Put me in the corner of Joe Moorhead.

 

Took over a 1-10 Fordham team and completely turned their program around. Increased Penn State's offensive output by almost 100 yards per game after his arrival.

 

 

No one will ever really "win" at Mississippi State. They'll always be 2nd tier SEC. 

I was rather shocked by the Mike Leach hiring, and I expect him to shake up the SEC a bit.  Yes, MSU has a ceiling but look what Row the Boat has done for Minnieville -- I anticipate the Bulldog Air Raid to have similar effects in Starkeville.  They should be able to jump into the top 15 nationally and give some tremors to the "elite" SEC coaches -- maybe akin to how the ol' Ball Coach did in South Carolina.  They're no longer a walk over as in the past for the "top tier".  They must have BIG BUCKS at least to hire Leach and HIS ego.

[UA1987]

Dan Mullen had Miss. State ranked #1 in 2014. 

[LZIp]

Ya'll, I get Joe Moorhead is beloved in Akron for what he did during his time here, but he was fired from Miss State in just 2 seasons (despite 2 egg bowl wins) for a reason. His overall record was 14-12. 8 of those wins came last season win an immensely talented roster he took over. He didn't have control of his locker room. His starting QB got punched out by a teammate during bowl prep - and was out for the game as a result.

 

Obviously I don't have a crystal ball, but "the stars not aligning" may have very well been a blessing in disguise long term.

[zippy5]

 

 

[Dr Z]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.registerguard.com/amp/8298609002

Oregon's offensive coordinator, who had experience against the Buckeyes as Penn State's offensive coordinator from 2016-17, drew up a masterpiece game plan that kept Ohio State off balance the entire game. Moorhead attacked early and often with Verdell and Brown running up the middle and got four touchdowns on plays to left side of the offense when he had pulling lineman out in front leading Verdell into the end zone twice and Dye once

[Dr Z]

 A decade ago, the ZN search committee come up with Joe Moorhead as their leading candidate. 😀

[Let'sGoZips94]

On 9/13/2021 at 8:07 AM, Dr Z said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.registerguard.com/amp/8298609002

Oregon's offensive coordinator, who had experience against the Buckeyes as Penn State's offensive coordinator from 2016-17, drew up a masterpiece game plan that kept Ohio State off balance the entire game. Moorhead attacked early and often with Verdell and Brown running up the middle and got four touchdowns on plays to left side of the offense when he had pulling lineman out in front leading Verdell into the end zone twice and Dye once

 

During the past 3 days of refreshing the "latest" for a Joe Moorhead search on Twitter, someone mentioned he is close with either Harbaugh or someone else on the Michigan staff. Apparently a very similar game plan was used to beat OSUcks this past weekend.

 

Moorhead's Game Plan: 2

Suckeyes: 0

[NWAkron]

The Akron football legend going forward will be that late one night in the Summer of 2021, Charles Guthrie was perusing Zipsnation and came upon this "What about Joe Moorhead" thread and had his "AHA" moment.