Is Our Head Coach "Search" a Sham?

[Captain Kangaroo]

I think the idea that the search is a "sham" is laughable.

Columbus said the world was round. Everyone laughed.

But to start labeling the search as a "sham" smacks to me as laying the groundwork for having displeasure with the result or the parties responsible, no matter what the result is.

While I appreciate you putting negative words in my mouth, I assure you I have no horse in the race. All three alleged candidates are quality coaches.

I play no games with inferences and other BS. I am objective, and not a University shill. That's one constant in all my years on this board. Agree or disagree with me, you should appreciate my integrity.

I do feel that Wistercill f'd up last time, picking his buddy over more worthy candidates. I do feel he's desperate to make amends and give the Zips fan base their "pound of flesh." I do feel that, like the last time, the next Zips coach is already predetermined. It is Paul Winters.

As fans, we win. Paul will be an excellent coach. As an AD, Wistercill will receive the love he desperately needs by hiring an "Akron Guy" and making many people happy.

But - Wistercill, and UA Athletics, have paid a big price to get an almost unprecedented "mulligan" for his initial, horrific decision. Regardless of how this plays out, it doesn't change the Titanic he smashed the bottle against 3 years ago.

Hopefully he doesn't screw up again, and gets one of these three alleged candidates to raise the Titanic and undertake the world's largest rebuilding job.

[hiroad1]

I think the idea that the search is a "sham" is laughable.

- Do you ever hear about the details of one of these searches fully in public when they're happening? All parties involved have a vested interest to maintain discretion until it gets close to the point where they become the coach. The amount of information we're getting is on par with what we should get. Much more, and it could compromise the ability of a coach or coaches to speak freely w/ UA and maintain stability in their current position if it doesn't work out.

- There are 3 - 4 names linked to the search: These are likely the "finalists." Winters (former player & coach), Johnson (former player, longtime coach at higher levels), Narduzzi (no UA ties .. DC @ MSU) .. and depending what you believe, Campbell and Stoops may be in the mix (neither has UA ties).

- Overtures of some sort were made to Tressel .. certainly there seems to have been some smoke there.

- For each of the 4 guys we are told (by the media) that are interviewing, there's probably a dozen more who had preliminary conversations and either didn't make the cut, or declined further discussions.

What about this isn't a national search? One guy hasn't been @ UA in almost 20 years, and coaches on the West coast, 2 guys are HIGHLY thought of DC's at upper level BCS schools, and another guy is a head coach at a lower level showing an aptitude for improving a program in a difficult situation (and UA grad).

If it lands on Winters, so be it .. it's not like they're pulling a guy who's the special teams coordinator at Uniontown Lake who happened to play for Faust, the guy has worked his craft here and elsewhere getting ready to be a D1-A coach.

But to start labeling the search as a "sham" smacks to me as laying the groundwork for having displeasure with the result or the parties responsible, no matter what the result is.

Last time the coach was named quickly, and many people were skeptical before the presser was even held. This time, the net (it appears) is being cast wider, and the search is taking more time .. and people don't like the process being followed.

Which way do you want it?

If Winters is in the mix with one or 10 other guys, and the committee is intent on having him be considered .. then it HAS to wait until he's done with games @ Wayne State. They're not just waiting on him .. press reports indicate others like Johnson are interviewing currently .. the timing of the hire is affected by Winters' team still playing. It doesn't mean this is a rubberstamp hire with no search. If the guy's a candidate, it has to wait.

That's how searches work. It's not a recruitment, it's a search.

Go Zips!

I agree with this assessment, and I've been one of the people calling for a thorough search.

Not making a decision until UA can interview Winters does not, necessarily, mean they are just waiting to give him the job. If he is on our short list, we should wait - unless UA would be at risk of losing a highly desirable candidate by waiting.

Therefore, it almost certaily means that TW/UA will not be pulling a rabbit out of the hat with a bigger name coaching surprise. Not that anyone expects that, but if they had somebody they thought was a "home run" they would not risk losing that person by waiting to interview Winters. Stoops seems like a guy UA might hire without interviewing Winters. That might be a sign that he is not really a candidate.

I haven't seen anybody prove, or even suggest, they have solid sources for the info in their posts. We're all just anxious speculators guessing what might happen with the team we ALL truly care about.

[ZipRoo]

What if Winters says "I ain't working for that guy", and stays are Wayne State?

Still happy with TW?

"I ain't saving that dude's bacon" is a quote I could imagine being attributed to Winters in an upcoming Elton Alexander column.

I guess, since YouTube Tom has shut off all discussions with the media on this topic (per today's PD), we'll just have to wait and see what transpires. And speculate.

Might it be a moot point? Someone one here posted that TW's contract is up in Sept. and that it would not be renewed. Any truth (hopefully)?

[Dr Z]

The issue of whether or not Winters would accept the UA job if offered has already been addressed in another thread by the only person in this ZN.o discussion who appears to still have an active relationship with Winters. Unless someone else has a better source who contradicts this, I'm inclined to believe the following:

I'll go by PW's own words that were quoted in the PD yesterday.

It is unclear if Winters is interested in what Wistrcill has to say. He has been passed over for the Akron job in the past. The Detroit Free Press wrote last week that the former Zips player and assistant coach “has no intention of leaving Wayne State for that job.” Contacted today, Winters said, “I don’t want to talk about this because it is not fair to my kids. We are focused on winning a national championship, and nothing else matters.”

If he was not interested, would he have said so when given the opportunity? I think it was footballscoop that reported, look for PW to be announced Dec 19th. I think the whole time, U of A has just been waiting for PW to get done with his task at hand. The rest of the floated rumors are just that. How does footballscoop get there info? Think about it. One of the funnier things I read on there was, no word on the HC job for PSU, I know they haven't done this in a long time, but you need to contact us.

[johnnyzip84]

George Thomas' first offering in a while is a about what you'd expect.

There is little "new" and at least one "not quite right" statement. Winter's may have built Wayne St from next to nothing, but he didn't build it "from scratch".

[InTheZone]

Is this the kind of crap we can expect from George Thomas? He calls the Wayne State Warriors the "Lions" (apparently he has his pro and college teams confused) and offers absolutely zero outside of what he's copying from the work other journalists have already done.

[akronad]

All Georgie Boy ever does is scan the social media sites and sites like ZN, Football Scoop, etc. and quote those as unnamed sources. He is not and never will be a good hard nosed reporter, that digs up his own information thru his own network of informers.

[Z.I.P.]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

[Dave in Green]

One new and original item:

When contacted by the Beacon Journal, Winters said: “I really don’t know what’s going on there. I’m taking care of what’s going on here.”

Winters isn't talking, and apparently no one in the know at UA is talking, either.

Even FootballScoop.com admits they're just "speculating" about who UA is going to pick.

No good sources = no news, just speculation.

[Buckzip]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Add scary to the list too.

[InTheZone]

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Stick to soccer little man.

[K92]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Add scary to the list too.

Who says Narduzzi wants the job?

[MDZip]

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Stick to soccer little man.

I have met Z.I.P. Little, he is not.

[Doug Snyder]

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Stick to soccer little man.

Man...I love ya ITZ. But I think the adjective "little" could have been omitted. Just my opinion.

[Doug Snyder]

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Stick to soccer little man.

I have met Z.I.P. Little, he is not.

I thought he was a surfer dude. I can never get the faces with posters right.

[Z.I.P.]

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

Stick to soccer little man.

Thanks Big Guy! It's people like you who make this board what it is! What it is...

[GP1]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

What's so great about his resume? His defense was fifth in the Big Ten in rushing defense? Why am I not filled with the desire to run to him with a job offer.

This guy falls under the category of Coach X. Just another guy who attends all the clinics and does what everyone else does with varying success depending on the talent level of the team.

Another Commander Riker. Everyone in Star Fleet knows a captain has to lead a smaller star ship to become captain of the Enterprise...or in our case, a medical resupply ship. In any event, at least Winters has experience leading a ship.

With that said, could he be a good coach for Akron? Yes. Lots of people could win at Akron. We have loads of potential.

[Zipgrad01]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

What's so great about his resume? His defense was fifth in the Big Ten in rushing defense? Why am I not filled with the desire to run to him with a job offer.

This guy falls under the category of Coach X. Just another guy who attends all the clinics and does what everyone else does with varying success depending on the talent level of the team.

Another Commander Riker. Everyone in Star Fleet knows a captain has to lead a smaller star ship to become captain of the Enterprise...or in our case, a medical resupply ship. In any event, at least Winters has experience leading a ship.

With that said, could he be a good coach for Akron? Yes. Lots of people could win at Akron. We have loads of potential.

His defense is ranked 9th in the country in total scoring defense and top 20 in every category.

He also had the 35th ranked defense at Miami (Oh), 38th ranked D at Northern Illinois and top 30 defenses at Cincy. He has done it everywhere. He has a good resume.

[Doug Snyder]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

What's so great about his resume? His defense was fifth in the Big Ten in rushing defense? Why am I not filled with the desire to run to him with a job offer.

This guy falls under the category of Coach X. Just another guy who attends all the clinics and does what everyone else does with varying success depending on the talent level of the team.

Another Commander Riker. Everyone in Star Fleet knows a captain has to lead a smaller star ship to become captain of the Enterprise...or in our case, a medical resupply ship. In any event, at least Winters has experience leading a ship.

With that said, could he be a good coach for Akron? Yes. Lots of people could win at Akron. We have loads of potential.

His defense is ranked 9th in the country in total scoring defense and top 20 in every category.

He also had the 35th ranked defense at Miami (Oh), 38th ranked D at Northern Illinois and top 30 defenses at Cincy. He has done it everywhere. He has a good resume.

The Grate GP1 just does not like him and will pick and choose statistics to support his arguement. Funny that he uses "rushing defense" as he has been claiming all year the MAC is a passing league. Go figure.

[GP1]

Interesting article on Narduzzi

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread?

The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable.

What's so great about his resume? His defense was fifth in the Big Ten in rushing defense? Why am I not filled with the desire to run to him with a job offer.

This guy falls under the category of Coach X. Just another guy who attends all the clinics and does what everyone else does with varying success depending on the talent level of the team.

Another Commander Riker. Everyone in Star Fleet knows a captain has to lead a smaller star ship to become captain of the Enterprise...or in our case, a medical resupply ship. In any event, at least Winters has experience leading a ship.

With that said, could he be a good coach for Akron? Yes. Lots of people could win at Akron. We have loads of potential.

His defense is ranked 9th in the country in total scoring defense and top 20 in every category.

He also had the 35th ranked defense at Miami (Oh), 38th ranked D at Northern Illinois and top 30 defenses at Cincy. He has done it everywhere. He has a good resume.

Top 30...Wow!

He may be good, but there are lots of good guys. We need the best fit.

[ZachTheZip]

Campbell, who runs a balanced spread offense, said no one from Akron contacted him directly.

We're not actually talking to coaching candidates. There is no real coaching search going on. Again. Thanks, TW.

[zipseuph]

Campbell, who runs a balanced spread offense, said no one from Akron contacted him directly.

We're not actually talking to coaching candidates. There is no real coaching search going on. Again. Thanks, TW.

Thats one person. To support a claim like this you're gonna need far more than one person saying they haven't been contacted.

[GP1]

Campbell, who runs a balanced spread offense, said no one from Akron contacted him directly.

We're not actually talking to coaching candidates. There is no real coaching search going on. Again. Thanks, TW.

The guy is 32. I think back to my life at 32 and like most people that age, I could never have headed up a D-1A footbball program.

Also, the Toledo program is better than Akron. A couple of months ago, they were all probably getting a whiff that the Toledo coach would be hired away. He probably had no interest in Akron then.

Shane Montgomery comes to mind. Good coach leaves for Indiana, takes assistants with him with the exception of Montgomery and Monty can't bring in good assistants and the program goes to crap within a short period. Do MAC schools not learn from MAC history?

[johnnyzip84]

I thought this was kind of funny (from football scoop):

FBS Update: There have been a total of 25 FBS openings this year. 18 are now filled. The seven that are open are: Akron, Arkansas State, Arizona State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Houston, Penn State and Southern Miss. Yes, we know who will fill each of these. We'll let you know at the appropriate time.

[Dave in Green]

Campbell said "no one from Akron contacted him directly." The qualifying word "directly" would not be required unless perhaps the formal process of initiating contact with him had in fact begun but was still in its early stages.

Here's an interpretation of what he said: Someone associated with the UA search began the formal process of contacting Campbell. Toledo decided to name Campbell head coach before anyone from Akron had a chance to speak directly with Campbell. Campbell's first choice was the Toledo position. Once offered that position he felt no need to listen to any offer from UA.