Ianello Wants Back into the Fraternity

[Buckzip]

She sounds a bit full of herself.

She doesn't realize that her husband inherited a much better team than he left.

[Balsy]

Yeah...she seems as clueless as iCoach was. I know you're going to stand by your husband/family at all costs...but you can't say with a straight face that iCoach is a good coach who inherited a terrible situation. That's what defines a "good" or even "decent" coach...is their ability to rise to the challenge and turn a program around.

iCoach = not a good coach. Bowden = good coach.

[Zipmeister]

I suggest we re-employ icoach, but this time in a different sport. Apparently we have a bass fishing club! I propose we make that club a varsity sport as Adrian College recently did and hire icoach to coach the team. I can picture him now, standing in the boat with a tackle box stuffed down his trousers.

[Zip_ME87]

I suggest we re-employ icoach, but this time in a different sport. Apparently we have a bass fishing club! I propose we make that club a varsity sport as Adrian College recently did and hire icoach to coach the team. I can picture him now, standing in the boat with a tackle box stuffed down his trousers.

[ZippyRulz]

Available again? Our receivers have been struggling a bit...maybe we could use his help?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/24728137/kansas-fires-charlie-weis-after-texas-rout

[GP1]

RI only has the ability to hold a job in D1 football if hired by an incompetent. Are there more incompetent people than CW and TW? There is probably a good chance he never works in major college again.

[Dave in Green]

Actually, Ianello's career at KU ended several months before Weis was canned. The following was published on July 26 in The Wichita Eagle:

STAFF DEPARTURE: Former KU receivers coach Rob Ianello has left the KU football staff for good, a KU official confirmed. Ianello, who also served as an assistant under Weis at Notre Dame, was re-assigned to the title of “director of research” in February. Ten days later, Weis hired former Washington assistant Eric Kiesau to coach receivers.

A few weeks ago jayhawkblog.com published a piece explaining how KU's receivers had suffered under Ianello's coaching with a link (included below) to a more detailed evaluation of what KU's receivers were not being taught:

It’s no secret KU’s worst own enemy has been the wide receiver position since Weis arrived. In his first two seasons, Weis watched receiver after receiver drop passes. Apparently, the culprit was former KU Wide Receivers Coach Rob Ianello who didn’t understand the importance of using your eyes to catch a ball.

Not surprisingly, Ianello was replaced with Eric Kiesau, a well-respected WR Coach from the University of Washington. “The two biggest problems these guys had — and they all do it, so I don’t know if they were taught this in the past or what — it’s their hand placement and their eye placement,” Kiesau said.

Sounds like fundamentals will be addressed this year!

As if Zips fans needed further proof of Ianello's lack of coaching ability, the evidence just keeps pouring in. In the end Ianello couldn't even keep a job with Weis, who holds the #1 position in DJ Gallo's list of the BCS era's 10 Worst Head Coach Hires In College Football (Ianello comes in at #8).

[ZippyRulz]

Amazing to think that he was head coach (interim) at Notre Dame after Weis was fired. Makes for a good bar trivia question. The silver lining may be that our AD's present and future won't be allowed to make any more big hires on their own without considerable oversight from a team of university staffers and/or outside consultants.

[Zipmeister]

Meanwhile icoach has been making wonderful progress doing research for the KU football program.

Rumor has it that he has nearly completed the task of switching over some of the recruit profiles from 5 and a quarter floppies to 3 inch disk drives.

[skip-zip]

Actually, Ianello's career at KU ended several months before Weis was canned. The following was published on July 26 in The Wichita Eagle:

A few weeks ago jayhawkblog.com published a piece explaining how KU's receivers had suffered under Ianello's coaching with a link (included below) to a more detailed evaluation of what KU's receivers were not being taught:

As if Zips fans needed further proof of Ianello's lack of coaching ability, the evidence just keeps pouring in. In the end Ianello couldn't even keep a job with Weis, who holds the #1 position in DJ Gallo's list of the BCS era's 10 Worst Head Coach Hires In College Football (Ianello comes in at #8).

Meanwhile, nobody in Akron Ohio is surprised.

Giving this guy a head coaching job at the D-1A level has to be one of the biggest mistakes in Akron Zips sports history.

[Zip_ME87]

Giving this guy a head coaching job at the D-1A level has to be one of the biggest mistakes in Akron Zips College sports history.

[Zip_ME87]

As if Zips fans needed further proof of Ianello's lack of coaching ability, the evidence just keeps pouring in. In the end Ianello couldn't even keep a job with Weis, who holds the #1 position in DJ Gallo's list of the BCS era's 10 Worst Head Coach Hires In College Football (Ianello comes in at #8).

The only reason Ianello's hire is listed as only the 8th worst is because there is no respect for Akron Football. The same is true for Kansas Football. The worst hire shouldn't be Weis by Notre Dame, but Weis by Kansas. Everyone but Kansas knew it was a HUGE mistake when they did it. How can any AD be that thick? The 2nd worst hire should be Ianello by Akron. He had no credentials worthy of a Head Coach. And, just to talk to him or hear him talk one time, you have to be more clueless than him to not recognize how clueless he is about football and probably many other things. How do these AD's keep their job. How many people can F up so badly and still have their job? How can anyone take them seriously?

[Big Zip]

What does iCoach say in an interview that gets him hired? What could he have possibly told YouTube Tom to get him to hire him or was it just a bad recommendation?

[Zip_ME87]

What does iCoach say in an interview that gets him hired? What could he have possibly told YouTube Tom to get him to hire him or was it just a bad recommendation?

I think it was the good ole buddy system. Sometimes you have to put your job/reputation ahead of a friendship. If one of my friends interviewed with me for a job, and he wasn't qualified, I think I could explain my choice based upon the selectee's qualifications. If my friend didn't understand, then he's not much of a friend. Business is business, and we're not talking about a slight difference in qualifications here. I need to give this up. It stlll irks me that our current AD is still at UA. He's a "nice guy", but I just don't see what he's doing for us.

[Dave in Green]

What does iCoach say in an interview that gets him hired? What could he have possibly told YouTube Tom to get him to hire him or was it just a bad recommendation?

Shame on me, I fell for whatever passes as the Ianello charm and defended him in the early going as a reasonable gamble for UA. I think what I fell for was that he was a great political animal. Ianello was elected by his fellow coaches to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association, which formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. He was the only assistant coach on the board of trustees, and also chaired the AFCA's assistant coaches committee and was the general chairman of the AFCA's all-division assistant coaches committee. He was well thought of by his fellow coaches for these political positions.

With that background, I can see where he could dazzle ADs, many of whom are also by nature political animals. Unfortunately, none of that translated to the real world of football coaching. The abject failure at UA totally exposed his coaching weaknesses, and only fellow failure Weis bailed him out. The now well-documented failure as receivers coach at KU was the final blow as even Weis finally gave up on him before Weis himself was flushed.

Some people are masters at self-promotion, and there's never a shortage of buyers. I frequently give myself a swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I went way too far in trying to defend Ianello's selection against what I thought were some premature and unfair criticisms from some on ZN.o. It didn't take too long before I realized that they were right and I was wrong. Coaches need to be evaluated exclusively on their coaching ability without consideration for their political achievements.

[Zip_ME87]

Shame on me, I fell for whatever passes as the Ianello charm and defended him in the early going as a reasonable gamble for UA. I think what I fell for was that he was a great political animal. Ianello was elected by his fellow coaches to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association, which formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. He was the only assistant coach on the board of trustees, and also chaired the AFCA's assistant coaches committee and was the general chairman of the AFCA's all-division assistant coaches committee. He was well thought of by his fellow coaches for these political positions.

With that background, I can see where he could dazzle ADs, many of whom are also by nature political animals. Unfortunately, none of that translated to the real world of football coaching. The abject failure at UA totally exposed his coaching weaknesses, and only fellow failure Weis bailed him out. The now well-documented failure as receivers coach at KU was the final blow as even Weis finally gave up on him before Weis himself was flushed.

Some people are masters at self-promotion, and there's never a shortage of buyers. I frequently give myself a swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I went way too far in trying to defend Ianello's selection against what I thought were some premature and unfair criticisms from some on ZN.o. It didn't take too long before I realized that they were right and I was wrong. Coaches need to be evaluated exclusively on their coaching ability without consideration for their political achievements.

I didn't know that, and I agree with you. I think most companies/organizations use "behavioral" interview questions to try to help understand how the person would fit the position. I would have thought if you had someone that knows anything about being a head football coach on your interview panel, you could at least come up with some questions that would stump a football coaching genius like RI.

[Zipmeister]

For example:

Where do you keep your clipboard during the game?

Is it a good idea to kick-off to start both halves?

Is it a good idea to install and stick with a pro-set offense when you don't have the personnel to run it?

[Jrship35]

Never knowing or experiencing the "horror show" that everyone I spoke with explained about this guy ..... Zip fans should be in paradise with the Bowden regime for sure

[K92]

Consider yourself lucky, Jr. I refer to 2010-2011 as

"THE YEARS WITHOUT LIGHT"

[Buckzip]

"oh, and go Zips"

[Hilltopper]

Shame on me, I fell for whatever passes as the Ianello charm and defended him in the early going as a reasonable gamble for UA. I think what I fell for was that he was a great political animal. Ianello was elected by his fellow coaches to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association, which formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. He was the only assistant coach on the board of trustees, and also chaired the AFCA's assistant coaches committee and was the general chairman of the AFCA's all-division assistant coaches committee. He was well thought of by his fellow coaches for these political positions.

With that background, I can see where he could dazzle ADs, many of whom are also by nature political animals. Unfortunately, none of that translated to the real world of football coaching. The abject failure at UA totally exposed his coaching weaknesses, and only fellow failure Weis bailed him out. The now well-documented failure as receivers coach at KU was the final blow as even Weis finally gave up on him before Weis himself was flushed.

Some people are masters at self-promotion, and there's never a shortage of buyers. I frequently give myself a swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I went way too far in trying to defend Ianello's selection against what I thought were some premature and unfair criticisms from some on ZN.o. It didn't take too long before I realized that they were right and I was wrong. Coaches need to be evaluated exclusively on their coaching ability without consideration for their political achievements.

Knowledge does not always equal wisdom Dave.

[Dave in Green]

Knowledge does not always equal wisdom Dave.

True, and lack of relevant knowledge almost never leads to wisdom.

[ZippyRulz]

The worst hire shouldn't be Weis by Notre Dame, but Weis by Kansas. Everyone but Kansas knew it was a HUGE mistake when they did it.

And Weis will retire a wealthy man, receiving $5.6M through 2016 per footballscoop.com.

[Zip_ME87]

Shame on me, I fell for whatever passes as the Ianello charm and defended him in the early going as a reasonable gamble for UA. I think what I fell for was that he was a great political animal. Ianello was elected by his fellow coaches to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association, which formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. He was the only assistant coach on the board of trustees, and also chaired the AFCA's assistant coaches committee and was the general chairman of the AFCA's all-division assistant coaches committee. He was well thought of by his fellow coaches for these political positions.

With that background, I can see where he could dazzle ADs, many of whom are also by nature political animals. Unfortunately, none of that translated to the real world of football coaching. The abject failure at UA totally exposed his coaching weaknesses, and only fellow failure Weis bailed him out. The now well-documented failure as receivers coach at KU was the final blow as even Weis finally gave up on him before Weis himself was flushed.

Some people are masters at self-promotion, and there's never a shortage of buyers. I frequently give myself a swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I went way too far in trying to defend Ianello's selection against what I thought were some premature and unfair criticisms from some on ZN.o. It didn't take too long before I realized that they were right and I was wrong. Coaches need to be evaluated exclusively on their coaching ability without consideration for their political achievements.

You shouldn't beat yourself up on this one. At the time, I was nervous but hopeful. I don't like to judge someone poorly until they give me reason to do so. I suspect you're the same way. Neither of us knew him by anything other than what we read or were told. Now had you actually interviewed the candidates and reached the same decision as TW, I'd be ready to fire you from ZipsNation.

[scottditzen]

I'll never forget we had a contest here:

What will be the first play Akron runs on offense at the new stadium?

I absolutely knew it would be an end-around to Jeremy Bruce, the short, wr that was not particularly fast.

Why? Because that's the play an idiot would choose.