Was curious about how the other candidates have done since 2019. If any have been omitted, please fill in. This is not intended to be an "I told you so" thread, but merely to see what the other candidates have done since December 2019.
The reality is that @Scarlet Shack , as usual, nailed it with this note in post #48 of the thread linked below: "I think he has the best resume of the coaches that we can afford...and $4 million a year."
And so did RU4Real in post #87: "He's a solid recruiter, he's got an innate sense of "New Jersey", but he's also got a list of flaws that are well-understood."
And the usual even-keeled @RuBird in post #88: "No “winner” has been knocking down our door."
Also, some solid insight from @RUskoolie at post #96 and @yesrutgers01 at post #121
But let's look at the alternatives that RU considered at the time (in no particular order), and what they have done:
1. Butch Jones- hired by Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference for $825,000/year- 2021 record (overall/conference): 2-10/1-7. We dodged a missile, not a bullet.
2. Steve Addazio- the Dazzler- Colorado State in the Mountain West (Salary $1,550,00/year) 2020-21 record (overall/conference): 4-12/3-9. We could have saved some money with the Dazzler!
3. Jason Candle- Toledo- (I was high on Candle at the time)- He went 6-6/3-5 in 2019, 4-2/4-2 in 2020 and 7-5/5-3 in 2021. Finishing 3rd to 5th in the MAC West does not move the needle. We would have gotten burned by Candle. I will eat my crow on this one.
4. Jedd Fisch- not sure if this was a serious consideration- Head coach at Arizona 2021 ($2.6 Million/year): 1-11/1-8- losing to an eventual 5-6 Northern Arizona. The fish stinks at the head coach was true this year in Arizona. Will he turn it around?
5. Chris Creighton- Current EMU coach- 37-56/22-44 at EMU in 8 seasons. He went 2-10/1-7 and 1-11/0-8 in his first 2 seasons. In season 8, he went 7-5/4-4, finishing 3rd in the West (these things take time in the MAC, and may take longer in the B1G East).
6. Al Golden- Here is what Al Golden has accomplished as a head coach since Miami- considered and not hired as head coach at UConn.
7. Lance Leipold- perhaps one of the more intriguing names from an X's and O's perspective, but a vocal segment of the fan base was diametrically opposed to hiring him because his personality does not exactly scream excitement, and he would not have fit in here in Jersey. He was 2-10/1-8 in year 1 at Kansas. Salary-$2.8 Million/year. Six year deal. Beating Texas was a nice accomplishment, but he would have needed a lot of New Jersey coaches/coordinators/assistants to move the needle here.
8. Les Miles-this was @Caliknight 's suggestion: 3-18 at Kansas, fired before second season ended for being a scumbag. We dodged an atomic bomb, not a bullet.
9. Jeff Hafley- Last but not least. Perhaps he should have been at the top of the list of viable other candidates, given his fan base here. Was Rutgers willing to gamble on another coordinator taking the head coaching job? An SI article said: "BC had budgeted as much as $3.5 million for an experienced proven head coach." That same article rumored his salary to be $3 Million/year.
What did he do in years one and two at BC?
2020: 6-6/5-5 -tied for 5th with three other teams in the ACC, beating 1-10 Duke, 2-10 Sun Belt powerhouse Texas State, 3-7 Georgia Tech, 1-10 Syracuse, 4-7 Louisville and 5-5 Pitt.
2021: Finished last in the Coastal Division at 6-6/2-6, losing to 6-6 Louisville, 5-7 Syracuse, 5-7 Florida State, and crushed by Wake Forest. Nice win against Mizzou, but other wins were against Colgate, UMass, Temple and Georgia Tech. Time will tell if he turns into a great head coach. But considering what Greg did here in his first tenure and hiring a first time head coach, still happy RU took Greg and not Hafley. Not even clear if Hafley was seriously in the running. The message board will be interesting after the BC game next year. Let's keep in mind, however that Hafley took over a program that had not had a losing record for four straight years 2016-19, finishing 4-4 in the ACC the previous three years. Would the Greg haters say that BC regressed, going 2-6 in the ACC in year 2?
10. Anthony Campanile- currently a linebackers coach for Miami Dolphins. From news reports, he was looking to leave to be DC at BC. RU was, according to Kratch, in a bidding war with Michigan for him.
EDIT- #11. Bret Bielema (by @Caliknight request):
Don't think Bielema was ever seriously under consideration, as he had just been hired as DL coach at New England for the 2019 season. But there was his lawsuit against Arkansas for failure to pay his money due that says he was a finalist for the Rutgers job. But was he? Nobody really knows.
In any event, Bielema did well at Wisconsin, riding Barry Alvarez' coattails, but when he bolted for Arkansas, he went 3-9/0-8 in year 1 (2013) and 7-6/2-6 in year 2 (2014). He had a decent third season, but he was ultimately fired by the Razorbacks at the end of year 5 when he went 4-8/1-7 in 2017. Not an awe-inspiring resume to be 29-34/11-29 in 5 years. He probably had a lot of Bobby Petrino's players those first 2-3 years, as Petrino went 11-2/6-2 in 2011. But he brought it down to rock bottom in year 5.
2021 at Illinois:
5-7/4-5. Lost to Maryland. Shut out by Wisconsin. He beat Penn State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Nebraska, which is good on him. But he lost to Rutgers. Bielema said about that: " We came out in the second half and laid an egg. My fault.” This makes him 0-2 against Rutgers. So there's that.
Jury is out on Bielema. Let's check back in 2-3 years.
SUMMARY- so the question is, would any of the other candidates done better than Greg? Maybe, but from the above, it looks like more likely they would not have done better.
For those complaining about an 8 year deal, consider what Michigan State spent on Mel Tucker after one bad year and one great year ($95 million/10 years). And before we continue to gaze lovingly at Mel Tucker and Michigan State, let's not forget then were 2-5/2-5 last year, and Tucker was 5-7/3-6 at Colorado. A little early for such a long and huge deal. Will he repeat? We shall see.
And before we say Maryland is waaay ahead of RU, keep in mind Locksley is in year 3. He was 3-9/3-9 in year one, and 2-3/2-3 in year 2, losing to Rutgers last year. Maryland got annihilated by Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan. This year, they were better than us. Last year we were better than them. There is no long term trend to be drawn from a small sample size.
Yesterday sucked and was deflating, but recruiting is trending way up, the biggest problem (the OL) is getting fixed and reinforced. Does the team have problems/weaknesses/things to be fixed, including coaching? Absolutely. Every team that has gone 5-7/2-7 has these issues in the middle of a rebuild. See Lance Leipold at Kansas. Or Tom Allen, who had two good years (year 4 and 5) at Indiana, and then regress. Greg said himself yesterday (and previously): "It's never linear, as we know. It's always that little bit of that mountain range until you really get all the pieces in place, and when you get the pieces in place, then it kind of goes like that, but we're not there yet."
Onward, upward.
The reality is that @Scarlet Shack , as usual, nailed it with this note in post #48 of the thread linked below: "I think he has the best resume of the coaches that we can afford...and $4 million a year."
And so did RU4Real in post #87: "He's a solid recruiter, he's got an innate sense of "New Jersey", but he's also got a list of flaws that are well-understood."
And the usual even-keeled @RuBird in post #88: "No “winner” has been knocking down our door."
Also, some solid insight from @RUskoolie at post #96 and @yesrutgers01 at post #121
But let's look at the alternatives that RU considered at the time (in no particular order), and what they have done:
1. Butch Jones- hired by Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference for $825,000/year- 2021 record (overall/conference): 2-10/1-7. We dodged a missile, not a bullet.
2. Steve Addazio- the Dazzler- Colorado State in the Mountain West (Salary $1,550,00/year) 2020-21 record (overall/conference): 4-12/3-9. We could have saved some money with the Dazzler!
3. Jason Candle- Toledo- (I was high on Candle at the time)- He went 6-6/3-5 in 2019, 4-2/4-2 in 2020 and 7-5/5-3 in 2021. Finishing 3rd to 5th in the MAC West does not move the needle. We would have gotten burned by Candle. I will eat my crow on this one.
4. Jedd Fisch- not sure if this was a serious consideration- Head coach at Arizona 2021 ($2.6 Million/year): 1-11/1-8- losing to an eventual 5-6 Northern Arizona. The fish stinks at the head coach was true this year in Arizona. Will he turn it around?
5. Chris Creighton- Current EMU coach- 37-56/22-44 at EMU in 8 seasons. He went 2-10/1-7 and 1-11/0-8 in his first 2 seasons. In season 8, he went 7-5/4-4, finishing 3rd in the West (these things take time in the MAC, and may take longer in the B1G East).
6. Al Golden- Here is what Al Golden has accomplished as a head coach since Miami- considered and not hired as head coach at UConn.
7. Lance Leipold- perhaps one of the more intriguing names from an X's and O's perspective, but a vocal segment of the fan base was diametrically opposed to hiring him because his personality does not exactly scream excitement, and he would not have fit in here in Jersey. He was 2-10/1-8 in year 1 at Kansas. Salary-$2.8 Million/year. Six year deal. Beating Texas was a nice accomplishment, but he would have needed a lot of New Jersey coaches/coordinators/assistants to move the needle here.
8. Les Miles-this was @Caliknight 's suggestion: 3-18 at Kansas, fired before second season ended for being a scumbag. We dodged an atomic bomb, not a bullet.
9. Jeff Hafley- Last but not least. Perhaps he should have been at the top of the list of viable other candidates, given his fan base here. Was Rutgers willing to gamble on another coordinator taking the head coaching job? An SI article said: "BC had budgeted as much as $3.5 million for an experienced proven head coach." That same article rumored his salary to be $3 Million/year.
What did he do in years one and two at BC?
2020: 6-6/5-5 -tied for 5th with three other teams in the ACC, beating 1-10 Duke, 2-10 Sun Belt powerhouse Texas State, 3-7 Georgia Tech, 1-10 Syracuse, 4-7 Louisville and 5-5 Pitt.
2021: Finished last in the Coastal Division at 6-6/2-6, losing to 6-6 Louisville, 5-7 Syracuse, 5-7 Florida State, and crushed by Wake Forest. Nice win against Mizzou, but other wins were against Colgate, UMass, Temple and Georgia Tech. Time will tell if he turns into a great head coach. But considering what Greg did here in his first tenure and hiring a first time head coach, still happy RU took Greg and not Hafley. Not even clear if Hafley was seriously in the running. The message board will be interesting after the BC game next year. Let's keep in mind, however that Hafley took over a program that had not had a losing record for four straight years 2016-19, finishing 4-4 in the ACC the previous three years. Would the Greg haters say that BC regressed, going 2-6 in the ACC in year 2?
10. Anthony Campanile- currently a linebackers coach for Miami Dolphins. From news reports, he was looking to leave to be DC at BC. RU was, according to Kratch, in a bidding war with Michigan for him.
EDIT- #11. Bret Bielema (by @Caliknight request):
Don't think Bielema was ever seriously under consideration, as he had just been hired as DL coach at New England for the 2019 season. But there was his lawsuit against Arkansas for failure to pay his money due that says he was a finalist for the Rutgers job. But was he? Nobody really knows.
In any event, Bielema did well at Wisconsin, riding Barry Alvarez' coattails, but when he bolted for Arkansas, he went 3-9/0-8 in year 1 (2013) and 7-6/2-6 in year 2 (2014). He had a decent third season, but he was ultimately fired by the Razorbacks at the end of year 5 when he went 4-8/1-7 in 2017. Not an awe-inspiring resume to be 29-34/11-29 in 5 years. He probably had a lot of Bobby Petrino's players those first 2-3 years, as Petrino went 11-2/6-2 in 2011. But he brought it down to rock bottom in year 5.
2021 at Illinois:
5-7/4-5. Lost to Maryland. Shut out by Wisconsin. He beat Penn State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Nebraska, which is good on him. But he lost to Rutgers. Bielema said about that: " We came out in the second half and laid an egg. My fault.” This makes him 0-2 against Rutgers. So there's that.
Jury is out on Bielema. Let's check back in 2-3 years.
SUMMARY- so the question is, would any of the other candidates done better than Greg? Maybe, but from the above, it looks like more likely they would not have done better.
For those complaining about an 8 year deal, consider what Michigan State spent on Mel Tucker after one bad year and one great year ($95 million/10 years). And before we continue to gaze lovingly at Mel Tucker and Michigan State, let's not forget then were 2-5/2-5 last year, and Tucker was 5-7/3-6 at Colorado. A little early for such a long and huge deal. Will he repeat? We shall see.
And before we say Maryland is waaay ahead of RU, keep in mind Locksley is in year 3. He was 3-9/3-9 in year one, and 2-3/2-3 in year 2, losing to Rutgers last year. Maryland got annihilated by Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan. This year, they were better than us. Last year we were better than them. There is no long term trend to be drawn from a small sample size.
Yesterday sucked and was deflating, but recruiting is trending way up, the biggest problem (the OL) is getting fixed and reinforced. Does the team have problems/weaknesses/things to be fixed, including coaching? Absolutely. Every team that has gone 5-7/2-7 has these issues in the middle of a rebuild. See Lance Leipold at Kansas. Or Tom Allen, who had two good years (year 4 and 5) at Indiana, and then regress. Greg said himself yesterday (and previously): "It's never linear, as we know. It's always that little bit of that mountain range until you really get all the pieces in place, and when you get the pieces in place, then it kind of goes like that, but we're not there yet."
Onward, upward.
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