TJRanger175

Let's face it. The bar is not very high. I love Bo and all he stood for. Good kid. Loved Auburn. Bummer it did not work out for him like most would have liked. Unfortunate that he had such miserable coaching his first couple of years at AU. I was listening to Blackerby's pod this morning and they made some good points that I cannot find fault with: Bo was average at best. He would win some games with amazing performance. He would lose some games with almost as much gusto. Very high ceiling, but sub basement low possibilities as well. If Auburn gets a guy who can be consistently decent- someone who would not necessarily win you a lot of games by himself, but would not lose games all by himself, then it would be a win. If AU got the USC signal caller, that would be a huge upgrade.

Huge get for the coaching staff. I thought the deck was stacked against us on this one given the family ties to LSU.

YES!!!!!

John “Uncle Ricco” Gries Career backup as a player, but should have been put in the championship game in 82… if they did, he could have won the game. He has a side arm delivery like Philip Rivers. Apparently, he had a very strong arm. Constantly studies film. Unorthodox style has him being somewhat of a nomad. Practically lives on the road. Always selling… could not imagine him bringing his recruiting skills to the SEC. He is always bringing in developmental talent.

I believe this guy is available. He is from Idaho, so that might make some people on here mad. I bet he can teach our QB's to throw a football over a mountain.

Absolutely fantastic OC. Looks like he is trying to spend time with family. Wikipedia has him being the OC for Nebraska.

I have been thinking about recruiting and think 2 things might come into play- 1. We might be in better shape this year than people think. Especially considering the game last night. It proves that coaching ability matters. Harsin might not have all the coaching pieces in place, but once he does I think we would be in a good place. 2. recruiting might not be as impactful over the next two years because of the Covid rule giving an extra year of eligibility. There are only so many slots per team. We have no idea how many seniors are going to stick around for an extra year. This will have an impact regarding what recruits go where. There will be some very good guys who normally get the opportunity to go to some great programs not get those opportunities because a team won’t have the slots. If there was a year to see players get “processed” out, this might be the year. How programs manage that will be very telling. Do you keep the 6th year Sr around because he gives an opportunity to win now, or do you take a chance on a young guy who is more bought in? This off-season will be fun because no one knows how it will play out.

I am pretty convinced some of them read this thread and get their “news” here.

C’mon people… read the whole passage before you take this seriously. BTW- I got it and thought it was funny.

I disagree. Both are well above average OC’s. They may not be super stars, nor the sexy choice, but they would be very effective. At a minimum , The staff would all be on the same page. I am totally cool with people not wanting them and having a preference for someone else (I certainly prefer others), but you can’t say they don’t make sense. We don’t know what the overall plan for the program is. Additionally, you can be an effective recruiter and still not be the “lead” recruiter. While the lead recruiter gets all the credit, they rarely do it all alone.

You are correct. I saw $2M and misread it as per season.

And Grimes is affiliated with Harsin. They both have close connections to Dirk Koetter. Grimes has coached at Boise, and followed Koetter to ASU. He later worked for Dan Hawkins at Colorado (who he left for AU). I would be very surprised if Harsin and Grimes do not know each other well. They are literally part of the same coaching tree.

Ludwig has been mentioned multiple times. Great coach, can recruit, develops players, and has SEC experience. He was Harsin’s QB coach when Harsin played. He was Masons OC at Vandy, where they improved every year but did not have the players to compete. That being said, he has also said Utah is his last job. He hates moving and will retire there. He already gets $2M per year, so money may not sway him. Working with his friends and trying to build something great would probably persuade him. ALSO- I will continue to say it until everyone understands… Kendall Briles and Jeff Lebby are Air Raid guys. It meshes well with West Coast style offenses. It works well in the NFL. We would be just fine if it was Kittle. Plus, what WR wouldn’t want the chance to catch 100 balls in a season?

I would say the biggest selling point to Grimes in terms of scheme is that it is basically the same scheme a lot of NFL teams that have pretty effective offenses run. THAT would attract recruits. Plus, he has been effective in implementing it in multiple places.

I do agree. I do not fault them at all for trying to make money, but it does seem like they are catering to the masses a little too much rather than putting out useful content.

Given the history of “insider” information not being remotely accurate since Harsin took over… especially since Coach Corn was dismissed… I would not be surprised if the coach hired was not on any of the lists. I have no clue who it will be. It MAY be someone on the lists. Everything is pure speculation. I do think if it was not a good hire, Bo probably wouldn’t have stuck around.

Not bad

I would not worry about Air Raid not meshing with Harsin’s offense. Lebby at Ole Miss is an Air Raid guy and that offense had no issues combining with Lane’s. The more I think about it, it will probably be Utah’s OC. He is known, trusted, effective, and has SEC experience. He is a safe a bet as any.

While I am not going to be disappointed to see Grimes, Ludwig, or Hill hired (I think they would both be upgrades in philosophy & production- especially Grimes and Ludwig), I am getting more excited about the possibility of Kittle. He is like a younger Jeff Lebby (who learned from Art Briles… who learned from Mike Leach). We can see from Ole Miss what happens when West Coast meets Air Raid. Plus, he has the pedigree of having learned from a successful NFL coach and having the opportunity to coached some pretty impressive QB’s. I can’t imagine what Bo (or even DD) would be like in a Harsin/Kittle Hybrid offense. Two things: We will find out after this weekend- WKU, Utah, and Baylor all play this weekend. If it is Zak Hill (who’s QB is coming back), we would have to wait until after Christmas. Won't be able to impact recruiting at all if it is Zak... outside of telling stories about scheme. How do we know that Kittle is even being considered?

I believe so. So is Graham Harrell

I’ve actually watched games he called when he was at Boise. They had a kid named Rypien and the offense did very well. It was unpredictable and very fun to watch. Will that help Auburn?- in theory, yes because the coaching staff will be more cohesive… on the same page. Will it translate to massive success in the SEC? Nobody knows. I do know it is a waste of energy to be incredibly negative about stuff that hasn’t even happened yet.

True. He definitely deserves a shot at HC. I am speculating he would take it… and yeah, we would have to throw a lot of money at him and who knows what the budget is.

He is an immediate upgrade, if true.

I think we are underestimating just how desirable the offensive coordinator job at Auburn is. If I am a highly competitive guy, I would be chomping at the bit to go against the best competition every single week. Who knows how many people have reached out to Harsin already.

I would imagine Keisau would become QB/WR coach