Rhett leaves AU / New OC discussion (Merged)

[TitanTiger 20,511]

Herb Hand isn't going to be the OC.  Stop it.

[FoundationEagle 637]

	Paul Finebaum (@finebaum)
1/12/17, 2:13 PM "Right now Chip Lindsey is the leader in the clubhouse. Jake Spavital & Eliah Drinkwitz are also on the list" - @colecubelic

I think pawl has been reading this board ?

[MCPeePants 233]

He's quoting Cubelic there though... heh

[FoundationEagle 637]

2 minutes ago, MCPeePants said:

He's quoting Cubelic there though... heh

Maybe..don't listen to his show and not a fan of either Cubelic (Cole or his brother). He referenced Cole but Coles twitter feed has no mention of it other than a retweet of Paul's tweet.  I would not put it past either of them to claim insider info from a message board....

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

All the sports shows i listen to that cover Auburn sound like they read this forum.

I believe Cubelic was on finebam yesterday afternoon and said what has been talked about on here. Basically what finebaum tweeted word for word. Finebaum, barely knows anything about auburn football so dont look to him for inside info. He's too obsessed with bama and Saban to care. 

While i cant take the idiots on finebam except in small doses (to hear bama fans excuses and laugh), I do like Cole Cubelic and think his show is pretty decent. Sidenote, Auburn sportscall has taken a turn for the worse now that Randy Lee, Brett Prichard, and Andy Graham are gone. Theres some young kid on there now that doesnt know what he's talking about half the time. 

[JoeinPF 94]

Lindsey or Spavital would be major up grades. Both have plues and minuses but at the end of the day either aline with Steele as DC and we get closer to having a championship caliber staff.

[auskull 239]

I don't have any knowledge on these guys. I am so sick of being predictable and seemingly not developing players. I would like a QB teacher (a real one) and be more balanced. Somebody who has not come out of the CGM system. Someone who has broader experience and understanding of Offensive systems and Defensive philosophy. Probably someone who would not come to Auburn. I'm just sick of being embarrassed and looking like we don't have a clue. So, who are we talking about to fix this mess?

[gctiger 937]

6 hours ago, FoundationEagle said:

Maybe..don't listen to his show and not a fan of either Cubelic (Cole or his brother). He referenced Cole but Coles twitter feed has no mention of it other than a retweet of Paul's tweet.  I would not put it past either of them to claim insider info from a message board....

I like Cole Cubelic but I don't put a lot of stock in what he had to say.  On Finebaum, he said that K Biles was still under consideration when he had been ruled out hours before.  By that time it had already been reported on here and WJOX.  It appears he's behind the curve with his info.  

[aubiefifty 16,913]

al.com

 

Rhett Lashlee: Leaving Auburn for UConn 'not about money'

James Crepea | jcrepea@al.com

Rhett Lashlee's decision to leave Auburn to become the offensive coordinator at UConn, where he is taking a pay cut of $250,000, left most observers scratching their heads.

Lashlee, 33, explained his decision during an interview with Arkansas radio personality Bo Mattingly on Thursday.

"Sometimes perception doesn't always meet reality to people," Lashlee said. "You can't always worry about what everybody thinks and what things look like. At the end of the day, it was an opportunity for me to grow and develop as a coach.

"I've been with coach (Gus) Malzahn for a long time, got so much respect for him. He's given me a lot of opportunities. ... We all have our career aspirations and goals and places we want to be. Sometimes you got to make tough decisions to maybe put yourself in a position to take the next step. The opportunity coach (Randy) Edsall's given me - someone who's had a lot of success as a head coach, particularly at UConn - the opportunity he's going to give me to run the offense how I'd like to and kind of stretch myself and grow as a coach and kind of get out of my comfort zone a little bit, it's just a chance to maybe go up there and help him do something not a lot of people expect. Doesn't make sense to a lot of people but I don't worry about that."

As to the money he's leaving on the table - Lashlee was making $600,000 and was signed through June 2018 at Auburn compared to a three-year deal at UConn for $350,000 annually - the father of four said it's "not about money" while also acknowledging "it's always part of the equation" when making a career decision.

"We ultimately we do this for the same reason everybody else does: to support and we take care of our families," Lashlee said. "Obviously, UConn has been more than gracious with giving me the opportunity and allowing me to do what I want to do and provide for my family.

"A lot of people money can be the end-all, be-all and if that's why you do anything, especially this business, you probably doing it for the wrong reasons. It's about impacting kids in the end. ... But at the end of the day I don't make all my decision based on money and honestly I don't make all my decisions based on what most people think makes sense. A lot of times it will; but it just kind of goes back to, you pray about and you talk about it with the people that matter in your family and you try to say 'does this move make the most sense for us long-term?' You can't just think about now. Hey, sometimes you sacrifice a little bit now for what could be more later, but it's just not about money."

 

7 potential candidates for Auburn offensive coordinator

Potential candidates to replace Rhett Lashlee as Auburn's offensive coordinator

 

Lashlee reiterated it was a "hard decision" to leave Auburn, where he spent six of the past eight years.

However, he believes doing so might put him in a better position to land a head coaching job in the future. Lashlee has interviewed for a number of head coaching positions, most recently at Georgia State.

"Everybody's in this profession, if you've got any drive at all, your ultimate goal is to be a head coach and I'm no different," Lashlee said. "I'm not necessarily itching to do it tomorrow; I mean, I'm not trying to get ahead of myself. I'm just trying to do the best job I can with the job I have now, that's kind of my mentality.

"I think it'll be good for me to be exposed to a different place and ... to have a chance to run the offense and do it for coach Edsall. Just try to further my development and see where it takes me. It doesn't have to make sense for a lot of people if it makes sense for me."

Lashlee characterized Auburn's season as "a lot of ups and downs."

After a "rocky" start at 1-2, Malzahn gave play-calling duties to Lashlee and the Tigers won six straight games before injuries to quarterback Sean White and running back Kamryn Pettway played a part in losing three of the last four games of the season.

Lashlee confirmed he called the plays for the final 10 games of the season.

"Here's the thing, coach Malzahn is one of the best offensive coaches over the last 10 years in college football," Lashlee said. "So he's always going to have heavy involvement in his offense - and he should. That's his strength and that's what head coaches do. He's always been great to me. He and I have a great relationship.

"It was kind of one of those things that when he and I talked, some last year and even this year, just the opportunity for me to go and completely have a chance to learn and develop as a coach and run my own offense was something I wanted to do."

[WarEagleManiac15 3]

I don't put too much stock in what "sources" say and Gus is so close to the vest about everything that I wouldn't be surprised if either Briles got the job. I still think Gus wants to bring in Art and if the PTB won't let that happen then Kendall is plan B. 

[Elephant Tipper 430]

Some enterprising soul has already altered MH's bio to make him our current OC.  lol

 

Mark Helfrich

Helfrich in 2014
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Head Coach
Biographical details
Born	October 28, 1973 (age 43) Coos Bay, Oregon
Alma mater	Southern Oregon
Playing career
1992–1995	Southern Oregon
1997	Vienna
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1996	Southern Oregon (RB)
1997	Oregon (GA)
1997	Vienna (OC)
1998–2000	Boise State (QB)
2001-2002	Arizona State (QB)
2003–2005	Arizona St. (PGC/QB)
2006–2008	Colorado (OC/QB)
2009–2012	Oregon (OC/QB)
2013–2016	Oregon
2017	Auburn (OC)
Head coaching record
Overall	37–16
Bowls	2–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 Pac-12 (2014) 2 Pac-12 North Division (2013, 2014)
Awards
2× National Quarterbacks Coach of the Year (2010, 2012)

[aucanucktiger 1,798]

23 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

"Here's the thing, coach Malzahn is one of the best offensive coaches over the last 10 years in college football," Lashlee said. "So he's always going to have heavy involvement in his offense - and he should. That's his strength and that's what head coaches do.

So there's your answer from a guy who has no incentive to sugar coat it, to fans (and potential OC's) expecting Gus to keep his nose completely out of the offense. Rhett also highlights the 10 ton elephant in the corner: Gus is special insofar as he gets to use his offensive talents. This, IMO, is why an up & comer like Lindsey is a good fit.

[AlaskanFAN 1,666]

12 hours ago, DAG said:

Oh, well thank you. Also, Chip Lindsey's offense was in the bottom half of the Pac-12. I don't know what half of you see in Chip Lindsey other than he knows Gus and He is familiar with Alabama and Georgia.

I have no bet with any of these horses. My knowledge is so limited I can't make an argument for one over any other. I just try to read as much as I can on all of them, because I am retired and after I drop the kids off at school, I hate to shop, don't like to clean, and if I start drinking at 8:00am every morning then my wife will make me shop and clean. 

[ArgoEagle 1,798]

37 minutes ago, WarEagleManiac15 said:

I don't put too much stock in what "sources" say and Gus is so close to the vest about everything that I wouldn't be surprised if either Briles got the job. I still think Gus wants to bring in Art and if the PTB won't let that happen then Kendall is plan B. 

I agree with you on this. Until Gus himself says anyone is or is not a candidate, I wouldn't rule them out.

[FoundationEagle 637]

32 minutes ago, Elephant Tipper said:

Some enterprising soul has already altered MH's bio to make him our current OC.  lol

 

Mark Helfrich

Helfrich in 2014
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Head Coach
Biographical details
Born	October 28, 1973 (age 43) Coos Bay, Oregon
Alma mater	Southern Oregon
Playing career
1992–1995	Southern Oregon
1997	Vienna
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1996	Southern Oregon (RB)
1997	Oregon (GA)
1997	Vienna (OC)
1998–2000	Boise State (QB)
2001-2002	Arizona State (QB)
2003–2005	Arizona St. (PGC/QB)
2006–2008	Colorado (OC/QB)
2009–2012	Oregon (OC/QB)
2013–2016	Oregon
2017	Auburn (OC)
Head coaching record
Overall	37–16
Bowls	2–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 Pac-12 (2014) 2 Pac-12 North Division (2013, 2014)
Awards
2× National Quarterbacks Coach of the Year (2010, 2012)

Who'd you do that?  

[FoundationEagle 637]

15 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

So there's your answer from a guy who has no incentive to sugar coat it, to fans (and potential OC's) expecting Gus to keep his nose completely out of the offense. Rhett also highlights the 10 ton elephant in the corner: Gus is special insofar as he gets to use his offensive talents. This, IMO, is why an up & comer like Lindsey is a good fit.

An up and comer would just be Rhett 2.0 and likely get the whole staff fired after this coming season. JMO

[TitanTiger 20,511]

12 hours ago, DAG said:

Oh, well thank you. Also, Chip Lindsey's offense was in the bottom half of the Pac-12. I don't know what half of you see in Chip Lindsey other than he knows Gus and He is familiar with Alabama and Georgia.

I don't have strong feelings either way on Lindsey.  But I don't think you can judge someone in this way without more information.  We know that his two years at Southern Miss he helped return their offense to the upper tier of college offenses after Ellis Johnson nearly decimated it.  And Arizona State was putting up tons of points early in the year.  I'm not familiar enough with their personnel to say why it fell off the latter half.  It looked like maybe there were some injuries at QB because in a quick perusal I noticed three different QBs taking snaps.  Were there other injuries?  Who did they lose on offense from the prior season that may have been key players?

Fill in some of those blanks and we can say whether he's a worthwhile candidate or not.

[metafour 4,969]

Without fail, the football geniuses on this forum think that you make coaching hires by loading up the trusty NCAA rankings and picking names off the Top 10-25 list in order.

[I_M4_AU 8,003]

3 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

So there's your answer from a guy who has no incentive to sugar coat it, to fans (and potential OC's) expecting Gus to keep his nose completely out of the offense. Rhett also highlights the 10 ton elephant in the corner: Gus is special insofar as he gets to use his offensive talents. This, IMO, is why an up & comer like Lindsey is a good fit.

 

3 hours ago, FoundationEagle said:

An up and comer would just be Rhett 2.0 and likely get the whole staff fired after this coming season. JMO

To further Foundation's thought, I would rather have an experienced OC that Gus will have to explain his thoughts to, so they will have to agree with the offensive plan instead of someone new to mentor.  Gus had way too much influence over Rhett for the good of the offensive side of the ball.  Another phase of the game that needs an independent thinker is the in-game adjustments. Under Gus/Rhett, there were none.  An experienced OC should have the knowledge when to adjust the sails to the wind.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

10 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

I don't have strong feelings either way on Lindsey.  But I don't think you can judge someone in this way without more information.  We know that his two years at Southern Miss he helped return their offense to the upper tier of college offenses after Ellis Johnson nearly decimated it.  And Arizona State was putting up tons of points early in the year.  I'm not familiar enough with their personnel to say why it fell off the latter half.  It looked like maybe there were some injuries at QB because in a quick perusal I noticed three different QBs taking snaps.  Were there other injuries?  Who did they lose on offense from the prior season that may have been key players?

Fill in some of those blanks and we can say whether he's a worthwhile candidate or not.

As a follow up, someone showed me this article:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ncaaf/asu/2016/10/24/asu-footballs-biggest-hurdle-offensive-production/92706760/

Some key factors that contributed to the big drop off in offensive production:

Starting QB who couldn't stay healthy and the backup options available weren't that good.  Offense had to be drastically simplified.

At least two injuries to starting offensive linemen that caused them to miss multiple games.

I think we all know what it looks like to have no one behind your starter at QB who can run the offense effectively.  It radically alters the offense and it doesn't matter how smart your OC is if that's your personnel situation.  And that's not on Lindsey.  2016 was his first season at ASU.  The dearth of viable options at the position can't be laid at his feet.

Like I say, I'm not pumping Lindsey for the job.  But metafour's point is correct:  simply looking at offensive rankings (and what style they run) to determine who to choose is a very shallow analysis.  

[autiger88 3,777]

2 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

As a follow up, someone showed me this article:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ncaaf/asu/2016/10/24/asu-footballs-biggest-hurdle-offensive-production/92706760/

Some key factors that contributed to the big drop off in offensive production:

Starting QB who couldn't stay healthy and the backup options available weren't that good.  Offense had to be drastically simplified.

At least two injuries to starting offensive linemen that caused them to miss multiple games.

Like I say, I'm not pumping Lindsey for the job.  But metafour's point it correct:  simply looking at offensive rankings (and what style they run) to determine who to choose is a very shallow analysis.  

So sounds like us this year lol 

[Strychnine 1,804]

1 minute ago, I_M4_AU said:

 

To further Foundation's thought, I would rather have an experienced OC that Gus will have to explain his thoughts to, so they will have to agree with the offensive plan instead of someone new to mentor.  Gus had way too much influence over Rhett for the good of the offensive side of the ball.  Another phase of the game that needs an independent thinker is the in-game adjustments. Under Gus/Rhett, there were none.  An experienced OC should have the knowledge went to adjust the sails to the wind.

 

My preference would be an experienced offensive coordinator with abilities and judgment that Gus respects.  If Gus is the obsessive control freak that some claim him to be, that is the only way to have actual advancement in that position.

As for Lashlee, his departure made perfect sense to me, and I cannot understand why it would confuse anyone.  It is obvious that he has to get out of Gus' shadow to advance his own career.  His time here is excellent evidence of that.  Through 2013 and 2014, Gus and his offensive genius is all that was talked about.  Through 2015 and 2016, the pitchforks came out and many have been pointed at Lashlee.  If Gus got all the credit for success, and I took much of the criticism for failure, I would want to leave as well.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

11 hours ago, Tiger Refuge said:

I hope it's Helfrich, if for no other reason than getting to see the spelling of his name absolutely murdered on this forum for at least a season.

Gimme a "k"

[Strychnine 1,804]

9 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

Like I say, I'm not pumping Lindsey for the job.  But metafour's point it correct:  simply looking at offensive rankings (and what style they run) to determine who to choose is a very shallow analysis.  

 

I think the style they run is much more important than rankings, as I suspect Gus is not looking for anyone with a drastically different philosophy.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

11 hours ago, Tiger Refuge said:

I hope it's Helfrich, if for no other reason than getting to see the spelling of his name absolutely murdered on this forum for at least a season.

Hellfrich

Hellfrick

Helfrick

Hellfritch...