Coaching Search...who's next? lets hear all the wild speculation

[achrist70]

He seems like a very good candidate, and while he is an Iowa native, I am not sure I see it happening. Yes it would be a pay increase, but other than that I don't see UNI as an attractive option to him. At Army, they may not get the top recruits, but they get hard working disciplined kids, and they don't have to worry at all about the transfer portal or NIL, and honestly they have a large operating budget for their team, what they need they can get. I have seen many articles this fall that say expect the three service academies to be very competitive in the era of NIL and the transfer portal because they will be keep their players over a four year period and build them and the team the way that they want.

[Blue42]

Family situation matters a lot at that age. If he has his own young family and parents/siblings in Iowa, that's a big deal at that point in life.

Interesting potential candidate.

[BCPanther]

Have we gotten the official 'NO' from Saban yet?

[pnthr53]

Chip Kelly.....he can poach some Buckeyes when he moves to Cedar Falls.

[UNIpanther99]

Paul Chryst?

[QCPanther05]

Family situation matters a lot at that age. If he has his own young family and parents/siblings in Iowa, that's a big deal at that point in life.

Interesting potential candidate.

He’s about 40ish, so he’s pretty young. Not sure about his family situation or if he wants to come back here. Army is probably a pretty sweet place to coach and he’s been there for awhile so he might move up (he was co-OC last year). But I think a guy with a good mix of D3 or D2 head coaching experience and big-time program experience as an assistant would be ideal.

[BCPanther]

Article from Cole in The Gazette with some names. Nobody we hadn't heard before. Confirms that Paup has interest which really surprised me.

https://www.thegazette.com/panther-football/next-uni-football-coach-here-are-some-potential-candidates/

[achrist70]

Honest question here, do we go with someone more established, or do we go with someone younger, who is just hoping to use UNI as a stepping stone towards their next job? I understand why the more established coach is attractive, especially with the program needing to find it's footing again. But, maybe someone who wants bigger and better things and is only here 3-4 years and moves on is the way to go.

As a program UNI has really only had 2 or 3 "long" tenured coaches Mark Farley, Stan Sheriff and Clyde Starbeck with Starbeck being the one you could argue wasn't that long of a tenure. Terry Allen seems like he was around for a long while but was only 8 years.

[UNIpanther99]

Honest question here, do we go with someone more established, or do we go with someone younger, who is just hoping to use UNI as a stepping stone towards their next job? I understand why the more established coach is attractive, especially with the program needing to find it's footing again. But, maybe someone who wants bigger and better things and is only here 3-4 years and moves on is the way to go.

As a program UNI has really only had 2 or 3 "long" tenured coaches Mark Farley, Stan Sheriff and Clyde Starbeck with Starbeck being the one you could argue wasn't that long of a tenure. Terry Allen seems like he was around for a long while but was only 8 years.

I think the answer isn't that complicated. You go with the best coach available who fits the established culture within Panther Athletics.

[PantherAlum09]

I think the answer isn't that complicated. You go with the best coach available who fits the established culture within Panther Athletics.

Totally agree. I don't care if they are here 3 years or 20 years if they are successful. I just want the product to improve.

[BCPanther]

Dabo has wandering eyes right now....

[clenz]

Honest question here, do we go with someone more established, or do we go with someone younger, who is just hoping to use UNI as a stepping stone towards their next job? I understand why the more established coach is attractive, especially with the program needing to find it's footing again. But, maybe someone who wants bigger and better things and is only here 3-4 years and moves on is the way to go.

As a program UNI has really only had 2 or 3 "long" tenured coaches Mark Farley, Stan Sheriff and Clyde Starbeck with Starbeck being the one you could argue wasn't that long of a tenure. Terry Allen seems like he was around for a long while but was only 8 years.

UNI hasn't had a coach outside of the same direct line since Starbeck. He left after 57. Bill Hammer was hired and his first hire as an assistant was Stan Sherrif. Sheriff took over the role in 60. He brought in, as a player or assistant coach, essentially every single coach we have had since directly or by proxy. He brought Farley in as a player, who would go on to be an assistant and then HC. Farley, Salmon, TA, Remmert, Larry Norman, John Piro all played for and then coached under Sheriff or joined the UNI staff under Mudra and in the following years. You then have all the players who played for those coaches who would then coach at UNI.

I could list dozens of players who played under Sheriff who would then coach at UNI as an assistant or head coach. I listed a few but I don't want to dig through that many media guides and list all of them. You then start to break the tree out further and all of the guys who played under Mudra would come back/stick around - and while Mudra didn't *technically* fall under the Sheriff line there was so much overlap that he also would just fallsin the line of "Sheriff succession" that I'm getting at here.

I will grant 1988 with Earl Bruce isn't a Sheriff direct line coach but it was 1 year and his assistants were Klinker, Kolling, TA, Salmon, Bolks, and "back office" guys of Noonan, Kincaid, and Timemrman who were all around for years before and after. Plus Farley was there as a GA from 86-88

1989 TA took over and the staff was Ardell Wiegandt who was a volunteer coach for a few years before so never listed, Kolling who had been around for years, Salmon who was Sheriff, Farley moved from GA/volunteer to LB, Bob Thurness joined the staff from Coe but due to proximity and how it works he was close with Sheriff and the entire UNI staff for years, and Jay Norvell joined from being a GA and Iowa and Notre Dame. He played at Iowa in the early 80s and was intimately familiar with the staff at UNI.

The one actual "break" from the Sheriff timeframe was the "Dark Era" under Dunbar, which lasted 4 years and was still led by elders from the TA/Farley era, however, most all of the assistants are also just not UNI-connected.

Farley comes back 01 and his first staff is almost exclusively UNI alumni that played under him and/or Sheriff - Jay Neimann, Todd Eagen, Rick Nelson, Jack Mitchell, William Freeney. The only one on staff who wasn't a UNI alum is Mario Verduzco who had spent his whole life playing/coaching in California until he spent the same 4 years Farley was at Kansas at Rutgers. How Farley and Verduzco knew each other I have no idea. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Mario needed a job in 01 and UNI was hiring so he said "It beats not working". Look at Farley's assistants since then. It is loaded with people who were players under him as an assistant and then HC. Not just that, look at the guys who coached under Farley, truly got their start under Farley, and what they have gone on to accomplish. That list is just as incredible as his list of guys put in the NFL.

We, truly, have had a direct single line of head and assistant coaches since 1958. That is an unbelievable run of stability and a "singular" vision and attitude. It is something that, at most, a handful of other schools can match. We have been incredibly fortunate to have had the string of head, and assistant, coaches we have had.

Having said all of that, it is time for a new perspective. It is time for a new vision. It is time for a new set of eyes and model of thinking at UNI. Are there guys who coached under Farley which I could, in theory, make a case for? Absolutely. I will not for any of them. Others can if they wish.

Farley deserved to coach in a renovated dome. He deserved to lead a team out of the door to a full, renovated, dome. That isn't going to happen, and honestly right now feels like the perfect time to start a branch new chapter. We can love Farley, TA, Sheriff, Salmon, Nelson, and all the endless names who gave so much of their time and lives to this school/community as players and coaches. However, after 64 years of singular-line direction, 48 years in the Dome as we know it, and 24 years with Mark in charge, I feel it is time to end that Act in the story of UNI athletics. The renovated bowl of the dome is handed to a new coach to lead the team onto the field, with the rest of the stadium close behind. A new voice bringing the team out of the door (and I'll miss Bob like crazy) for the first time in the history of the dome. An athletic director making her first hire after taking the job just 6 months ago. It feels like this is the perfect time to look outside of the dome for a hire. Look for someone younger. Someone who has the hunger that made young Farley "Skeletor" to other fan bases. Made the dome an absolute hell to play in. Look for someone with fresh ideas to bring in.

I'm not saying Paup, JJ, or even Reeder wouldn't have new ideas and new ways of doing things. However, by-in-large it is just a continuation of Farley who is a continuation of TA who is a continuation of Sheriff. While that line has brought insane levels of success, maybe it's time to plant a new seed and give it a chance to grow atop of the fertile ground that those coaches have set down as the foundation.

[UNIpanther99]

The idea that we consider four 7-4 seasons under Dunbar as a "dark era" is kinda wild. I don't necessarily disagree, because I was there through it and understand the context. But still, there were some outstanding players on those teams and a few bad breaks and questionable selection committee decisions held them back.

[BCPanther]

Well Done.

I think that's where I am too. It's time to really refresh the department as a whole and I think Dr Franklin and her team are setting out to do that.

Are we anywhere near the end of Jake, Bobbi, Tanya or Jacobs? Probably not but that doesn't mean that everything around them can't be rebooted and thought of in different ways from facilities to in game presentation to fundraising to NIL so on and so forth.

When she says it's a new era, I believe her.

NOTE-I left Schwab out because 1) I'm not sure he doesn't take a Big Ten job in the next few years and 2) I'm not sure we have a wrestling program at all 5 years from now because of what the House Settlement is going to do to Olympic Sports.

[BCPanther]

The idea that we consider four 7-4 seasons under Dunbar as a "dark era" is kinda wild. I don't necessarily disagree, because I was there through it and understand the context. But still, there were some outstanding players on those teams and a few bad breaks and questionable selection committee decisions held them back.

Those offenses were a blast. Dude was so far ahead of his time. Literally invented 'Check with Me'.

Had he had a warmer personality, I think it would have gone much better for him. Real tough to be a quiet, kind of pompous guy following TAs warmth and 'aw shucks' stuff.