Bob Nielson has been named USD's next coach

[88grad]

Yeah, I've never seen and OC's responsibilities split up between a Run Game Coordinator and a Pass Game Coordinator. However, if it works then I'm all for it!

[Yote 53]

I don't put any stock in what WIU fans say. Like you said, they wanted the entire staff to stay there. Now that some of these guys come to USD they aren't any good? Makes sense. Also, they announced a new head coach, by default since Rob Ash pulled his name out of consideration because he wants the Southern Utah job. Their new coach was the OC at Richmond.

It's funny reading the Leatherneck message board, they very much go with whichever way the tide is rolling. First they wanted to retain the staff, then when they didn't they vilified the administration. They had an open forum for candidates interviews? I don't think I have ever heard of that, candidates having to answer questions in an open forum session as part of their interview. Finally, now that they named their coach, there are people there who think they are better off now than when they had Coach Nielson. I guess I understand that there are sour grapes after losing practically their entire staff to USD, but if you look at it objectively, there is no way you can say WIU is better off today than they were when they had Nielson and staff.

[Cousin Eddie]

Names, titles and contact information are up here: goyotes.com/coaches.aspx?path=football

Still no profiles for the new guys.

Running and passing game coordinator titles are not uncommon. The more important matter to take note of is that HC Bob Nielson will be the person actually calling the plays. The Co-OC titles are more reflective of practice, game preparation and in-game oversight. Take a little more comfort in the fact that we will then have a veteran play caller running the offense in-game with Nielson.

Also, straight from the horse's mouth, we will be running an up tempo offense. This is going to be exciting to watch!

Call me a sunshine pumper, but I think the composition of this staff is quite strong. The areas that can be most demanding and vital to the success of a team, OL and DL (the core), are being run by long time veteran coaches with a history of success. Skill positions are being run by young and diverse guys that have played the positions with success and, by most accounts, are very strong recruiters.

Nobody gets me more pumped up than Bill O'Boyle. In addition to having a power mustache, he has experience elsewhere as a coordinator and head coach, both with strong success. However, more than anything else, this statement about O'Boyle's performance stands out:

"In O'Boyle's three seasons overseeing the offensive line, SIU allowed the fewest sacks in the league despite dropping back to pass more than anyone else in the league. SIU led the conference in fewest sacks allowed in both 2013 and 2015 while ranking second in 2014."

Oh yeah, and the dude was Danny Woodhead's HC at Chadron State.

Other coaches with past coordinator experience (in addition to their experience at WIU) include Atiba Bradley (DC and RC), Mohnson (DC), Ockinga (OC and RC), and Schlafke (OC). Also, prior to WIU, Yelk was the ST Coordinator and RC at UMD.

Counting Middleton, 5 coaches have recruiting coordinator experience. All of the coaches have great ties or recruiting experience to the geography we already recruit - OK, KS, NE, IA, MO, WI, MN, IA and Il.

I previously kind of poo pooed the idea of getting a foothold into NE due to the presence and success of Dan Jackson from State College, but with O'Boyle's success at Chadron coupled with Mohnson being a prior member of the tradition coalition on Tom Osborne and Frank Solich's staffs, we may have more success than I would have thought.

[stlawson]

Jan 4, 2016 9:38:37 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

I don't put any stock in what WIU fans say. Like you said, they wanted the entire staff to stay there. Now that some of these guys come to USD they aren't any good? Makes sense. Also, they announced a new head coach, by default since Rob Ash pulled his name out of consideration because he wants the Southern Utah job. Their new coach was the OC at Richmond.

It's funny reading the Leatherneck message board, they very much go with whichever way the tide is rolling. First they wanted to retain the staff, then when they didn't they vilified the administration. They had an open forum for candidates interviews? I don't think I have ever heard of that, candidates having to answer questions in an open forum session as part of their interview. Finally, now that they named their coach, there are people there who think they are better off now than when they had Coach Nielson. I guess I understand that there are sour grapes after losing practically their entire staff to USD, but if you look at it objectively, there is no way you can say WIU is better off today than they were when they had Nielson and staff.

I think that most of our fans did want Nielson and his staff to stay. It felt like he was really building something and was maybe another year away from the "payoff". It was disappointing to many of us that Nielson would choose to go elsewhere. Yes, I know there are some strong reasons for preferring USD over WIU, but it still stung a bit.

I'd say that the reactions you mentioned were more reflective of us trying to make the best of the situation.
Wanted to keep Nielson...that didn't happen.
Wanted to promote from within and keep a large part of the staff...the administration screwed that one up.

At that point, we were just hoping to find a few quality candidates, which I think we did.
The open forum allowed people to get a read on the top candidates, see and hear what they're about, and provide some feedback to the athletics department. Coach Ash was good, he's a nice guy, obviously knows football, and has "top conference" FCS coaching experience, but he just didn't seem to connect with Western. Just didn't feel like the right "fit". Coach Fisher locked right in and really impressed everyone who talked to him. Also, from the talk of some of the Richmond people on other message boards, it sounds like they were rooting for Ash to get the job so they could keep Fisher there.

Will Fisher keep us going in the right direction...I don't know, but compared to the last couple of coaching searches we've had, it feels "on par" with how we felt getting Nielson and much better than when we hired Hendrickson from within. There were questions with Nielson from some people (since he didn't have DI experience), but he's done pretty well. His staff does great with many aspects of the game (obviously) but just a couple things to be aware of:

Special Teams could be an issue...the kickers themselves seemed to develop well over the last couple of years, but defending of the kicks was pretty horrible this last year (122 in FCS in blocked kicks allowed with 9, 118th in blocked punts allowed with 4...that's an average of 1 blocked kick or punt every game), and our kick return defense wasn't great either (114th in FCS, 115th in FCS in net punting).

Playcalling, especially on offense, can be rather predictable. When you have the talent, that can be overcome somewhat, but there were definitely times where it felt like we were being out-coached...Youngstown and Illinois State really jump out to me with regards to that.

Anyway, you guys still got a great coaching staff that should be able to improve your standing in the conference over the next few years. Also, keep an eye out for the Arizona Juco recruiting area connection...we picked up quite a few decent players from a couple of the 2-year colleges (including our top RB last year, JC Baker). I'd imagine you'll probably start to see a few quality junior transfers out of that area.

I hope the change ends up working out well for both of our teams.

[Cousin Eddie]

Bill O'Boyle:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=h5GfS4l0iaQ