Home Football Jonathan Smith — Next Head Coach

Jonathan Smith — Next Head Coach

666

For now. You never know with OSU…

Anyway, I’m okay with it, and even like the idea of Erickson coming on as a mentor in the AHC role. Could be interesting and work if there isn’t a power struggle. The coordinators are now the key.

I’m just happy it’s not Banker or Hoke.

PS. Can someone name me 38 year old HCs who’ve succeeded?

Go Beavs.

666 COMMENTS

      • #1: UW fans are STOKED they don’t have to fire JS. (akin to our reaction to Nebraska hiring Riley)

        #2: If we were going to hire a coordinator, why not go after someone on the rise? Compete against other teams to get a top coordinator. Maybe someone among the Broyles award nominees. Not a mediocre coordinator with zero track record as a top recruiter.

        #3: Otherwise, we should be looking at a guy who has a proven ability to build a program out of shambles (and that’s a very kind way of describing where we’re at currently). Settling for JS largely due to his time at Oregon State as a player, is a big, fat, miss.

        • They didn’t like his playcalling last year even though UW set a team record for TDs and points and went to the playoffs.

          I don’t get that, other than fans always wanting more or did UW leave a lot of additional points on the table? Is it “style points” kind of thing?

        • You do understand they weren’t firing him right? Just because fans don’t like him (and Seattle sports fans always blame the coordinators) doesn’t mean he was doing a poor job.

        • from what I saw of their offense, I liked it. Running game, use of TE’s, diversity in passing game, snaps from under center…..big plays…much more watchable than what OSU has fielded recently.

        • I understand Dawg fans reluctance to warm up to Smith as he is a Beaver and every time he played them, he threw the ball around for some unbelievable yardage – I was at the Seattle game when we lost by 1 point and he had 500+ yards. But he has done a great job up there and they missed being NC’s by one game; not sure what they are complaining about. Dawg fans whine about as much or even more than Duck fans do! I think that Smith looks better in Orange and Black than that Purple and Gold – he’ll certainly be more appreciated.

  1. Also, what was the talk of waiting until Dec 3rd to interview a sitting coach? A smoke screen for this hire? I don’t understand the point of that. Maybe that guy told him not interested after thinking about it.

    • Yeah, what the crap is going on here? Did everyone else say No?

      Why did we have to wait this long just for Jonathan Smith?! What happened to Beau Baldwin? I thought he was a lock. Did even he say no?!

      He’s a feel good hire because people will remember his good vibes as a player, but I doubt he’ll lead us to success as a HC.

    • Probably is the case that the guy decided he wasn’t interested so they pulled the trigger.

      I am optimistic and Smith will put together a young talented (if inexperienced) staff. Its a gamble but could end up being a great hire.

    • >Also, what was the talk of waiting until Dec 3rd to interview a sitting coach?

      I’m guessing they knew they could interview somebody before the 3rd but couldn’t announce it. They interviewed somebody in the last couple days, couldn’t come to an agreement for whatever reason, announced Smith today.

      If they had come to an agreement, it would have had to wait until the 3rd for the announcement.

      I think that all makes sense.

  2. Gundy at Oklahoma? He was 40 and a man in 2007, so 38 in 2004 when named HC prior to the 2005 season, his first?!?

    We’ll see if Smith needs to make such declarations and has as the higher end of success Gundy has.

    • Wasn’t Gundy a QB for that school, too? Memory might be failing on that.
      That’s a very apropos comparison if true, except for the fact Oklahoma State is loaded.

  3. At least Smith should be able to spot a good and proper QB. Hopefully he doesn’t favor walk-ons and see himself in every tweener player like GA did.

    Not sure what WAs class looks like or if they have any nice QBs, but hopefully Smith can bring along some talent.

    • He was the main recruiter (at least listed as the recruiter) for one of UW’s two 4 star QB recruits. The kid is from Bothell so he may not bail on UW but you never know.

      Jacob Simon is his name.

      • They had Bothells’ game on ESPN when they played that powerhouse from Denver, Mullen. Simon was almost Jake Locker-esque in that he appeared to be a man surrounded by boys on the field. Is he still the #1 QB in the nation?

  4. BTW Angry, I wouldn’t be surprised if DE – in a AHC QB coach or similar role – doesn’t have Luton chucking the ball down the field next season. Smith/Erickson ought to be able to hold onto Petras for a positive future.

        • He’d likely improve. The play calling was atrocious and the Beavs could have a good running game next year if they find a true center. Smith would likely seek better balance in the run game than did Andersen/McLovin.

          I could never understand Luton’s seeming inability to hit a receiver in stride on a shallow crossing route…often threw behind them. 6’6″ can see over the line, has arm strength, still can’t make that throw?!? Odd.

        • Well, he was brought in to throw a deep ball, and it was actually his worst pass. The only throw he was decent at was 10 yards to a guy running across the middle. Even that throw was behind the guy 1/3 of the time.

  5. This is a C+ hire. JS has a meh resume, but he’s a Beaver, so that’s a plus.

    HC’s his age who have succeeded:
    -Mike Norvell (currently only 36)
    -Justin Fuente
    -Ubran Meyer

  6. If he does get Heyward as a DC, and retain Hall as DB coach (I doubt Hall would stay for that), I could see this being an aggressive, energetic staff…both in recruiting and coaching.

    RE Hall, what do people think of the DB play this year given the context – injuries to starters, inconsistent pressure from defensive line…is the consensus that he’s a good DB coach?

  7. Smith seems like a low-floor, high-ceiling hire. However, I’m not overly concerned about the age thing. Lincoln Riley is 34 and is doing just fine at Oklahoma.

  8. Instant take – It’s an ok hire. Smith will get a longer leash with him being an established star at osu. I really feel like he’s getting put into a no win situation.

    The only way Erickson can come back is as a non on the field coach. He can be a behind the scenes analyst like cookus.

    I’m really not for bringing the band back together. Didn’t work out for Andersen and there’s always a reluctance to let guys go ( see Riley).

    Hall should be out. He should not be the DC next year after seeing zero adjustments in the defense this year. If his goal is to be a hc, he’ll need to make a few more coaching stops or go to a non power 5 school for that experience.

  9. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Guys that have played with Smith and coached with him all really like him. Bring in DE and some alums as assistants and this will really excite the fans.

    • The thing about psychology is, the more you think about anything the more you can convince yourself it’s a good choice. Since Smith is “one of us” emotions are involved, etc. Objectively it’s like a B- hire. I gave it a B because it’s Smith.

      • yep agree 100% First impulse was a C now after thinking about it for a while a reflecting on fond memories I am up to a B.

        Could be a disaster (but we are already there so it’s not like we are losing anything) could also end up being a feel good story.

  10. Smith is our Frost.

    I like it because he understands and will get the culture. I like it for that reason more than he’s one of us. I liked Baldwin for the same reason. Corvallis gets dreary and lonely. You need someone who is okay with that and accepts it for what it is. I thought Baldwin was a bit more proven since he was a HC before, but Smith is fine. I view it as a B hire with upside. I don’t see massive downside. He learned something under Petersen and might have Erickson around to help keep a floor.

    • And honestly, if Nebraska had it to do over do you think they’d decide Frost wasn’t yet ready?

      If you think the guy can do the job, hire them. We will find out if Smith can do the job.

      I do think Hayward will be the DC which I love. Wonder about his OC, my guy (Mike Johnson) was his QB coach at OSU in 1999 so maybe its a match.

  11. JS did recruit one of UW’s two 4-star QB commitments: Jacob Sirmon, who’s ranked the #2 pocket passer in the country by ESPN.

    They have another 4-star already, so maybe Sirmon’s looking for playing time…

  12. Basically everyone Barnes contacted said no thanks (Baldwin too after Wazzu opening possible)…

    Ed put this on Barnes and Barnes showed that he is a lower level AD at best…

    I don’t mind the JS hire (it’s the best Barnes can do) I think he will give 100% to this job and to this school… But Barnes needs to go, he’s small-time and it shows…

      • My favorite dumb argument by the “rankings” services is the “percentage against the rankings group” argument.

        They use numbers to “prove” what they think is something that proves they’re validated. It would be cute and funny in a “I’ve seen 10 year-olds come up with more valid proofs” kind of way, except any proof would be more valid.

  13. Smith being an offensive guy needs a really good dc. That’s the only thing i worry about with heyward while a great recruiter he doesn’t have experience as a dc. He could turn out good but it would concern me having a first time hc and dc.

    • Agree. Correct me if my memory fails, but didn’t we complain about his Beav DB’s not looking back for the ball? PI’s?
      As I remember, when he went to UW, his guys played with an attitude which was sometimes over the line.
      Do believe he is a good recruiter, as would be C. Hall who isn’t ready to be DC.

  14. With no “slam dunk” candidates available, I think Smith is the right choice if only to keep our loyal fans engaged. I have a hard time seeing why Baldwin is necessarily a better choice after one year at a Power 5 school. Success in the Big Sky doesn’t necessarily translate to success in the Pac 12.

    Ticket sales were poised to fall off a cliff next year – this might salvage some of that. At the very least, OSU fans will be more forgiving if the sideline is full of familiar faces and nostalgic memories.

    Fingers crossed that the staff includes Ketih Heyward and Mike Johnson and we can get Hufanga and Johnson Jr. on board.

  15. This is terrible. Loved him as a QB, but in no way is he ready to be a HC in the Pac12. But then again, I thought Andersen was a home run.

  16. Can we assemble an AngryBeavs approved staff for him?

    OC – Dennis Erickson?
    DC – Keith Heyward (current DB coach UofO)
    OL – Kyle DeVan (current OL coach Ball St)
    RB – Yvenson Bernard?
    WR – T. J. Houshmandzadeh (2016 WR coach Long Beach Poly HS)
    DL – Inoke Breckterfield (current DL coach Wisconsin)
    LB – Trent Bray (current Interim HC Nebraska)
    DB – Cory Hall
    Special Teams – Cookus?

  17. Don’t forget who gave Jonathan Smith his shot in college…..
    Mike Riley.
    Not saying anything is imminent, but I think this hire won’t do anything to keep him away from the program.

    • Yeah, please hire Riley as the OC so they can make this a colossal mess. We can watch Riley 6’8″ QBs that are as immobile as fucking dirt, run the left, run the right, pass 2-3 yards…fuck, I can’t wait for next season…..we’ll probably go 0 and fucking 12. Yeah, I’m a real happy camper today..Barnes just game Schmuck fans all the more reason to laugh their asses off at OSU. $200K search committee to come up with a HC w/out any previous HC experience. UnFuckingBeaverable and Totally Ri-Fucking-Duckulous.

      Way to go Barnes, you just fucked Beaver Nation again!

  18. If it’s Smith then I’m thinking OH BOY this should mean a HC for less than a million $!!!

    Then spend some serious money for assistants.

    Bringing in a guy with no HC experience and also young means, imo that Hall has to go.

        • He’s not on par with Baldwin. Baldwin has three years (with two of them being high volume production) to go before he’s on par with Niner.

          I think he can get there, but I think his O handicaps his D immensely. At least this way we get some ground and pound basics back at OSU. I’d much rather rely on our strengths than rely on others’ weaknesses.

  19. Canzano was speculating that the Baldwin leaks came from his agent so he could play it off like the deal collapsed which helps Baldwin look better.

    OSU interviewed Hall, Smith, and Baldwin and told them they were going to keep looking so Baldwib’s agent did what was best for Baldwin.

  20. Re: 38 year olds success. I’m a Rams fan. Mcvay is 31 and completely changed our teams mentality and attitude in 4 months. Sometimes being able to relate is the key in communication. That hire took some balls but Mcvay was too impressive to pass up. Hoping a simililar scenario plays out with Smith.

      • An offensive coordinator going to steal recruits? From what program? Idaho? This is a train wreck in the making. I hope I’m wrong but hiring a guy w/out any previous HC experience to deal with this dumpster fire is asking way too much. Completely and utterly underwhelmed over this hire. JS’s offense at WA this past season was underwhelming too. What a fucking mess Scott Barnes and GA have made of this program. Duck fans are probably still laughing their asses off after the 69-10 ass whooping and now Barnes just gave them a reason to have a real sausage fest in Eugene. Beavs get fucked again and it won’t be JS’s fault.

  21. I have shared season tix with another family since 1992. Just texted them and told them I am out for next year. I don’t see any scenario where Smith is consistently winning games against Petersen, Leach, Shaw, Taggart, Kelly, etc. REALLY disappointing. He is not seasoned enough to turn a mess this big around.

    • Totally agree. I hope we’re both wrong, but asking him to take over and fix this is like electing the Trump to be President….an effing train wreck that sets JS up for failure. Can’t wait to see us play tOSU opening game next year….what 85-3. Fuck, fuck, fuck….after the 69-10 ass whooping Beav Nation endured and now this. How and the fuck is JS a better candidate than Beau Baldwin who had great offenses, great QBs, won a national title at FCS level, could have taken his entire EW coaching staff with him to OSU…..fuck, fuck, fuck! I like JS too, but he’s just not ready to put the fire out on this shit storm of a football program.

      • Why would you expect an fcs coach with 1 NC to do better then an OC who was in the fbs playoff? Craig Bohl at Wyoming has won several NC’s in fcs and is an upper middling program in the mountain west. Baldwin is running the same offense at cal as dykes was and did no better then dykes at running it, it was Cals defense that won their games this year.
        And if the rumors are true that Baldwin’s agent leaked the info about him going to OSU(which by the way I asked if this might be the case on 2 occasions) then fuck him.

  22. I’m completely underwhelmed on this hire. I mean you’re asking someone w/out HC experience to resurrect this dumpster fire and assemble a coaching staff before the 12/20 early signing period. Barnes you completely fucked up this hire when you passed over Beau Baldwin who actually wanted the job. I hope I’m wrong. I hope JS does great things, but I doubt it. If the Beavs were coming off of a 5-7 or even 4-8 season, then I would be a little more optimistic. But let’s be real….you’re asking him to make this program respectable again when it’s one of the worst 2 or 3 FBS programs in the entire country. I don’t know who JS expects he can bring in as an OC, DC, LBC, Secondary Coach, etc. in such a short period of time that will help turn this thing around.

    In the aftermath of a 69-10 ass whooping by the Schmucks and now this…..I feel like Beaver Nation has been sucker punched again. Don’t get me wrong, I liked JS when he was the QB, but turning the keys over to coach this shit storm is asking way too much of this kid w/out any HC experience.

    Barnes should be fired immediately..

    • Well, the donors seem to like him, so hopefully we have the money to get fantastic coordinators, because that’s what it’s going to take to succeed. Great recruiting, great coaches at every position.

      > I hope JS does great things, but I doubt it.

      That’s sort of where I’m at too.

  23. Smith should hire former head coaches (not named Riley or Erickson) to be his coordinators. They’d help with some of the hc burden and transition.

    Bielema would be a good DC candidate. Sumlin! Would be a great OC.

  24. More disappointments coming as Nall declares, “I’d like to thank OSU…..I’m transferring to Stanford.” Isaiah Smalls, “I’d like to thank OSU for offering me, but I’m going to reopen my recruitment.” Spencer Petras, “I’d like to thank OSU for offering me, but….” and so on and so forth….I can’t imagine any of these verbals and current players will be overwhelmed with the JS hire. This is going to be an efffing nightmare….I’m beginning to wonder if Barnes wasn’t a plant by Phil Knight to complete destroy the Beaver football program. I’ve been a Beaver fan for over 40 years and this is the low point of being a Beaver fan. I like JS but there’s just no way in hell he is ready to take over this dumpster fire….unless he’s a freaking miracle worker. If it turns out I’m wrong, I’ll be the first to admit it but IMO this isn’t going to be pretty anytime soon. It’s like electing a reality TV program host to be President….oh, we’ve done that already too and that’s working out ohhh so nice…..fuck!

    • And what a memory it was! Got the wife to reluctantly go to the game with me – not quite the ‘surprise for New Years’ she had in mind when I broke it to her where we were headed – but wth – this was the next best thing to going to the Rose Bowl and playing Note Dame was just icing on the cake. Their fans treated the whole affair like a ‘business meeting’ and were pretty arrogant going in – I think they thought it was going to be blow out – on their part.

      The stadium is below the flight path of the PHX airport and midway through the 3rd qtr planes started going overhead. Several comments were made about ‘Notre Dame fans heading back to South Bend’. I loved seeing our older Beaver fans with walkers and canes making it up to the very top of Sun Devil Stadium to watch the best game the Beavers ever played. Yeah, I guess I can get behind JS!

  25. So in essence OSU hired their Scott Frost. Minus the NC and the head coaching experience.
    This will either be a spectacular success or an epic failure.
    Hopefully he can get the donors to pony up $ for the Reser.

  26. Speaking with my Husky friend, he thinks Smith might bring the UW backup, Carta-Samuels, to OSU as he’s eligible for grad transfer. Buddy thinks pretty highly of Samuels.

  27. W.R.T. Smith’s OC abilities: Hopefully that doesn’t mean much one way or the other because he’s now the HC and the OC duties will be someone else’s responsibility.

    Competent coordinators who can recruit have to be brought in.

    • This might get a fuck load of down votes but what about Helfrich as OC? I think the HC deal was too much for him, but he seemed to do really well as an OC.

      • I wish I was knowledgeable enough to answer your question but I don’t have a clue except to note that to me it seemed like Helfrich had a lot of talent to work with so that might have made him look better than he actually was.

        It would be interesting to know if he was ever OC in a situation where the talent was,,,,,, (can I say lacking) with respect to their competition.

        Also does he have a history as being a good recruiter at schools other than uo?

      • Don’t think that’s a fuck load…let me consult the International Bureau of Weights and Measurements though…At the least it doesn’t appear to be a Metric Fuck Load.

  28. a few thoughts. Like Angry said above, I’m glad it’s over. For those who think it couldn’t be worse, imagine if Barnes spent the next two weeks chasing his tail looking for a coach as everyone turned him down only to turn to Smith as an alum in a distress call, who then out of loyalty takes the job after every other vacancy has been filled and the early signing period looming.

    I guess the word that describes my attitude is “agnostic.” I don’t have a sense that JS will likely be successful, or unsuccessful. It does seem to me to be a hire one step ahead of time. Barnes needed to stop the bleeding, and in the very short term Smith could accomplish these goals: (1) keep Petras; (2) get some of the old donors enthused; (3) stem the the losses in season ticket sales (though likely any coach could have helped in that regard). Smith does have the advantage of being able to tap into the “you can be successful at OSU; I’ve done it” trope. That could help with recruiting. Speaking of which, I think his tenure at UW can help at the margin in the state of Washington. We have no way of knowing, but you have to think (hope?) that he paid close attention to how Peterson ran the program up there. They seemed to take a disciplined approach to coaching. One anecdote in that regard: at the game in Corvallis in September, during the first half (when the game was still competitive in a nominal sense) there was a timeout called. I noticed the OSU bench was “crickets.” No conversation, no animation, no nothing. Looking across the field to the UW sideline, every area group immediately went into a circle (one for offense, one for defense, and I presume one for special teams) in the center of which was a coach holding forth. Truth be told, I’ve rarely seen that happen on the OSU sideline at any point. Yes, it’s true, Husky fan is non-plussed by his departure, if not deliriously happy, but really, how much is there to complain about: 5 losses in two years? How much better or more convincingly did UW need to play on offense the past three years? It’s not as if those people had to deal with Langsdorf-level frustration.

    Bottom line: I’ll renew my donation and ticket purchase for 2018, and may even go to Columbus, but I’m definitely in a “show me” mode. Assistant coach selections could change that meter reading.

  29. Yuck. He really gives me the Helfrich vibe. I don’t see him as the face of the program with an ability to attract talented staff and recruits. Basically the opposite of Scott Frost.

    Offense-wise, I don’t know. The relationship between Petersen, Smith, and the offense is similar to Kelly and Helfrich at UO, or Whittingham, Sitake, and the Utah defense. It is tough to figure out how much credit to give to the coordinator. UW defense is what is impressive, and not due to Petersen. Hire the damn D coordinator.

    In a way, this is good for me. Now I won’t even bother getting my hopes up for the Beavers and have even less reason to watch football next year.

    • I think most people are apathetic. It seemed like Barnes took the easy way out. A respected alum hire buys some cover and time. The media will go easy on him for a while.

      Can’t hate Smith as a person and what he did for the program as a player but lots of questions of if he’s ready to handle this role. Cynical view might say Barnes set him up for failure.

      I’d say his biggest challenge will be the off season stuff. Making sure the players stay out of trouble and stay on track in school.

  30. S-I’s blurb on the Smith hire:

    “In 2016, Smith’s offense set Washington records with 77 total touchdowns and 585 points, averaging 41.8 points per game, tops in the Pac-12 and eighth in the nation. This year, the Huskies sit second in the Pac-12 in scoring despite having an assortment of injuries to key offensive players.”

    It would be nice if somebody asked him some questions about his actual role and authorities as OC and how what he learned will inform his approach to offense at OSU. How directly involved in the offense will he be?

  31. Oh yeah, bring back Riley, he can teach JS how to chew gum and have a shit eating grin on his face as his team is getting demolished.

    • Golly, ya see it’s all about balance. You want just the right amount of grin, or you’ll bite your tongue while chewing. It’s a tough skill to build, but I’ll coach ’em up the right way.

      • Speculative based on Jimbo Fisher accepting A&M job. Article in Oregon live today. Read where tagger apparently said FSU would be his dream job…we can only hope and that way he’d take all of those recruits with him and then we could listen to duck fans whimper and whine.

  32. So let’s play hypotheticals.
    If Riley somehow ends up on this staff in some capacity, would we be open to Keith Williams as WR coach?
    Upside: Great recruiter, knows California recruiting and did well there while at Nebraska.

    Downside: Has multiple DUIIs on his record

    I have no idea how he is as an actual coach, which is kindof important

  33. Very nervous and underwhelmed on this hire. Trying to talk myself into it.

    JS has learned from two of the best in Erickson and Petersen, and he has D1-FBS level experience. He’s also not a retread.

    :-/

  34. We should have been 0-12 this year. Really can’t go anywhere but up from here.

    I really like that Smith has been under Petersen for the last few years.

    Hire a young, energetic staff who can excite recruits and J Smith just may have a chance to turn this thing around.

    Again, when healthy we’re not that far off at a lot of positions on the field. Just need to the most important one.

    Smith has more to work with then Our record and on field play indicates. Keep Petras, get Evans qualified and add a grad transfer qb, and serious jumps could be made quickly.

    Better then a dumb retread. Need to make smart assistant choices.

  35. “Jonathan needs enjoy being named head coach,” Riley said of potentially returning to Oregon State in some capacity. “If there’s a fit somewhere – coach or consult – yeah, that’d be awesome. But it has to be right fit for him.”

    Riley said he’s already receiving inquiries for coaching jobs. With teams allowing a tenth assistant, Riley said he wouldn’t mind being on a coaching staff as a secondary or quarterbacks coach.

    “I still feel young and have the energy to do it,” Riley said. He didn’t know if any NFL teams would reach out.

    http://www.omaha.com/huskers/mike-riley-headed-back-to-corvallis-open-to-coaching-in/article_0ce7fbdc-d565-11e7-87f7-a7e073a78ea6.html

    • Sorry, I just read those excerpts about Riley before posting. Right now I’m thinking that if OSU brings that MF’ing riley back in any form it will be time for me to quit following the Beavs. And that’s after following the Beavs for many, many, many years.

      CRAP!!!

        • I was born in the 40’s and have memories of being with my folks in Corvallis when I was 4 or 5 and walking by a jewelry (?) store and they’d have a little display in the window showing the score of the most recent game. My dad used to listen to all the games that were on the radio. I don’t remember when I heard the first one but it was a long time ago.

        • @GWH: If you comment is towards me I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I used to hang out at pure orange but have no recollection of “cussing” anyone out. That’s not my usual modus operandi.

          I did find the rah-rah bull shit attitude of some of the pure-orange folks to be rather “irritating”. They were all over folks like stink on shit whenever someone said anything that they thought was “out of line” w.r.t. OSU athletics. O.S.U. could no wrong in their minds.

          Now if I did cuss you out…… sorry about that.

          • I’ve never been on the pure orange site. In fact I didn’t know what you meant by “PO” when you (if it was you) were giving me the business. Anyway, I don’t want to throat punch you anymore so it’s all good.

  36. Like alot of others in here I’m meh on this hire. It’s gonna depend on his hires for coordinators and assistants. I would like to see Erickson on staff(but not a total requirement) just because of his HC experience. Smith is going to need help getting this thing turned around. Hopefully the donors wallets will open and Reser stadium gets finished soon.

  37. Is it weird if I might be okay with Riley as a QB coach? I wouldn’t want him as an OC or anything more than something like QB coach though.

    Am I taking crazy pills? I definitely also see the arguments for keeping him away from any on the field roles. Maybe give him a title and roll him out at events like they do former presidents and such.

    • Nope, he knows how to coach a QB, only irrational hatred would make you unwilling to consider the possibility.

      I prefer Erickson to be on staff but as long as Banker isn’t the DC and Cavanaugh isn’t OL coach I won’t be upset with him bringing back just about any of his old coaches

    • He’d be great as a QB coach. Somewhere else…

      The problem is we must disconnect from him permanently, else there will always be the specter of him over the program and some in the fanbase who want him should Smith struggle. Big big big no. Erickson would be fine as QB coach.

      • Yeah. Beaver Nation was sold a reunion of Smith and Erickson and we better get it. Riley can take a token job in Athletic Dept if he wants 150K bad enough or can do like what crowton did where he watches some practices and gives a few insights. That’ it though. Otherwise should just retire. Has millions. Enjoy life and do a few functions at OSU.

      • I’m speculating, but my guess is DE is a little pissed he didn’t get the HC job. I doubt he will have much to do with the program despite any of his “feel good” comments today. He retired from Utah after going the assistant route for a few years, I doubt he wants to do that again. He wanted the OSU HC job and then hand it over.

          • Yes he sent Barnes a letter with a plan laid out on how to get the program turned around, who he would target as coaches, and an aggressive plan for recruiting. I know one of the people who helped him draft the plan. They got the word out to ex-players from all generations to gauge intrest in backing the plan and send Barnes letters of support.

          • Formally, I don’t know. But I think he actually did reach out to Barnes as BB mentions above. Looks like Barnes passed. Personally, I’m disappointed, I thought it was a better plan than Smith as HC now.

          • Did he send the letter for himself, or was it a letter of recommendation for 9?

            I couldn’t tell with all the back and forth between DE/9 and 9/DE formations.

            I can see him skipping a round of golf to sit down and write the OSU AD a letter saying, “Hey! Don’t just glad hand the boosters and miss out on this kid because he’s an alum. I coached with him and know what he can do. I’ve talked to him, and he has a solid plan for what can work at OSU. And he’ll recruit more than the drinks cart.”

  38. What Search Committe should have cost: $3000

    Actual Estimated Final Bill: $189,000

    Wonder if we’ll officially know. An agency hired interim at Ole Miss for $137K.

    Arkansas announced they are using DHR also. So far their fans aren’t excited with the names being floated. We’ll see how that ends. Would be pissed if they ended up with Miles using same agency for same money.

  39. SHHHIIIIIITTTT!!!!!

    DE WILL NOT BE ON STAFF. Small advisory role only.

    Dennis Erickson says he won’t be on Jonathan Smith’s @BeaverFootball staff: “i want him to do it himself. it’s his time. I had mine. I’ll advise him if he asks. I’ll do everything I can to help him. i’m certainly going to support the program and be around more. That’ll be fun.”

    THIS MEANS CANZANO’S INSISTENCE THAT EITHER DE OR RILEY WILL BE ON STAFF, LEAVES RILES DOING EVERYTHING TO GET A SPOT ON STAFF IN SOME FASHION.

    F*CK. Riley should have been the small advisory role. QB Coach here he comes. No avoiding him I guess. Damn.

  40. With Smith all I keep thinking about are those house parties where homie would get soooo drunk. He probably had the worst game ever but was always trying to talk to girls. LOL the stories those walls could tell!

  41. Smith, Baldwin, and Hall are the only 3 people that formally interviewed for the job. Thst speaks volumes. Baldwin probably turned down the job, Hall was interviewed because he’s interim. So either none of the other coaches were contacted or none of them cared to interview. I guess we’re lucky JS wanted the job, otherwise we might be stuck with Hall.

  42. Anyone else get the vibe that if Taggart leaves Oregon, there’s likely some serious skeletons in the closet down there? We all suspect that they’ve been shady AF with regards to recruiting, but this would cement it even further in my mind that they’ve been up to no good.

  43. Depending on the coordinators, I’m actually okay with this. I think he has a higher ceiling than Baldwin (although Baldwin definitely has a higher floor), and I’m excited to see who he’ll pick for the assistant coach positions.

    • Anybody with a functioning brain could plainly see that footballscoop is footballpoop clickbait garbage, and that they either make up shit and claim “sources” or regurgitate anonymous internet rumors like they’re real.

  44. Do you guys really think FSU would hire Taggart? That’s a program that could have just about anyone. They’re not going to hire some shady guy with a limited track record just because he really wants the job.

  45. Did y’all listen to Kenny Simonton on Rip City Radio yesterday?

    Niner is gonna have a lot of support from former Beavs. The vision is to build from the ground up with guys who are invested in Beaver Nation. It’s gonna take a while maybe to see results, but it’s the right way to build it, imo.

    Now I want Heyward and retain Hall.

    • Its great that former, high-performing players want some role. I’ll be curious to see what roles they take, how effective they are. Not being negative, but just because somebody was a good player doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be an effective coach, recruiter, or fund raiser.

      I’d also be nice to see some more recent players stop in to see the players, like Brandin Cooks, Rodgers Bros, Terron Ward…I think Cooks and Rodgers attended a few games recently?

      Also, I still think its important to bring in some outside perspectives and not over do a “Beaver All Stars” staff. Will certainly be interesting to see what Smith does in filling out his coaching staff.

    • If Heyward and Hall worked together we’d know that at least our Secondary would at least do their jobs pretty well. Throw in Breckterfield/ Bray and you’d have some good recruiters and minds to develop a good defense.

  46. Euhus had some things to say in Eggers latest column too.

    “Jonathan is somebody Beaver Nation can rally around,” Euhus says. “We need somebody to rally around at this point in time.

    “Many of the former players felt disconnected from Gary (Andersen). I see Jonathan being able to get the alumni involved again at a high level, because he’s one of us. I got 10 texts today from former teammates who are all excited. Hopefully, that disconnect is gone and Jonathan is able to bridge that.

    “What should feel like home to every former player no longer felt like home. Jonathan will make it feel like home again. He’ll re-engage the alumni.”

    • But he already has a job with a better team. Unless he’s best friends with JS, I don’t see what makes the move attractive. I highly doubt we can pay more than UW.

      • Really depends on how affordable Jonathan Smith’s contract is to us. We have 9 million of GA money to promise our Assistants, plus another 1 million for the Ohio State Massacre we have coming up (though I hope to God we bitch out of that game just like they would do for coming to our field)

        And I really think that this move is somewhat heavily motivated by donors who were in Camp Erickson. I think we might find that Oregon State finds a way to pony up the dough.

          • That’s on the high side of his fair range, but still fair. We have another $1.1-1.2 to add to the difference from GA’s wage if they choose to look at that as an investment instead of offset the losses from the prior staff. Even with the offset, GA did expand the assistant pool quite a bit. So we’re fairly competitive as is, especially if we can tug some heartstrings for a couple years of building with moderate wages for a potential payday.

            There’s also a lot of value in assistants who show marked turnarounds at troubled programs. So that should play in our favor as well.

            I wasn’t in favor of allowing DE back, except that at least his O fits our school. But would he be against taking a position where he could coordinate or even recruit the Jucos for us? That’s where I see him having the most value now.

          • That’s too much, unless you’re talking total compensation… which I would think could be higher given a surprise outcome. Is that a guaranteed base?

  47. I would hope that Smith already has several assisstants lined up and ready to be announced. He’s had plenty of time to prep for this moment. Dont know that he would have been hired without a pretty clear plan amd level of commitment from key support staff.

    • I’m sure he has a list. if he wanted to be a hc in the past, he’d create a list of who he wanted already. Wouldn’t guarantee any one person though.

      First people he’ll need to hire are the coordinators. Not sure how fast he could get that done. I’d say it would take at least a week or two. The rest of the staff will prob be hired after the initial signing period.

  48. Just doing a quick look around, it seems that under 40 head coaches seem to be doing ok. Some like Riley and Fuentes stepped into fairly stable situations. Norvell is continuing Fuentes success at Memphis. As far as I can see, none have turned their program into garbage.

  49. I watched a few of Smith’s past interviews last night. For some reason I keep thinking of Michael J Fox when I watch him. Lot’s of similarities.

  50. So now that Smith is coach, what to do with the current commitments.

    Sounds like Petras is still on board. I’d ditch Dukart and try to get yankoff to flip. That would be a nice start to his tenure.

    • Pulling offers is not a good look to start out, especially for local guys. Dukart should stay anyway, since he is a football/baseball guy. There has to be a role for him on one of the 2 teams. Dont want to burn bridges with Lake Oswego either.

      I think all offers will be honored. If theyre bad offers, blame Hall/GA/Barnes. Don’t expect Smith to be the bad guy from day 1

        • Smith should not just give away these offers. He needs to see if the current commits going to make the program better. Recruits will understand that a new coach will look at them differently. As long as Smith communicates with the recruit why they pulled the offer, I don’t see it as a bad thing.

    • I like the current commits. I think this values Smalls even more if we go to an O that values a real TE. He has the skills to be one. If Togiai ever learned how to block and catch consistently well, he could thrive.

      I like the group Hall brought in. I see an eye for both talent and potential in Hall as a recruiter. Half of most demographics wash out. But the numbers turn in your favor when you expand your local roster enough to dominate the locker room and set the identity of the team.

    • No, you honor every offer and add more. Guys will leave the program, they have plenty of room to add another handful of people. Don’t pull offers especially if a guy is committed. And honestly, getting 3 QBs wouldn’t be the end of the world.

  51. I think Smith’s age and background will help him connect with recruits and players. Couple that with the support and endorsements he’ll get from a bunch of high-profile ex Beavs, and this may be the beginning of something great. Even if it’s a slow but steady and long term build of the program, I’ll take that over a quick 3-year stint and a Bowl game, then a quick return to the bottom.

    • You can end up with that anyway. Ferentz holds on to his job because his system allows for him to every now and then make a run and get to a NYD bowl. If you look at his pattern, it’s NYD bowl followed by decreasing bowls for two years then a rebuild year followed by two increasing bowls and another NYD bowl.

      Dude’s like clockwork.

    • Especially if he can arrange current/relevant alumni to make well timed appearances.

      “I visited hole and there was a room full of shoes”

      “I visited Oregon State and there was Brandin Cooks”

      Difference?

  52. Coach Smith is winning me over. Great poise. Genuine emotion. Way better presence than I expected.

    “This is my dream job, at my dream school, in my dream town.”

    I believe him. It’s up to him now to keep my trust and hopes.

    Brick by brick.

    ~GWH

  53. Smith did very well, Ray embarrassing bureaucrat with no wit, Barnes annoying but Barnes’ grade goes up a bit based on the hire and Smith’s potential. I feared Barnes would make a poor, unjustifiable hire.

  54. Missed the first 30 minutes of the presser. Damn. Please post replay link.
    So far he’s great. Media strikes out again when saying his demeanor is awful.

  55. From the 5 minutes I’ve seen, Smith is going to be a huge upgrade over GA and the goons. Smart guy.

    Just said he’ll fit scheme to what they have. GA refused to do the obvious.

  56. Great comment by Smith about re-recruiting Seniors, Juniors, Sophs, etc, acknowledging that there are no “my guys” and “his guys”. So different than the previous regime.

  57. Everyone always says we need a good recruiter at OSU. I wonder how much being good at recruiting to one school carries over to the next. Like Taggart is good at recruiting to UofO because he sells the flash. I wonder if he could recruit to a place like OSU that doesn’t have flash to sell. Smith isn’t selling flash, his personality is more in line with what OSU is selling, makes me think he could optimize the kind of athletes OSU can get. Of course a suitcase full of cash probably sells the best.

    • Cash is king; but student athletes (and their families) do value other aspects of university life.

      Coach Smith mentioned some of these specifically (stadium located physically on the campus, ease of access to training facilities) in conjunction with the football program.

      Oregon State can never claim to have the biggest stadium, or the wealthiest boosters, or the most up-to-date training facilities, but it does have unique aspects worth promoting properly.

      Also, it was big for me that he mentioned wanting to bring in former alumni who either had been successful on the field (NFL, college coaching, etc) or off in establishing a sense of culture. I never understood why this resource was so underutilized?

      • It’s because coaches want to leave the past in the past and start their own “dynasty” not realizing that the past is where the support comes from weather it’s players or alumni. It’s a dumb move. Look at all the delusional fan bases around the country Nebraska comes to mind, once a hard nosed smash mouth team reduced to passing 70% of the time. Part of that is the coach they hire, part of it is loss of identity (smash mouth football). They then lose support because it’s not the type of teams they remember. We remember a balanced attack that Riley started and Erickson continued, then Riley returned and slowly the pass happy BS took over. Identity lost.

  58. Coach Smith strikes me as persuasive when he focuses on his ideas & vision of what he wants to do.

    Time for him to start spending his currency.

    • That has to do with boosters and people in general rallying behind him with the $ that they’ve been holding onto to donate to the right coach to get the right staff.

  59. Everything we’ve seen from Smith this morning REALLY makes me hope he diesn’t Give Riley any significant role. Though he’s part of Smith context and past, I don’t think he adds to the culture Smith is talking about creating.

  60. This is a quarterback league, and it’s a relief to know we now have a HC who was a QB in this league and will know what it takes to get a legit QB. That is a huge perk. Doubt we ever have to worry about QB position again (after maybe next year if they keep Luton around). QB and culture. If you look at any good program or winning NFL organization it’s always (a) a legit QB and (b) a no-nonsense/business culture. Smith seems to get that. GA, when he came on, said all the right things, but I wrote early on “the only way I see him failing is if he doesn’t get a QB”, and sure enough that’s why he failed. He also created a culture of mayhem by the end, though I think to start out his culture was pretty good.

  61. Some takeaways from the press conference,

    1. He wanted the job.
    2. He didn’t make any outlandish promises.
    3. Hall isn’t going to be part of the new staff.
    4. He knows what he getting into.
    5. Won’t be calling plays so now we’ll wait to see who’s playcalling we get to complain about.
    6. His coaching stops have all been with guys connected to the NW. I wonder how that’ll play into his hiring of assistants.

    • What part makes you think Hall isn’t coming back?
      Sounded like Smith hadn’t had that conversation yet.

      I wonder if Joe Salavea or Joe Seumalo would consider working for Smith. I know he wants to recruit locally and work his way outwards. Just think the Pacific Islands have beem pretty good to us over the years and would hope that continues.
      Does Seumalo have any more 5 star kids in high school?

      • Smith talked around the question of hall returning and hasn’t spoken to hall yet. Sounded like Smith had some candidates in mind already.

        And I think Smith will hire coordinators first and then let them have a say in the position coaches.

      • I got the same impression as did Bill, that Hall won’t be asked back. I say that simply because of the tone of JS’s response as well as his words. Just my gut.
        OTOH, short of an announced hiring, we should only expect a neutral response at this stage.

        • Interesting, I had the opposite read and think Smith is seriously considering keeping Hall on staff. IMO, keeping 1 guy from the old staff makes sense and for me that would be Hall.

          Interesting that we watched the same thing but got a different sense of what he was saying from it.

          Guess we will find out.

    • The word is that Hall pissed the administration off by his antics leading up, and during, the Civil War and they aren’t high on him anymore. I think a good house cleaning is in order, and unfortunately he prob should move on.
      I am still hopeful that they get rid of Guinta and Yray – huge liabilities.

      I cannot see Hall being retained…and honestly, we have some excellent former defensive back alumni that I’d rather see in his old role anyways. If some of the guys JS knew from his era don’t pan out, I know that one player that came after him might be a good fit: James Dockery wants to move up the coaching ranks badly, and he’s currently a coach. He also is heavily invested in So Cal and knows people and I think he could sell our program. He played in the NFL and knows what it takes to succeed. Right now he is head coach and assistant athletic director for a private prep school, Xavier, in So Cal.

      • I really would like some head coaching exp on the staff. Maybe one with rebuilding experience and another as the defensive coordinator. Smith will need to get a good d coordinator.

        Obviously not Riley or Erickson who both have really said no.

        I really think bielema would make a good d coordinator.

      • I actually agree with the sentiment of not an entire all former Beavs staff. I’d choose the ones who are proven as recruiters and well known in the coaching world: Keith Hayward and Trent Bray. Otherwise, I am curious what roles they fill respectively and who else he brings as the OC and DC if he doesn’t choose either of those guys for DC.

  62. Curious to see if Jimmy Lake, the UW DB coach, emerges as a DC candidate. A Husky friend of mine was raving about him and worried he might by a HC candidate after GA left. Great recruiter and coach from what I’m told.

  63. The nice thing about JS is, that if he becomes a very successful coach and other programs come calling, I cannot see him leaving this school due to his emotional ties to it.

  64. A good question by the media would be if he holds open or closed practices. I prefer the latter for game prep, but as a fan I can deduct a lot more from the open practice reports.

    • I’ve always seen closed practices as a way to set a serious tone. Maybe a single open practice per week is a good compromise.

      Of course, I also believe limiting the exposure of players to the press (via interviews) is an area where leaning toward too little exposure is best in setting the tone for the team.

    • Closed during the season to fans. It’s pretty standard for all programs. Only limited portion open to media.

      I’ll guess some fall and spring practices will be open.

      It was a nice perk but it’s not a critical item for fans.

    • What did Dennis Erickson do and Chris Peterson do? I’m sure JSmith will either do a mix of DE, CP, and MR when it comes to media access to players and open/closed practices. It’s only his first day. Let’s see what staff he puts together and how this staff recruits.

  65. Caller to JoeBeav just now was coached as QB at BSU, his mention of JS being a guy who starts by teaching fundamentals is very encouraging.
    He specifically said he expects JS to see that his position coaches begin by evaluating/teaching fundamentals.

    • I’m curious what kind of practice time is going to be allocated to conditioning and fundamentals of blocking and tackling?

      In what little I saw of the OSU/UW game this year, I was impressed when an OSU defender intercepted a pass, and UW’s back up tight end made a good open field tackle that too often OSU defenders seem NOT to make. It just looked like he’d had fundamentals drilled into him.

      In today’s NCAA, and defense such as it is, it seems like if you had very well conditioned athletes that blocked and tackled well, you could have simple schemes with different plays out of same or similar base sets, and have the advantage in most games. In contrast, OSU seems to have inconsistent blocking, poor to atrocious tackling, and complex schemes (Riley), “we tried to do too much” (Banker), or the wrong schemes for the available personnel (Andersen/McLovin).

      Of practice time, what do you guys suppose is allocated to:

      1) conditioning;
      2) fundamentals;
      3) schemes and game planning?

  66. After seeing the press conference and thinking about this hire, I’m feeling a lot better and I have some hope for the future at this point.

    I think teams adopt the style, the personality of their coach. With Erickson, we were talented, sloppy, stupid at times, played with a ton of swagger, played up to better competition and bullied inferior opponents.

    Under Riley, we played smart in general, but would often get bullied around, played soft, overthought some things, played up or down to competition.

    Under Andersen, we were bipolar, schizophrenic, intense at times, incredibly stupid at times, filled with self loathing and mistrust of teammates.

    I feel like under Jonathan Smith, we’ll be smart, competitive and intense without acting stupid, we’ll play like the guys actually like each other.

    From the reaction of former players, they have a ton of respect for Smith, so hopefully the team follows his personality and plays smart, tough football and doesn’t act like a bunch of assholes and plays like they want to be here.

  67. If Andersen gets hired by Wittingham for some role, Utah at OSU is a game I want to attend under the Smith regime…Utah was already annoying, but if “The Bed Shitter n’ Quitter” is in the house, I want to be there. Mature, maybe not, but hopefully satisfying.

  68. The only Beavs I’d want on the staff are Heyward and maybe Breckterfield. Both seem getable since they’re in slightly lower positions and alums. Not sure I want Bray. I like him, but he was so close with Riley that he might stink of him.

    • Bray is a pretty good recruiter, probably Nebraska’s best the last 3 years. For that reason alone I forgive him of his Riley connects.

          • I have to think a lot of that performance was having Banker’s stink on them instead. From what I remembered that pre-Nebraska he was showing an ability to teach/motivate. And he might just be a good recruiting asset. You can always have another coach in there to compensate with teaching technique, etc.

            I definitely want Breckterfield and Heyward.

  69. So after chasing supposedly “successful” people with head coaching experience, myself included, and flopping spectacularly we go with the kid with no heading coaching experience. What the hell… what’s to lose? Can’t do much worse than 1-11.

    Reminds me of Seinfeld when George decides his life is a mess and is going to do everything exactly the opposite. That being said… “Stop Beavs”

  70. O.K. I watched the introduction…….. I found myself wondering what the hell is an old fart like me doing getting a bit of water in the eyes?????

    Lots of right things were said,,, so much so that I found myself wondering if “they” have been reading AB.

    Great start, but still a long way to go.

  71. Man i wish he would have kicked Schnell’s fat ass out of the room for asking that woe is me this is a tough Job why do you think you can win Oregon State question. Only way he could have done better.

    Why does such a self loathing person stick around a town or program she so adamantly despises? Mind blowing stuff.

    • Because she’s latched on to a lazy narrative that she can continue to use to explain OSU’s losing history. She doesn’t have to do any real work. We’ll see if JS can take that narrative away from her. Let’s hope he can, then maybe she’ll go away forever.

      • Just feels like she probably thinks lowly of herself and therefore perpetuates that shit onto Corvallis – Oregon State and the entire BN. Shit is annoying. I would have kicked her ass out of the room to set the tone if I was JS. Mike Leach style.

        • Standard answer to a dumb question:
          I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t think I was going to build a solid program and win.

          Then that reporter realizes s/he just wasted their first impression on a dumb question and may not get many more if the media pool ever expands, as it happens to do when teams start winning.

    • Agreed. I can’t stand listening to her on the Beaver weekly TV program. I do agree with some of her comments, but most often she’s very annoying.

  72. Love hearing that they’re going to open up the pocket books. Also really like that they’ll fit the schemes to their players.

    I wonder if they choose to stay in a 3-4 or not.

    • We’ve been in two variants of the 3-4 for 3 seasons, w/ some percentage in base 4-2-5 because OSU lacked pieces. Don’t remember if we were that much better as 4-3.

      • The one variant we haven’t run is Oklahoma, probably because we haven’t been able to press both corners successfully. Petersen runs the 4-2 a lot, and it works at UW with the front four they have. I expect us to go back to a four man front, but I expect the ends to not be 3-4 OLBs like Banker always had. One speed rusher at about 250-275 and another edge stopper running around 280 would be the expectation.

        We still need space eaters in between. That’s something we’ve only ever had one (good) of in the past.

  73. To answer the question posed to start the thread Smith becomes one of 15 coaches under 40. Many have experienced mild success already. From Hero Sports…
    Lincoln Riley Oklahoma 33 2017
    Mike Norvell Memphis 35 2016
    Mike Sanford, Jr. Western Kentucky 35 2017
    P.J. Fleck Minnesota 36 2017
    Kliff Kingsbury Texas Tech 37 2013
    Jason Candle Toledo 37 2016
    Matt Campbell Iowa State 37 2016
    Neal Brown Troy 37 2015
    Tyson Summers Georgia Southern 37 2016
    Seth Littrell North Texas 38 2016
    Major Applewhite Houston 38 2017
    Nick Rolovich Hawaii 38 2016
    D.J. Durkin Maryland 39 2016
    Scottie Montgomery East Carolina

  74. Aside from giving Smith the money to hire a staff, Barnes needs to get him out of the Ohio State game. Smith as a competitor would never ask for this but it needs to happen. I’ve already sent a message to Barnes, others should too. That game should not be played.

      • Not at all but think it through for a minute.

        You are coming of a 1-11 season in which many players have very likely had their confidence as college football players reduced and have been demoralized by the 2017 season.

        Now Smith comes in, lets assume Smith does an amazing job building these kids back up, through spring practice and fall camp he gets these guys to believe in themselves again. In order to do that Smith has to make them believe they can beat anyone and they will succeed, then the fly to midwest, walk into a stadium with 100,000 people that want them to fail, and they will most likely fail (and most likely in a blow out fashion).

        Much of everything Smith spends the offseason doing could easily go out the window in those 60 minutes in Columbus.

        It’d be one thing if that was the 3rd game of the year and Oregon State had a couple opportunities to get some confidence and belief in themselves. Opening with that game when you have a team that is likely very fragile (like it or not, its likely the case right now no matter how good Smith is at rebuilding it, its still gonna be fragile) is a lose/lose scenario.

        Psychology matters, you can’t ignore it. This team needs a good performance if not a win out of the gate and the odds of that happening in Columbus is slim to none. That is just reality.

        • Dennis Erickson went 11-1 in OOC games, the most difficult game they scheduled under him was either at Fresno State (loss) or maybe you could argue at Temple (due to the travel involved).

          Despite that OOC scheduling, his teams didn’t have low expectations.

          Its about being realistic and understanding the goals of your OOC schedule. Right now playing at Ohio State (to start the season no less) meets exactly zero goals for this program.

        • I’m not ignoring the psychology of it. Have you played football? Getting you ass kicked by a superior team can also provide insight and payoffs later in the season.

  75. Won’t post link but Canzano saying it was “Ray’s fire he felt,” and again referenced Ray’s desire for a rose bowl before he retires.Laudable goal to be sure, but I thought it was Smith who seemed genuine, possessed of conviction and understanding, and he carried the conference, but Ray.

    But Canzano loves Taggert, so yeah, he’s an idiot. Too bad he has the platform he does.

  76. The Beavers need to exploit this uncertainty at the U of 0 and their slick Willie coach to try and make some inroads on a few of the state’s talents that made the mistake of verbally comiting to the hole. Even if Mr Smith could change the mind of one of those young men it would be worth it….

    • Not.

      It would have been pretty awkward if Hall is wanting to stay.

      JS needs to be able to pick his own staff. Maybe Hall does make a case like Brennan did a few years ago but I just don’t see it.

      Career wise, moving on is smarter for Hall. He’ll get looks at DC at smaller schools.

    • I guess it would be a little awkward though since they hadn’t met yet and you knew questions about Hall would get asked.

      I’m guessing Hall won’t be on the staff tough.

    • Perhaps more significant, Guinta and Yray seem to be the only members of the old staff showing any activity online, retweeted several posta from today’s media events. Does this mean their jobs are safe?

    • Would have given the wrong public impression [of Hall], had he decided to go.

      A new start, is a new start. Unless he was a personal friend of Coach Smith, or if the coaching transition midseason had not been under such a cloud, you don’t go.

      Doing so also makes note to others that you respect the University’s decision, even if the potential outcome for you could be negative.

    • Taggart leaving only weakens the competition if the rest of his staff goes with him. I think he’s an excellent recruiter but a mediocre coach. The rest of the guys are pretty good, though. I’d worry if Taggart left and they got Sumlin and kept Leavitt, Cristobal and the rest of the gang.

      • I don’t anticipate Taggart leaving, but if he did, I would think he would take most of his all-star staff with him and get them raises

        • According to Aaron fentress, if Jimbo Fisher leaves FSU, which is very likely, FSU will make a big push for Willie. Given Willie’s family lives in Florida, it’s a strong possibility he will go back home…..he also said duck fans should be very worried if Jimbo leaves FSU….that no. 1 class could be in real jeopardy.

    • What about getting Grinch for DC, Heyward DB’s, Trent Bray LB’s, Baldwin for OC(?), and as for the others, not entirely sure. He will most likely hire more NW recruiters than South/South East coast recruiters with him saying they will drive initially than fly to recruits. I think this is smart with the amount of top in state recruits this year that we will try to poach from UO.

  77. I went to the welcoming rally tonight at Reser. Good crowd, standing room only, band cheerleaders etc. Mostly it was the same as the press conference earlier but Smith is a very compelling speaker. He is genuinely happy to be back and seems to have a plan. Before seeing him tonight I honestly was underwhelmed. Not anymore, I felt a twinge of hope. Wanted a picture with my son but had to fight through a hord of really old guys who surrounded JS and every one of them just wanted to talk about the Fiesta Bowl. I had to push my son through the walkers and canes, but I got the pic.

  78. Why did Ray repeat the same “A Game” line today. That line became such a joke quickly into the GA hire. Athletics definitely are not Ray’s forte.

    Luckily I do think administration is serious about getting top coordinators and doing significant budget increased for those hires if the top targets of Smith.

    Heyward looking pretty good IMO and if that doesn’t happen then you make a hard run at Jimmy Lake.

  79. Per Kerry Eggers article: http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/380155-267236-jonathan-smith-will-coach-more-than-entertain

    “One of the other candidates was California offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin. I believe the other serious candidate was Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin. I’m not sure how far it got with Harsin and Oregon State, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that Smith was second choice.

    • Baldwin, incidentally, was Oregon State’s second choice when Gary Andersen was hired in 2014.

    Baldwin, then at Eastern Washington, and Utah State coach Matt Wells were 1-2 on athletic director Bob De Carolis’ list. Then, over a period of a couple of days, representatives of Andersen, Brigham Young coach Bronco Mendenhall and Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman called.”

    De Carolis interviewed Mendenhall but was so impressed by Andersen that he got the job.

    • Barnes got it wrong when he called Smith “one of the most decorated players we’ve had in our history.”

    Baldwin was interviewed and Harsin was considered, but Jonathan Smith was the only one who got a second interview.

    • Bronco, Herman and GA all contacted the school…so much for the narrative that no one would want the job in sleepy little Corvallis.

      What a shame that BDC didn’t interview Herman.

      • Herman feels like a miss, but honestly 20/20 hindsight makes Mendenhall the best of those choices. His scheme isn’t one that competes with 90% of college football for recruits, and he appears to be a changed man at UVA. Herman was likely the best of the rest, but I see that O going over about well as .500 ball at best at OSU, given time to rebuild.

        Even if he wasn’t, I think Yurcich was another contender this time around. He and Baldwin represent choices 1 and maybe 4 of coordinators that run that wide open style without fundamentals. When I weigh 9’s accomplishments and pedigree against Yurcich’s same, I don’t see Much separation. Adding the fundamental ground and pound scheme that fits our culture as well as a coach who just knows that culture without trying puts him over the top. I would say Harsin would be a solid second choice because of cultural fit and fundamentals as well.

        If Baldwin ends up at Wazzu, I don’t see them doing great. He’s already taken a team geeked up on raid talent and muddled through the Pac. He would just be doing more of the same at Wazzu. Leach knows what he’s looking at when Falk leaves.

        • I wonder how much Herman benefits from recruiting out of Texas during his Houston stint. That whole H-town takeover thing wouldnt have been as easy to pull off in the state of oregon. Still, the guy can recruit, which is something I think would have helped this program for however long he would have even stayed here.

          • Trying to recruit players for a speed game with little upside for further employment is probably difficult for a cool weather place that doesn’t get TV time because of a large media market. Players who quietly work on the fundamentals that most of college ball lacks right now is the new wave. We missed on the flash and dash and tried to install it too late. Now the blue bloods who know what’s what are running power with either a speed component or a flex option or both. But the days when the QB gets to run wild are coming to an end. I expect the air raid and r&s variations to stick around, because at least you can eschew run blocking and spend your time learning how to protect your QB.

            You’ll know when the read option dies, because the blue bloods will start getting the refs to call holding on the WRs more often, since they won’t be running it any more. I’m sure Urban will continue it since he’s able to get depth at the QB without thinking. But he’ll start whining about how those holds were never called five years ago.

          • He’ll probably keep the same O as well. He just gets the benefit of being able to recruit NFL bodies in the trenches without getting on a plane. Mix in his eye and coaching for a QB, and they could be hard to handle for a bunch of years.

            But remember that Chipster’s game relies on speed speed speed. He confuses refs because his O is moving so fast between plays. WRs don’t come inside the numbers between plays. There’s holding all over the place because they play “within the rules” and don’t adhere to fundamentals. It’s just a frustrating mess to watch his teams beat up on Ds while refs ignore that stuff or are so dazed by it that they don’t know what to call.

            People will try to emulate his success, sure. But they won’t be able to do so successfully, or at least sustain it.

          • Chip’s first offer and verbal commitment was Kazmir Allen. Check out his film. He broke the all-time state of California TD record this year.
            3000 yards rushing and 800+ receiving this year for him.
            So fast. It’s crazy to see how often he outruns the competition whem it looks like the defender has an angle on him. Slippery too. Basically, he was build for Chip Kelly’s Oregon offense. I might have to become a UCLA fan on the side this year.

            http://usatodayhss.com/2017/ucla-land-record-setting-california-rb-kazmeir-allen

    • I blame De Care less on the hire of GA and the last 3 years. I could see next year being similar to when Riley came in 97′-98′ when he went 3-8 97′ and then 5-7 98′ then 99′ they went 7-5 99′ then 11-1 in 00′-01′

      I’d take that progression compared to the Mike Riley to GA transition(Backwards!)

      Pettibone was better in his 3rd and 4th season with 4-7 record both 1993 and 1994 which is better than GA could ever do.

  80. Wow, quite the dumpster grease fire on ol “Rocky Top”….AD fired this morning in the middle of Leach accepting terms to coach there…

    How is THAT playing out at WSU and how quickly do they move to hire another coach?

      • “The Palouse Beauner.”

        So changes at UW, CAL, OSU, WSU, ASU….am I missing anyone?

        Leach is bat shit crazy enough to deal with Tennessee fans…should be lots of melodrama and they’ll all be happy, fans and coach. Until he doesn’t get past “almost-to-the-top” and is fired….

  81. Baldwin to WSU seems the logical move. I guess Hardin could go there.
    It will be interesting to see how good Baldwin is and if we whiffed.

    • Smith with more PAC experience, Beau-ner with actual HC experience.

      If the Beavs whiffed it will only be known with the benefit of hindsight. Not sure there was s clear cut best option as things stood at the beginning of the week.

          • Completely different recruiting circles. Smaller roster of split ships as opposed to the larger roster of four year ships, guaranteed. FCS schools can collect FBS transfers without losing a year of eligibility. FCS players almost always use all their eligibility, producing a ton more stability. Academic requirements are lesser. The speed of the FCS game is not much slower/stronger at the highest levels, but it is minus the top five or so programs. Just like the talent level on the field is that much easier to beat, the coaches are that much less skilled. The Xs and Os are that much more simple week in, week out. These guys can scheme against that first FBS opponent for weeks before the season, and some win those one-off battles but would likely lose out against the rest of a FBS slate. Most of them just lose anyway.

            And yes, the pressure is that much more.

    • Sounds like the whiff was Herman….Andersen’s nomadic past should have been a concern…but it also would have been interesting to know that after year 1 at Wiscy Andersen interviewed for the Cleveland Browns job…”OK, he’s crazy. No.” On to Herman….

    • I don’t think you would ever be able to conclude we whiffed since if Baldwin is good then he likely would have been poached while JS seems like he is in his dream situation.

      • Their fans are as delusional. They think everyone in the country wants to sing Rocky top. The SEC has changed, not the least of which, Bama is no longer a doormat.

        Sort of like duck fan can’t understand that chip was once in a generation type coach, the PAC north has changed, unis/facilities are comparable among all schools and Phil’s money can only go so far.

  82. Yesterday Canzano interviewed Barnes on his radio show. Barnes mentioned how it’s more difficult to keep a coaching search confidential and close to the vest because of all of the misinformation that get spread around via media, twitter, blogs, etc.

    Canzano then goes into a 10 minute rant about how twitter and non-media sites(blogs, etc) are the problem, because they run with news with only 1 source snd they’re not concerned with credibility so they run a story with little risk to their brand/product.
    He’s not wrong, he just forgot to mention himself as part of the problem. He often reports things and then goes back and deletes old tweets after it’s been discovered he was incorrect.

  83. Fisher leaving is going to cost Oregon a lot of money.

    Either by paying taggart a lot more or by having to search for a new coach plus his assistants. Cost of new coaches have gone up.

    But they could end up with sumlin, that would not be good.

  84. Obviously first recruiting job for Smith is keeping Nall with a close second Petras…. as soon as he is finished with those calls I sure hope he is patrolling the verbals of ASU, WSU and the hole….. let’s use these uncertain coaching futures to our advantage and grab some extra talent!

    • I think Nall will ride off rich to the NFL. And with AP and possibly Tyner back that is okay. So for me Petras is #1 priority. What scares me somewhat is the history of Luton and Smith (recruited Luton at one time). If Luton is the guy for next year I sure hope Smith can teach him some better QB skills.

      Priority #1 TODAY is getting the right coordinators on board asap. I think once that happens recruiting will up tick.

      • Nall will be back. He isn’t ranked high on any teams draft board. Barely a blip on draft websites.

        Many project him as a full back, that’s barely worth a late round draft pick. That’s not rich.

        He doesn’t have a whole lot of tread on his body, so he should bet on himself and return for one more season.

        • The decision to leave for the NFL is not always about your draft spot it is often more about what you think you can do to improve your draft spot and how much higher you think you can get picked. Though I am not really sure where that puts him.

      • Rich to the NFL?

        You don’t get rich in the NFL on your first contract unless you are a 1st round pick. Nall is unlikely to even get drafted. He’ll need to work his ass off to make anything beyond his 5 figure bonus as a low pick/undrafted player in the NFL

        • Nall will go 4th or 5th round. Gerhart went in round 2 (awful pick then and now), and that’s who Nall profiles closest to, only Nall is better (much much faster and can even be switched to D).

          Injury reputation will hurt Nall and drop him.

          I can see Nall wanting to play for Smith and get rid of that injury tag, so I think Smith increases the chances he comes back. They seem like a good personality mesh.

        • Rich for a twenty something year old kid is relative and from where he sits now he has a lot to consider. 1) Do I take another chance on this dumpster fire? 2) Do I go re-do it all on another team? 3) Do I go try to make some money playing at the next level? I think the best business decision would be #3 but as a fan I’m hoping for #1.

          • Yeah that’s not P5, and Smith didn’t offer him once at Washington. He probably saw he wasn’t Pac material.

            Luton’s best pass is the 10 to 15 yarder across the middle. Smith said he’ll play to what he has on the roster. So my guess is if Luton plays we’ll see a lot of those midrange passes, which is fine. It’s Luton’s only good ball.

          • We don’t want running QBs. Running QBs get hurt.

            We want a QB who can run if he needs to do so. That starts with someone who is aware in the pocket and slides then moves to an open space to read the field. We also want someone who can roll out or move the pocket and throw accurately on the run.

            Otherwise, no running QBs.

  85. Per Moron:

    Received Jonathan Smith’s memorandum of understanding with Oregon State: He’ll make $9.5 million (plus incentives) over 5 years.

    That’s $1.9 million per year, which should open up more money for assistant coaches. Gary Andersen was set to make $2.65 million this year.

      • Not sure if there’s much to read into this, but GA was making more than all his assistants combined.

        JS will be making about 60% of his assistants combined.

      • Likely breakdown of the salaries,

        OC and DC – 600k each max
        Position coaches – 250k each max.

        Also need to remember that there will be 10 paid on field coaches. So it dilutes the salary pool a little but.

        • If Smith can get top guys and doesn’t end up settling, wouls like to see coordinators close to 800K. Beavs have to be ahead of the curve here and have stronger coordinators. To get them they need a significant boost to coordinator salary. Needed for Heyward or Lake. A guy like Lake would not leave UW without a pay raise. Heyward too would need enough to leave Oregon.

        • Agreed.

          We go to a bowl next year, he’s worth more than 1.9. We don’t, that number slides.

          Back-loading a contract is a safe thing for both parties.

      • I’m disappointed but not surprised. Just about everything is out of proportion and surreal these days as exemplified by the money that’s being spent on sports.

        The American people and the American institutions are, for the most part, living beyond their means are are in debt up to their ears. The constitution is being attacked, pedophilia and corruption run rampant in our power centers and for the most part the people are ignoring what’s going on.

        This can’t go on forever and eventually a great amount of pain will be felt by all. I was hoping that Dr. Ray and the athletic department would act in a fiscally responsible way but I tend to be a dreamer.

        The opportunity to build and strengthen the OSU infrastructure appears to have passed OSU by.

        I’m happy for JS and at the same time I’m feeling sorry for OSU and the Oregon tax payers.

        Go Beavs!

        • You really think people are ignoring what’s going on? I see people more involved and invested than at any time in the past. Wait for the party after trump gets impeached (that will only be a 2 hour party, though, and we’ll realize Pence is now President).

          • Yes I do think people are ignoring what’s going on. If they weren’t, IMO, they would have been out in the streets a long time ago. The constitution is being taken apart and almost none of the little folk are saying a word. Nothing. No march on DC, no protests, nothing.

            Again, imo, if and when Pence takes over then the game is over and the little folks have lost.

  86. If FSU truly is interested in slick Willie and him them….. one of two things is going to happen. Either the PAC 12 Landscape is going to change pay wise and slick Willie could possibly get a giant raise ( Jimbo was getting 5.7 a year) or for the first time that I can remember the Nike Farm team will be forced to back down financially…..I sure hope that the hole doesn’t get in some crazy bidding war and drive up the head coach price for everyone involved on the other hand it would be kinda funny to watch them spend a fortune and then have slick Willie not get them to the promised land….

  87. Think Willie just plays this moment to get paid well by oregon, stays, and spins the whole situation as a giant positive for oregon as they continue to build momentum towards signing day.

    Unless FSU comes up with some ungodly number(like what Jimbo Fisher is getting from aTm, I see Oregon matching anything FSU offers and them some.

    There’s supposed to be an unrelated Willie Taggart press conference at 2 today. Guess we’ll learn more soon

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