Another day, another Jonathan Riley dodge: https://twitter.com/SiddFinch4/status/938492799342833665

(although, maybe not, depending what a “mentor” does in this situation)…

Go Beavs.

Is our head coach. I feel bad for him. He’ll never get the chance to be his own man. The zombie bite got him.

Click for image: Jonathan Riley Zombie Locker

What do you guys make of the hires?

Jim Michalczik – OL

Brian Lindgren – QB/OC

Trent Bray — LBs

Update: Keith Heyward confirmed by one of my good sources.

The only one I’m familiar with as a coach is Bray. As I wrote in the prior thread, he started his career with a lot of promise, but the Nebby LBs got worse over his tenure. Good recruiter when he was at OSU and by all accounts at NE, too. Beavgopher, who watched every Nebby game, confirmed this as well. So is the problem Bray’s coaching, or were he and/or his players bitten by Riley’s zombie football bug?

What about the transfer of Carta-Samuels, and if we do land him, what it means for current QBs on the roster?

Today we reportedly hired this guy. Riley’s director of football ops at Nebraska. He was also Riley’s guy since 2003 at OSU.

Welcome our new head coach, Jonathan Riley!

I was high on Smith just a few days ago, but now I am seeing (if the rumors are true) his one glaring flaw: he’s too emotionally tied to OSU.

With GA we had the opposite — he didn’t seem at all invested in the place. Now we get a guy who is so obsessed with OSU that everyone on the staff has to be a Beaver, even if they’re cancers (Riley), unqualified (Bray/Riley/Dan VanDeReit), or under-performed elsewhere (Bray/Riley/Dan VanDeReit) with all the resources and talent one could ask for. Not only that, but those coaches don’t have the disciplined, rigid mindset needed to win. Smith has it, but he’s considering hiring bozos around him because of emotions.

Smith has the traits to lead. Why is it that people don’t self-examine themselves and see the errors of their ways? Why is it that Smith can’t see that having Riley and Bray around is an emotional drain on the players and program; they are symbols of the past. Bias for the known, of course, but what an error. If he only could be objective…I can see how this will end if he doesn’t get some fresh, outside blood into this program.

I went from high on Smith to being very concerned about the rumored supporting staff.

If he hires Riley and Bray he will fail. Heyward and Breckterfield are the only former Beavers who should be considered for openings. Period. I don’t want to hear that Riley would make a neat QB coach, etc. Riley is a program sapping cancer. He’s the prodigal grandpa — “a winning story”…said no one ever. Bray used to be very promising until he hitched his wagon to Riley and lost all his edge in the process. The same will happen to Smith with Riley and Bray around. It’s like zombie football…once Riley bites someone, it spreads. Bray is infected. They’re lingering around the program like predators…trying to bite Smith.

Incestuous, zombie football.