I don't care if he brings his son along. His son was a very smart QB at Colorado who played his ass off. It's very common for HC's to bring their son's along, and his son is far more qualified that many of those I've seen in the past at other schools. Nate Hackett's rise in the NFL certainly benefited from daddy's connections. It's part of the coaching game. Foster will likely stay on in some role, but I don't think he wants to be a full-time coach let alone a coordinator. What I like is that we have a guy who won't take crap from the administration or media. Time for a tough guy to get us where we want to go. Every programs looks to have 4 QBs for spring, and brings in a freshman, so I would anticipate us looking for a JC transfer and a freshman in this year's class. We may very well need a new QB to run the offense if the new offense doesn't fit our current QB's skill set. Lots of exciting stuff in the coming weeks.

I'm extremely happy with this hire. This was exactly what I predicted...a coach who is looking to redeem himself (the alternative was a young rising star). My only hope with Hawk being hired is that he wants to make this his last stop...maybe that's overly optimistic, but let's hope he's in it for the long-haul. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that Hawk took the deal (it may have been his only option), and it leads me to believe he's home for good. Hawk's Colorado days didn't go well at the end, but from what i understand, he took the fall like a true head coach does. Colorado hired a nobody as its next hire, and it was devastating to their program for years. Aggie Pride!

that would be awesome...I doubt it, but it would be great. I think he will bring energy and expertise that will help get us a few more wins, but I don't think we are there yet talent wise.

Agreed, make the right choice. I'd love to see a coach who wants to make this his home, but we know who we are right now and that might not be realistic. The sad thing is I think Gould could have worked out with the right OC. Not saying it all falls on Daft, but I think our defense played well enough over the years to win a lot of games, but we just didn't perform on the offensive side. I want a coach with an aggressive offense that wants to put up lots of points versus a ball control guy. Fingers crossed.

The key to improving our big three sports programs is to give the coaches what they need. If we don't make institutional changes, we will be having the same conversations in three years for all sports. I believe Blue is the right guy to get us there, but he can't do it alone. I certainly don't think Gould had it all together, but we asked him to recruit championship level talent with average (at best) resources. In the end recruiting is as important, if not more, than the X's & O's. Washington State was in the hunt for the Pac-12 North Title, and they lost to EWU. Does anyone really think we've ever had that level of talent. Don't point to the year we beat an awful Stanford team...that may never happen again. We have to recruit as close that level of talent as possible, and it starts with friendly academic admissions (which requires academic support infrastructure once they get there), better facilities (at least a weight-room, coaches offices, and meeting rooms at the stadium), and the best benefits we can legally provide. We all love Davis and are proud of our school, but we have to offer a lot more than the "UCD Degree" if we want to win this conference or the Big West in hoops or baseball.

To be honest, I'm not totally impressed by any of those on the list. As an Aggie, I'd love to see Aggie connections, but Daft? Holy cow, his play-calling was atrocious. The key problem we've had the past 4 years was the offense not fitting out kids or conference. I like Troy Taylor's offense, but is he really ready to be an HC? There is a lot more to the job than X's and O's. In reality, I think Taylor will make a great OC, and this job is a good stepping stone for him. However, I'd like to see OC or DC level experience at a minimum. Lastly, the pool of applicants should include non-Aggies...like Dr. Blue himself.

I'm not giving up on my kid! Hoping having his parents see his games, and the promise of good things to come will tip the scales.

Gould is a class guy, but don't expect him to help us recruit. Frankly, all of Gould's recruits are at issue now, and the new coach may not even want them for his system. Blue is the AD, and his job is not to recruit players...he needs to focus on getting a coach in here with his team of recruiters.

Not sure if Daft or Gould decided on what he wanted run, but it doesn't matter anymore. We were run, run, play action or draw, on almost every drive. My opinion (again qualified that I'm no special guy) is a good OC uses short/efficient passes as a substitute for run at times, and that opens it up the rest of the offense. Also, our formations allowed defenses to pack the box against us, and blitz from everywhere. If you spread out the field, it creates one on one match-ups, even in the run game, where you only need to beat one guy to have a big play. In traditional multi-TE sets, a defensive player can leave his man to make the play since the formation is bunched up.

I'm really pushing a kid I coached towards UCD. 4.3 student, extremely smart, but also wants to play at the best school we can play for. Honestly, this very smart kid, doesn't think much of what we can offer compared to the other schools recruiting him. Just getting "smart" kids who value degrees will not get it done.

Stanford has the whole package...we offer the degree. Not even close. If you build it, like Cal Poly has done in baseball, they will come.

You don't need to convince me that the offense needs to get creative...I'm just a low level youth and high school coach, and I can call our plays out before every down. Predictability is fatal.

I agree with you that it was time for a change. I don't think he was going to change the offense as long as he was head coach. He benefited from a series of NFL caliber backs at Cal, and we've never had any. Running the ball works when you are just bigger upfront and better at RB than the LBs, but we need to use our kids' intelligence, run complicated routes, and use deception with inventive play-calling to cover our lack of talent on offense.

After watching the past 4 years of football, its my opinion that we have very few players that would even start on the top tier teams in the league. Usually, we match up better at 1 or 2 positions on either side of the ball. Overall, I believe our recruiting has been very good for what we can get, but our pool of recruits is very small. Think about it this way. When Montana sees a film of a recruit, they have no concern about getting him into school. They have no concern about him staying eligible. They have a huge fan base, history, and good facilities. They get kids we can't. Our first inquiry is to look at his transcript before we can even consider him. That's a handicap we live with. We then must fight the Ivies and lower tier FBS schools to attract those recruits. We've done okay, but we are still far behind. Blue believes, and I do too, that we must start with the infrastructure...if you build it, they will come.

I do think a change in our offense is the key to any success for us in the future. That does fall on Coach Gould. Our conference is wide-open, and all of the successful teams spread you out and score. I've been calling for a change to a spread offense since Gould's first year, and we just kept running the same old "3 and out" ball control offense. The change in our offense is mandatory in my mind. We have tried to be the Stanford of the Valley (3 TEs, lots of running) and we just don't have those guys. Dr. Blue and I discussed the Stanford process, how they get recruits, and we just don't offer what they can. We lost one kid a few years ago who walked-on at Stanford, never played any significant role, but just being there was enough for him. We don't have that culture.

We should have beat Weber, but I'm not sure how many other wins we really had this year. Scheduling two FBS schools is just stupid. Time to get smart, schedule wisely, and make the necessary changes at the top to make it work. We'll see. I'm hoping they bring in Troy Taylor and run the spread. He coached Jake Browning and all the other Folsom High QBs that have had a lot of success. Can't wait to see who's coming in.

we are not close to winning a championship with this talent. This staff did a pretty good job at recruiting, we are better than we were 4 years ago, but it seems the top teams in our conference are too. EWU beat Washington State, who is in the top half of the Pac-12. We are not even close to their talent level on either side of the ball. Overall, we lack team speed, are vastly undersized on the DL and at LB, lack depth at key positions, and have yet to find the right guy to run the offense at QB. Ben Scott was a nice player, but not a game-breaker in any sense. Spencer might be the guy we think he is, but he needs to put it down on the field. Love your optimism, but Bill Walsh himself wouldn't have won a championship with this team. This staff never had a chance, but assuming Dr. Blue is ready to make the necessary changes in admissions, academic support, and facilities, we have hope on the horizon.

This is going to be very interesting. We need to hire the new coach asap so he can get out there with this new staff and recruit...really hard. Time is of the essence. I hope we can keep our current commits, but I'm not holding on too tight to that hope. I take no joy in this firing, but agree that it was time for a change. I just don't know who would want this or the Suck St. job right now. Taking the job may be a career-ender or career-launcher...we'll need a gambling man in more ways than one.

I don't think that's going to happen, but if he can get us on the right path over the next few years, then I'm okay with a transient AD. If he can turn this ship around, he will be a hot commodity for bigger and better jobs.

I'm not really worried about guys leaving. That may or may not happen. My concern is not with who we hire next either. My concern is whether we are really committed, as both an institution and alumni base, to bring Aggie Football to the next level. If Blue had been here four years ago, we may not be in this situation at all, but Blue still has a lot to prove. Walk the walk Dr. Blue...walk the walk.

I lost my confidence in Coach Gould this year, but after sitting in on some higher level discussions with alumni, Dr. Blue, and some others, I think he was doomed from the start. I'm more worried about the staff landing in a good places...they worked their butts off for the Aggies.