I know we would all love for Chris Peterson to be our next head coach, but let's try to reasonable. Who are the coaching candidates we have an actual chance of hiring?
I would have said Dan Hawkins probably would have had a shot at the job, but he just took an offensive coordinator position at FIU. Not saying he would be my first choice, just that he pops up in my head as a potential candidate who meets the standards Dr. Blue described.
Rob Ash was the head coach at Montana State and produced 4 FCS playoff teams. He was let go after a 6-5 season. Reportedly intelligent, now an offensive analyst for Arkansas. 63 years old, does he have one more fight left in him? Former QB?
Dan Hawkins is an Aggie with deep tied to the Aggie football lineage. I think if he were offered the job he'd be interested. I believe his wife is also an Aggie.
Hopefully Blue has been working on a list for the last couple of months and can hit the ground running. The new coach is going to have to come in, hire a new staff and hit the recruiting trail quickly! Ash and Hawkins seem like they would be significant upgrades in terms of guys who have already built programs. I'm sure there are plenty of other guys out there to consider. We don't need a lifelong commitment from anyone, we just need someone to come in and turn this thing around.
Hawkins
Moroski, but he has struggled this year at NAIA College of Idaho. May not be the rebuilder we need.
Ash
Slo Stang suggested Bobby Hauck. Did well at Montana, but not so well at UNLV. Currently ass't at SDSU. Was he involved with the off-the-field issues at Montana? Seems like he has aspirations that might not fit with rebuilding at the bottom of the pile in the Big Sky.
McClure
Taylor
Also hope that Blue can talk to Coaches like Peterson, Hawkins, Shaw at Stanford, Gary Patterson at TCU...people with a UCD connection or who have dealt with schools with admission issues like UCD, to see if they have some suggestions on coaches who might fit.
You look at the issues facing the school now and realize just how fortunate we were with Sochor, Foster, Biggs. All qualified, all more than happy to coach in Davis. Never had the feeling that Gould's heart really left Cal.
I think Gould will always have a place in his heart for Cal but I also believe that he was deeply devoted to his players here and they seemed to care very much about him as well. I wish he would have been more successful on the field because I do believe he grew to share the values that define Aggie Athletics.
Agreed that Moroski probably isn't the right guy for the program right now. There are some good options out there, just hope that Blue picks the right guy whoever that may be.
I like your list, with exception of anyone from Montana from that era....
I like the idea of Blue reaching out to Peterson, Patterson, Hawkins, his Stanford connection- Shaw, etc, for leads on assistants. I would bet HC's wouldnt want to volunteer their guys, but you never know what could come up.
The date I saw was Oct 2016. Anyway, these lists are floating around. I checked on the Aggie jobs listing today and the coaching position is not listed. Maybe they don't list recruitment's?
My deep research into the off-the-field stuff, by which I mean I did a drive-by wiki-google-pedia search, says that Hauck left after the 2009 season to become HC at UNLV. He was succeeded by Robin Pflugrath, who had been the WR coach under Hauck. Plugrath was the HC for two seasons, 2010 and 2011. The Grizzlies won the Big Sky and made it to the BCS semi-finals in 2011 "but those were vacated by the NCAA on July 26, 2013 due to infractions which included a nationally publicized rape scandal. Individually, Pflugrad was hit with numerous sanctions by the NCAA for his part in the infractions." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Grizzlies_football No indication in my uber-comprehensive search that Hauck was implicated.
One of Blue's "requirements" is program building. He mentioned that coming in and
Maintains success isn't necessarily what e is looking for and from what I gather, it is looking for someone who has built a program from scratch.
To me, that almost means we are going to go after a DII guy who built a program and is looking to move up. There aren't too many FCS jobs that are less prestigious than UCD and I can't imagine and FBS coach slumming it with us.
Ol' Brucey wrote and article where he mentioned that Hawkins might be let go of his responsibilities at FIU if he lands the head coaching job here.
Dr. Blue talks about the plan going forward. Sounds like he had some guys already in mind. Brucey lists some potential candidates that might sound familiar to this board *cough cough*
One thing I have been told by multiple sources is that the buyout is just north of $100k and we only owe it to him if he doesn't get a job in the next year or if the job he lands doesn't pay him as much. That money is a drop in the bucket for the university.
There is a duty in basic contract law that the party damaged by the breach of a contract should mitigate their own damages. If your car gets damaged in an accident you can't then smash it into a tree, or go out and rent a Lamborghini and expect the party at fault to pay for the added expenses, (unless you were driving a Lamborghini at the time.) Generally a party that loses a job is required to seek other comparable employment. Gould would not have to accept employment as a nuclear physicist, or a cab driver, or to accept a head coaching job in some far off corner of the country...but on the other hand if he gets a job, say as an RB coach with Tedford at Fresno State, he probably can't say no, and then expect UCD to pay him as if he were still coaching here. Also he can't accept the job and expect the UC to pay his Davis salary on top of that.
Of course this general rule could probably be subject to a term of the contract itself, or could be negotiated in the "buy-out" which is essentially a revision of the contract.
This should all be preceded by "If I recall correctly..." It has been a long, long time since I fell asleep in contracts class.
Wow...what a great list of people advising Kevin Blue on the football coach search! I am 100% confident that Blue and this esteemed group will get the right coach for the Aggies. I think we are very, very lucky to have Kevin Blue as our AD. (Y)