Rogers to WSU - next man up

[jakejc795]

My top 5 in order:

1. Dan Jackson
2. Kurtiss Riggs
3. Zach Lujan
4. OJ - Augie
5. Jed Stugart

I think OJ could bring longevity that the other candidates might not, or at least wouldn't to the same extent

[jakejc795]

Just not on the Jackson bandwagon at all, his Idaho defense didn't play that sound or disciplined. Take Smith over him anyday.

Castora and his article do make me think Augie coach wouldn't be a bad hire, Stig like stability and well-respected.

Thank you for the lead on Tanner's article. Here is the link in case anyone else is curious about it.

[Grizzled_Jack]

My top 5 in order:

1. Dan Jackson
2. Kurtiss Riggs
3. Zach Lujan
4. OJ - Augie
5. Jed Stugart

Stugart is a very affable guy with his country music star persona. Think he has Lindenwood on the upswing although he got clobbered in the MIAA, undefeated in the GLVC, and mid pack in the OVC which looks weaker than the MIAA to my untrained eye. Suspect any contacts he had while at the Coo have dried up although I think he got along quite well with Stig. Concentrating on recruiting in the St Louis area so that might relate to Jacks Missouri -Arkansas running backs. Has three good ones at Lindenwood. Has kept offensive and defensive coordinators from his USF days.

[bigticket1]

I think OJ could bring longevity that the other candidates might not, or at least wouldn't to the same extent

I don't know, to me the whole OJ thing seems to be an over-reaction to a game Augie played well against us, but still lost 24-3 and got out gained by over 2 to 1.I looked at his Augie record and he's won a grand total of one playoff game in his 10 plus years there. If we're going to hire a coach from a lower level, I would want someone who at least has made some runs at a Natty, if not won some. I would wonder about his ability to put together a staff who could win at the FCS level, and just as importantly recruit beyond our 3 or 4 state area. Hiring someone because he isn't likely to leave seems like a reach we can't afford to be wrong on.

[jakejc795]

I don't know, to me the whole OJ thing seems to be an over-reaction to a game Augie played well against us, but still lost 24-3 and got out gained by over 2 to 1.I looked at his Augie record and he's won a grand total of one playoff game in his 10 plus years there. If we're going to hire a coach from a lower level, I would want someone who at least has made some runs at a Natty, if not won some. I would wonder about his ability to put together a staff who could win at the FCS level, and just as importantly recruit beyond our 3 or 4 state area. Hiring someone because he isn't likely to leave seems like a reach we can't afford to be wrong on.

I was impressed by his postgame interview after that game. There's also the argument that we may never have won the Natty if we judged Stig on playoff wins between 2007 and 2015.

I'm not sure how much stock to put in his playoff record necessarily, because Zim and Gaskins have mentioned that Augie fan support has been disappointing.

One hurdle for me to consider him would be whether he indicates he is going to do what Jimmy is doing and bring the entire Augie staff here. If he were to do that, I would get considerably more apprehensive about him as a viable candidate. Not because I think they're bad coaches; rather, with the exception of Paopao, Bradshaw, and Brink, their experience has been at the DII level.

I'm assuming Bergstrom would be "out" for you too, or would you make an exception because he coached with Stig?

[LetsGoRabbits]

any thought or idea about Stig? he is FAR AND AWAY the best choice to keep as many as possible players and to keep the program in tact. i believe that even some players who are VERY strongly thinking about going with jimmy would think twice

I will leave that one at that for now.

after that there are a lot of choices that are at worst interesting and at best offer reason to believe they could keep us at the very top of the FCS mountain.

Lujan, Jackson, Josh Davis, Sluesner (or however you spell it), Eidsness- all are or have been FCS or beyond cooridinators with Stig bloodlines. i give Lujan the edge for top choice for only one reason- he has actual experience with current players and most likely makes them feel the most continued connection and therefore reason to stay

beyond that, all of them have strengths and weaknesses. my guess is Jackson is the best recruiter. Eidsness has the most experience and is the only one with HC experience. i believe he would have the support of many / all the legends of the program. he coached Ranek, Zenner, Minnet, Taryn, Sumner, Wienke, Goedert and many many more. his Jackrabbit / Stig credentials and bloodlines are top notch. also, he is at an age where he may have more desire to finally settle in one place and look to make the most of it as a final destination as opposed to looking around for something bigger and better

Riggs has unquestionable top notch football and coaching knowledge. would be an incredibly interesting hire. i would guess most or all of the top offensive players would look forward to playing for him. it is extremely hard for me to imagine he wants this level of a challenge in his life at this time. he was ready to be done coaching the Storm. a college program requires WAY WAY more time and effort
ONE BIG factor with Riggs- we would have no reason at all to think he would have any loyalty at all to the Stig way

there are other solid and interesting possibilities, but I see the above as the best options

Smith- seems like a big leap from position coach to HC
Bobbit- feels like he needs at least a little more experience

Stig as HC for a couple years could give one of these 2 the needed time to be ready to be the next HC.

i have written so many things and then deleted them. i have very little desire to carry around negative crud and dont wish to write it either. i have long feared the day would come when the NCAA would let Jacks athletics get ruined for me. I am hoping very hard that I am wrong but it feels like that day is dreadfully close. I fear we will never get an honest understanding of what has happened, but it is very very hard for me to believe that Stig and Sell are not incredibly surprised that we are looking for a new coach already. I believe the top reason that he was the anointed successor to Stig is that Stig believed that he would not be quickly out the door. what changed? for now best if I leave that at that, but if we will be just a revolving door of short term players and coaches, I will always care about SDSU and cherish a lot of great memories related to it, but I will have to find something better to do with my time

[bigticket1]

I was impressed by his postgame interview after that game. There's also the argument that we may never have won the Natty if we judged Stig on playoff wins between 2007 and 2015.

I'm not sure how much stock to put in his playoff record necessarily, because Zim and Gaskins have mentioned that Augie fan support has been disappointing.

One hurdle for me to consider him would be whether he indicates he is going to do what Jimmy is doing and bring the entire Augie staff here. If he were to do that, I would get considerably more apprehensive about him as a viable candidate. Not because I think they're bad coaches; rather, with the exception of Paopao, Bradshaw, and Brink, their experience has been at the DII level.

I'm assuming Bergstrom would be "out" for you too, or would you make an exception because he coached with Stig?

I don't dispute that he's a good coach whose players love playing for him. Bergstrom for me is towards the lower end of the Stig tree candidates. If we want to look at coaches at that level, the Mankato State coach would make more sense to me. He's made a number of playoff runs at a school where he doesn't have a lot of resources.

[Cowbell]

This whole thing sucks and the greatest fear is going back to mediocrity. The idea of "building a program" is out the window given the portal and NIL. The NCAA best get a handle on this or else many people will find something else to do on Saturdays in the Fall - and take their support and money with them.

[mnjackrbt]

My wish list in no order:
Dan Jackson - Young and relatable to players. If he can get a quality OC and DC to do the X and O work, he would be tremendous at recruiting/fundraising/relating to players.
Zach Lujan - Would be able to keep current players, knows culture, recruiting area. Northwestern is a tough place to succeed at.
Tyler Roehl - His NDSU offenses didn't blow me away, but he knows the culture of SDSU/can mirror that to NDSU. Knows the recruiting area. Probably wants to give a little FU to NDSU for bypassing him last year. Their players were notably p!ssed off when he was not hired as HC. When you have players wanting to stick up for you, it says something.

My next list:
Josh Davis
Isaiah Jackson
Jed Stugart
Todd Hoeffner
Steve Heiden

My "seen names mentioned but don't really want" list?
Riggs - Really? A semi pro coach, a commentator, and a former NAIA/D2 position coach?
Eidsness - Used his players talents well while here to change his offense to their skill set. His only HC experience did not go well, granted SMSU is not a place anybody could really succeed at.
Meadows - I don't know... could see it going good or bad.
Moore - Quality guy and coach, but I don't know about HC material.
Bergstrom - Hasn't lit up the the world at Winona.
Brown - Interesting, because he has spent the last few years more on the Football Admin side than the coaching side. And in today's world, that is extremely important...

[jakejc795]

any thought or idea about Stig? he is FAR AND AWAY the best choice to keep as many as possible players and to keep the program in tact. i believe that even some players who are VERY strongly thinking about going with jimmy would think twice

I will leave that one at that for now.

after that there are a lot of choices that are at worst interesting and at best offer reason to believe they could keep us at the very top of the FCS mountain.

Lujan, Jackson, Josh Davis, Sluesner (or however you spell it), Eidsness- all are or have been FCS or beyond cooridinators with Stig bloodlines. i give Lujan the edge for top choice for only one reason- he has actual experience with current players and most likely makes them feel the most continued connection and therefore reason to stay

beyond that, all of them have strengths and weaknesses. my guess is Jackson is the best recruiter. Eidsness has the most experience and is the only one with HC experience. i believe he would have the support of many / all the legends of the program. he coached Ranek, Zenner, Minnet, Taryn, Sumner, Wienke, Goedert and many many more. his Jackrabbit / Stig credentials and bloodlines are top notch. also, he is at an age where he may have more desire to finally settle in one place and look to make the most of it as a final destination as opposed to looking around for something bigger and better

Riggs has unquestionable top notch football and coaching knowledge. would be an incredibly interesting hire. i would guess most or all of the top offensive players would look forward to playing for him. it is extremely hard for me to imagine he wants this level of a challenge in his life at this time. he was ready to be done coaching the Storm. a college program requires WAY WAY more time and effort
ONE BIG factor with Riggs- we would have no reason at all to think he would have any loyalty at all to the Stig way

there are other solid and interesting possibilities, but I see the above as the best options

Smith- seems like a big leap from position coach to HC
Bobbit- feels like he needs at least a little more experience

Stig as HC for a couple years could give one of these 2 the needed time to be ready to be the next HC.

i have written so many things and then deleted them. i have very little desire to carry around negative crud and dont wish to write it either. i have long feared the day would come when the NCAA would let Jacks athletics get ruined for me. I am hoping very hard that I am wrong but it feels like that day is dreadfully close. I fear we will never get an honest understanding of what has happened, but it is very very hard for me to believe that Stig and Sell are not incredibly surprised that we are looking for a new coach already. I believe the top reason that he was the anointed successor to Stig is that Stig believed that he would not be quickly out the door. what changed? for now best if I leave that at that, but if we will be just a revolving door of short term players and coaches, I will always care about SDSU and cherish a lot of great memories related to it, but I will have to find something better to do with my time

The prevailing argument I have seen against Stig is "that just delays the inevitable, so we'll be going through this again when Stig's tenure ends."

I think this has merit if the non-Stig alternative has already indicated an interest; however, it ignores the fact that it would allow time for a succession plan to be put into place. This happens all of the time when someone retires. Ideally, Stig would be able to assemble a staff that could include one of the "ideal" successors because, as you mentioned, Stig is a "known commodity" among players currently on the roster.

[jakejc795]

My wish list in no order:
Dan Jackson - Young and relatable to players. If he can get a quality OC and DC to do the X and O work, he would be tremendous at recruiting/fundraising/relating to players.
Zach Lujan - Would be able to keep current players, knows culture, recruiting area. Northwestern is a tough place to succeed at.
Tyler Roehl - His NDSU offenses didn't blow me away, but he knows the culture of SDSU/can mirror that to NDSU. Knows the recruiting area. Probably wants to give a little FU to NDSU for bypassing him last year. Their players were notably p!ssed off when he was not hired as HC. When you have players wanting to stick up for you, it says something.

My next list:
Josh Davis
Isaiah Jackson
Jed Stugart
Todd Hoeffner
Steve Heiden

My "seen names mentioned but don't really want" list?
Riggs - Really? A semi pro coach, a commentator, and a former NAIA/D2 position coach?
Eidsness - Used his players talents well while here to change his offense to their skill set. His only HC experience did not go well, granted SMSU is not a place anybody could really succeed at.
Meadows - I don't know... could see it going good or bad.
Moore - Quality guy and coach, but I don't know about HC material.
Bergstrom - Hasn't lit up the the world at Winona.
Brown - Interesting, because he has spent the last few years more on the Football Admin side than the coaching side. And in today's world, that is extremely important...

Isaiah Jackson is interesting, and one I haven't seen mentioned. I wonder if he'd consider returning here. It'd keep the Chandler HS chain unbroken, which raises the question of whether Jimmy might try to bring him to WSU

[jakejc795]

This whole thing sucks and the greatest fear is going back to mediocrity. The idea of "building a program" is out the window given the portal and NIL. The NCAA best get a handle on this or else many people will find something else to do on Saturdays in the Fall - and take their support and money with them.

I suspect Congress may attempt to rein in some of this; whether that increases or decreases one's apprehensiveness may be for another forum.

[jbjack]

I was impressed by his postgame interview after that game. There's also the argument that we may never have won the Natty if we judged Stig on playoff wins between 2007 and 2015.

I'm not sure how much stock to put in his playoff record necessarily, because Zim and Gaskins have mentioned that Augie fan support has been disappointing.

One hurdle for me to consider him would be whether he indicates he is going to do what Jimmy is doing and bring the entire Augie staff here. If he were to do that, I would get considerably more apprehensive about him as a viable candidate. Not because I think they're bad coaches; rather, with the exception of Paopao, Bradshaw, and Brink, their experience has been at the DII level.

I'm assuming Bergstrom would be "out" for you too, or would you make an exception because he coached with Stig?

How certain are we that the whole staff is going? Does Jessie Bobbit or Danny Fruend pass up the HC job here if it's offered? Has Wazzu announced staff hiring yet? I get the sense that Jimmy was the economy hire after Vigen's demands were too high and Wazzu adjusts to life without the old PAC 12 TV deal. Wazzu might be content to bargain shop across the board as a result. If Wazzu were still a power conference program trading a chance on a young coach, the AD would likely require Jimmy to bring in some FBS experienced staff, at least a coordinator or two.

I don't want to hire a guy because we think he won't leave. We should be hiring the guy who we think gets us to the NC.

Would Bergstrom be considered if he wasn't an SDSU guy? His Winona teams haven't been terribly impressive outside of one year.

I think with any of the SDSU guys, the longer they've been away, and the longer they've languished in the ranks, the less impressive they are to be. I know that Dan Jackson is a hot name. But he's been gone awhile, been demoted, had some controversy and was passed over for the Idaho job when Eck left, which he reportedly really wanted. He's

Coach E at NIU? No thanks.

Riggs? I can't gcan'tst the fact he hasn't coached at anywhere near the level of FCS or 11 man football. Would he be a candidate if he were doing his thing in say, Omaha or Sioux City?

I think it needs to be a younger, hungry, aggressive coach. Ideally with SDSU ties but relevant championship level experience would do. For me, if it's not Bobbit or Fruend (either of whom I think makes the most immediate sense), then in no particular order, Lujan, Davis, Smith and Roehl.

[jbjack]

This whole thing sucks and the greatest fear is going back to mediocrity. The idea of "building a program" is out the window given the portal and NIL. The NCAA best get a handle on this or else many people will find something else to do on Saturdays in the Fall - and take their support and money with them.

There might be a short term setback but I believe that the biggest difference between the top 5 or 6 FCS programs is institutional investment and we have that here. It's an attractive job and even if we are looking for a new coach every three years it will more likely mean we've had success rather than failure or even mediocrity

[jakejc795]

How certain are we that the whole staff is going? Does Jessie Bobbit or Danny Fruend pass up the HC job here if it's offered? Has Wazzu announced staff hiring yet? I get the sense that Jimmy was the economy hire after Vigen's demands were too high and Wazzu adjusts to life without the old PAC 12 TV deal. Wazzu might be content to bargain shop across the board as a result. If Wazzu were still a power conference program trading a chance on a young coach, the AD would likely require Jimmy to bring in some FBS experienced staff, at least a coordinator or two.

I don't want to hire a guy because we think he won't leave. We should be hiring the guy who we think gets us to the NC.

Would Bergstrom be considered if he wasn't an SDSU guy? His Winona teams haven't been terribly impressive outside of one year.

I think with any of the SDSU guys, the longer they've been away, and the longer they've languished in the ranks, the less impressive they are to be. I know that Dan Jackson is a hot name. But he's been gone awhile, been demoted, had some controversy and was passed over for the Idaho job when Eck left, which he reportedly really wanted. He's

Coach E at NIU? No thanks.

Riggs? I can't gcan'tst the fact he hasn't coached at anywhere near the level of FCS or 11 man football. Would he be a candidate if he were doing his thing in say, Omaha or Sioux City?

I think it needs to be a younger, hungry, aggressive coach. Ideally with SDSU ties but relevant championship level experience would do. For me, if it's not Bobbit or Fruend (either of whom I think makes the most immediate sense), then in no particular order, Lujan, Davis, Smith and Roehl.

You're right about WSU not formally announcing the rest of Jimmy's staff there; I've only read that in reports from local media (Zim, Borg, Castora, et al.)

I think both Bobbit or Freund would be willing to have Stig mentor them for one year as a head coach. It's asking alot of them to start their first gig with the current state of affairs, and Stig helps stabilize things.

I am with you re. Bergstrom, but I am intrigued by Riggs.