Stull was a young hungry coach trying to make a name for himself when he came from UMASS. This UTEP job needs that. Keeler will be 59 next season and is towards the end of his career. And like Minerforlife stated, he always went to programs that were already doing very well. Price and Floyd were old and near the end of their careers when they were here and look what happened. We need a young driven coach who thinks he is going go be coaching at a major P5 program in 5 years.
Keeler of SHSU is a candidate
- Thread starter MinerInWisconsin
- Start date
Nothing against Keeler, he might work out just fine, but at first glance I tend to agree with those who say that we need a young relentless recruiter, who is extremely ambituous and wants to make a name for himself as a first time head coach. The type of guy that will spend Christmas Morning watching film of potential recruits. There is not much about this UTEP job that will be easy, so we need that extremely high energy guy who has the ambitions and drive to one day become the Head Coach at Alabama. Just like how Billy Gillespie was that high energy first time head coach at UTEP, who dreamed of becoming the head coach at Kentucky one day. Things eventually fell apart later in life for BG, but he certainly proved to be the right hire for UTEP at that time and he turned our program around in a major way.
I’m watching a little of Sam Houston State’s game today and I am seeing possibly another concern towards how Keeler would translate to UTEP. Keeler has a ton of D1 transfers playing for him. It looks like he has 17 total players who have dropped down from D1 schools down to FCS. It looks like a lot of these players have transferred down from some big schools(Texas, Missouri, West Virginia, etc.) Players that drop down from 1A down to FCS are usually doing so for different reasons than players who transfer from 1A to 1A. Could Keeler still get these type of transfers if he moved to a D1 school, where a transfer does not become immediately eligible, like they do when dropping down to FCS? It looks like with 17 players, that is a big part of his success.
JMU has 14 xfers like that. It may be a common denominator for successful fcs teams.
Sam Houston and JMU both won today advancing to the quarterfinals, although they each did it in different styles. Sam Houston won 54-42 in a shoot-out and JMU won in more of a defensive effort, winning by a score of 26-7.
True that he has transfers, but the entire receiving corps which could compete with most FBS teams, is entirely recruited...not transfer.
Also, his freshman class consists of the top FCS QB and DB recruit....
ULL just fired their coach who was paid over $1 million per yr. They have the money to get Keeler or Houston if they want them.
Well then why would he even remotely interested in UTEP?
Somebody posted earlier that Keeler had an inordinate number of JCs and D1 transfers in his program. Like Willie Fritz, his predecessor, Keeler has successfully continued Sam's powerhouse FCS status, players want to play for his program (pssst - and that's a good thing). There may even be an outside chance UTEP may try to recruit a JC or two in the next couple of years, maybe those contacts would be helpful.
Beyond that, perhaps you already know, FCS programs are limited to 65 man rosters (they can give partials), which means they are extremely limited in running a red shirt program - most of their players see early PT because of the sheer numbers. Sam does red shirts players, but sparingly. Bottom line, UTEP would be fortunate to land Keeler, IMO.
P.S. No inside info, but I would be stunned if Keeler was not a strong candidate at Louisiana Lafayette. You can believe ULL sees what Fritz has done at Tulane, they'd like to capture their own lightning in a bottle with a former SHSU HC.
Just for clarification, the question was not about JC transfers, the question was only about the 17 D1 transfers on Sam Houston’s roster who have dropped down to FCS. Sam Houston has been able to get a number of Houston area kids that initially went away to D1 schools, then transferred back to Sam Houston without having to sit out a year. Can Keeler get these same kids to transfer out to UTEP and also sit out a year instead? This group of players makes up more than a quarter of his current roster and a high percentage of his starters. This isn’t a criticism, just a question, if what has been such a large part of the successful formula at SHSU can also translate to UTEP? And if Keeler can’t rely on that quarter of the roster coming, then how will making up that 25% of the team by different means look?
Keeler will be 59 years old next season. His window of opportunity to coach in FBS is quickly closing.
Keeler isn't even a candidate at La. Lafayette. Football Scoop is reporting the candidates are: Penn State's DC. LSU's OC, Lance Guidry (McNeese State), Tim Rebowe (Nicholls) and Broderick Fobbs (Grambling).
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Yeah I couldn't go from a National Champion to ruining a program in less than a decade. And then f@cking over the University I worked for by not retiring when I said I would so they couldn't hire Saban. You're right.
Hey I hear that Bevo has a woody, why don't you go bob on it you fool!
Oh yeah. Go MINERS! F@ck the Horns!
From Sam Houston side, someone related to coordinator on their staff
Good to know. Thanks for passing it along.
One issue UTEP faces if waiting on an FCS head coach that is in the playoffs is that the wait could be until Jan 7th since that is the champ game date. JMU and SHSU could meet each other in that one.
The new FB early signing period is Dec 20-22 and the mid-year JC transfer signing period is Dec 20 - Jan 15. There are pros and cons to waiting until early Jan to hire your coach. You want to be sure you get your number 1 guy but he also has to have time to recruit. The regular signing period is Feb 7 - Apr 1.
Some experts say that there will be a number of late bloomers that will not be picked in the early period but it does put a lot of stress on a new coaching staff to start recruiting after most other schools are done.
Maybe JMU and/or SHSU will lose this weekend and we can get our coach on board sooner rather than later. Both had a 1st round bye and both won their 2nd round games.
I had Keeler high on my list, but I agree I wish we could move quicker. I like K. Briles and Yurcich as well, going young and to an exciting offense. I'm not sure what SHS runs to be honest and I know Keeler is almost 60. Maybe they feel being a HC already and in Texas is just the way to go to rebuild this program at least for the next 5-10 years and he might stay if things are going well. He looks very much in shape like his best coaching days are still ahead of him, I'll say that much though.
They run a wide open spread offense and score a lot. Give up a lot on D though. SHSU is 11-1 and JMU 12-0.
Just an update on Rice's coaching search;
Brett McMurphyVerified account@Brett_McMurphy 19m19 minutes ago
Sources: Stanford OC Mike Bloomgren will be named coach at Rice. 1st reported by @PeteThamel
Brett McMurphyVerified account@Brett_McMurphy 19m19 minutes ago
Sources: Stanford OC Mike Bloomgren will be named coach at Rice. 1st reported by @PeteThamel
Seems to me that if UTEP were going to hire an OC like Morris of TT or Yurcich at Ok St, it would happen very soon. Must be waiting on an FCS head coach and for their season to be completed.
I thought that was a pretty sporty hire, also. If he can translate the Stanford formula of recruiting smart players to fit a specific system, he can do well. There are enough players in Texas for everyone, I guess.
Yep plus he also stated last week that he isn’t going to rush it. He has only been AD for 8 days.
True but Senter also said that the search for a coach started when he was offered the job at UTEP and that he will be working on it while doing both the Citadel and UTEP jobs.
This is a quote from ABC sports:
"Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler remains a primary candidate for UTEP's coaching vacancy. Keeler is 41-11 with FCS playoff appearances in each of his four years at Sam Houston State. South Florida offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert also has been on UTEP's radar ...."
"Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler remains a primary candidate for UTEP's coaching vacancy. Keeler is 41-11 with FCS playoff appearances in each of his four years at Sam Houston State. South Florida offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert also has been on UTEP's radar ...."
That is what I want to hear. Can we now put "hire the Briles family" to bed?
Gilbert would be an awesome hire. His USF offense did not score below 24 points in any game this season. His Offense at UT, did pretty well too.
