Revisiting the Charlie Strong Hire

[Mission9]

6 minutes ago, Triple B said:

Agree on the consensus part but I thought Skip’s resume made him the perfect one to come in. 

I thought, and still do, that Skip thrives when he has the total support of the fans.  ECU fans are annoying but they are all in for their team.  USF has a lot of cynical fans which have to see the results first and still even some good results are not enough.  I think it was culture shock for him.  

[Bull94]

11 hours ago, CousinRicky said:

34-23 at UConn

38-27 at ECU

16-21 here

64-50 at LaTech

Had, I believe, 8 consecutive bowl wins.

17-3 regular season USFL

4-0 post season and 2 titles USFL.

You get a resume of a coach that is 152-121 in college and you wouldn't overlook it if it didn't have a name on it.

Makes you think it's USF not the coach.

I agree, Skip is not even close to the worst coach in our history. Strong and Scott can battle it out there.

That being said, USFs all time football winning percentage is .521.

Holtz is .557 in college. That's about 1/2 of a game better every year.

Not exactly world beater numbers.

Holtz was the "safe" hire. Good guy. He was the anti-Leavitt in personality.

Nothing real impressive about his resume though with the exception of the usfl which is a completely different beast.

Recruiting is what hurt him here. The administration may have had an effect on that though.

[Bull94]

41 minutes ago, Mission9 said:

I thought, and still do, that Skip thrives when he has the total support of the fans.  ECU fans are annoying but they are all in for their team.  USF has a lot of cynical fans which have to see the results first and still even some good results are not enough.  I think it was culture shock for him.  

Nah it was more the administrations I think.

ECU had Chris Johnson when Skip was there. Not sure that guy was eligible anywhere else in the country.

I think USF tightened up recruiting for Skip.

[BullyPulpit]

55 minutes ago, Bull94 said:

I agree, Skip is not even close to the worst coach in our history. Strong and Scott can battle it out there.

That being said, USFs all time football winning percentage is .521.

Holtz is .557 in college. That's about 1/2 of a game better every year.

Not exactly world beater numbers.

Holtz was the "safe" hire. Good guy. He was the anti-Leavitt in personality.

Nothing real impressive about his resume though with the exception of the usfl which is a completely different beast.

Recruiting is what hurt him here. The administration may have had an effect on that though.

A dramatic culture and attitude change from Leavitt to Holtz. He was destined to fail here under the circumstances. Super nice guy. Good Xs and Os guy, not the best recruiter though. Just a square peg in a round hole at USF.

[gibbsak]

As I type this, Brad's set up a quote to appear on the right:
 

Quote

"He is a young and extremely gifted offensive mind, a developer of high-level talent and an elite national recruiter who brings the experience of having played an integral role from the beginning in helping to build one of the most successful programs in college football."

- Michael Kelly on Jeff Scott  

How wrong we were.  CJS was an unknown that didnt work out on the field.

I think CCS is a worse hire overall because:

1. The circumstances were sketch in his hiring. (failed as Texas.) 
2. He took something good and broke it.
3. Sterlin Gilbert.
4. Just completely tone deaf on anything about Tampa.

[GoBulls84]

1 hour ago, Bull94 said:

Nah it was more the administrations I think.

ECU had Chris Johnson when Skip was there. Not sure that guy was eligible anywhere else in the country.

I think USF tightened up recruiting for Skip.

They did tighten up academics for Skip. They also told Skip to stop talking about bringing facilities on campus. They also otherwise were completely hands off with football (because Woolard thought it would sell itself). And then at some point Skip got apathetic and lazy. Skipping the biggest recruiting event of the summer for a ProAm golf tournament on the other side of the country speaks to that.

Skip's failures here were a team effort between administration and Skip himself

[Brad]

2 hours ago, Mission9 said:

I thought, and still do, that Skip thrives when he has the total support of the fans.  ECU fans are annoying but they are all in for their team.  USF has a lot of cynical fans which have to see the results first and still even some good results are not enough.  I think it was culture shock for him.  

How do we "breed out" that Gator and Seminole influence?

[Mission9]

4 minutes ago, Brad said:

How do we "breed out" that Gator and Seminole influence?

Not sure.  I guess it is part of living in a big city as opposed to a small town.  

[MaltLiquorBull]

16 minutes ago, Brad said:

How do we "breed out" that Gator and Seminole influence?

Win games and conference championships.  Also, I think the students who spend 4 years on campus going to games in their own stadium will be more inclined to follow as alumni.

[WoolyBully]

4 minutes ago, MaltLiquorBull said:

Win games and conference championships.  Also, I think the students who spend 4 years on campus going to games in their own stadium will be more inclined to follow as alumni.

Indeed. Winning and being a part of that winning tradition pays dividends. We used to rail against the huge alumni population in the area compared to the fan base. Well, for a great deal of those alumni, there is a disconnect. Can't go back in time and change that, but going forward, that's how you secure the next generation of invested fans.