Grandpa Duck

The timing, "so close to early signing day", was not Oregon's choice. Once Cristobal left the alternatives were to hire or leave the position vacant. Mullens made the obvious choice. There is no optimal time to bring in a new player. Spring practice is in April. For conditioning it's nice if a player graduates from high school early and comes in for winter term, but the same player can enter spring term and make spring practice.

The ones that get away are not the only fish in the stream. When I had employees reporting to me, if they indicated they might be leaving I never tried to talk them into staying. "Let me know right a way so I can open the position to potential new blood."

What would you expect a rejected candidate to say other than "I turned it down."?

Lanning is salivating to beat Michigan so he can get another crack at Sabin's offense (assuming Bama beats Cinncinatti). People who think a defensive coordinator cannot have a significant impact on his team's offense don't understand what defensive coordinators do all day. A clue. They look at the next opponent's offense on film to find there strengths and flaws. My guess is that DC's know precisely what OC's or even offensive assistants they would want on their staff should they become a head coach. They even know what offensive line coaches are doing their job.

I think he will do well. A grade. I also think Mullins did a very good job getting the hire reasonably quickly and in an honorable manner. our Head coach tenure for the last four averages 3.25 years. I expect Dan Lanning to make it 5 years. Hope I am able to see that.

As a former US Army Artillary guidance unit maintenance technician on Nike Hercules anti-aircraft missiles, 1958-60, Go Army!

Read this article by Chip Towers, DawgNation Staff : In case the link doesn't work, Lanning started at Pitt, not as a coach, but in the athlitic office as quality control person. Then to ASU, not as a coach, but as recruiting coordinator. This guy has the basics of how to be a head coach before he ever coached college football. He took those office jobs to get his foot in the door. Lanning has a wife from before he started at Pitt in 2011 and three kids I figure to be about age 6 to 9. Those are the ages where kids make school and friend attachments that cause their parents to hesitate to move. The best reference Lanning can give is that his head coaches moved and took him with them to ASU and to Georgia. And, if the link didn't work, and you know more than me about how to link, please find it and link it to this thread. Wikipedia, Dan Lanning, ft. note 2. Thanks.

In this life you don’t stand still. You’re either going forward or backward. Right now this program is doing the latter at warp speed. Bringing in the past is not likely to reverse that direction and probably would accelerate it.

As an elder worn down by 82+ revolutions of earth around the sun, I feel there are huge advantages to going with a younger coach. Energy, younger staff that relates better to recruits and players and being on top of the latest developments in the game are some. PK has to have similar thoughts.

Not sure about this. Can a player receive NIL money and not count toward the 85 scholarship limit? If yes, he conceivably could pay his own tuition, have a nice car, apartment and eat out at fancy restaurants. At some point there will have to be a salary cap.

Hope for the best. Christmas is not far away and we have our very own Santa Claus just up north.

Hopefully the Bruin fans will prove to be inept prognosticators!

One thing Chip did at Oregon, better than any coach I know of, was get his players in physical condition to withstand the rigors of a 12 game season plus post season. One of the things that detracted from our season ending play this year, in my opinion, was that our players were exhausted. Yes, they revived for the first part of the Beaver game. But the injuries and being tired took a toll in the Utah games. Chip was able to get the Eagles to buy into his conditioning regimen for one year, and it worked well. But the pro players were not willing to work as hard as he demanded. As I have said before, if the Ducks hire him they need to dedicate a compliance person to football recruiting. And, they need recruiters with the abilities of Helfrich and Aliotti, guys who were willing to put in the long hours it takes to find not only the diamonds in the rough, like Marcus, but also convince the big linemen that this is a place to start an NFL career, which it is. All Chip has to do is be the closer, and a script can be written for that part and played out on Zoom while and assistant is with the recruit in his living room, Chip on the smart TV. I can hear him telling the parents, "Your son will be in the best physical condition ever, and he will enjoy the work that takes because it will make him a better player. That leads to winning the day, every day. And wining the day leads to winning football games." Oregon has lots of advantages that UCLA does not. Yes, Autzen is a better place to play than the Rose Bowl stadium. All of the facilities are first class, and constantly being improved. Nike and Phil and Penny Knight. And, we have a history of putting players in the NFL. While I am not in favor of hiring Chip because of what he did here before when he broke the NCAA rules, I can see which way the wind is blowing. I expect to hear about the rerun tomorrow. Hope it works. At least the offense will not be boring or predictable.

I think your "docs" is meant to be Ducks.

Chip's full house comes with a joker in a game where jokers don't count. That joker is his failure to adhere to NCAA recruiting rules when he was at Oregon before. To me, that gives Chip a losing hand and could cost Oregon a lot of chips.

There is a huge problem when a coach mixes his religious beliefes with training players. Where is the boundary between teaching and proselytizing? What happens to the players who do not want anything to do with religion when another player they are competing with for playing time converts to the coach's church and then is getting to play while the nonbeliever sits on the bench. Even it the convert is the better player, the nonbelievers are going to feel discriminated against. Len Casanova was a devout Catholic. He went to Mass and communion every day. Yet he never led a prayer or brought his beliefs into the football program.

nw77b, I have lots of laughs reading posts. Your line of soap opera titles is classic, and a good belly laugh. I also laugh frequently when I am writing posts. This site is lots of fun.

Notalot says: "AD Mullens should always have a short-list of best HC candidates watching their performance, contract status, and family news shuffling the list to always have 4-5 viable and desirable prospects (who would likely take the position if offered) for head, and have been grooming his relationship with each." Really! And just how does and AD compile this list? Take the obvious prospects, Wilcox, Chip Kelly, Aranda, Kiffen, Fickell, for example. Is Mullens supposed to be calling these guys up to see whether on the off chance that Mario Cristobal leaves at the end of the year: "Would you be interested in becoming our head coach?" Sort of like a married man checking around with all the married women he takes a shine to and seeing whether they will be available to jump to his nest should his wife expire. And does anyone who has every worked on an employment contract want their boss to know that they are considering leaving for the next greener pasture? Is it conceivably possible that Mullens' hypothetical list of potential candidates willing to become a Duck will remain confidential in this world of instant information? My thoughts on the number of people who would allow themselves to be on Mullens' list. Not many.

Here is some speculation that may help you. We don't know what Morehead said to Mullens. Just suppose he said: "I understand that MC is considering leaving. If he does, and I am terminated, I expect to receive my compensation." And Mullens replied: "If MC leaves you most likely will not have a job at Oregon. You are not a candidate for head coach and it is highly likely that whomever we hire will want to bring his own OC." And Morehead said: "Well, I want my bonuses, so please keep me on through the bowl game." Then he said to Akron, "I expect to be terminated at Oregon. When I am terminated I will be right here to start work. If I am not terminated, I will quit the Oregon job in time to be here for spring practice." If you were Morehead does that sound like a reasonable employment strategy? He's not at Akron until he signs. If you were Mullens, would you keep Morehead on through the bowl game?

Each of the nine assistant coaches has a clause in their contract that provides that when the head coach leaves they can be terminated. If terminated they receive a percentage of their compensation, either 60% or 70%, for the rest of their contract term or for 12 months, whichever period is shorter. Right now, the shorter period for all nine assistants is 12 months. In every case if the assistant finds a job that percentage that Oregon owes is mitigated. That means whatever the new job pays offsets what Oregon owes. So they may receive nothing from Oregon if they keep working.

According to an article by James Crepes in the Oregonian earlier this week: "Each of Oregon's Assistants, including Morehead, have earned a $10,000 bonus for winning the Pac-12 North division. They also are in line fo a $15,000 bonus for competing in a bowl game with at least seven wins, but must coach in the game to earn that bonus." Not a huge amount considering what they make, but it would defray some moving expense. The article also speaks to McDuck's comment above about Morehead's salary going forward. Oregon would pay that for 12 months, subject to offset of any earnings Morehead makes, termed "mitigation". The forfeited bonus savings to Oregon by MC leaving early is $700,000. There are other potential savings should coaching staff leave early for other jobs.

Troy Taylor at Sacramento may be that kind of guy.

Belly laugh for that”right on point” comment, Fred!

I am s newbie also, duck023. This is a fun place to learn about, and to opine about all things OBD.

Winning the Alamo Bowl is not the be all and end all of Oregon football. I like the concept that these back-up QB's deserve to enjoy the game.