One candidate that has stuck around as a potential head coach is Marshall’s Doc Holliday. While no name can be considered confirmed, the amount of smoke leads me to believe there’s a fire there. I do think the smoke is coming from Holliday’s camp and some of that desire is to stick it to WVU for not hiring him over Bill Stewart after Rich Rodriguez left.
Hates WVU? Check! (Not really, he’s a WVU grad, just roll with it)
Holliday has an impressive resume. Before Holliday arrived at Marshall, the Thundering Herd had only one winning season over the past seven. In year three of his tenure, Holliday led the team to their first conference championship game since 2002. The following year, 2014, they returned and won C-USA. Before Marshall, Holliday was an associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, and position coach for WVU and Florida. Even more impressive is that those positions were TE/FB and Secondary; he coached positions on both sides of the ball. He has also been a WR coach in the past.
Experienced head coach with a conference championship and top 25 ranking? Check!
The most prudent experience other than Marshall is his time in Florida under Urban Meyer. During that time frame, Holliday coached the secondary, which included future first rounder Reggie Nelson. More importantly, Holliday was the recruiting coordinator. Rivals ranked him as one of the 25 best recruiters in all of college football in 2005. You don’t need to look further than the list of players in the NFL from Florida to see how impressive those classes were.
Great recruiter with Florida ties? Check!
Now to my immediate concern: Marshall’s offense. Marshall primarily runs a spread offense. I watched two games of offense, vs. FAU and FIU. Here are my notes:
-Shotgun with 3 WR and 4 WR sets primarily. FB is not seen in base offense nor is a 2 TE set
-Option draw from Cato (QB) is used, but he rarely keeps. Uses legs to buy time to pass, not run
-Not afraid to pound the ball up the gut with Devon Johnson
-TE is used in passing game, more than Pitt in 2014, not just as short dump off either
-Play-calling varies. Sometimes run heavy, sometimes pass heavy. Has a lot of faith in QB Cato with good cause. I wonder if he’d give Voytik as many opportunities
-The FB is never seen. Power plays are used with pulling guards and tackles, but will run power out of 3 and 4 WR sets. Spread ‘em out, hit ‘em up the gut. Conner could do great things with only 6 in the box. If safety comes up the secondary is in trouble deep
-OL is much leaner than Pitt by 20-30 pounds a guy. Not sure if this is by design (spread offense) or necessity due to inability to attract big time lineman to C-USA school. Looking at the roster, height is certainly there with 11 guys who are listed as 6’5” and taller, but eight guys are 283 and under. Pitt’s OL could drop some weight, but there’s no denying they’re big by any standard.
Overall, Holliday could use this offense at Pitt without major personnel changes, unlike Todd Graham. I was concerned at first, but after watching two games it’d be fine. He obviously knows how to use a big back; leading rusher Devon Johnson is listed at 6’1” 243. Johnson had 1636 yards this season. Over his four years, the run:pass ratio looks roughly 50:50, but I think this year would’ve been more pass heavy had Marshall not had large second half leads often. Chad Voytik could thrive in this offense; his skill set is very close to current Marshall QB Rakeem Cato. The concern however is Adam Bertke would be a fish out of water meaning Pitt would be once again lacking QB depth. In addition to Bertke, Jaymar Parrish would become a sparsely used player. Holtz and Orndoff, however, would be fine.
I’m supportive of a Holliday hire with the caveat that he is not a “splash” hire. Numerous sources are reporting that Pitt is looking to make a big name hire and Holliday is not that. He’d be a safe hire with good upside. He has head coach experience, assistant experience for a national champion, and has coached on both sides of the ball as a position coach. I just can’t scratch the feeling that there’s a reason he’s 57 and only been a head coach at a C-USA school.
We’ll see more names come out soon. Dan Mullen has popped up but who knows if it’s just fan conjecture or an actual possibility. Pat Narduzzi, Michigan State’s defensive coordinator, is also rumored to be a candidate but he does not fit the mold of a current or former head coach. Like Holliday, he makes sense on a lot of levels, but isn’t the type of candidate who will “wow” everyone.
Is this true? I don’t know.
When you’re at Marshall… you get whatever kids you can…And even at Florida and WVU, you recruit within the rules that you’re given.. He didn’t set any guidelines, he just brought in the best players that fit them.
I have no doubt he’d do the same at Pitt
… And I implied this the other day too… It’s not like every football player walkin a campus in south Florida is an illiterate gangster… I think Romeus and Clint Session were both pretty decent guys, both received their diploma.
If Holiday was hired I would expect one exception to the typical buyout clause if he decided to leave, that being WVU would have to pay $10M regardless of time left on his contract to leave for Morganhole.
Right now, he is supposedly on the outs with WVU but that could quickly change if Holgy leaves or gets axed
Graham and Norvell run a very specific flavor of offense that has no flexibility in terms of personnel. At the time Pitt was just a really bad fit for what they do, and we had a serious lack of talent and depth to begin with. I also think Graham was impatient, and like Wannstedt, had no desire or ability to tailor his schemes to the players skillsets. They both just kept banging away with the same things even when it was obvious they were never going to work, or kept good players on the bench. Wanny was much better at wasting talent than figuring out how to use it.
There are any number of excellent coaches who run spread-type offenses that would fit fine with the players and personality at Pitt. In today’s CFB, I think you have to start looking at schemes with mobile QBs and spreading out the field in some manner to be competitive anyway. With the speed and size on defenses now, old school power football is on the way out, except at maybe a few SEC schools who can load up with studs. It’s also much easier to develop a defense that can stop the spread when you run it yourself.
Some good points I can’t disagree with you on. This coaching hire will not get a 3 year building plan, the next coach must win in 2015. We have a big , strong, and aggressive offensive line with a power back (not speed back), and one hell of a wide receiver to pass the ball to. Pitt loses the back and receiver in 2016 winning is a must in 2015.
Backup plan at best. Although strange he is getting interviewed if those sources are accurate.
Could be misdirection. You talk about guys over here, while your negotiating with others over there.
Then when you make the choice, it’s somewhat of surprise and a bigger splash.
Awaken the sleeping giant which is Pitt
FB! Pay the going rate to get a Mullen
or someone like him. PC has done Pitt
a huge favor. Seize the opportunity and
fix the problem. Cincy got Tuberville. Pitt
can do better.
Coaching is mostly talent evaluation and then putting that talent into places and situations where it will do well…unlike as you aptly pointed out, Wanny…at least on offense. If you have nothing but short, quick guys on your hoop team, you don’t play half court, post up b-ball — sheesh?!
Going up against Urban, and Franklin, and Holgy… The next guy has to be a recruiter… I’m not saying a used car salesman.. But he needs some charisma, or something that is gonna stick out..
Can’t afford to keep bleeding kids out to PSU and WVU..