Leatherneck Nation

beauspencer wrote:Jared Elliot was at WIU for one season as QB coach during Hendrickson's last season.

As noted above: http://athletics.carthage.edu/coaches.a ... h=football

wiu51 wrote:Western Illinois (FCS): Per source, Richmond director of player personnel Dave Rocco will go with Charlie Fisher to WIU coaching an offensive skill position, likely receivers or running backs. We also hear that Carthage College (D-III – WI) co-offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Jared Elliott will join Fisher’s staff coaching the quarterbacks.

This was on football scoop

This is in line with LN57 said Elliott is the former WIU assistant and Rocco is one he is bringing from Richmond - Also thanks for the donation LN57

Elliot makes sense i believe he played under Fisher @ miami (oh)

ibleedpurpleandgold wrote:Elliot makes sense i believe he played under Fisher @ miami (oh)

Elliot was Fisher's GA at Miami of Ohio and Western was his first job under Henrdricksen. I heard he was well liked by players and the community...

LN57 - Keep posting! I don't agree with a lot of what you've offered, but the discussion and debate is healthy and entertaining! I think we all certainly appreciate the donation too.

Sounds like we've got a director of player personnel and a DIII assistant coach lined up so far. I'm still camped out in the "how many steps are we really taking backwards" outpost. I love your enthusiasm LN57, just wish it would have been here when this program was being rebuilt under Nielson. Here's hoping everything you're excited about comes true.

I am assuming today's presser will not be broadcast to the masses. Someone take good notes and please report them. Those local media guys are a little too "homerish" at times. Correction - make that a lot too all of the time.

I updated Coach Fisher's twitter handle on the social media page.
It's @CoachFish_RipIt - https://twitter.com/CoachFish_RipIt

Coach Rocco and Coach Elliott aren't technically "official" yet, but they practically are....Fisher mentioned them in a tweet.

Coach Rocco is @Dcrocco2 - https://twitter.com/Dcrocco2
Coach Elliott is @_JaredElliott - https://twitter.com/_JaredElliott

I wonder if Rocco or elliot will come with him today my biggest concerns are that fisher and elliot both seem to be players coaches so can they balance that and hold players accountable when needed.

LocalYokelFan wrote:LN57 - Keep posting! I don't agree with a lot of what you've offered, but the discussion and debate is healthy and entertaining! I think we all certainly appreciate the donation too.

Sounds like we've got a director of player personnel and a DIII assistant coach lined up so far. I'm still camped out in the "how many steps are we really taking backwards" outpost. I love your enthusiasm LN57, just wish it would have been here when this program was being rebuilt under Nielson. Here's hoping everything you're excited about comes true.

Actually LocalYokalFan I was enthusiastic when Nielson was here and spent many hours rallying the football alumni around his program the last 3 years because I believed in what he was doing and felt they needed to be a part of it. The two former coaches (especially Hendricksen) destroyed any feelings that the football alumni had. He did nothing to make former players feel welcome or bring them back to campus. The new excitement around Nielson's program took some time but started to build momentum last spring at alumni weekend. We had about 50 former players back (more than we ever had) for that weekend and our list of data continues to grow weekly. I'm seeing guys I played with that I haven't seen in 35 plus years. It's a great feeling when a guy I played with tells me in a text "Thanks for getting me back" it did my heart good! We're working on it but like anything it takes time.

Not sure if you know anything about the Director of Player Personnel position but at most schools this is also a coaching position. Yes, they evaluate talent most of the day of potential recruits but then they become assistant coaches at practice just like any other coach. They have to because of budget constraints. My Son is an Assistant Director of Player Personnel at LSU and he has assisted with coaching running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and this year defensive backs. So don't think for a minute they can't coach. He will be a full time coach one day and will be capable of coaching many positions because of the knowledge he's gained evaluating personnel and assisting with so many positions. Plus his step dad is Ed Orgeron one of the top defensive line coaches/recruiters in the country...he's been around football all his life.

Dave Rocco is in the same boat...his dad has been a coach all of his life and I'm pretty sure he has a good understanding of the game. This guy worked for Coach Fisher on the offensive side of the ball at Richmond and as long as he believes in him that's all that should matter. You have to start somewhere as a coach and he wouldn't have hired him if he didn't have the confidence in him to do the job. Coach Rocco will earn respect from the players and they will play hard for him plus he has experience evaluating talent which will be huge in the long run.

As far as Jared Elliott goes I'm not sure if he will coach QB's or wide receivers but he has experience coaching both positions. I'm assuming Coach Fisher will coach QB's...it only makes sense wouldn't you agree? Coach Elliott helped win 3 Mac titles as a player and played both QB and wide receiver so I'm pretty sure he knows those positions and how to coach them. Like I said...everyone I've talked to has said nothing but great things about Jared and his relationship with his players and the community when he was here before.

When it's all said and done we need to take a look at the entire picture before we start evaluating the coaching staff that is being assembled by our NEW HC before he has it in place. I'm pretty sure it will be a good one...he's been in the business way too long to be judged this early especially by people that have never played or coached the game.

Great Story; I was watching Arkansas play Kansas State the other night in the Liberty Bowl and they kept talking about the O-Line Graduate Assistant for Arkansas. The announcers couldn't say enough good things about this kid and when they interviewed Brett Bielema the HC said the kids have so much respect for him and what he teaches them and said he is going to make a great contribution to any program that he works for. Brett then said he was trying to find a position for him because the players love him and work hard for him. So the bottom line here is...Age doesn't matter! If the kids respect him as a person and as a coach they will play hard for him no matter how old he is!

Lets all get behind Coach Fisher and give him one simple thing that he needs to be successful...OUR SUPPORT!!! Hopefully everyone knows how to do that!

Former Neck

Great post LN57 and I agree with all of your points. Thanks!

Bob