Fire Coach Elliott

Western_101 · Wed Oct 13, 2021 1:24 am

meganeck wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 5:44 pm I'll put this here and not in the Indiana St thread. I am torn about Coach Elliot. Does he probably need to go yes, but I just don't know if they can get a decent coach or staff with the money situation it is. Plus the turnover of a new coach and staff is not favorable either. I know this wouldn't happen but I think I would reach out to Don Patterson, I believe he is still on good terms with WIU and ask him for some suggestions for HC candidates. He is still connected to college football and he knows what it takes to win at WIU. Anyway it won't happen but just a thought.

Jezz, you sound like a battered wife with zero self esteem. Well, he trys to be a good man, and he means well, how could I do better?

Well it's hard to do any God Damn worse when the man is averaging two wins a year over four years.

News flash! It ain't working, it's time to try something new! Seriously what are you worried about, the program has no dignity left we are at rock bottom. I don't see a scenario where it gets worse than it is currently. We are at all time Leatherneck record book level of bad. This program is a disgrace.

I'm tired of "nice guys" give me a up and coming hungry asshole any day of the week at this point.

vatusay · Wed Oct 13, 2021 5:33 am

If I’m AD I’m on the phone with Derek Leonard out of Rochester yesterday. He wants to stay close to central Illinois.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports. ... 62230/Amp/

leatherneckcountry · Wed Oct 13, 2021 10:44 am

Why is everyone suggesting coaches with zero college coaching back round this is D1 football.

vatusay · Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:12 am

I think the program needs to take a risk that actually has upside. Not a boring assistant. Not sure what the candidates would be like if the job was posted. Especially for the salary this university already can’t afford. I’d take a leader, a coach that knows how to win, in a dominating fashion at that, over a guy that was an assistant coach at ball state for two years.

WIU2DC · Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:07 pm

Does anyone know when Elliots contract is up? Because let’s be real, we can’t afford to fire him and then sign someone new.

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4EverPurple&Gold · Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:13 pm

I think we can all agree Coach Elliott is a nice guy and good representation of what you want for your son as a coach.

However, that only gets so far and this isn't high school football.

We tried promoting from within and here we are. I prefer to get a successful D2 or lower level head coach. You need someone with experience of limited resources and knows how to win. Schools in the MVFC have a lot more to work with than WIU, but it is what it is.

We are allowing almost 40 points per game - 39.67 to be exact. 32.83 in 2020, 36.92 in 2019, and 26.0 in 2018. And now losing to Indiana State and SIU is a norm.

Coach Elliott is 8-27 overall.

I was talking to a friend and seems like forever ago now when we went into games with Sean, McShane, Saunders, Lance, Acklien, etc. we knew we were going to win.

I will leave you with this - WIU beat Coastal Carolina 52-10 in 2017 (It was Coastal's firs season at FBS) and now they are nationally ranked and we are well... here in this thread.

Wait to after the season to fire him, and start to gather leads of possible candidates now.

letsgonecks · Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:39 pm

Not sure on Elliott's contract, but doubt he signed a 5 year contract to start and there's no way we could have offered him an extension over the last 3 1/2 season. Likely on a year to year, now making 174k.

If there's a real chance we move to the OVC, I might keep Elliott around for one last chance. By the way, I've been against the move as it seems like we'd make it because we can't hack it in the MVFC, but that seems to be the truth. Tough to compete/recruit in Macomb on WIU's budget and plenty of losing seasons lately.

I'm just sick of the losing and saddens me that our basketball team getting picked 5th for conference is the best and most hopeful news we've had in a long time at WIU for men's sports.

leatherneckcountry · Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:54 pm

I thought i heard his contract was up at the end of the spring season and we gave him another which makes sense because of the short turnaround but I could be completely wrong.

WIU2DC · Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:56 pm

leatherneckcountry wrote:I thought i heard his contract was up at the end of the spring season and we gave him another which makes sense because of the short turnaround but I could be completely wrong.

I wanna say this is correct and that last fall would have been the end of his contact if we played last fall. If his contract is up we should definitely move on.

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Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:29 pm

leatherneckcountry wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:54 pm I thought i heard his contract was up at the end of the spring season and we gave him another which makes sense because of the short turnaround but I could be completely wrong.

Usually a new HC will get a 3-year contract, which would be in-line with what you're saying. I have not seen any confirmation of that, but that is likely to be accurate. If it's 3 years based on calendar years, it would have been up January 2021, but if it was 3 "seasons" then it would have been up in late spring. Either way, I think it's likely he's on a year-to-year extension currently.

So, considering we may be on the lookout for a new HC when this season is over, assuming no crazy turnarounds over the last month and a half of the regular season, I'm personally not a fan of bringing in someone who doesn't have coaching experience at least at the DII level. A DII HC, a DI coordinator...something like that. I'm not great at looking at who might be available at the DI level, but in DII, here's a few options:

Rich Wright (HC at DII NW Missouri State) - 36-8 in 4th year at NWMSU, 3 DII playoff appearances. Based on his graduation year is probably in his late 40's, but got his Masters at NWMSU and his wife is an alum, so he might be reluctant to leave.
https://bearcatsports.com/sports/footba ... right/1660

Matt Mitchell (HC at DII Grand Valley State) - 100-28 in his (currently) 11th year at GVSU, made DII playoffs 5 times. Played in college at Cornell College (Iowa) and started his coaching career at Wartburg (Iowa). Likely in his mid-40's.
https://gvsulakers.com/sports/football/ ... chell/1562

Curt Wiese (HC at UM-Duluth) - yes, I realize our track record with HC's from UM-Duluth isn't great, but he's still a great coach. In his 8th year at UMD, he's 76-15 so far with 4 DII playoff appearances. He played at MN State-Mankato and Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is likely in his mid-40's.
https://umdbulldogs.com/sports/football ... -wiese/774

And here's just a couple of names to peruse from the FBS level:

Ryan Grubb (OC at Fresno State) - Fresno State has had one of the best offenses in the Mountain West over the last few years. Originally from Kingsley, IA, played at Buena Vista University (IA), got his masters at South Dakota State, where he was a RB and WR coach for 2 years. Was O-line coach at Eastern Michigan, and has been in various offensive positions at Fresno State since 2017.
https://gobulldogs.com/sports/football/ ... grubb/2240

And the name that often pops up, although he's probably not all that interested...Jeff Hecklinski (OC at San Diego State), WIU alumni (1997), from Palatine originally, and has coaching experience at a number of schools including Ball State, San Diego State (twice), Michigan, CSU-Pueblo, Illinois, Indiana State, and Kansas.
https://goaztecs.com/sports/football/ro ... linski/743