If the Necks lose out, what is the next step?

[sealhall74]

Lets have a little fun with this thread.  Next step is to bring in some new staff mostly comprised of former Leathernecks.  I will start the ball rolling.

HC is troublesome for me.  It needs to be someone young who will stick around for a while cause it will take a while.  Maybe the current guy.
Jason Williams DC/LBs   I thought I read where he reached out for the job (HC?) at one time but dont hold me to that tidbit.
Hecklinksi  OC/QBs        Did that at SDSU (the West Coast one) most recently til this year.  Now https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 69440.html
Cox  DL                      Doing that for the NY Giants at present
Greco OL                    Former NFL Lion and did well coaching at the HS level in MO.
Stecker RB                  His wife probably could come up with whatever we need for the West Side remodel from the ABC Supply Warehouse.  
Scifres  Special Teams    Not sure what he is doing now
?   DB


 

Scifres - looks like he's living in LA, doing consulting...last fall spent some time with Carney Coaching (hosts kicking clinics for HS and college kids)...and supporting his family (wife and 4 kids...oldest two are twin girls who are VERY into dance performing/competing).

I would also like to put out an alternate OC candidate of Frisman Jackson. Mostly been a WR coach, but did do a bit of "passing game coordinator" stuff. WR coach at the Titans (2017), Baylor (18-19), Panthers (20-21) and Steelers (22-present): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisman_Jackson
Don Beebe is also a former Leatherneck WR and he has been coaching since 2004 (HC at HS level '04-'17, then DIII Aurora University from 2019-present).

Another name you could include would be J.R. Niklos...played TE for us, played fullback various places in the NFL and NFL Europe (was incredibly fast), currently owner of Acceleration Sports Performance in Naperville and is Special Teams Coordinator at the College of Dupage.

Personally, I'd prefer the top coaches have some decent college (or NFL) coaching experience. Idk of Williams has had that. Hecklinski, Cox, and Jackson all have been coaching for quite a while. Scifres does consulting work.

If we're going to go "all out" with former Leatherneck "big name" players as coaches, here's what I'd prefer, I think:

HC - Jeff Hecklinski

OC/WRs - Frisman Jackson or Don Beebe
RBs - ?....maybe Stecker, but idk if he has any coaching experience or has had anything to do with football since he retired
TEs/Co-Special Teams (return game) - J.R. Niklos
O-Line - Rich Seubert

DC/DL - Bryan Cox
LBs - Jason Williams
DBs - Shannon Fitzhugh (he also happens to work for Niklos at Accaleration Sports Performance: https://accelerationpro.com/our-service ... -fitzhugh/)

Co-Special Teams (kicking/punting) - Mike Scifres


 

I did not know about Beebe.  Looks like he has having a very good run at Aurora.   The question as always is does it apply to D1? Hecklinski took a lot of heat at SDSU before getting cut loose.  Sort of like the Ferentz situation at Iowa.  Not scoring enough points to keep the fan base happy.
 
 

[axe_co17]

Finally decided to jump in the conversation. I have a son who is close with several in the program. So much to be disappointed in, especially after almost two full seasons of Coach Hendrickson. I’ll admit though, I’ve been to a few games out of the 19 losses, I’m curious why coaches don’t stick around. Two coaches left to go in conference… one coach, a former alumni of WIU left college football. Another coach left to coach high school football. Look at the facilities. Do the coaches even have offices yet? Last I heard, they had 7 or 8 coaches all in one room at the end of the gym. 

[rocki]

Finally decided to jump in the conversation. I have a son who is close with several in the program. So much to be disappointed in, especially after almost two full seasons of Coach Hendrickson. I’ll admit though, I’ve been to a few games out of the 19 losses, I’m curious why coaches don’t stick around. Two coaches left to go in conference… one coach, a former alumni of WIU left college football. Another coach left to coach high school football. Look at the facilities. Do the coaches even have offices yet? Last I heard, they had 7 or 8 coaches all in one room at the end of the gym. 

 

My 2 cents worth (and I'm not sure it's even worth that). I would guess that most coaches don't stick around because they are offered more $$$$ and improved facilities over what we are able to offer. Not sure about ones who leave football altogether or who drop down to high school coaching. Maybe it's more fun for them than college level, maybe they have kids they know that are or will be participating, I can't answer that. Our big problem is MONEY.  We can blame the state of Illinois, we can blame the former president of the university who totally (in my opinion) mucked things up, we can ever go back further and blame TVA for the fiasco with Coach Patterson.....the list goes on. However, none of that gets us anywhere. Now for the part that not many people will like. I believe Coach Hendrickson knew what he was walking into, and he chose to do it. At some point - as adults that make these decisions, one has to step up and deal with what life hands you. Choices have consequences. Period. And, in this day and age, I think coaching involves a heck of a lot more than game prep and game time. Interaction with alumni and supporters is crucial. Fundraising? Sure, knock yourself out. Reach out to donors, sports alumni, and anyone else you can think of to get some inspiration back into the program. It is going to take major thinking outside the box to get where we need to be.

[Western_101]

If the Gators lose out?
It's entirely possible if they don't beat Arkansas this weekend. The rest of their slate is at #14 LSU, at #12 Missouri, and home against #4 Florida State. Florida is currently 5-3, Arkansas is 2-6, although ESPN is predicting only a slight advantage for Florida.

Or....maybe that's a typo and you meant Leathernecks. In that case, I don't know that there's much we can do. If we had some big money donors that could buy out everyone's contracts, then sure...everyone out. But we don't have those kinds of donors, and we don't have that kind of money to be eating contracts. Assuming a 5-year, $185k per year contract...we might be able to swing it in the last year or two, but definately not with 3 years left...especially considering we had that $1 mil exit fee (I haven't heard for sure if the OVC was going to help us out with that or not).


 

The exit fee was cut in half by agreeing to have Men's Soccer remain in the Summit this fall.

I don't see how we can afford NOT to buy out the contract. If we continue down this rabbit hole, there we be no chance for redemption. It will affect as in terms not just of football, but enrollment as well.

 

Tere is correct 1000X over!

I was unaware that Myers is still due over 500K.  I know that is a lot of money, however, if a change is not made after this season Leatherneck football will cease to exist by 2027. Staying the course on this one means that Leatherneck football is not worth 500K and we are OK to let it die. All because we couldn't make the hard and painful decision to pull the plug on a coach that didn't pan out. Life is hard, and things don't always work out. A painful and costly decision needs to be made. 

If Western decides to let college football die in Macomb there will be one less reason for a perspective student to choose to go to school here. Football dies, enrollment shrinks another few thousand.