Who Should be Involved in the Next Coaching Search & What Should the Process Be?

[ShotgunDawg]

Just to address a few things:

1. I've heard many hear say that they don't want Cohen making the next hire. If Cohen does not make the next hire, who should? Assuming you keep Cohen employed.

2. If you don't want Cohen making the new hire, do you not believe that he is capable of learning from his mistakes & that the last experience will help him with this experience?

3. Tough time of year for him, but would you involve Vick Schaefer in the job search? After all, he's maybe the best coach in school history. Would Vick even agree to this?

[Dawgology]

Just to address a few things:

1. I've heard many hear say that they don't want Cohen making the next hire. If Cohen does not make the next hire, who should? Assuming you keep Cohen employed.

2. If you don't want Cohen making the new hire, do you not believe that he is capable of learning from his mistakes & that the last experience will help him with this experience?

3. Tough time of year for him, but would you involve Vick Schaefer in the job search? After all, he's maybe the best coach in school history. Would Vick even agree to this?

Some on hear have said that Cohen is a micromanager and makes hires that stroke his ego and bend to his will.

[Todd4State]

I would probably involve some former players for sure, some NFL scouts, some MS high school coaches/JUCO coaches, a couple of major boosters, some fans from the local area, Jackson, MS Gulf Coast, Memphis, and Birmingham, and some MSU students.

[ShotgunDawg]

Some on hear have said that Cohen is a micromanager and makes hires that stroke his ego and bend to his will.

Maybe that's true, maybe it's not.

Who should make the hire then?

[ShotgunDawg]

I would probably involve some former players for sure, some NFL scouts, some MS high school coaches/JUCO coaches, a couple of major boosters, some fans from the local area, Jackson, MS Gulf Coast, Memphis, and Birmingham, and some MSU students.

Why would they be better than Cohen?

With a search group that large, how do you keep the candidates names from leaking & candidates pulling out because they don't want their name associated?

[Todd4State]

Why would they be better than Cohen?

With a search group that large, how do you keep the candidates names from leaking & candidates pulling out because they don't want their name associated?

Well, you have way more people that have more football knowledge and insider knowledge into that sport than Cohen. You also have a good cross section of people that come from every aspect of who the football coach reaches. From recruiting to promoting the program to fans.

I'm honestly not worried about leaks. Those are mostly unpreventable and come with the territory. I think leaks can sometimes actually be beneficial because it can give an informal look at how fans would potentially perceive a hire. For example- "I heard that we're about to hire Croom back". Response- "WTF? Hell no. I won't support MSU if they hire that clown back again." Croom gets checked off of list before outrage occurs.

[Coursesuper]

Maybe that's true, maybe it's not.

Who should make the hire then?

Mark Keenum if it’s at all possible and it needs as little input from outside sources as possible, keep it quiet and as small, Hell do it covertly if you can. But you know exactly what’s going to happen, Cohen will move when he’s prompted to. There will a search firm hired to lay the ground work to set things up with the candidates already Scoped out and then here we go.

[BrunswickDawg]

I would probably involve some former players for sure, some NFL scouts, some MS high school coaches/JUCO coaches, a couple of major boosters, some fans from the local area, Jackson, MS Gulf Coast, Memphis, and Birmingham, and some MSU students.
That is the absolute worst way to hire a football coach. That runs the risk of putting us right back in the old engineers vs. Aggie BS that fired McKeen and screwed us for years - because you won't be able to please groups like that and most of them have no clue about coaching D1 football.

Should Cohen get some input from others? Yes. I'd go to Jackie for some advice, talk to some stronger SEC coaches if possible, and even some of our former staff under Mullen who Cohen probably had relationships with.

[TrapGame]

Jackie, Rocky and four or five former players (Bond, Smoot, Wyatt, Beckwith - for starters). Cohen and Keenum can interview but the football committee gets closed door interview without Cohen and Keenum present.

[Todd4State]

That is the absolute worst way to hire a football coach. That runs the risk of putting us right back in the old engineers vs. Aggie BS that fired McKeen and screwed us for years - because you won't be able to please groups like that and most of them have no clue about coaching D1 football.

Should Cohen get some input from others? Yes. I'd go to Jackie for some advice, talk to some stronger SEC coaches if possible, and even some of our former staff under Mullen who Cohen probably had relationships with.

I'm not sure that I would go to Jackie. He has been out of the game for awhile and I didn't always agree with some of his philosophies. I think the you can only get your team up for three games thing held us back for what all we accomplished during his tenure.

[Coursesuper]

Jackie, Rocky and four or five former players (Bond, Smoot, Wyatt, Beckwith - for starters). Cohen and Keenum can interview but the football committee gets closed door interview without Cohen and Keenum present.

No GD committee, hell no! You would need wings to stay above the bullshit that would pile up from the jockeying from some alumni to get a seat on that committee.

[AROB44]

I would probably involve some former players for sure, some NFL scouts, some MS high school coaches/JUCO coaches, a couple of major boosters, some fans from the local area, Jackson, MS Gulf Coast, Memphis, and Birmingham, and some MSU students.

Damn, Todd, that's hiring by committee....sure you want that many people involved?

[BrunswickDawg]

I'm not sure that I would go to Jackie. He has been out of the game for awhile and I didn't always agree with some of his philosophies. I think the you can only get your team up for three games thing held us back for what all we accomplished during his tenure.

I agree to an extent. But Jackie also knows football, and knows what it takes to win in Starkville, and should be able to talk to Cohen in a way that a fellow coach can understand. Same with the others I listed. I don't want those folks telling us who to hire - it's more about what traits should we be looking for, what types of offense/defense work with our talent base, what are the important things that we should stress in our search, etc.

[Todd4State]

I agree to an extent. But Jackie also knows football, and knows what it takes to win in Starkville, and should be able to talk to Cohen in a way that a fellow coach can understand. Same with the others I listed. I don't want those folks telling us who to hire - it's more about what traits should we be looking for, what types of offense/defense work with our talent base, what are the important things that we should stress in our search, etc.

Well, Jackie is going to tell us to run power run first football and that's all we can do. I like Jackie but right now that would be like asking Ron Polk who we should get in baseball.

I think a lot of us are hung up on what scheme would should or should not run when the reality is the biggest reason Joe failed if we're all honest is because he tried to be friends and play nice and didn't demand discipline. That's a non-negotiable trait that any football coach has to have regardless of what scheme we run.

[timotheus]

Some on hear have said that Cohen is a micromanager and makes hires that stroke his ego and bend to his will.

You hit the nail on the head. John wants baseball and football coaches to bow to him.

[timotheus]

I would love to see what the Tulane coach would do with our current offensive personnel.

[R2Dawg]

Jackie, Rocky and four or five former players (Bond, Smoot, Wyatt, Beckwith - for starters). Cohen and Keenum can interview but the football committee gets closed door interview without Cohen and Keenum present.

I do agree need to roll in some former players. We need buy in from the MSU family. Wish Dak had time; he could provide some great insight. One day Dak is going to come back and do some big things from the office at MSU.

[timotheus]

Heck at this juncture I wish we had Hopson from USM or someone who has his coaching personality. His teams play the game hard and must overachieve to accomplish goals. Cohen just doesn't want an individual with this persona at State because if successful. the football coach could over shadow Cohen.

[yjnkdawg]

I would probably involve some former players for sure, some NFL scouts, some MS high school coaches/JUCO coaches, a couple of major boosters, some fans from the local area, Jackson, MS Gulf Coast, Memphis, and Birmingham, and some MSU students.


THe media would have a field day with this coaching search criteria.

[CadaverDawg]

I would love to see what the Tulane coach would do with our current offensive personnel.

Yep, I'm on board with Fritz

[yjnkdawg]

Heck at this juncture I wish we had Hopson from USM or someone who has his coaching personality. His teams play the game hard and must overachieve to accomplish goals. Cohen just doesn't want an individual with this persona at State because if successful. the football coach could over shadow Cohen.



Hopson probably wouldn't meet some on here's criteria since he played football at OM and was a former OM Assistant Coach. :cool:

[yjnkdawg]

I would love to see what the Tulane coach would do with our current offensive personnel.



Won't argue with this comment. I would too.

[CadaverDawg]

I'd ask around to the top coordinators in the country and ask what would be the ideal coach to coach under, and possibly go the Ed O route of hiring a good "fit" at a lower salary, and pay a premium for OC and DC.

That's if you aren't going to hire a Fritz, which would be the type of guy I'd call first if I was Cohen.

[Todd4State]

Heck at this juncture I wish we had Hopson from USM or someone who has his coaching personality. His teams play the game hard and must overachieve to accomplish goals. Cohen just doesn't want an individual with this persona at State because if successful. the football coach could over shadow Cohen.

Cohen wants to be the smartest guy in the room.

The thing about Cohen that is rare personality wise is he is fiery but smart.

Anyway, to me observing Joe and his background I think the biggest miscalculation from Cohen was how he would handle the team from a discipline standpoint. So, however we do the search or whoever does it that needs to be evaluated a lot more closely than last time.

[Cowbell]

If Cohen is worth his salt, he has a man lined out by end of day today. Maybe not hired, but a plan and a man.

[Cowbell]

This search should have started after the Florida game last year.

[Todd4State]

I'd ask around to the top coordinators in the country and ask what would be the ideal coach to coach under, and possibly go the Ed O route of hiring a good "fit" at a lower salary, and pay a premium for OC and DC.

That's if you aren't going to hire a Fritz, which would be the type of guy I'd call first if I was Cohen.

I would prefer this too. Get a CEO coach and let him hire really good OC/DC/ST coordinators.

There's a LOT more flexibility with this and to me it takes a lot of the pressure off of the head coach to make every single decision on one side of the ball. That way if there is a Gardner Minchew in the state we could hire an OC that fits his style or if there is a Dak Prescott we could go that direction as well without having pass over people because they don't "fit" our system.

Like with Jackie we went from Watson Brown and his option offense which fit Sleepy to Bruce Arians who fit Todd Jordan and Derrick Taite better.

[CadaverDawg]

This search should have started after the Florida game last year.

No doubt

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

I agree to an extent. But Jackie also knows football, and knows what it takes to win in Starkville, and should be able to talk to Cohen in a way that a fellow coach can understand. Same with the others I listed. I don't want those folks telling us who to hire - it's more about what traits should we be looking for, what types of offense/defense work with our talent base, what are the important things that we should stress in our search, etc.

Jackie also knows how to tank the program.

Consulting Vick Schaefer about a football coach hire might be the dumbest 17ing thing that has ever been written on this board.

Who is the world champion in Madden? May want to place a call to them too.

[yjnkdawg]

I would prefer this too. Get a CEO coach and let him hire really good OC/DC/ST coordinators.

There's a LOT more flexibility with this and to me it takes a lot of the pressure off of the head coach to make every single decision on one side of the ball. That way if there is a Gardner Minchew in the state we could hire an OC that fits his style or if there is a Dak Prescott we could go that direction as well without having pass over people because they don't "fit" our system.

Like with Jackie we went from Watson Brown and his option offense which fit Sleepy to Bruce Arians who fit Todd Jordan and Derrick Taite better.


Not many HC's can effectively run a football program and also be the offensive coordinator, especially in the SEC. Mullen and maybe Malzahn would be the exception(s) there. That may be one of JoeMo's problems. Notice I said "one".

[Todd4State]

Not many HC's can effectively run a football program and also be the offensive coordinator, especially in the SEC. Mullen and maybe Malzahn would be the exception(s) there. That may be one of JoeMo's problems. Notice I said "one".

It can be done. But LSU and Ole Miss have coaches that are hardly football savant's- but they have good coordinators and so the head coach's responsibility as a play caller is minimized.

I'll probably get raked over the coals for this example- but we could in theory hire someone like a Mark Hudspeth as HC but then also hire say Will Hall and keep Shoop as coordinators and give them high salaries while keeping the HC salary less than what we paid Dan. And I'm not saying that we should hire Hud- just that we would probably be better off following that model than hiring someone that is a guru and hope that they can also handle head coaching responsibilities as well.