Staff Thoughts?

[GeoDawg]

Who do you want to be on the staff?

Here is one that I came up with:

HC/OC/QB - Mike Leach
RB/ST - Greg Knox (steal him back from Florida)
IR - Chad Bumphis
OR - Steve Spurier, Jr. (brought from WSU)
OL - Mason Miller (brought from WSU)
DC - Shoop or Strong
DL - Dennis Johnson (LSU, from Amory, told he wants to get closer to home, great recruiter)
LB - Jamar Chaney
CB - T. Buck
Safeties - Tony Hughes

S&C - Aaron Feld.

[Coursesuper]

I'd bet he cleans house.

[Really Clark?]

I will be surprised if he doesn’t bring his own RB coach or someone who has been heavily involved with his scheme in the past. And why would Knox even leave FL?

Bumphis needs more time, too quick to bring him up just yet but IR coach would be a good opportunity and fit for him.

Chaney...boy I think it’s close but I would have to see who is interested and think there will be others more qualified. Hope sooner rather than later for him though.

[FISHDAWG]

I'm curious about who he brings from his current staff ..... probably needs to integrate some SEC experience but it's his show now and I'm going to try really hard to stay patient because I think this might take a few years to get to where we want to go .... Maybe the same could have been said about JM but I think folks just grew tired of wondering if he even possessed what it takes and saw straight through him.... Not pounding on you Joe but we were never convinced from the start.

[GeoDawg]

I will be surprised if he doesn’t bring his own RB coach or someone who has been heavily involved with his scheme in the past. And why would Knox even leave FL?

Bumphis needs more time, too quick to bring him up just yet but IR coach would be a good opportunity and fit for him.

Chaney...boy I think it’s close but I would have to see who is interested and think there will be others more qualified. Hope sooner rather than later for him though.

Wasn't Knox at Auburn with Malzahn? I don't think scheme would be too different would it? I agree it may be early for Bumphis, but with Steve Spurrier, Jr. at Outside Receivers it would be a great opportunity for him to learn without too great a risk.

[OLJWales]

Anyone got any info on Feld? S&C coach at OR. are too soon to speculate?

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

I'd bet he cleans house.

He has mentioned on a couple of occasions that when he went to Tech that he knew he had to get some guys that were familiar with the landscape and their recruiting footprint simply because he didn't know it. I think he will do the same here. I'm thinking Hughes, T-Buck and most on the current recruiting staff that aren't on the field. Offensively is where he may clean house and bring in folks who know or have coached his style of offense. Wouldn't totally shock me if he kept Johnson on that side of the ball however.

On a random thought, has Terry Richardson brought in any recruits since he's been here? I noticed where he was Miami's recruiting coordinator for the state of Florida while he was there. I know we don't recruit Florida very much, if at all, but you would think he would have some contacts there. I see WR playing for Louisville, Purdue, Mich. St., Cincinnati, etc. and wonder why we couldn't bring in one of those guys a year. Couldn't be any worse than what we have.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Who do you want to be on the staff?

Here is one that I came up with:

HC/OC/QB - Mike Leach
RB/ST - Greg Knox (steal him back from Florida)
IR - Chad Bumphis
OR - Steve Spurier, Jr. (brought from WSU)
OL - Mason Miller (brought from WSU)
DC - Shoop or Strong
DL - Dennis Johnson (LSU, from Amory, told he wants to get closer to home, great recruiter)
LB - Jamar Chaney
CB - T. Buck
Safeties - Tony Hughes

S&C - Aaron Feld.

Everything else I'd be ok with. Although I doubt he brings Bumphis from FCS to P5. Chaney however has never even been a position coach at any level. I would be cautious to bring on a young unproven guy, especially with the strain this type of offense can put on your defense.

[Really Clark?]

Wasn't Knox at Auburn with Malzahn? I don't think scheme would be too different would it? I agree it may be early for Bumphis, but with Steve Spurrier, Jr. at Outside Receivers it would be a great opportunity for him to learn without too great a risk.

No he coached with Tubberville and Mullen hired him when they all got fired

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

These guys with MSU ties are still very young. There is plenty time to get them back here. I'd rather they cut their teeth on someone else's dime and then we get them a little later on. Let them learn, let them make more contacts, and they can bring all of that with them when we do want to hire them. Same goes with what's his name down at ULL coaching OL. I hope we continue to put more out there with MSU ties. It's something we haven't had for quite some time.

[raymonddawg]

I'm hoping Leach can find a role for Anthony Dixon. Boobie loves MSU more than anyone and would kill it with recruits.

[Coursesuper]

We play in the Southeaster Conference West time to act like it, the mom and pop shit we've been doing for years has to go right now. We purportedly have a $5 Million pool for asst. go get the best guys for the gig that he feels have the opportunity to get it done both on and off the field for MSU football. So a staff full of former players that happen to be in coaching now and pieces of a weak staff from before cant be a part of the program moving forward.

[OLJWales]

I'm hoping Leach can find a role for Anthony Dixon. Boobie loves MSU more than anyone and would kill it with recruits.

What's he doing these days? Always loved AD, great MSU Ambassador. Anybody remember that run against Houston when he literally carried half their defense for about 15 yards? I don't think anyone could grind like AD.

[BrunswickDawg]

Everything else I'd be ok with. Although I doubt he brings Bumphis from FCS to P5. Chaney however has never even been a position coach at any level. I would be cautious to bring on a young unproven guy, especially with the strain this type of offense can put on your defense.

So Chaney's time as a very successful high school HC in Florida doesn't count? But we have people clamoring to give Brad Peterson an on-field position? I love our fan base (not intended to single you out - but just show the differing views of "qualified")

[Maroons]

We play in the Southeaster Conference West time to act like it, the mom and pop shit we've been doing for years has to go right now. We purportedly have a $5 Million pool for asst. go get the best guys for the gig that he feels have the opportunity to get it done both on and off the field for MSU football. So a staff full of former players that happen to be in coaching now and pieces of a weak staff from before cant be a part of the program moving forward.

Totally agree. Don't fall into the familiarity trap. Get the best guys, not just the M-State guys.

[Really Clark?]

Spurrier and Miller look to be heading south

[Commercecomet24]

Spurrier and Miller look to be heading south

I really hope he pulls these 2 for sure especially Jr.

[OLJWales]

Totally agree. Don't fall into the familiarity trap. Get the best guys, not just the M-State guys.

I never understood why but that is true.. it just seems like love of your own alma mater doesn't necessarily make you a better choice.

[StarkVegasSteve]

So Chaney's time as a very successful high school HC in Florida doesn't count? But we have people clamoring to give Brad Peterson an on-field position? I love our fan base (not intended to single you out - but just show the differing views of "qualified")

That's true. And that was just my opinion on things. Hell Chaney could be the second coming of Dave Arranda for all I know. FWIW, it doesn't sound like Leach is keeping anyone outside of the recruiting staff and maybe Tony.

[ShotgunDawg]

Spurrier and Miller look to be heading south

Spurrier is coming

[BuckyIsAB****]

Everything else I'd be ok with. Although I doubt he brings Bumphis from FCS to P5. Chaney however has never even been a position coach at any level. I would be cautious to bring on a young unproven guy, especially with the strain this type of offense can put on your defense.

Jamar Cheney was a HS head coach I believe. He is qualified. I doubt he is the hire.

Leach wont be making hires on the defensive side. He leaves that up to the DC

[Coach34]

If he doesnt get some southern recruiters it wont work

[Dawgfan77]

If he doesnt get some southern recruiters it wont work
No offense but you are very negative on this hire for some reason.
Don?t count the WSU first few years he had to gut the program. Paul Wulf won 9 games in four years. At TT they went from the option to air raid and he never missed a bowl. He will run air raid principles but will adapt

[Todd4State]

Here is my wishlist/what I would do if I were in Leach's shoes...and some what's probably going to happen.

HC/OC/QB- Mike Leach. This makes Breiner's position obsolete. Which is good because we can get Brad Peterson on the field. And we save money for the defensive side of the ball.
RB- Eric Mele. Leach's RB coach at WSU. Replaces Richardson.
WR- Steve Spurrier, Jr. He has been a coach at South Carolina under his father and of course I'm sure he understands the SEC. Replaces Mike Johnson.
Inside WR's- Brad Peterson. NOW we have a good recruiter on the offensive side of the ball. Replaces Breiner.
OL- Mason Miller. Leach's o-line coach at Wazzu. Replaces Marcus Johnson
DL- Dennis Johnson. A d-line coach from LSU who has coached under Ed Orgeron one of the best d-line coaches of all time? Yeah. I'll go for that. Replaces Deke.
LB- Charlie Strong. We have the resources to overpay here which is an advantage for us. Like we could go 2 million for someone is we wanted to which is close to Dave Aranda territory. Strong knows the SEC, has coached in Mississippi and runs a 3-3-5 like Joe Lee Dunn. I can go for this. He also has head coaching experience and if Leach is hands off as his reputation is that could be a good thing. Replaces Shoop.
DOG Backs- Tony Hughes. Yep I went there. I like this because we keep Hughes for recruiting and I like him as a coach better on defense.
CB- T-Buck. I would keep him if I was Leach. I guess he's not staying. If it is Strong, I could see us hiring Steve Ellis who was on his staff at USF and is from Stringer, MS and has been in the NFL fellowship program and has some DC experience at Middle Tennessee.
S- Jeff Koonz. Has coached safeties and LB's most recently at Ole Miss. Has DC experience at North Texas. Replaces Chris Marve essentially.
ST- I have a few of candidates here. Shane Beamer who has coached in the SEC and is the AHC/TE coach at Oklahoma. Beamer can also coach CB's. Ricky Brumfield from Virginia would be my 1B as they had one of the top ST units in the ACC this year and he is from NOLA. He also has experience coaching DB's including CB's. The other candidate I would look at is Joe Lorig from Penn State. He has coached at Memphis and has experience coaching DB's and LB's. Anyone not named Joey Jones.
LB or CB- The caveat to having a ST coach that can coach other positions is we can add another position coach on the field.

Off the field position- K/P. I liked it when we had Chris Boniol as a quality control coach because he could recruit kickers which is different than recruiting other positions. It seems more like a who you know/camp kind of thing. Someone like Boniol would be awesome because I noticed that once we hired him our ST improved and we started putting kickers and LS into the NFL.

[msu15]

If he doesnt get some southern recruiters it wont work

Well he's already got Spurrier so that's one fat boy