I am close to finishing transcribing Dannen's 15-minute interview away from the podium today with multiple reporters, but the quote that stood out to me was when he was asked about going after a hotshot offensive coordinator as head coach.
The way he answered it, I think he would prefer a sitting head coach and will go after one and believes he can get one. He will look at coordinators as well, but he mentioned the history of Tulane's peer institutions that made good football hires, and he did it for a reason.
Here's the question and the quote:
The trend right now is to hire young, hotshot offensive coaches. I know you don’t want to put yourself in a box, but is that your thinking?
“They are in my box and veteran head coaches are in my box. Guys that have been head coaches are in my box, so the box is pretty big right now. I’ve looked at the high-end academic institutions nationally and when have they had success in their hirings. Duke hired a head coach (David Cutcliffe). Northwestern hires an alum (Pat Fitzgerald). Vandy has an assistant (former coach James Franklin). That’s an outlier. Stanford hires a head coach (Jim Harbaugh). He came from San Diego, but he had head coaching experience, so you look at those things, one, you’re comparing yourself to what other schools are doing, but two, nationally you have to start looking at your peers as to what works, so I’m weighing both of those. You look at what Tulsa and SMU just did, but there are going to be high flier OCs in this (search), and I’ve already talked to some of them. There are going to be a couple of DCs in, and I’ve already talked to them.”
The way he answered it, I think he would prefer a sitting head coach and will go after one and believes he can get one. He will look at coordinators as well, but he mentioned the history of Tulane's peer institutions that made good football hires, and he did it for a reason.
Here's the question and the quote:
The trend right now is to hire young, hotshot offensive coaches. I know you don’t want to put yourself in a box, but is that your thinking?
“They are in my box and veteran head coaches are in my box. Guys that have been head coaches are in my box, so the box is pretty big right now. I’ve looked at the high-end academic institutions nationally and when have they had success in their hirings. Duke hired a head coach (David Cutcliffe). Northwestern hires an alum (Pat Fitzgerald). Vandy has an assistant (former coach James Franklin). That’s an outlier. Stanford hires a head coach (Jim Harbaugh). He came from San Diego, but he had head coaching experience, so you look at those things, one, you’re comparing yourself to what other schools are doing, but two, nationally you have to start looking at your peers as to what works, so I’m weighing both of those. You look at what Tulsa and SMU just did, but there are going to be high flier OCs in this (search), and I’ve already talked to some of them. There are going to be a couple of DCs in, and I’ve already talked to them.”