Ayeni to NW

[DeereClone]

Sometimes people make “lateral” moves to get another experience under their belt and coach under another head coach/AD. It’s a smart career move to be able to learn multiple offenses and have multiple head coaches give you a positive reference.

Congrats to LA and I wish him the best. Too bad we lost him as I think he is great, but he must see this as a good opportunity.

 

[IceCyIce]

Well fish piss. Hire a coach that will bring a couple studs with him.

 

[BCClone]

Will be interested to see the 'explanation' for why LA would take a lateral move from a staff that has been viewed as a cohesive unit.

Remember, he left the group once before and came to ISU when Campbell was still at Toledo. Definitely ISU would be a step up from Toledo, but with the success of Toledo, he had to know that the staff would get options quickly.

 

[HardcoreClone]

So Campbell actually has 2 asst spots to fill? RB's and the new addtl 1 asst.

 

[CyArob]

Does this mean the rest of the staff is going to Northwestern next year?

 

[CYCLNST8]

Does this mean the rest of the staff is going to Northwestern next year?

Do you see Pat Fitzgerald going anywhere any time soon? He may end up being that program's Bill Snyder.

Shuffling the deck is common this time of year. Thankfully we've only taken a small hit so far.

 

[CyInDFW]

Would love to see us go after Jeff Horton at SDSU a lot of their running backs are similar to the backs Ayeni likes

I like Horton a lot, but I'm betting CMC goes with someone he has experience with or someone younger like Justin Hill at Tulsa. Hill has Texas ties being from Denton and having played at Rice, plus earned his Masters at Iowa State. He coaches in a wide open offense and had two RB's go for over 1,000 yds in 2016.

It would also be a pay raise and P5 upgrade for both.

 

[BigLame]

Best of luck to Coach Ayeni. Hate to see you go & thank you for what you did during your time at ISU!

As to his replacement: trust the process

But thanks to all those sharing their thoughts on viable candidates (in all seriousness). It’s interesting seeing who is out there.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I imagined we would lose him at some point to a more powerhouse program, but Northwestern is a surprise especially with what we having coming back. Perhaps he thought he needed to get out of Campbell's shadow to expand his resume for a head coach opportunity.

A huge part of being a college position coach is expanding that resume and having success in multiple places never hurts. Add in the alma mater and you have a move that makes more sense.

He could always come back as OC if Manning leaves in the next few years. With extra experience from another P5 program.

 

[jsb]

Do you see Pat Fitzgerald going anywhere any time soon? He may end up being that program's Bill Snyder.

Shuffling the deck is common this time of year. Thankfully we've only taken a small hit so far.

I think it was a joke....

 

[tolfbfan]

Does this mean the rest of the staff is going to Northwestern next year?

I think it is a job he may be interested in. No inside knowledge, just playing along.

 

[CycloneErik]

Does this mean the rest of the staff is going to Northwestern next year?

I need a "scared" emoji option now.

 

[CYCLNST8]

I think it was a joke....

Yeah, I figured. I like Pat Fitzgerald, though. He seems to enjoy beating the haks as much as we do.

 

[NickTheGreat]

That sucks. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but best of luck to him.

 

[Cycsk]

I don't like Ayeni leaving before the regular signing period because he has been so active on the recruiting trail.

 

[acody]

That sucks. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but best of luck to him.

Northwestern has been a very solid program for quite a few years now.

 

[tolfbfan]

@tolfbfan do you know anything about Anthony Johnson, who replaced Ayeni as RB coach in Toledo? I saw he went to be RB coach at Texas under Charlie Strong but wasn't retained when Herman took over. Wonder if he might be a candidate since the staff is familiar with him.

I never was around him much other than to watch him coach. My son didn't even really know him well, his position coach was Gasser. But, if they hired him once it is a possibility. It will be fun to see. Sorry not more helpful.

 

[tolfbfan]

Northwestern has been a very solid program for quite a few years now.

Summer of 2008 had the pleasure of sitting in Pat Fitzgerald's office with my son. It was after his soph year in hs. Coach showed my sons film to him and talked about what he liked and what needed to improve. I was really impressed by him and how down to earth he was. He spent 20 minutes with us that he didn't have too. Ayeni is going to a wonderful program nearer to home. Good for him. We will be fine. CMC and staff will get a quality replacement.

 

[tolfbfan]

A huge part of being a college position coach is expanding that resume and having success in multiple places never hurts. Add in the alma mater and you have a move that makes more sense.

He could always come back as OC if Manning leaves in the next few years. With extra experience from another P5 program.

If that happens, I think we need a head coach!

 

[CyDude16]

That sucks. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but best of luck to him.

Lol it actually makes a ton of sense.