COLUMN: Hire Seneca and Sage as assistants

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Clone_12

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The new coach should be able to pick his own assistants...the fact that we are debating this right now or trying to recommend who should be hired as assistants before we have a coach is ridiculous.
 

FootballinTexas

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Aug 2, 2009
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Sage and Seneca have the means to help the program if they want to. Just because someone has strong feelings about Iowa State doesn't mean they'll be good recruiters.

Do you honestly think Chris Weinke, Jason White, or Troy Smith would be great recruiters at FSU, OU, or tOSU just because they won Heisman trophies there and really like their alma maters? It'd be a cool story but it doesn't mean any of them could identify talent and pitch whatever the program looks like now to kids.

Austin Flynn at least has experience coaching and recruiting, and is at a winning program.
 

FootballinTexas

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Gotta love this thread. Bunch of responses about how successful players don't have the experience to coach, written by people who have no idea what experience the former players have or their personality traits for recruiting high school kids (leadership). Fire away.

I will respond since I posted something about them. You are correct, I don't know what experience they have but neither do you. When JP talks about talking ISU to the next level, that means he's wanting to do the extraordinary at ISU. Yes, both of those guys had some success in college and the NFL. However, that does not automatically translate to coaching, recruiting, and developing players. Now, they may have these abilities, but I haven't seen it on display. If you have, then I apologize.
 

cyfan4St8

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I'm kind of surprised that Todd Blythe has not been mentioned to be a WR coach ...... ? Especially since he does have experience coaching with his time at UNI.
 

twojman

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Sage and Seneca have the means to help the program if they want to. Just because someone has strong feelings about Iowa State doesn't mean they'll be good recruiters.

Do you honestly think Chris Weinke, Jason White, or Troy Smith would be great recruiters at FSU, OU, or tOSU just because they won Heisman trophies there and really like their alma maters? It'd be a cool story but it doesn't mean any of them could identify talent and pitch whatever the program looks like now to kids.

Austin Flynn at least has experience coaching and recruiting, and is at a winning program.

Thank you Bader! Flynn has been coaching and winning at Grandview where he is currently the OC. You could consider him a local guy right now but he also coached in Texas. I would guess he has some ties down there. Bring him in as WR/TE coach or something. I do not know for sure if he is OC ready at a Power 5 school.

http://www.gvvikings.com/coach/0/9.php
 

demoncore1031

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Thank you Bader! Flynn has been coaching and winning at Grandview where he is currently the OC. You could consider him a local guy right now but he also coached in Texas. I would guess he has some ties down there. Bring him in as WR/TE coach or something. I do not know for sure if he is OC ready at a Power 5 school.

http://www.gvvikings.com/coach/0/9.php

Agreed. I would love to see Flynn coach WRs or TEs and keep Sturdy on as OC.

IF we go Sage as QB coach, which is a great idea because we really need to develop players at that position, and we go Flynn as WR or TE coach then we should get an older and more experienced guy to coach the o-line.
 

CyCy

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Nov 7, 2006
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I want coaches who have a burning desire to coach and a burning desire to win. If these 2 guys have that, why aren't they coaching now?
 

bosco

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Thank you Bader! Flynn has been coaching and winning at Grandview where he is currently the OC. You could consider him a local guy right now but he also coached in Texas. I would guess he has some ties down there. Bring him in as WR/TE coach or something. I do not know for sure if he is OC ready at a Power 5 school.

http://www.gvvikings.com/coach/0/9.php
Flynn has done what Sage and Seneca have not. Took that ambition to become a coach and actually went and got a job in coaching.
 

cyatheart

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Flynn has done what Sage and Seneca have not. Took that ambition to become a coach and actually went and got a job in coaching.

Both sage and Seneca have forgotten more about playing qb than whoever the next qb coach will ever know, stupid not to hire one of them. But they won't.
 

cyatheart

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Flynn has done what Sage and Seneca have not. Took that ambition to become a coach and actually went and got a job in coaching.

seneca was a bit busy, playing in a little league called the nfl
 

bosco

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Both sage and Seneca have forgotten more about playing qb than whoever the next qb coach will ever know, stupid not to hire one of them. But they won't.
The next QB coach will probably know more about coaching the position than Them because they have actually done it.
 
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CyCloned

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and most importantly, he has some coaching experience.

I like Senneca and Sage, but bringing in guys with zero coaching experience in as assistant coaches is beyond risky. Actually would be better off to have a HC with no experience, but a great recruiter and experienced assistants.
 

dmdom

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Why stop there? Keith Sims for Oline, Troy Davis for Rbs , Ellis Hobbs for Dbs, Dennis Gibson for Lbs....etc. It's a romantic idea that stirs memories of past success. There lies the problem, it becomes harder to objectively judge their current effectiveness. If, they aren't getting the job done, it's tougher to pull the trigger and let them go, because of their relationship with ISU.
 

twincyties

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How many top-tier coaches (college or pro) in any sport were great when they played? There are probably as many examples of these failing as there are succeeding.

Usually think CW's thoughts are on-point, but I wonder how much of this is residual and sub- conscious effect from Hoiberg's success in basketball. I don't know if it translates to football like it does basketball (especially in the Big 12) and one could argue that Fred's front office experience (namely player evaluation) was more important than his Xs and Os from being a player. In fairness, Fred was better with the Xs and Os than many expected, but was still queationable at times, in my opinion. I think that Fred's ability to identify under-the-radar talent and assemble a team of transfers is what turned the program around - and these are more front office qualities than player qualities.

Now that I've managed to turn a football thread into a basketball thread :) i will just say I don't think anyone is talking about Sage or Seneca if we didn't have the Hoiberg experience in a different sport.
 

HFCS

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I LOL at people who think a veteran NFL QB who wants to coach could not be a college QB or WR coach. It's nearly impossible to be a veteran NFL QB without many of the qualities a great offensive coach has. Only issue is if the person has a horrible personality for recruiting/locker room reasons which isn't the case with either of these guys who everyone loves.

Just something people say because it makes them seem smart, but it actually makes them look dumb. It's like saying a wildly successful investment banker couldn't teach high school economics well if he decided that's what he wanted to try doing.
 
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Cy$

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It's ultimately up to whoever the head coach is who's hired or not. I think Flynn and Blythe would be better if Iowa State went the former player route than Sage and Seneca due to experience at other schools.
 
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twincyties

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I LOL at people who think a veteran NFL QB who wants to coach could not be a college QB or WR coach. It's nearly impossible to be a veteran NFL QB without many of the qualities a great offensive coach has. Only issue is if the person has a horrible personality for recruiting/locker room reasons which isn't the case with either of these guys who everyone loves.

Just something people say because it makes them seem smart, but it actually makes them look dumb. It's like saying a wildly successful investment banker couldn't teach high school economics well if he decided that's what he wanted to try doing.

I think that's a fair statement - and more so for position coaches/coordinators than for head coaches. Probably most true at QB due to leadership role and high football IQ necessary to play successfully in the first place. But coaching/leading is diffferent than doing.

Not saying Sage and Seneca couldn't...just saying i don't understand why some equate successful player/fan favorite with quality coach. Especially in one of the best conferences in the country with a cellar dweller team we're trying to turn around.

Besides, I guarantee that JP/Leath are not going to make slection of specific position coaches a condition of the new head coach's hiring. They'd tell us to pound sand. Head coaches select their own staff for the most part...usually bringing former colleagues and/or retaining some current staff...not bringing in unknowns.

So, [fill in coaching candidate's name here], we're going to offer you the job, but you have to hire theae two former playera our fan base likes to reminisce about. Neither have coached a day in their life, but they had below average NFL careers so they're totally legit."

Let's be serious here...
 

CintiClone

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Nope - I have no clue if either would be a good coach. From what I know, which isn't much, either could be an intriguing option as an assistant in some capacity.
I will respond since I posted something about them. You are correct, I don't know what experience they have but neither do you. When JP talks about talking ISU to the next level, that means he's wanting to do the extraordinary at ISU. Yes, both of those guys had some success in college and the NFL. However, that does not automatically translate to coaching, recruiting, and developing players. Now, they may have these abilities, but I haven't seen it on display. If you have, then I apologize.
nop
 

Spam

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May 21, 2008
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If we want to bring in former NFL players because we think NFL players make good coaches, let's bring players who have had more success in the NFL than Sage and Seneca. They don't have to be Iowa State alumni.