Want your coordinators more involved on social media? Take a page from NC State
SportsTalkSC.com
For all the programs out there that wish your coordinators were more active on social media, NC State has provided an interesting idea to put your own spin on.
After each spring practice, Wolf Pack defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable is tweeting out some recognition for two #BallHawks. Junior linebacker Ernie Robinson and grayshirt corner Juston Burris took home the honors on day one.
Naming #BallHawks from every Spring Practice. Ernie Robinson & Juston Burris were the winners from our 1st practice. pic.twitter.com/BIEuWfRzgu
— Dave Huxtable (@CoachDHux) March 4, 2015
This is a simple way to accomplish a number of things for your program via social media; it gives your coordinator’s a presence on social media, it praises players who deserve recognition, and it updates your fan base on a daily basis.
The applications are nearly limitless. Whether you choose to highlight daily play makers, the most improved players, biggest hitters, or best scout team players, it’s a win-win for everyone involved and takes a minimal amount of time.
Why Brian Kelly hired Mike Sanford: “We wanted somebody that was going to turn the room upside down.”
Idaho Statesman
In his quest to revamp Notre Dame’s offense, Brian Kelly had options. There was Charley Molnar, who spent six seasons under Kelly at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame before taking the Massachusetts head job in 2012. After two seasons in Amherst, Molnar is now the wide receivers coach at Idaho. There’s also Jeff Quinn, whose history with Kelly goes back even further, all the way to 1989 at Grand Valley State. Quinn never worked at Notre Dame, taking the Buffalo head job at the same time his boss left Cincinnati for South Bend, but he owns two solid decades in the Kelly system.
If Kelly wanted to his new quarterbacks coach to hit the ground in a dead sprint, options were plenty. Except Notre Dame’s head coach didn’t want to do that. In fact, he was looking for the exact opposite.
“(Mike Denbrock and I) agreed at the end that what we were looking for was somebody that could turn the room upside down,” Kelly told Blue and Gold Illustrated. “We didn’t want somebody to be equal. We wanted somebody that was going to turn that room upside down, that was that good. We weren’t going to settle for somebody that was on the same plane. We wanted somebody that was going to challenge us on a day-to-day basis. (Sanford) does that.”
Sanford will be tasked with shaping the considerable talents of quarterbacks Everett Golson and Malik Zaire. Golson led Notre Dame to a national championship appearance in 2012 but displayed a penchant for turning the ball over in 2014, including a five turnover meltdown in a blowout loss to Arizona State. Zaire led the Irish to a win over LSU in the Music City Bowl but lacks experience.
However, Sanford has one of the most impressive assistant coaching resumes in college football. The son of a coach (who, incidentally, spent two years as a teenager in South Bend), Sanford spent three seasons at Stanford and one at Boise State. He has a personal record of 46-9 with three conference championships and four BCS/New Year’s Six bowls over the past four seasons.
“When I first heard about it, I had a different reaction because it’s Notre Dame. I think knowing that this place stands for something I want to be a part of: elite academics, the chance to explore from a spiritual standpoint, which is very important to me in my life and also, this is the mecca of college football,” Sanford said. “I really was excited quite frankly when the Notre Dame opportunity came about. I was fired up. There was something inside of me that felt different than any other job that had been out there in this offseason.”
Arizona’s off season Wildcat Olympics might be the most fun in college football
From the looks of it, I doubt that any team in the country – regardless of level – has as much fun as Arizona with their off season Olympics.
The Wildcats are competing in everything from the cliche tug-of-war and team agility courses, to more off the wall stuff like belly-flop contests, soccer style shootouts, and some sort of medicine ball volleyball game I’m not even sure what to call.
They also decided to have an eating contest with hard boiled eggs, which I’m sure the players probably loved, but everyone that has seen The Replacements understands the danger in that.
Seriously though, credit Rich Rod and his staff for the environment they have created down in Tuscon. Players, recruits, and families love the program that they’ve created since arriving in November 2012.
Video of the Day – Auburn Football Pro Day
Wednesday March 4, 2015
Video of the Day
2015 Auburn Pro Day
FootballScoop ranks the top 10 opening weekend games
The 2015 FBS schedule became officially official on Monday, and this Thursday marks exactly 26 weeks until the season begins. With that in mind, it’s time to look (far, far) ahead and apprise you of the top 10 games of opening weekend.
1. Arizona State vs. Texas A&M (Reliant Stadium, Houston): As far as programs that have zero previous meetings go, there’s plenty of familiarity here. Arizona State offered Kevin Sumlin its head job before the then-Houston coach chose Texas A&M. The coach Arizona State did hire, Todd Graham, is a former Texas high school coach that would love to score a victory over a major program from its home state. The Aggies have turned Scottsdale into a key recruiting territory, snagging starting quarterback Kyle Allen and five-star wide receiver Christian Kirk. For a pair of teams among the horde looking to make the jump from good to great, a victory over the other would be a nice launching pad.
2. Alabama vs. Wisconsin (AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas): Alabama owns the opening weekend kickoff game like no other program in college football. The Tide are 5-0 in Atlanta and Dallas since 2008, beating Clemson, Virginia Tech (twice), Michigan and West Virginia by an average of 19 points. Wisconsin has its own history in kickoff games, turning a 24-7 statement into a 28-24 stunner against LSU in Houston to open last season. With Melvin Gordon gone and a new coaching staff in at Wisconsin, the Tide should be heavy favorites here.
3. Washington at Boise State: Chris Petersen was 3-0 at home against Pac-12 opponents as Boise State’s head coach. Now he brings one to the blue turf. “It’s always hard when you’re playing your friends,” Petersen said last week. “We’ve done that over the years where you play some guys you’re very close to, and then certainly some of those kids we recruited over there. You don’t like to do that. But then when the game happens, the game happens.”
4. Louisville vs. Auburn (Georgia Dome, Atlanta): While we’re on the subject of awkward reunions, anyone up for Bobby Petrino and meeting up with Auburn in the Georgia Dome? With new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and the talented Jeremy Johnson under center, Auburn has been bestowed as the people’s SEC favorite.
5. Michigan at Utah: Let’s see. Utah made changes at both coordinator spots, looking to build on last season’s 9-4 finish and keep pace with the perpetually brutal Pac-12 South. Michigan will debut a new starting quarterback. The Wolverines will look for their first road win over a Power Five program since 2010 and snap a two-game losing streak to Utah. Oh, and it’s Jim Harbaugh’s first game as Michigan’s head coach. Can’t decide which is the most intriguing story line.
6. Texas at Notre Dame: The Irish are expected to compete for a New Year’s Day bowl, the Longhorns are still a major work in progress. But any time the second and third-winningest programs in college football meet – for just the third time since 1978 – it’s appointment viewing.
7. Ohio State at Virginia Tech: Ohio State opens its season with a shot at avenging its only loss of the 2014 season in a prime-time, exclusive Labor Day broadcast. Over/under number of Buckeyes throwing a touchdown pass is set at 2.5.
8. South Carolina vs. North Carolina (Bank of America, Charlotte): South Carolina’s disappointing season began with a stink bomb of a 52-28 opening night loss to Texas A&M, the Gamecocks’ only kickoff Thursday loss since the tradition began a decade ago. For its part, North Carolina was equally disappointing in 2014, turning a preseason top 25 ranking into a 6-7 finish. Each team made changes at the defensive coordinator spot (UNC hired Gene Chizik; South Carolina brought in Jon Hoke), which means each head coach will hold his breath that his unit can hold the other guy under 30.
9. Eastern Washington at Oregon: Wrapping up our theme of awkward reunions, how about former Eastern Washington quarterback possibly starting his first game as Oregon’s new quarterback against Eastern Washington. At least the two sides parted ways on good terms.
10. Youngstown State at Pittsburgh: Two programs debuting new head coaches – one coaches his first game as a head man, the other brings in a 67-27 career record at a Power Five program. Make sure you watch this game with your Twitter feed open.
Also receiving votes: BYU at Nebraska, SMU at Baylor, Michigan State at Western Michigan, Stanford at Northwestern, TCU at Minnesota,
Want your coordinators more involved on social media? Take a page from NC State
For all the programs out there that wish your coordinators were more active on social media, NC State has provided an interesting idea to put your own spin on....
