punt16 Wrote:Dean is a stand-up guy and I will always respect him for what he has done for me and this program. There is only so much a man can take before he must move on and I can only wish he and Melody the very best. To me, he will always be "Coach."
I completely agree with you Punt. Not having been out of the program that long his decision still angers me a bit. I think a move like this upsets most of the players. You come to play at a school promising loyalty to the school, and to the head coach. It will be very difficult for some of the seniors and in some cases freshman to understand. I feel for the players, changing head coaches is something I didnt have to do but always dreaded the thought. The players respected Pees and his ways. But at the same time I understand, and I hope the players will too, that they must move on. Change in this case may be good. I still have a great amount of loyalty to Coach Pees. As my head coach he gave me the opportunity to play football, get an education, and become a better person. His core values are things that I have shaped me and will continue to affect me.
Feelings aside, I am happy for Coach Pees. To get an opportunity like this in the NFL is something you cannot pass up. If he feels this is the right move for him, great. Let him move on. And so will we. You have to remember that he passed up a job offer with the Patriots a few years back before they won the first Super Bowl, and he also passed on a job with Saban at LSU when Saban left MSU. He is basically a student of Belichieck, they are very close ... similar values, coaching strategies, attitude, and ran the same basic defensive system at MSU and Kent that the Patriots run. Pees has put everything he promised he would into this program, and I guess he finally decided to move on. I am not going to speculate on what prompted the move other than it is an awesome opportunity. I don't think we will ever know all the reasons for the move, nor do we need to know. I hope they win another championship next year and I hope we move on and up. All I can say is thanks coach.
As far as a new coach I think the best internal hire if it came to that would be Doug Martin. Don't forget that he has only been here a year. He is not old blood. He also came from a successful East Carolina team where he was the OC for many years, he is ready for a head coaching job. He came into the program and revitalized the offense, their attitude, their outlook. Having Cribbs helped but he is a very talented OC. He is extremely intense and his style would be great implemented across the O and the D. We already have basically two new DC's too, so the core of the staff is fairly new. After the season Pees hired these two new coaches for a fresh start, now they have an opportunity to make an impact. Think about it, bringing in a brand new coach and a brand new staff may just start this cycle of rebuilding the program all over again with brand new promises and frustrations. Then again if the best candidate is external hire him, don't limit ourselves to just internal candidates. But why not try to continue to develop and grow on what we have begun. To some we may not have started much but from a player perspective in the past 5 years its a huge difference. I say give Martin a shot at piggybacking on and improving what we have ..... we may be closer than some think.
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Coach Pees went to the Patriots!!!
I got the call this morning that things were about to shake down while I was on the road making calls. I could not wait to get home and see the buzz on this board.
