It has been brought upon my attention that we may only have O'Leary for the next two seasons, (including this one). I think the time is now that we, the fans of the UCF Knights and the University of Central Florida as an institution, weigh our options:

Some questions to stir up thought:

Do we hire from within? - If we hire from within, we keep a coach that knows the system, plays the same way (with his own twists of course), and has all the tools prepared for him to succeed, including coaches, facilities, recruits, playbooks, and fan support. (assuming he is deserving)

Do we take a chance and hire a big name, high cost, but high powered coach?

Do we keep our traditional stonewall defense, pro-style defense, or do we take this opportunity to clean house, start over, and take a modern approach to the game?

Do you have any ideas for replacements?

Hire From Within: Charlie Taaffe
Big Name, Big Cost Hire: Mike Riley (Oregon State) - Bowl record: 5-1 (wins against: '03 New Mexico, '04 Notre Dame, '06 Missouri, '07 Maryland, '08 Pittsburgh where Oregon State won 3-0 off a botched field goal hold by OSU)

Our defense should not change. WE NEED to stop making mistakes on special teams and minimize fumbles.

Personally, I hope the hiring of our Defensive coordinator and his staff is a home run, and that in two years time he makes the move up to HC (ASSUMING he is as good or better than Huxtable).

I think that Taaffe may be the shoe in though, if we hire from within. To look and see if this is the right decision (based on his performance since he took over the OC reins in 2009)

OFFENSE 2008

• Passing Statistics - 132 for 308 (42.9%); 1395 yards; 12 TD's; 11 Ints
• Rushing Statistics - 453 carries for 1359 yards; 3.0 Avg; 8 TD's
• Total - 2754 yards; 20 TD's
  

OFFENSE 2009 (Start of Taaffe leadership)

• Passing - 223 for 379 (58.8%); 2734 yards; 21 TD's; 13 Ints
• Rushing - 480 carries for 1697 Yards; 3.5 Avg; 20 TD's
• Total - 4431 Yards; 43 TD's
  

OFFENSE 2010

• Passing - 191 for 296 (64.5%); 2610 Yards; 16 TD's; 11 Ints
• Rushing - 602 Carries for 2626 Yards; 4.4 Avg; 35 TD's
• Total - 5236 Yards; 51 TD's
  

OFFENSE 2011

• Passing - 235 for 346 (67.9%); 2856 Yards; 11 TD's; 8 Int's
• Rushing - 466 Carries for 2025 Yards; 4.3 Avg; 27 TD's
• Total - 4881 Yards; 39 TD's
  

I think, if Taaffe continues to improve the offense as he clearly has... he may be our next Head Coach. And frankly, from the recruits, I haven't heard a bad thing about him yet. But is he head coach material?

Per wikipedia

Quote:In 1987, Taaffe was hired as head coach of The Citadel. In 1992 he coached what was arguably the best in The Citadel's history, finishing 11–2 and was the top ranked team at the end of the regular season. The team however lost to Youngstown State in the quarterfinals. For his efforts, Taaffe won the Eddie Robinson Award. In 10 seasons at The Citadel, his overall record was 55–47–1, including six seasons of .500 or better and is the school's winningest head coach.
Taaffe was suspended by the school for the entire 1996 season after his second drunken-driven arrest in three years. Taaffe admitted to the police that he had four to six beers prior to driving Charlie Taaffe was acquitted of the charges on February 6, 1997 after prosecutors failed to prove that Taaffe was under the influence when he was stopped. It was the second time he had been cleared of drunken driving.

Quote:Taaffe was Offensive Coordinator of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes from 1997 to 1998, helping the Als to a 25–10–1 record. In 1999 he became the team's head coach. With Taaffe at the helm, the Alouettes had a combined 25–14 record, including an appearance in the 2000 Grey Cup. For his efforts in 1999 and 2000, Taaffe won the Annis Stukus Trophy as the CFL's Coach of the Year, making him only the second Montreal coach to win the award (Marv Levy being the first in 1974) and the first coach in CFL history to earn the honor in each of his first two seasons.
While in Montreal, Taaffe's offenses put up some impressive numbers. In 2000, the Alouettes broke the CFL's all-time record for points in a regular season as they posted 594. Taaffe helped quarterback Anthony Calvillo to a 112.9 passer rating in 2000. Running back Mike Pringle also excelled in Taaffe's system, rushing for a league-best 1,656 yards in 1999.

What do you guys think?

I don't have a problem with Taaffe, but our offense hasn't been spectacular during his reign (I'm optimistic that it will become more complex with our two pocket QBs). I think we should do what everyone else is doing, steal a successful coach from a lower tier school and hope he sticks around instead of upgrading. While I hope that we keep our focus on defense (I would rather see a defensive battle than a shootout), I think we need to prioritize recruiting and success over defensive/offensive philosophy.

That being said, I would love to promote a qualified inside hire. We've had some good coaches pass through our system, like Chizik, and I would love to bring one of them back as HC or promote the next outstanding coach. Kelly at least looked the part before severely damaging the program. Speaking of Hux, how has he done since he left? We had a great defense under him and I would love to hire back someone like that (assuming he continued to be successful).

Apparently, Hux is now the DC at Pitt... interesting.

I wonder what he would say if we offered him the HC position?

I don't think we hire from within. I don't think it's a good idea. Taafe hasn't had good runs at head coaching positions in the past. There are several big names and under the radar names available : Bryan Harsin, Manny Dias, Jon Chavis, Budd Foster, Kirby Smart, and etc. There are plenty of big names available that we can hire. There's no reason why we couldn't nail down a good and capable coach that could take us to a whole new level.

Coaching is just a crap shoot. Look at Holtz, I thought he was a great hire for them, proven winner, up and coming coach but if he doesn't win this season, he's right on the hot seat. Remember how USM fans were lamenting Fedora's hire all the way until after they won the championship game? It's impossible to know which coaches are going to work out, you just have to find a winner and hope he stays a winner.

I am pretty excited for when we get a chance to start looking again, though.

If we start kicking ass these last GOL years; Coach Key is the guy I would to internally.

There's just too much unknown to project outside of the current staff (which has been a great influx of youth/non GOL cronies)

(07-22-2012 07:42 PM)CokeSlurpee711 Wrote:  If we start kicking ass these last GOL years; Coach Key is the guy I would to internally.

There's just too much unknown to project outside of the current staff (which has been a great influx of youth/non GOL cronies)

It certainly looks like Key is on the leadership's radar with this latest promotion to assistant coach. He and Callahan have been beasts on the recruiting trail. I agree, if this season's team lives up to the hype, we might have a few options on the staff.

Ftr I think our 4-3 defense and the pro style offends makes it easier to recruit and helps players that go to the pros. Gimmick offenses like the spread only help the recievers and some rbs. After Alex Smith and Tebow not too many people want to spend so much on a possible system Qb.

The only two internal candidates I see are Coach Key and Coach Beckton. Beckton is a UCF alum and has been around the program for a long time. I wouldn't doubt that he'd get some major boosters backing him.

But I think the best option is probably to go outside. We'll be in good shape to poach a successful coach from a non-BCS conference or a top BCS coordinator.

Key is definitely shining this year in recruiting, which makes me wonder why he hasn't been so effective in previous years. He's been with UCF for 8 seasons, so why is it just now that he's turned into a super-recruiter? Big East? Kelly kept him down? In any event, I like Coach Key, but he lacks experience as even a coordinator, let alone as a HC. I love his energy, but I'd rather get someone who at least has a proven track record as a coordinator. I think the next UCF coach will be from someone outside the program.

(07-24-2012 08:01 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Key is definitely shining this year in recruiting, which makes me wonder why he hasn't been so effective in previous years. He's been with UCF for 8 seasons, so why is it just now that he's turned into a super-recruiter? Big East? Kelly kept him down? In any event, I like Coach Key, but he lacks experience as even a coordinator, let alone as a HC. I love his energy, but I'd rather get someone who at least has a proven track record as a coordinator. I think the next UCF coach will be from someone outside the program.

Yeah, I generally agree with this. From what it sounds likes Coach Key is a great recruiter and very personable but I would like to see more from him in terms of on the field play. It does sound like he might have the edge right now with his promotion. Taafe would be interesting consideration but I keep having this nagging thought of lumping him together with GOL and thinking there won't be enough change or improvement in terms of likes and dislikes there are for GOL.

I personally think UCF will look within before heading out especially after this last group of coaches hired. I will be surprised if UCF makes a play for a big name outside of the university but if they do it's gotta be someone that understands the system we have in place as it is almost perfect in terms of Big East play with strong defenses and everyone not spreading it out and running/chucking like in C-USA.