Quarles

[Thorny]

As an ex Furman player and someone who knows Clay pretty well, there is nothing about his approach to anything that isn’t well thought out. He will make the best decision for the program. I believe this is his fifth year, so we should see his full signature in the next couple of years.
Steve Spurrier was an “offensive genius” with Connor Shaw, but became a much poorer offensive coach after him. QB is such a critical position, they can make coaches look great or bad. And fans who can’t differentiate the two issues are the majority of fans. Similar to Spurrier’s decline that led him to quit mid-season (classy), just look at Clemson’s offense this year. Trevor made the coaches look great and DJ made them look stupid. The problem with our offense this year was clear without calling anyone out.
Even the great Spurrier couldn’t overcome the same problem.

First off, I have never played football so my football IQ is probably in the bottom 10-20% of fans on here. Never met CCH in person either. I grew up going Furman games as a kid and played in the marching band. So, I'm more or less talking out my a**.

But, Spurrier always ran offenses that were pass happy/were heavily QB dependent. CCH seems to want to a run first offense and seems to put a lot emphases in recruiting RBs. I no longer live in the Southeast so I get all of my Furman football via ESPN3...where I basically heard all Spring via color commentary that the game plan was to take pressure off the QB by establishing the run game. I'm not saying the QB was a barn burner but in my completely uneducated opinion the tools were there to make that offense run and if not that was on the coaches for not recruiting who they needed, developing players and/or, putting together a game plan to take advantage of what they had. We had one Qb transfer out (seemed like he was not what the coaches were looking for), another QB leave because he thought he would be happier elsewhere, and CCH put his chips in the possession QB that, at least from outside, seems widely respected by his teammates. We couldn't run the ball and HS spent most of his time running for his life when he dropped back to throw last Spring...so basically I am really not willing to put this all on him.

CCH puts a huge emphasis on recruiting RBs...so my guess is that is what he considers to be the mission critical piece of the offense (they also get hit a lot more than QBs and need switched out to keep fresh so I get it) but if he needs a good QB for the offense to run...

/On the bright side, CCH stacking the team with RBs for a run first offense makes a hell of a lot more sense than Fowler stacking the team with WRs for a run first offense or Fowler's WRs breaking reception records in a run first offense. Sometimes I think that when the AD hired Fowler he told him that Furman fans wanted a run based offense and Fowler responded I can't do that but I can tell the fans that is what we are doing.

[Thorny]

Some good posts. I’m sure CH will think very hard about this No doubt. Clearly offense was our main issue this year. That and pass defense. This does give CH a clean slate with which to start his fifth? Year…. It will be interesting to see who and what type of offense he chooses. I am sure he will stay close to the run first and play action standard. We just need to find someone who can help us execute it better like Cronic could.

Execution of 15 plays perfectly ! Not 30+ plays pretty well. That’s who we need. Someone who can drill the OL etc into perfection

I've never seen one of Cronic's teams not struggle against a competent D line so I'm not sure that is who we should be looking for if we are trying to make runs in the post season.

/Even if the man's offenses are probably the most entertaining brand of football I've seen...

//I'm just not up for saying Cronic is an offensive genius quite yet.

[Furmanoid]

I just don’t see anything in BB’s resume that screams OC of playoff caliber FCS program. What am I missing?

What exactly in your opinion screams OC of a playoff caliber FCS program?

I think most get a minute or two of experience at some level, even HS, before taking over a college offense. Sure, programs like Clemson promote from within, but only when their offense is humming and they have guys who’ve hummed with it for a few years. When the offense was sputtering and Napier was canned, they hired from outside.

We’re already doing an experiment with the OL coach. Do we want the entire offense to be a learn on the job thing?

[The Jackal]

Not that this matters, but I found it interesting.

Bratton was the position coach for Furman’s two all time leading receivers - Gordon and Suttles.

He didn’t break school records, but he helped turn Deluca from a walk-on to four year starter at WR.

[Furmanoid]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

[The Jackal]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

Let me put it differently.

Hendrix and his last two offensive coordinators are 1/3 of all the head coaches in the Southern Conference.

Maybe he knows a bit better about picking good coaches than we do.

[FUBeAR]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

Let me put it differently.

Hendrix and his last two offensive coordinators are 1/3 of all the head coaches in the Southern Conference.

Maybe he knows a bit better about picking good coaches than we do.

It would even be correct (though somewhat slyly misleading ) to state:

The Head Coaches of the 2 Teams that most recently finished atop the SoCon were first ID’d & tapped by Coach Hendrix to serve as his OC before ascending to their current roles.

[The Jackal]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

So, on one hand, you'd have a former Furman all american and hall of famer, who has coached some of the top players in program history at their position, knows the offense, knows recruiting, committed to the program, and was on the staff with the SoCon's top offense 2 of the last 5 seasons.

On the other hand, we've got the young offensive coordinator from Kumquat State down in Bugtussle, Kansas with no connection to the university or the area whose last team put up 40 points a game in the Prairie Lands Conference.

No brainer, to me. Literally not even a second thought.

[cavedweller2]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

Let me put it differently.

Hendrix and his last two offensive coordinators are 1/3 of all the head coaches in the Southern Conference.

Maybe he knows a bit better about picking good coaches than we do.

It would be cool if all the head coaches in the SoCon were former Furman coaches.

[FUBeAR]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

Let me put it differently.

Hendrix and his last two offensive coordinators are 1/3 of all the head coaches in the Southern Conference.

Maybe he knows a bit better about picking good coaches than we do.

It would be cool if all the head coaches in the SoCon were former Furman coaches.

Conversely, it’s surprising to FUBeAR that they aren’t.

[The Jackal]

This is unrelated, but we're just now starting to see the post-2000s crowd of Furman players move into the upper levels of coaching.

Napier is the HC at Florida
Kitchings is RB coach for the Falcons and likely could be a FBS coordinator/FCS head coach if he wanted to be
Bratton at Furman
Thacker is the DC at Georgia Tech
Josh Stepp is the TE coach/RC at Georgia State
Justin Stepp is WR coach at USC
Adam Mims is WR coach at UTC
Maurice Duncan is DC at North Greenville
Carter Barfield is currently, I think, an offensive analyst at FSU, but had recent stints at Mercer and Georgia Southern
Patrick Covington is OC at Lamar

[FU3]

You make a very good argument for keeping him at WR coach. That is a COMPLETELY different job. And sure, when we get a successful offense going, by all means have him shadow the OC and learn that job. But right now he’s a good WR coach who may have spent the last few years learning all the ends and outs of a plodding offense. That was very valuable experience, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone who has run a good offense or at least assisted in one?

Of course now you’re going to say that the offense was actually really good and apaladin and I just imagined that it sucked.

So, on one hand, you'd have a former Furman all american and hall of famer, who has coached some of the top players in program history at their position, knows the offense, knows recruiting, committed to the program, and was on the staff with the SoCon's top offense 2 of the last 5 seasons.

On the other hand, we've got the young offensive coordinator from Kumquat State down in Bugtussle, Kansas with no connection to the university or the area whose last team put up 40 points a game in the Prairie Lands Conference.

No brainer, to me. Literally not even a second thought.

But a HS HC with absolutely no college coaching experience with ties to the university and living in Tennessee was a no brainer to be an OC? BB might end up being the greatest OC in Furman history but like several others on here I would hope that there would be a serious evaluation of other candidates.Our O certainly got better late in last season but our success
was against some, to put it mildly, inferior D.There are lots of really good coaches outside of Bugtussle, Kansas who would look at Furman as a great opportunity. In any event these type of hires make or break HC’s Our last coaching regime paid the price for sticking with someone who had long University ties and not seeking out someone from the outside.

[Furmanoid]

I think Jackal is just doing that lawyer argument stuff. He doesn’t really think it’s a no brainer.

If you have a guy who has racked up a stellar record as OC beating Avocado St., Hooterville Tech and Pixley College he at least should get an interview.

On the other hand you’ve got a guy who coaches route running and pass catching for an offense that struggles to pass the ball against former Howard Teachers College, the Charleston school of cosplay, the Terriers of a school 1/3 the size of Kumquat State, something called ETSU and a Virginia team that is among the worst in football history. Maybe this guy gets the job and does great, but it isn’t a no brainer.

If CCH hires from outside does that mean he’s brainless?

[AstroDin]

This is unrelated, but we're just now starting to see the post-2000s crowd of Furman players move into the upper levels of coaching.

Napier is the HC at Florida
Kitchings is RB coach for the Falcons and likely could be a FBS coordinator/FCS head coach if he wanted to be
Bratton at Furman
Thacker is the DC at Georgia Tech
Josh Stepp is the TE coach/RC at Georgia State
Justin Stepp is WR coach at USC
Adam Mims is WR coach at UTC
Maurice Duncan is DC at North Greenville
Carter Barfield is currently, I think, an offensive analyst at FSU, but had recent stints at Mercer and Georgia Southern
Patrick Covington is OC at Lamar

We're missing another ex-player > > >
https://twitter.com/coachbrighamuab

[AstroDin]

No matter what Furman will need a Quarterback coach. I don't think we have anyone on staff that could move into that position coach.

I'm also guessing here CCH has some money to use to lure a quality QB coach - remember he has three buckets of money to use at his discretion. I believe one of the 1 MIL donations was exclusively for assistant coaches.

Watching Napier build his staff in Florida is interesting to watch… I'd like to see Bratton rewarded and put in the position to continue to grow. Furman could do something similar to what Clemson did when they had co-offensive coordinators. Bratton Passing Game Coordinator CO-OC, the new coach comes in as QB coach and CO-OC.