Brad
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Sounds like we got Tennessee’s OL coach, Harry Hiestand. He’s coached OL in the NFL and college for decades. I’m surprised its outside Kelly’s tree or comfort zone, but in general it seems like a pretty good hire.
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Erik 04
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Here’s a quip from Keith Arnold’s article: “Hiestand’s name hasn’t drawn rave reviews from the message board crowd, which you almost have to come to expect at this point.”
Haha, do you think he’s finally getting tired of the Dbags that hang out on his comments sections (not to mention all the other rabble on the interwebs)?
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SDI
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Depends upon who you ask. Apparently Tennessee’s running game has been horrible while he was there, which has some Vols fans happy to see him go. On the other hand, there are plenty of potential reasons for their poor running game that might not be within his ability to control, like really young/inexperienced linemen for example. Like most things related to the state of the ND program under Kelly, we’ll have to wait a while to see how this plays out. I think the fact that so many ND fans had a high opinion of Warriner and his performance makes many inclined to be more critical than usual of his replacement.
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Brad
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I would tend to think that Tennessee’s failure to run the ball well recently has much more to do with the overall state of that program, which has kinda been crushed ever since they kicked out a good coach for the Kiffykins. Youth on the line, and the fact that Tennessee plays in a conference with defenses like LSU, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
Its hard to judge assistant coaches, but the fact that this guy has coached offensive lines, and for the most part only offensives lines, for the last 30 years or so at the collegiate and NFL level is a pretty good sign. It also means he could be someone to provide some stability at the position, which there hasn’t been for years, since its doubtful at this point in time he is going to seek an opportunity to get a coordinator job.
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Mr. Wednesday
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I’d never judge an assistant’s potential based solely on a single stop with a team that’s mediocre or worse. Teams that are mediocre or worse tend to have much more significant problems than just that one assistant, and we’ve seen ample evidence from ND’s own past that coaches who don’t make much of an impression on a poor team can turn into building blocks of a great staff somewhere else.
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Brad
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Mr. Wednesday,
That’s a really good point. I suppose case-in-point would be Bob Davie’s staff. Those ND teams are never fondly remembered, but when Urban Meyer, Steve Addazio, Greg Mattison, and a good portion of other coaches under Davie’s staff got the band back together down at Florida, they seemed to go ok.
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borromini
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Yup…agree…that staff included Charlie Strong.
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