Jeff Quinn Archives - Her Loyal Sons

Jeff Quinn Promoted; Offseason Angst Begins

Ryan Ritter — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 06:16:07 +0000

It’s a tradition unlike any other. At some point in the offseason, Notre Dame fans cause a great disturbance in the Force.

Jeff Quinn has been promoted to Offensive Line coach for the Irish.

More: https://t.co/nwUe4YVjif #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/atTQsxLluj

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 23, 2018

Well…except for the whole “suddenly silenced” part.

Look, I get it. Just as we thought Notre Dame completed the fumigation of the BVG stank, Brian Kelly went and did the one thing that Irish fans will forever associate with BVG and never forgive him for: hiring (or in this case, promoting) within his comfort zone. Not only that, he basically hired his best friend, Jeff Quinn, whom many will remember as BK’s right-hand man and offensive coordinator during Kelly’s rise through the coaching ranks.

On paper, it’s absolutely an underwhelming hire, especially considering that any rumors or smoke swirling around the offensive line vacancy stayed far away from Quinn. I’m not here to sell you on it. In fact, I’m not even here to calm you down.

What I will say is that assistant coaching hires seem, from my perspective, to be a total crap-shoot. I was a little nervous last offseason that BK took Wake Forest’s defensive coordinator and then hired a guy from Memphis that had only a single season as offensive coordinator under his belt. Where there encouraging metrics to lessen the blow? Sure! Was there worry that this was 100% going to blow up in BK’s face? You bet!

In all honesty, Kelly’s hires and promotions this offseason have been largely outside his comfort zone. While Clark Lea’s promotion was certainly a move to maintain continuity from Mike Elko, he’s far from a “BK guy” and 2018 will be his first season as a defensive coordinator. Terry Joseph’s hire as the new safeties coach is also a bit out of left field (baseball pun absolutely intended) for BK as well:

It was Tierney’s understanding there was no past coaching connection between Joseph and ND head coach Brian Kelly or any of the current members of the Irish coaching staff.

“He said it came out of the clear blue,” Tierney said. “He had gotten a phone call, asked if he had any interest. Once he got clearance from North Carolina to talk to Notre Dame, it kind of just took off from there.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t be overly surprising that BK decided to make one pick of comfort with that in mind. Plus, let’s not forget that very few (if any) Irish fans were singing Harry Hiestand’s praises when he was announced as well.

No matter what side of the BK fence you find yourself on, let me give you some “BK Practices Networking 101 Hiring Comfort” around a handful of talking points:

What in the World Does Chip Long Think?

Keep BK: This move likely wasn’t made without Long’s input. Perhaps Quinn has been a bit of a mentor for the young coordinator as well. Maybe it wasn’t “option A” as far as Long was concerned, but certainly not an option that he feels threatens him or what he wants to do on offense.

Fire BK: Hiring a former offensive coordinator best buddy is a sure-fire way to cause internal strife within the staff and locker room. That BVG nail almost has BK’s coffin closed as-is and, if this blows up in his face too, it’s going to be near impossible to justify keeping BK around.

The Recruiting Trail

Keep BK: Yes, Quinn isn’t known as an all-star recruiter, but neither was Hiestand. In fact, that was one of the biggest criticisms running around after his hire and everything worked out just fine. The cupboard is well-stocked and as long as Quinn keeps things humming, the position under BK should basically recruit itself.

Fire BK: Remember how the BVG defense was such ass and we all thought “damn, just how good was Jaylon Smith?!” Or when Kizer struggled mightily in 2016 and his first year in the NFL and we thought “damn, just how good was Will Fuller?!” Won’t that be a not fun exercise to do for good ‘ol Harry if the bottom falls out of just one class? The guy hasn’t had to hit the recruiting trail since 2014 and, spoiler alert, he wasn’t exactly making any kind of meaningful waves at Buffalo.

Can Quinn Produce NFL Talent?

Keep BK: When you tune in to the Super Bowl next Sunday, you’ll see Jason Kleece lining up for the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s been to two Pro Bowls. Seems good, no? He’s not the only NFL draftee that’s served under Quinn on the line either and Quinn hasn’t had the benefit of the talent pool that Notre Dame has.

Fire BK: Can we not judge success here and there at Central Michigan and Cincinnati as sure-fire guarantees? Because, ya know, there’s a guy in charge that hasn’t fully translated that same success and it’s year number nine at ND for him. Quinn’s walking into a situation in which two departing first round picks are leaving the line and the occasional late-round draft pick isn’t exactly the replacement production needed to fill those shoes.

The BK Buddy System

Keep BK: Look, BVG was bad, but beyond that BK’s network hasn’t been that bad. Charlie Molnar would be the only other example and, hilariously, people would’ve preferred Quinn as offensive coordinator at the time–but, don’t forget Molnar had an offense that beat Southern Cal, in their house, with one Thomas Rees leading the charge. Paul Longo could be another one, but are you really going to lay loads of blame at a strength and conditioning coach? It’s just a position coach. It’s fine.

Fire BK: This BK comfort zone is a systemic issue. If the narrative of 2017 was that BK had to change everything down to doing yoga and avoiding fundraisers, why in the blue hell would he revert to old habits after a single ten-win season? Can someone remind me of the definition of insanity?! Let’s go ahead and throw Lea onto this pile as well because arguably the two biggest coaching vacancies have been promotions within. And let’s not even start with Mr. Tom Rees because BRANDON, NO was not fun this season.

How Are You Feeling About Next Season?

Keep BK: Not great. ND has loads of questions beyond the new coaching hires. It’ll likely be rough. Send booze.

Fire BK: Not great. ND will somehow win just enough for BK to keep his job. It’ll likely be rough. Send booze.

The post Jeff Quinn Promoted; Offseason Angst Begins appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Urban Meyer Better Than Brian Kelly In Most Ways

andrewwinn — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 14:58:41 +0000

Courtesy of ESPN

This entry is part of Her Loyal Sons’ continuing Fiesta Bowl preview series: Defensive preview, Ezekiel Elliott accident, Costume Gameday, offensive preview, Injured Irish returning, comprehensive bowl overview. Today, we examine the coaches.

By almost all metrics, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer has had a more successful career recently than Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly. Let’s compare:

HEAD-TO-HEAD (ON THE FIELD)

Kelly and Meyer have never faced each other. The pair were on a collision course to the 2010 Sugar Bowl, with Kelly’s Cincinnati squad emerging as a undefeated Group of 5 powerhouse and Meyer’s team blemished only by a loss to #2 Alabama in the SEC title game. Kelly scuttled those plans, however, when he left the university to accept the job at Notre Dame. Meyer’s Florida squad dismantled the Bearcats, 51-24. Jeff Quinn, now an offensive analyst for Notre Dame, replaced Kelly as Cincinnati’s coach that day.

CURIOUS CONNECTIONS

@CoachBrianKelly/Twitter

Meyer announced an indefinite hiatus from coaching before the Sugar Bowl, citing health and family reasons. (Kelly reached out to the departing coach after he was hospitalized.) During that break – and under the auspices of Kelly at Notre Dame – Meyer was the featured presenter at the university’s football coaches clinic.

Meyer had strong ties to the university, having once served as an assistant under both former Irish coaches Lou Holtz and Bob Davie. Then-athletic director Kevin White had a meeting with Meyer to discuss the Irish’s head coaching vacancy after Ty Willingham’s dismissal, but Meyer had already made up his mind to coach at Florida for “family reasons.”

As recently as 2008, Meyer still considered being Notre Dame’s head coach to be his “dream job.” Although never officially confirmed, Meyer allegedly asked Notre Dame to consider relaxing academic requirements so that he could recruit better players.

Meyer also holds strong ties to Cincinnati, where Kelly coached before Notre Dame. It’s his alma mater. It’s his father’s alma mater. He met his wife there. His sister, Gigi Escoe, is vice president of undergraduate affairs. Meyer even attended practices at Cincinnati while Kelly was coaching there.

Four of Meyer’s current coaching staff have worked previously for Kelly.

Kelly knows that he coaches in the shadow of Meyer, as some Irish fans wonder what could have been. He even joked about it, in a press conference soon after the bowl pairing was announced:

We’re going to wrestle, arm wrestle before the game, and whoever wins gets the Notre Dame job. No, I mean, I think that’s just great talk for the fans, and Urban is a great coach. Who knows; I’m not going to be here forever. Maybe he’ll get a chance one day to coach at Notre Dame if that’s what he wants.

JUST WIN, BABY

Here’s a welcome coincidence for comparison purposes: Urban Meyer and Brian Kelly have coached 77 games against FBS-level opponents in their last six years of coaching. For Kelly, this encompasses his entire tenure at Notre Dame. For Meyer, it’s his last two seasons at Florida and his first four at Ohio State.

Urban Meyer is a more successful coach than Brian Kelly in that 77 game stretch.

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Urban Meyer teams scored more points than Brian Kelly teams in that period.

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Urban Meyer teams won more games against ranked opponents than Brian Kelly teams in that time.

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Urban Meyer teams won more big games than Brian Kelly teams.

Ranked vs. Opp Ranked
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Vs. Teams Over .500
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Via ESPN

But as Lou Holtz is fond of saying, “You don’t have to be the best team in the country. But we do have to be the best team in the stadium today.”

Kelly does have one statistical advantage. He’s 12-3 in games played on neutral sites, while Meyer is just 8-3. That’s a bit misleading. Kelly’s neutral site games were mostly against Navy and underwhelming competition in the Shamrock Series. Meyer’s teams were playing for conference titles, big bowl wins and national championships.

HEAD-TO-HEAD (OFF FIELD)

(Photo via @NDfootball)

Brian Kelly’s student-athletes are more successful in the classroom than Urban Meyer’s, although Meyer has been trending up.

In the early 2000s, the NCAA created the Graduation Success Rate for Division I colleges. Here’s a quick explanation before we get to the numbers:

The GSR holds colleges accountable for those student-athletes who transfer into their school. Second, the GSR does not penalize colleges whose student-athletes transfer in good academic standing. Essentially, those student-athletes are moved into another college’s cohort.

Meyer’s Florida team from 2009-10 scored a 67, while his 2010-11 team scored a 76. At Ohio State, he’s logged GSRs of 75, 78 and 81.

Kelly’s team remains among the standard bearers for successful student-athletes. Since 2010-11, Kelly’s teams have scored 97, 97, 93, 94 and 93.

***

Since Meyer joined Ohio State on Nov. 28, 2011, he and Kelly have battled repeatedly for prized midwest recruits.

In total, 77 student-athletes held offers from both Ohio State & Notre Dame and ultimately chose one of those two schools. (My data is collected from Scout.com.)

Urban Meyer and his recruiting team have won 43 head-to-head battles, while Brian Kelly and his staff have prevailed in 34 contests. Winning a national championship has certainly helped: Meyer has landed 13 commits who also held a Notre Dame offer since taking the trophy; Kelly has landed 8 in the same time period.

Meyer’s big splash in his return to coaching also convinced many high schoolers to sign on the dotted line. Ohio State won 9 consecutive recruits against Notre Dame between December 2011 and February 2012. (The player to break that streak – Davonte’ Neal – is no longer with the Irish.)

Notre Dame’s best run against Ohio State was 5, which occurred between April 2012 (Mike Heuerman) and January 2013 (Max Redfield). It’s likely no coincidence that this was also the time the Irish made its bid for the championship.

Ohio State has done an excellent job of keeping talent in state, landing 20 commits that also held competing offers from Notre Dame. Notre Dame has just six commits from Ohio who also had Buckeye scholarship offers.

Notre Dame and Ohio State have each grabbed five recruits from Florida, Meyer’s old stomping grounds and three each from Michigan, which borders both universities’ homes. Notre Dame has dominated Illinois, picking up four recruits to Ohio State’s one. The Irish also lead in their home state of Indiana, two recruits (Jaylon Smith & Josh Barajas) to one (Austin Mack).

Ohio State has grabbed five 5-star talents to Notre Dame’s 2. The Buckeyes also attract more 4-star talent: 38 commits with competing Notre Dame offers to the Irish’s 29.

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