Cignetti no longer an option

PSUForever

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I'm not sure that he could have or would have tolerated the lack of concern for academics that kids and parents have today
He would have adapted. Your arguments are comparing a 1970's Joe to modern CFB. That is apples to oranges. If NIL and the portal and paying players all burst on the scene in 1970 then Joe would adapt. He was a winner who was fiercely competitive. He would not sit idly by watching other programs race past him.
 
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Nittering Nabob

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Sep 17, 2024
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He would have adapted. Your arguments are comparing a 1970's Joe to modern CFB. That is apples to oranges. If NIL and the portal and paying players all burst on the scene in 1970 then Joe would adapt. He was a winner who was fiercely competitive. He would not sit idly by watching other programs race past him.
No. Joe would have reminded PSU football followers to re-lower their expectations
 

KingLando

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Nov 29, 2021
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Mark Cuban. He owned the Mavericks. He is an exceptionally astute businessman who will take risks and understands the business of sports. He wants to win and it helps that he is worth $6 Billion.
Facts...people underestimate his involvement. Good call out
 

MacNit

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Oct 12, 2021
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I expect a good hire- not a "huge" one.

In spite of what many of our fans seem to think, we are not and never have been a constant top five type program. We're not Bear Bryant's or Nick Saban's Alabama. We're not Bud Wilkenson's Oklahoma or John Robinson's USC or Ryan Day's tOSU either.

We are a top ten- fifteen type program, and will get a good coach, not a miracle worker.
Just the best program over a 50 year time frame 190-2000…but yeah…not good or consistently good.
 
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PSU4U

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I never thought Indiana would pay that amount of money for a football head coach. College football is nuts. Our fan base needs to become realistic. He’s off the table, Urban was never on the table, and Saban is not coming out of retirement. I also believe it’s highly unrealistic to think that ND would allow Freeman to get away. Realistically, this opening is for Campbell or Rhule most likely, possibly Stein or Sumrall as stretch hires to try to catch lightning like Cignetti.
They seem to have gotten very serious about their football. It's a brand new world.
 

cjrugger

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I never thought Indiana would pay that amount of money for a football head coach. College football is nuts. Our fan base needs to become realistic. He’s off the table, Urban was never on the table, and Saban is not coming out of retirement. I also believe it’s highly unrealistic to think that ND would allow Freeman to get away. Realistically, this opening is for Campbell or Rhule most likely, possibly Stein or Sumrall as stretch hires to try to catch lightning like Cignetti.
99% of know Urban and Saban aren’t on the table. There is a lunatic fringe of course
 
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Bvillebaron

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The point was that people reached out not knowing his availability and his feelings about attending a NW related function.

Fitz said he didn’t want to be a distraction by attending the celebration and take away from the kids. But he did come later after the celebration festivities to recognize the kids and have drinks with the kids and parents. He drove a couple of hours to spend a little time with kids he recruited who have now graduated.

Everyone I spoke to who had their kids recruited by Fitz all feel the same towards him. The comment was made that he does not have charisma. A ton of people I spent last weekend with would paint a very different picture.
I always like Fitzgerald as a person but Franklin was a nice guy, perhaps too nice to his players. But I’m sorry you don’t fire Franklin for not winning Big Ten and National Championships and replace him with Pat Fitzgerald.
 

MtNittany

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99% of know Urban and Saban aren’t on the table. There is a lunatic fringe of course
Lunatic fringe may be a bit strong. I'm one that believes no one is off the table until they say no. You'll never know til you ask. I wouldn't even want Saban and he would never take the job. Doesn't mean you don't try to talk to him. Maybe he can offer some advice.
 
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cjrugger

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Lunatic fringe may be a bit strong. I'm one that believes no one is off the table until they say no. You'll never know til you ask. I wouldn't even want Saban and he would never take the job. Doesn't mean you don't try to talk to him. Maybe he can offer some advice.
I don’t need to hear from him. Since 2018, Urban Meyer has coached 13 football games. His team went 2-11. On and off the field he was a disaster. He’s publicly pitching Dan Mullen for the job. I’m good
 

MrTailgate

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Oct 19, 2021
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I always like Fitzgerald as a person but Franklin was a nice guy, perhaps too nice to his players. But I’m sorry you don’t fire Franklin for not winning Big Ten and National Championships and replace him with Pat Fitzgerald.
I don’t disagree. You don’t fire Franklin just to hire Rhule, Fitz, or a lot of others. I agree that you have to go Saban or Urban just to make sure they both say no.
 

fastlax16

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Jan 1, 2014
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Pat Fitzgerald being floated around probably for this reason. Seems like a long shot.

One problem with Fitz is he's out of the game. He doesn't have a recruiting class or pieces of his current roster to bring with him, same issue as Brady. Given the portal and NIL, it's a big handicap.
 

lemonears

Senior
Oct 31, 2021
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Cignetti never was an option. He would be 65 years old in his first year as our coach. This disqualifies him from consideration. We don't need a new coach who retires after a year or two.
 

fastlax16

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Jan 1, 2014
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He can do both--the 2026 class isn't going to be great regardless--it wouldn't kill a portal class at all.
You hire the best coach--this hire isn't for 2026

Somewhat disagree. You're not going to win it all in 2026, but you can certainly cause a significant amount of damage. Cignetti got Indiana to the playoff in year one and he inherited far less with the Hoosiers than the next guy is going to inherit here.

The schedule is about as weak as one could possibly hope for. OOC is a joke. The top 3 opponents are Michigan, Washington and USC. Highly unlikely any of those are top 10 matchups. Unlikely all 3 are even top 25. There's still no excuse to drop games against Wisconsin, Rutgers, Purdue, Minnesota, NW or Maryland. If we do it means the new staff did a really poor job in the portal/retaining the current roster, and doesn't bode well for the future.

Dropping 4+ games against next years schedule would put the new coach in a very deep hole.
 

Catch1lion

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Stupid money just got way crazier. Social Security will count against his buyout though .🧐
 
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fastlax16

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Jan 1, 2014
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Alabama
Ohio State
Georgia
Michigan
Texas
USC
Oregon
Notre Dame

We are next at 9th. Who else? Okie, LSU, A&M all better jobs? Clemson, Florida, FSU?

We are a top 10 job.

Depends on who you ask. We are probably a top 5 job if you're talking to Matt Rhule or Al Golden.

Conversely, there are plenty of coaches from the south who would rather coach at Florida or LSU and have no interest in being north of the Mason Dixon line. Clemson, Florida, FSU and LSU have all won titles significantly more recently than we have.
 

KingLando

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Somewhat disagree. You're not going to win it all in 2026, but you can certainly cause a significant amount of damage. Cignetti got Indiana to the playoff in year one and he inherited far less with the Hoosiers than the next guy is going to inherit here.

The schedule is about as weak as one could possibly hope for. OOC is a joke. The top 3 opponents are Michigan, Washington and USC. Highly unlikely any of those are top 10 matchups. Unlikely all 3 are even top 25. There's still no excuse to drop games against Wisconsin, Rutgers, Purdue, Minnesota, NW or Maryland. If we do it means the new staff did a really poor job in the portal/retaining the current roster, and doesn't bode well for the future.

Dropping 4+ games against next years schedule would put the new coach in a very deep hole.
That's all fair. I see 9-3 worst case but I didn't think we'd be 3-3 this year so...
 

Blair10

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Dec 30, 2002
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“Coach runs the place.”

😞

History repeats itself is so true. The Indiana AD has fallen prey to the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out) disease. This is precisely what happened to former PSU AD Sandy Barbour when she panicked and got steamrolled by Franklin‘s agent.
 
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PSUForever

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They seem to have gotten very serious about their football. It's a brand new world.
Their basketball has been mediocre for 30 years so only their older fans understand that they were a hoops power. They hit a grand slam with Cignetti and now are ready to go all in on football.
 
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LMTLION

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Mar 20, 2008
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That’s the one who intrigues me the most. Don’t know if he’ll ultimately be the best candidate, but his track record with Burrow and Allen is pretty impressive.
I am mostly agree, but he called a stinker of a game on Monday night! And it’s not necessarily his fault, but the bills have the same issue we have in terms of average WRs without a true burner.
 
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s1uggo72

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Oct 12, 2021
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I don’t disagree. You don’t fire Franklin just to hire Rhule, Fitz, or a lot of others. I agree that you have to go Saban or Urban just to make sure they both say no.
That’s not why they fired CJF. He became intolerable, is why he’s gone
 
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MrTailgate

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That’s not why they fired CJF. He became intolerable, is why he’s gone
I’m not concerned as much with the fire as I am with the hire. I’d like to think there is a plan for both the remainder of the season and the search. I can’t say I have a warm and fuzzy feeling about Kraft. This is a crossroads hire.
 

SleepyLion

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Sep 1, 2022
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I am mostly agree, but he called a stinker of a game on Monday night! And it’s not necessarily his fault, but the bills have the same issue we have in terms of average WRs without a true burner.
The Bills franchise is well known for not being able to win the big games.
Boy
I
L
ike
Losing
Superbowls
 

Player2BNamedL8r

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I am mostly agree, but he called a stinker of a game on Monday night! And it’s not necessarily his fault, but the bills have the same issue we have in terms of average WRs without a true burner.
None are perfect, and certainly the fact that he’s never been a HC matters. But we need a guy who can develop QBs, and he seems to be one of those guys. Again, he may not ultimately be able to get the job done, but he’d be an intriguing hire nonetheless.
 

LMTLION

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None are perfect, and certainly the fact that he’s never been a HC matters. But we need a guy who can develop QBs, and he seems to be one of those guys. Again, he may not ultimately be able to get the job done, but he’d be an intriguing hire nonetheless.
A dream setup would be Campbell at HC and Joe Brady at OC. From what I can find Brady "only" makes $1.8M for the Bills. We pay more than that for coordinators!
 
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KingLando

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A dream setup would be Campbell at HC and Joe Brady at OC. From what I can find Brady "only" makes $1.8M for the Bills. We pay more than that for coordinators!
Pegula can match whatever we offer and he's going to get a HC role soon
Doubt he'd even consider leaving Josh Allen to come here and coach an unknown QB--is anyone that stupid?
 

PSUwolf

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Nov 11, 2014
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A dream setup would be Campbell at HC and Joe Brady at OC. From what I can find Brady "only" makes $1.8M for the Bills. We pay more than that for coordinators!
Yeah, we're paying our genius DC Knowles $3.1 million - boy, was that a bargain