LB12Diamond said:
I concur.
Now who's a great coach that you think we can obtain right now.
Neither you or I know the answer to this because we don't know the situations of the coaches, what sort of discussions they've had with their Universities about NIL, 34 scholies, facility investments, etc.
With all of the, "yeah but..." out of the way here's the people that I personally wish we would talk to broken into tiers.
Tier 1:
- Brian O'Connor, UVA (will UVA pony up for scholarships and NIL?)
- Kevin O'Sullivan, UF (hoping his personal situation might have him moving, unlikely)
- Erik Bakich (hope and a prayer, unlikely)
Tier 2:
- Rob Vaughn, Bama (young, moderate success in the SEC, Texas boy)
- Dan McDonnell, Louisville (You'd have to ask, "what happened? and why?")
- Mitch Canham, Oregon State (might be nice to actually play a few home games Mitch!)
- Dan Fitzgerald, KU (this one may be too high but he's one I believe in. Limited track record but consistent improvement at a non-baseball school. History at DBU and LSU on the recruiting trail)
Tier 3:
- Wes Johnson, Georgia (limited track record, but impressive so far)
- Butch Thompson, Auburn (wins more than I give him credit for in the premier conference)
- Cliff Godwin, ECU (could he carry success to a major program?)
- Mark Wasikowski (can he win without Nike money? Is he tired of traveling to Happy Valley for a road trip?)
It's far from a complete, or perfect, list and it's sort of off the top of my head, but like most on this board I've been thinking about it for awhile. Vitello, Van Horn, etc. aren't on the list because I don't think they're attainable. Bakich probably isn't either, but I put him on nonetheless. I think Forbes is a really good coach as well, but he's never coached outside of a very small geographic region in the Carolinas, and I don't think he has any interest in leaving.
Of the probably attainable ones on there I'd say my rough wish list would be:
1. Brian O'Connor
2. Rob Vaughn
3. Dan Fitzgerald/Wes Johnson