EXCLUSIVE: Mike Gundy Says He’s Pointing to Outside To Hire New Defensive Coordinator

I can see Mike wanting a veteran Coordinator for the DC position!

OH YEA!!!!

It doesn't sound like he's looking at nfl coaches it sounds like he's looking at college coaches that the nfl may have interest in. So he going hire over his current staff, like I said comfort and consistency not loyalty.

Most of the desirable College Coaches are gone and most of the NFL teams with coach firing have happened. Rumor that Dallas HC is on hot seat so is there a defensive coach at Dallas that we have interest in hiring. I liked Glenn Spencer when he was here. Is it possible he might return? Charlie Strong may not fit the Cowboy Culture and he stole some of OSU coaches when he was at Texas. Knowing Gundy, he will probably bring in a High School or Division III DC out of Texas!

I'm looking at maybe Karl Dunbar, dl coach Steelers, was at OSU and then LSU. Also maybe Reggie Herring LB coach Denver, many years at OSU, has also interviewed in the past for Denvers DC. And maybe the DL coach of the Rams who was a grad assistant at OSU. Maybe others.

RA's article clearly states that MG wants someone that has experience calling plays. Dunbar, doesn't fit that mold. Herring isn't coming. He's locked in to the NFL.
Whoever it is will be fighting an uphill battle. Following a year in which we overachieved on the defensive side, anything will be something less than that. Add that we lost a ton of experience in the back end of the defense.
If we truly want to stake a claim to having an on the move FB program we need to hire a very successful, experienced DC. Preferably one that has experience in defensive systems that we run.

If I had to bet on what Gundy is doing, here it is.
First, he isn't interested in a DC that has his own system. Gundy will want to continue Knowles system. There's plenty of experience both on the sidelines and on the field with Knowles system. So there's no trepidation for the team and coaches learning a new system.
Second, as Gundy stated, he's looking for a play caller. Apparently the experience and aptitude in calling plays is what's missing on the current staff.
So, the task is not finding the name DC with a history of success, it's finding a successful/experienced play caller willing to embrace Knowles system.
I find it unlikely the DC hire will be a splash because splashy DCs will want to run their own system. Instead I think the hire will be underwhelming from an accomplishment standpoint, but intriguing as a continuation of what Knowles (and the rest of the defensive staff) built.
All of the above considered may be why Gundy is in no hurry and why it may take time to find the right guy.

In my view, someone who can use and absorb what we've had going under Knowles will be a key screening point, but what I would hope Mike Gundy may be seeking is also someone who fits two key success components: being a top notch recruiter and play caller/adjustment guy during the games. Knowles obviously didn't have a cookie cutter answer to everything the offense did, but instead adjusted well during a game and/or halftime. The current staff appeared to get that done in the Fiesta Bowl as well during the second half of the second quarter and on through halftime. And to me, adding a top notch recruiter at an important level position on defense likely means bringing a younger and/or minority coach onto the team. OSU's staff overall is getting a little long in the tooth and college football in general and OSU to a lessor extent haven't kept up with moving minority candidates to important level jobs in major football programs that actually have the opportunity to win. As we've seen in OSU Basketball recruiting, there does seem to be a direct impact from the eyes of recruits when schools are willing to move beyond the past trends in such hires. IMO, Gundy successfully balancing those issues may be key to maintaining momentum. Having said all that, obviously if Jim Knowles (or his mentor Gary Patterson) called up and said "hey I made a mistake and want to come home to OSU" you likely put him back in place in a blink unless there were bridges burned, as Knowles seemed to be a wizard without checking any boxes on youth or minority status. And recruiting and player loyalty/morale either due to him or regardless of him seemed to be about as good or better than ever on our Defense during his stay.

So with all the suspense due to waiting it must be an NFL coach still in the playoffs is my guess. If he wanted to keep everything the same he would have promoted from current coaches. Knowles may be the only person who can call plays under his system. My feeling is Gundy is wanting to hire someone who will stay until he retires in ten-years, so someone in their 40's or 50's. I think we probably will lose other defensive staff due to an outside DC coming in as they will want to bring in their own coaches.

I'll be shocked if it's an NFL guy.... they already make big money, and work half as hard.

College coaching is many times harder because of recruiting.... it never ends (plus player development)

college goes through "spring ball", summer camps, plus 24/7 recruiting.

When we hired Miles, he went from Position coach (TE), to head coach.

Have we ever brought in a defensive position coach from the NFL? (at least in the past 10 years, since all this grad-transfer, portal and NIL stuff started)

quick, somebody do a stats search and find the most obscure DC, who runs a similar defense.... maybe an NAIA guy. (clearly poking fun a our HC)

1slowpoke said:

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So with all the suspense due to waiting it must be an NFL coach still in the playoffs is my guess. If he wanted to keep everything the same he would have promoted from current coaches. Knowles may be the only person who can call plays under his system. My feeling is Gundy is wanting to hire someone who will stay until he retires in ten-years, so someone in their 40's or 50's. I think we probably will lose other defensive staff due to an outside DC coming in as they will want to bring in their own coaches.

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Didn't our staff just call the bowl game? But another DC or coach can learn what we did. It's not rocket science. Knowles learned from Patterson! Then morphed the defense when he got here because what he was doing wasn't working like he thought it would. Additionally, the guys that were playing the most snaps this year had been in the defense for at least 2 years and likely 3 or 4. Knowles even said his ability to get more complex with his defense is that the guys had so many snaps under their belt.

Orangeheart72 said:

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In my view, someone who can use and absorb what we've had going under Knowles will be a key screening point, but what I would hope Mike Gundy may be seeking is also someone who fits two key success components: being a top notch recruiter and play caller/adjustment guy during the games. Knowles obviously didn't have a cookie cutter answer to everything the offense did, but instead adjusted well during a game and/or halftime. The current staff appeared to get that done in the Fiesta Bowl as well during the second half of the second quarter and on through halftime. And to me, adding a top notch recruiter at an important level position on defense likely means bringing a younger and/or minority coach onto the team. OSU's staff overall is getting a little long in the tooth and college football in general and OSU to a lessor extent haven't kept up with moving minority candidates to important level jobs in major football programs that actually have the opportunity to win. As we've seen in OSU Basketball recruiting, there does seem to be a direct impact from the eyes of recruits when schools are willing to move beyond the past trends in such hires. IMO, Gundy successfully balancing those issues may be key to maintaining momentum. Having said all that, obviously if Jim Knowles (or his mentor Gary Patterson) called up and said "hey I made a mistake and want to come home to OSU" you likely put him back in place in a blink unless there were bridges burned, as Knowles seemed to be a wizard without checking any boxes on youth or minority status. And recruiting and player loyalty/morale either due to him or regardless of him seemed to be about as good or better than ever on our Defense during his stay.

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Knowles rarely left campus to recruit.

Possibly wayyy out in left field, but to me this sounds like Gundy is waiting to see what happens at tOSU. Ryan Day's name has come up often for NFL vacancies (Bears primarily). So, what if an NFL team poaches him? What happens to Knowles at that point? In my mind, Gundy is just waiting on all the chips to fall, and hopefully pluck an unthought of casualty out of it.

Eclectic said:

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Possibly wayyy out in left field, but to me this sounds like Gundy is waiting to see what happens at tOSU. Ryan Day's name has come up often for NFL vacancies (Bears primarily). So, what if an NFL team poaches him? What happens to Knowles at that point? In my mind, Gundy is just waiting on all the chips to fall, and hopefully pluck an unthought of casualty out of it.

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I guess we could hope for that. I know the Bears have interviewed Pederson (former Super Bowl winning HC with the Eagles). They would like to interview Harbaugh. But I'm not sure the Knowles ship hasn't sailed. I have this uneasy feeling that Mike wasn't happy with the way Knowles left. I could be wrong about that feeling.

Sorry Robert, Yurcich came to OSU from Shippensburg U., not Slippery Rock U.

Truth, I didn't qualify the recruiting to field recruiting. I simply meant the quality of recruiting outcomes needs to stay at high level. Knowles success, style and coaching seemed to encourage defensive recruit's interest. I don't care how it's accomplished, but the DC needs to be able to keep attracting difference makers. But I get the idea I may be giving the DC too much credit for impacting this.

Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC running game and DL position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal. Gundy may need to announce new DC now to stop the bleeding or we will lose additional players to the portal.

Orangeheart72 said:

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Truth, I didn't qualify the recruiting to field recruiting. I simply meant the quality of recruiting outcomes needs to stay at high level. Knowles success, style and coaching seemed to encourage defensive recruit's interest. I don't care how it's accomplished, but the DC needs to be able to keep attracting difference makers. But I get the idea I may be giving the DC too much credit for impacting this.

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Gotcha!

1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

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This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC running game and DL position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal. Gundy may need to announce new DC now to stop the bleeding or we will lose additional players to the portal.

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Who says additional players will enter the portal? Or are you just quoting idle chatter, or voices in your head?

NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

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This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

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Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

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This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

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Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

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A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

NJAggie said:

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

---

This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

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Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

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A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

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I think your naive. Asst. coaches aspire to locations like the tOSU. Contracts are made to and are broken everyday.

Dallas lost so Jerry will fire McCarthy and Quinn will be available unless he gets HC gig with Broncos!

NJAggie said:

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

---

This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

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Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

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A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

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I wish I had the time to point out how many things are wrong with this post.

thetruth said:

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NJAggie said:

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

---

This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

---

Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

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A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

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I think your naive. Asst. coaches aspire to locations like the tOSU. Contracts are made to and are broken everyday.

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I'm far from naive. I'm saying that Ohio State could hire away or DL coach who got passed over again, but they wouldn't have been able to hire away our DC to be their DL coach. Not promoting increases your chance of losing good coaches.

OSU needs to increase our assistant coach salary to prevent losing coaches every year.

NJAggie said:

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thetruth said:

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NJAggie said:

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

---

This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

---

Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

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A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

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I think your naive. Asst. coaches aspire to locations like the tOSU. Contracts are made to and are broken everyday.

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I'm far from naive. I'm saying that Ohio State could hire away or DL coach who got passed over again, but they wouldn't have been able to hire away our DC to be their DL coach. Not promoting increases your chance of losing good coaches.

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So Gundy should promote coaches he believes are not ready/capable/right for the job? What would he then do with the coaches he can't promote because there's no place to promote them to?

Jones is keeping McCarthy blaming 14 penalties on the loss to SFC so we probably don't get DC from Dallas now! Nothing official on Clements to tOSU anywhere. tOSU fan are happy Washington is going to ND blaming him for their poor defense this year.

GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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thetruth said:

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NJAggie said:

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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NJAggie said:

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1slowpoke said:

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Apparently Ohio State DL coach accepted DC position at ND and now Ohio State offered DL position to Clements and he will join Knowles. Other sites reporting this but no official announcement by Clements. They are saying additional defensive players will be entering the transfer portal.

---

This is very disappointing. And, something I feared when he decided to go outside the staff for the DC. I wonder if the delay could be a late DC offer from Gundy? Probably not.

It would sure seem Gundy's fear of losing someone in days after their hire could have been secured contractually instead of waiting for everyone to hire before he does.

---

Do you really think a new contract with Ok St would stop tOSU?

---

A new DC's contract would have stopped it, and I'm not shocked he's leaving. I wouldn't have been shocked had he gone anywhere I just think it was a good fit for Knowles when the hole opened.

If you don't promote your staff it tells them its time to leave. You can give them all the reasons and logic you want, but in the end you decided they weren't who you wanted so it says time to look elsewhere.

As for other players, with no DC to steady the ship and coaches leaving the Twitter report of players heading to the portal may not be based on facts, but its a likely outcome.

We have a tendency as humans to fight the last war. Gundy's attempt to not lose a DC hire to the NFL may wind up being more serious than not trying to find one before the NFL is settled. Who knows maybe Gundy has a coach with an NFL team in the playoffs that plans to jump over and bring a coach or two with him, and so this is all just clearing house to let that happen. We'll see where it winds up, but right now its not looking so good.

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I think your naive. Asst. coaches aspire to locations like the tOSU. Contracts are made to and are broken everyday.

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I'm far from naive. I'm saying that Ohio State could hire away or DL coach who got passed over again, but they wouldn't have been able to hire away our DC to be their DL coach. Not promoting increases your chance of losing good coaches.

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So Gundy should promote coaches he believes are not ready/capable/right for the job? What would he then do with the coaches he can't promote because there's no place to promote them to?

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Well I would think that weeks of time spent determining he wants to go elsewhere hardly speaks to JBC being incompetent. Gundy just wanted to go another direction. And, by doing that he's opened this up to loss of coaches and players. I'm not sure those losses are worth the marginal improvement promotion would have lead to. Look how much turnover we had on the offensive staff when he hired the kid from Princeton. And, that kid ran off (or was run off) after only one season. So we basically rented a kid of a year before promoting from within. And, any DC on the lists of the NFL wish lists I've seen will be gone in one or two years.

Seems to me the fact that Dabo and Sabin are the only coaches who've been more successful than Gundy in approximately the last 10 years speaks to the fact Gundy knows what he's doing most the time. Better hope Gundy's not waiting on something for himself!

Orangeheart72 said:

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Seems to me the fact that Dabo and Sabin are the only coaches who've been more successful than Gundy in approximately the last 10 years speaks to the fact Gundy knows what he's doing most the time. Better hope Gundy's not waiting on something for himself!

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I'm not really sure what a defense based on random statistics is supposed to mean.... why 10 years? why not compare him to up-and-comers? Besides, the landscape just changed with grad-transfers, portal and NIL, so history is more and more irrelevant

Isn't it Gundy's own admission that our success is based almost solely on stability?

one thing is pretty clear based on reading the threads and other posted messages.... Gundy has succeeded in turning the fans on each other.... yeah coach.

CaliforniaCowboy said:

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Orangeheart72 said:

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Seems to me the fact that Dabo and Sabin are the only coaches who've been more successful than Gundy in approximately the last 10 years speaks to the fact Gundy knows what he's doing most the time. Better hope Gundy's not waiting on something for himself!

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I'm not really sure what a defense based on random statistics is supposed to mean.... why 10 years? why not compare him to up-and-comers? Besides, the landscape just changed with grad-transfers, portal and NIL, so history is more and more irrelevant

Isn't it Gundy's own admission that our success is based almost solely on stability?

one thing is pretty clear based on reading the threads and other posted messages.... Gundy has succeeded in turning the fans on each other.... yeah coach.

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Gundy has nothing to do with how fans react. Thats on them. Fans are psychotic.

Seems with only 8 NFL teams alive after tonight game that we know soon our new DC!