If Riley left...

by The VD Special on Oct 11, 2008 3:53 AM PDT Comment 19 comments

I've been thinking a lot lately about the soon to be head coaching vacancies at UW and UA. I started wondering: If Mike Riley left, who would be our coach? It's not like Oregon State is a top job, and it could be hard (expensive) to lure a big name coach out here. So, in the oft chance that Coach Riley decides to up and leave for a bigger program (he has interviewed with big name programs before), who would be an actual candidate? Obviously there would have to be some ties to this state and/or a reason for this coach to want to coach here, and I'd love to hear all your thoughts, even you JShufelt.

My first choice would be Bronco Mendenhall, head coach of BYU. He is an Oregon State grad and obviously has developed a great team over there in Provo. Any chance Rich Brooks would want to come home and coach for his alma mater against the program that he built at Oregon? What about Chris Petersen? Eventually the BCS program itch is going to hit him and he will leave Boise State. Anyways, can't wait to hear what you guys have to say. GO BEAVS!

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the worst case scenario now is...

for Riley to leave. Up to half way through 2006, I was highly critical of Riley for many different reasons. I still had an Erickson-leaving hangover. But after what happened in 06 and 07, I’m more than grateful for what we have as a head coach.

Riley is not only a respectable coach, he’s a stand up guy. Full of integrity. You want that in a hometown program. Some may even see him as too nice, but as long as he’s winning, that’s alright with me. There are a lot of coaches out there that are good guys, but I think there are few that have Riley’s character.

One coach that does for sure is Chris Peterson. If Riley left, he would be my top pick. He’s the kind of guy that’s always at the hospital visiting children with cancer. He’s a nice guy, but at the same time, he can chew out his players into playing better. An offensive genius, who will always attract a great coaching staff, along with top recruits.

Last I checked, BSU had more top recruits, verbal commits, than any other Pac 10 team. It would take ALOT for him to leave Boise, for a lot of reasons, I think.

Jeremy

by olzeke on Oct 11, 2008 7:23 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

No...

USC, UO, ASU, and Cal have better recruiting classes than BSU on a year in, year out basis.

by Cablinasian on Oct 11, 2008 7:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Okay, let me double check...

I forgot about USC. I forgot they recruit all the five star players.
Oregon has 10 verbals, mostly three star recruits.
Cal has 5 verbals, mostly three star recruits.
ASU has 7 verbals, all three star recruits.

BSU has 13 verbals, 7 of which are three star recruits.

The rest of the Pac 10?

UA has 7 verbals, with 4 three star verbals.
OSU has 9 verbals, with 3 three star verbals.
UCLA has 7 verbals, with a couple of 4 star verbals
WSA has 7 verbals, mostly three star guys.
UW has 5 verbals, two of which are three star guys.

And the one to really watch out for is Stanford – the 2008 verbals list looks a lot like USC’s – a lot of guys, and a lot of 4 star players. Didn’t see that coming.

In the end, anybody could have a better class than BSU. As it stands right now, USC, Stanford, and possibly UO have a better class. If I’m wrong about it being the other way around a few weeks ago, then I’m wrong. But the point still stands, Coach Peterson can get a lot of good recruits early in the recruiting game to come to his WAC school. Much of this is due of course to the BSU win in the Fiesta Bowl a couple of years ago.

Jeremy

by olzeke on Oct 12, 2008 5:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Look back each year.

UO gets four star guys, UCLA gets a few premier recruits, Cal got DeSean Jackson, Jahvid Best…

BSU recruiting is not on par wtih many pac 10 schools.

Yes, the OU win helped, but they are still smaller on the O-line and D-line. Also, their depth is less than that of a good recruiting pac 10 school.

Your point stands. Petersen does a great job recruiting given his resources at Boise.

by Cablinasian on Oct 12, 2008 10:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No way Riley leaves

I cannot imagine Riley leaving. First, there is a HUGE penalty if Riley leaves before 2010 – a million bucks I believe. So a school like UW or UA would not only have to pay Riley a couple mill a year, but they would also have to pony up a million to pay that penalty, I just don’t see that happening.

But then you have to take into account the fact that one of Riley’s coaching heroes is Joe Paterno. During the week of the Penn St game, Riley said he admired Paterno, in part, because Paterno has stayed at one school for so long. I think that Paterno’s loyalty to Penn St is something that Riley wants to emulate. Another reason I don’t see Riley leaving OSU.

Finally, Riley has built something here. And our program is on the rise. The same certainly cannot be said of UW and the jury is still out on UA. Why leave to rebuild a program when you have a good thing going in your own hometown?

I just don’t see Riley leaving.

by beaverross on Oct 11, 2008 9:09 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Agree

Riley in Arizona? Just don’t see it happening. Plus, we have to realize that he’s happy here. At least it seems like it.

--JB--

by Jake Bertalotto on Oct 11, 2008 9:31 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

During the week of the Penn St game, Riley said he admired Paterno, in part, because Paterno has stayed at one school for so long. I think that Paterno’s loyalty to Penn St is something that Riley wants to emulate

A change of heart perhaps given his brief stint in the NFL? It would be nice to have Riley around at OSU for quite awhile. Bellotti, even though he is a fairly young coach, still has talk surrounding him of hanging up the clipboard in the next few years. As a fan, I would really like to see this rivalry grow into a Bo-Woody type but who’s to say? Perhaps this is a good side to the slow starts that OSU has under Riley. Less national attention being paid to him and, by consequence, fewer programs trying to lure him away?

--Dominic

Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." - J. Brady McCullough, The Michigan Daily.

by dvieira on Oct 11, 2008 10:00 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There's a few things to consider...

1. It would cost him a cool Mil. to go somewhere else.
2. Most other programs are lateral moves or rebuilding jobs.
3. Why would he leave Quizz?
4. He’s still building this thing.
5. He’s turned down jobs at: Alabama, UCLA, etc. already.
6. His wife loves it in Corvallis.
6a. He loves his wife.
7. I would just kidnap him and bring him back anyways, so he might as well stay and coach the Beavers.
8. There’s nothing that he can do somewhere else that he can’t do at OSU.

My opinion is that he has turned down the higher profile jobs because I don’t think that he’s comfortable with being a true celebrity (like Nick Saban is in Alabama, for example). There’s a HUGE difference between the OSU job his first time around and now. In just ten years, the salary has more than tripled. Before, I think he was making about 300k and went to the NFL to make about 550k—a pretty big upgrade. Now he makes double that. And he has, essentially, a guaranteed for life contract.

Riley has BIG plans for his program and Beavers fans should realize that we’re really close to having some big things happen.

“You can’t be happier than happy.”
-Mike Riley

by CV3000 on Oct 12, 2008 1:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think Riley is going to leave

Anytime soon, but the thought was that what if he left, where would that leave our program? Are we going to have to get lucky with a coach or hope someone sees it as a challenge

After some more thought, I think Chris Petersen would be a better chance. Mendenhall, while being an OSU grad, plays in a bigger stadium and has a program with more “tradition” than OSU, albeit in a non-BCS conference. But I do agree. I think Riley loves Corvallis, and is going to have to be asked to leave before he decides to leave.

The Artist Formerly Known as OrState GoBeavs

by The VD Special on Oct 11, 2008 10:26 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It’s almost impossible to tell what would happen if he left. He’s too dreamy to think about OSU life with him being gone.

I want to have his children.

OSU couldn’t really afford to bring in someone that wasn’t at least as good of a recruiter. It isn’t easy convincing people to move to Corvallis – Riley has some how been above par on that.

Honestly, Brooks probably couldn’t take you to the next level – and there aren’t many coaches that would leave their current program to do that.

It's spelled "S-h-u-f-a-i-l"

by JShufelt on Oct 11, 2008 9:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

How is it any harder to convince someone to move to Corvallis than anywhere else?

I’ve never understood that argument, ESPECIALLY when it’s made in comparison to eugene. (Not that you’re necessarily doing that in this instance)

by CV3000 on Oct 12, 2008 1:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s not sexy like LA.
But you bring the sexy to Corvallis, CV.

It's spelled "S-h-u-f-a-i-l"

by JShufelt on Oct 12, 2008 6:27 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, and the drive-bys too.

Your friendly neighborhood placekicker.

by qrsouther on Oct 12, 2008 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm only in Corvallis about 10-15 times a year...

…but, it’s clearly enough to bring sexy back.

As long as we’re talking about sexy, I’d like to take a moment to give a shoutout to the girl at Dutch Bros. on Monroe and Kings.

by CV3000 on Oct 12, 2008 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

haha

We should have a Dutch Bros. barista of the week

--JB--

by Jake Bertalotto on Oct 12, 2008 12:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

agreed.

Except she would win every week.

by CV3000 on Oct 12, 2008 3:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

All this being said....

Isn’t Banker the guy we should be worried about?

--JB--

by Jake Bertalotto on Oct 12, 2008 8:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes. Probably a lot more likely scenario

When Chryst left, that was a slight issue. I think Langsdorf has grown into the position by now, and it helps that Riley is overseeing it all.

Newhouse could step in and do fine as a d-coordinator, but because he has done it before and isn’t currently, it makes me wonder if he wants to do that again or not? He would be my first choice. Then they could bring in James Allen or Richard Seigler as the linebackers coach.

Burton would make a good d-coordinator, and I’m sure they would have him back from Nevada. It’s good for him to have a few years at UNR first. I also think that he will be a head coach within the next 5-6 years so going back to the Riley staff might not be as good for that goal of his as being exposed to other systems would be.

IF Banker left, there could be someone from the Bear Bryant Tree, or Newhouse, or anything.

by CV3000 on Oct 12, 2008 12:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't think Riley would leave...

for another Pac-10 school. Generally, it’s considered Very Bad Form to (voluntarily) leave one Pac-10 school for another, without holding at least one intermediate job somewhere else.

If you get canned, that’s another matter of course.

The question should be—where will Dennis Erickson end up next? He’s on his third Pac-10 school; and now has covered all the ones with “state” in the name. :)

by EngineerScotty on Nov 10, 2008 2:26 PM PST reply actions 0 recs