Reports Name Graham Harrell as Candidate for UTEP Job

Cerebus · October 2, 2017

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: UTEP Head Coach Candidates Include Graham Harrell, Willie Simmons

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GRAHAM HARRELL
Current Position: Offensive Coordinator - North Texas

This is the sexy pick -- and likely most popular possibility -- for UTEP fans.

The former Texas Tech quarterback is just 32 years old and in just his second season as North Texas offensive coordinator. However, he's worked wonders with the Mean Green offense, leading a unit that ranked 125th nationally in scoring in 2015 to 99th in 2016 and 25th in 2017.

The experience isn't there but it's unlikely UTEP has a better chance at a young, fast-rising coach.

SBNation: 7 names to know for the uniquely difficult UTEP job

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Graham Harrell, North Texas offensive coordinator. Harrell’s an Ennis, Texas native and a known quantity in West Texas after playing QB at Texas Tech. The air raid offense can do more with less.

MGNation92 · October 2, 2017

I think that'd be a stretch. Harrell is still way too green IMO.

Seth Littrell called plays at three different P5 programs before getting hired by us. Maybe in a few years, but this would be a huge risk

Mean Green 93-98 · October 2, 2017

As soon as I saw that Kugler was stepping down, I started thinking how the Air Raid could help UTEP. And how many coaching candidates are available who can truly implement and run the Air Raid? And Graham's name carries a lot of weight in West Texas. Yes, he's green, but he may bring things to the table that UTEP may not be able to fine elsewhere. I'm not saying it will happen, but there is some logic to it.

greeneagle1 · October 2, 2017

Kingsbury was 34 when he took over at Tech. Nothing is impossible. If Tech Implodes and finishes near 6-6 or worse, I could see Kingsbury going there.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-assistant-coach-among-rumored-mix-utep-job/

Mike Canales is also a candidate as well. Would love to see him at UTEP.

Edited October 2, 2017 by greeneagle1

MeanGreenTexan · October 2, 2017

I think this would be catastrophic, to both teams (but moreso UTEP).

Harrell is also the QB's coach here, so losing the Air-Raid-QB insights he can share with Fine would hurt, even though Littrell would likely backfill him with another Leach-style Air Raid OC and keep his system rolling. I would worry QB play would regress some unless it's another Air Raid QB.

For UTEP, Harrell would inherit a bad run-first roster, and he just does not seem like HC material yet... In other words: Like Dodge-level catastrophic.

greenminer · October 2, 2017

14 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

In other words: Like Dodge-level catastrophic.

Let's be clear, the catastrophe under Dodge was accentuated by a HS staff.

untjim1995 · October 2, 2017

20 minutes ago, greeneagle1 said:

Kingsbury was 34 when he took over at Tech. Nothing is impossible. If Tech Implodes and finishes near 6-6 or worse, I could see Kingsbury going there.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-assistant-coach-among-rumored-mix-utep-job/

Mike Canales is also a candidate as well. Would love to see him at UTEP.

Chico would be a solid choice out there. That's who I would be looking at if I was the AD at UTEP. He made chicken salad out of chicken $hit twice here, winning more games in two halves of seasons as the head coach here than the coaches he replaced in those seasons (3 wins to 1 win).

MeanGreenTexan · October 2, 2017

1 minute ago, greenminer said:

Let's be clear, the catastrophe under Dodge was accentuated by a HS staff.

Because the budget dictated that staff be put together on the cheap like that. I think Ford did a somewhat decent job as OC for the most part.
I think UTEP's coaching budget looks more like 2007 UNT's than 2017 UNT though, right?

Dodge surely was not ready to coach at the FSB level, and watching Harrell's interviews and halftime interactions with the offense during BTG, I just don't think he's ready to become a HC at this level either.

aztecskin · October 2, 2017

I don't think the head job at UTEP is better -- $$ wise or prestige wise -- than UNT OC. Right now, Graham is in the middle of a rebuild so I don't know what the benefit would be. If he continues here for another year or two he will be in line for other, better jobs in maybe other, better conferences.

That is if Seth Littrell isn't poached first and Harrell gets the promotion. One of the best things I've seen is the poaching of our staff -- or even rumors of poaching. That is a sign of good things here. People want what we have.

MeanGreenTexan · October 2, 2017

4 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

I don't think the head job at UTEP is better -- $$ wise or prestige wise -- than UNT OC. Right now, Graham is in the middle of a rebuild so I don't know what the benefit would be. If he continues here for another year or two he will be in line for other, better jobs in maybe other, better conferences.

That is if Seth Littrell isn't poached first and Harrell gets the promotion. One of the best things I've seen is the poaching of our staff -- or even rumors of poaching. That is a sign of good things here. People want what we have.

And it's not like those departures left for some lateral gig in the AAC (sans Perry's lateral move to the MWC). They're leaving for P5 teams.

Wag Tag · October 2, 2017

Up and coming FCS guy or an older guy the has been an OC and wants to go out as a head coach. Have success for a few years at UNT and Seth moves on, GH could be the number one choice.

Moobs · October 2, 2017

Too soon.

BillySee58 · October 2, 2017

15 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Up and coming FCS guy or an older guy the has been an OC and wants to go out as a head coach.

I think picking criteria on what the new coach should be before the search starts is a mistake for schools like us and UTEP. Especially UTEP. Gotta broaden the scope and find a guy who is a great fit.

BillySee58 · October 2, 2017

36 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Because the budget dictated that staff be put together on the cheap like that.

Our coaches salaries were something like 4th highest out of 9 Sun Belt schools at the time. The budget may have dictated the hires be cheap but so it did too at other schools in our conference and they weren't relegated to hiring a staff of high school coaches.

TreeFiddy · October 2, 2017

It is good news that this staff is in demand. It is the way this is supposed to work. I hope we are keeping a running list of potential candidates in case the need should arise. I hope the interest from recruits begins to rise as quickly as interest in our coaching staff has risen.

VideoEagle · October 2, 2017

First of all, I don't think this is really worth worrying about. Number one, Harrell isn't very experienced yet. Number two, Harrell knows something about El Paso and UTEP which means he knows the chances of having success there. It has all the negatives of NT - a history of losing and local apathy toward the team and school - without the positives - a newly supportive administration, a growing and dynamic location and more local FBS recruits than you have scholarships to offer. If he can help build a winner at NT he'll have head coaching offers at much better places.

Most importantly is number three, there's not a thing that can be done about it anyway.

I find it interesting there is a lot of concern over losing Harrell now. Two weeks ago, the collective wisdom of GMG.com was he couldn't make adjustments, couldn't create a winning game plan, was a terrible play caller and was a poor recruiter. We beat Southern Miss and now we can't afford to lose him.

BTG_Fan1 · October 2, 2017

Got to agree, way to soon for GH to be an HC... His struggles last year as an OC and the progress he has made this year are nice but again, still to many times we have a rough Qtr, Half or game...

Also, how often do G5 OC/DC go to another G5 HC? I would figure that UTEP want a "flashier" hire.. Sonny Dykes of TCU maybe?

29 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

And it's not like those departures left for some lateral gig in the AAC (sans Perry's lateral move to the MWC). They're leaving for P5 teams.

Agreed, and the guys leaving makes it an appealing stop for others to come here..

My worry is, who is the next 1 or 2 that get picked off?

Reff is having a tough time, Browns CBs are getting burned..

Langston? Yellock? Both of them turned groups that had questions into the strength of the team and the OL has given Fine more time than last year

1 minute ago, TreeFiddy said:

It is good news that this staff is in demand. It is the way this is supposed to work. I hope we are keeping a running list of potential candidates in case the need should arise. I hope the interest from recruits begins to rise as quickly as interest in our coaching staff has risen.

My biggest worry with coaches coming and going, is that the "connection" made between said coach and that HS staff has to be completely rebuilt.. @GMG24 talked that it wasn't a huge problem, because everyone understands its a promotion.. but to me, just the message changing and changing of faces has to make recruits wonder, will this guy be around in a year or 2?

TheColonyEagle · October 2, 2017

Hopefully this will be a new norm for us. While it's initially uncomfortable because we like the direction we're going, having to deal with rumors every year of our coaches getting poached is a great sign.

Tyler Maryak · October 2, 2017

37 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

I don't think the head job at UTEP is better -- $$ wise or prestige wise -- than UNT OC. Right now, Graham is in the middle of a rebuild so I don't know what the benefit would be. If he continues here for another year or two he will be in line for other, better jobs in maybe other, better conferences.

That is if Seth Littrell isn't poached first and Harrell gets the promotion. One of the best things I've seen is the poaching of our staff -- or even rumors of poaching. That is a sign of good things here. People want what we have.

That's what is hella scary to me. A 1-2 punch of Graham then littrell going leaves us in a tough situation for next season.

MeanGreen_MBA · October 2, 2017

3 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

Also, how often do G5 OC/DC go to another G5 HC? I would figure that UTEP want a "flashier" hire.. Sonny Dykes of TCU maybe?

Sonny Cumbie of TCU. Spike Dykes who got fired from Cal last year is available, and is a West Texas boy......He runs a similar offense. That might be the best fit....

Edited October 2, 2017 by MeanGreen_MBA

BTG_Fan1 · October 2, 2017

1 minute ago, VideoEagle said:

I find it interesting there is a lot of concern over losing Harrell now. Two weeks ago, the collective wisdom of GMG.com was he couldn't make adjustments, couldn't create a winning game plan, was a terrible play caller and was a poor recruiter. We beat Southern Miss and now we can't afford to lose him.

Gotta agree, and while GH hasn't been the greatest recruiter as people have thought... The biggest worry among people is the development of Fine, if GH left would it hurt him? I'm not sure because the DL looks better than last year, the OL looks better, LBs seems to be more productive as well.. ST the jury is still out after 2 good weeks, and a few meh/bad weeks..

Honestly he has helped bring in Fine.. He got Pearson, and Martin said he wanted to go to tech but came here because of GH.. and GH likely helped with Bean.. QB recruits shouldnt be judged on what they can be, it should be what they are/were.. GH recruiting impact will be felt at the end of this year and years after, heck we are seeing the impact through 5 games with Fine leading CUSA

greeneagle1 · October 2, 2017

Harrell is a flashy name because of his success at Tech. I do not think he is ready, but as everyone else has said, UTEP may be needing to take a stretch on someone like Harrell. Whether he takes the job is up to him, but for the right price, I can see him doing it. He left his comfortable job at Washington State under his mentor, Leach to come to a school that rarely had offensive talent with an unproven head coach and he would have to change the entire offensive scheme. I am sure after a few years, he would have been the OC at Washington State.

BTG_Fan1 · October 2, 2017

2 minutes ago, Tyler Maryak said:

That's what is hella scary to me. A 1-2 punch of Graham then littrell going leaves us in a tough situation for next season.

If SL leaves after this year, WB should be getting alot of sorrys from people on here that were critical of WB redoing SLs contract..

If SL left after this year, UNT makes $5 million.. that is a nice healthy boost in terms of budget to go out and hire someone else, and improve the assistant coach budgets

MeanGreenTexan · October 2, 2017

7 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

Got to agree, way to soon for GH to be an HC... His struggles last year as an OC and the progress he has made this year are nice but again, still to many times we have a rough Qtr, Half or game...

Also, how often do G5 OC/DC go to another G5 HC? I would figure that UTEP want a "flashier" hire.. Sonny Dykes of TCU maybe?

Agreed, and the guys leaving makes it an appealing stop for others to come here..

My worry is, who is the next 1 or 2 that get picked off?

Reff is having a tough time, Browns CBs are getting burned..

Langston? Yellock? Both of them turned groups that had questions into the strength of the team and the OL has given Fine more time than last year

My biggest worry with coaches coming and going, is that the "connection" made between said coach and that HS staff has to be completely rebuilt.. @GMG24 talked that it wasn't a huge problem, because everyone understands its a promotion.. but to me, just the message changing and changing of faces has to make recruits wonder, will this guy be around in a year or 2?

As impressed as I've been with what coach Yellock has done with the DL, he sat out a year before we picked him up. I don't think he's in high demand right now. Same with coach Langston.

We can only hope someone sees our "ace recruiter" special team's coach and gives him a ring.