All Signs Point To Neinas

[MeanGreen61]

DRC Mean Green Blog

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2010/10/all-signs-point-to-neinas.html

[glick1980]

Neinas: "You guys need a new coach"

RV: "Yeah, we hired you to help us find the right guy"

Neinas: "Where is my money?"

[VideoEagle]

This is a good move. The report made public was a very, very slimed down (and censored) summary. He is the "go to guy" for finding a coach. He is said to be a very good match-maker and getting the right coach is what we desperately need.

[DeepGreen]

"It's a good move for UNT. Rick Villarreal and Lane Rawlins are going to make the decisions, but an extra opinion certainly won't hurt matters any."

You mean they are bypassing the opinions of this message board?

[GreenMachine]

You mean they are bypassing the opinions of this message board?

No, but it will water down our input. Our final decision will be weighted like this:

Neinas - 28%

RV - 18%

Rawlins - 19%

GoMeanGreen.com - 35%

[VideoEagle]

[

I think you meant GoMeanGreen.co - 3.5%

[SleepingGiantsFan]

Neinas: "You guys need a new coach"

RV: "Yeah, we hired you to help us find the right guy"

Neinas: "Where is my money?"

San Diego State fan here. Undoubtedly the first to post here since we've never played you guys. (But there's a first time for everything.)

This might be a bit long, for which I apologize, but I think it might be of interest to you.

Five years ago Tom Craft was completing his final season as SDSU's football coach. I heard enough rumors to think he might get canned mid season like NTU just did with your guy and then I thought Tom actually might survive but he lost the finale to a bad Hawaii team and sealed his fate. (I later heard from well-placed sources he was gone regardless.) Anyway, Craft had more than just high school head coaching experience but it was just at the JC level and I was aghast at hearing he had been hired when we almost got Jeff Tedford, then Oregon's OC, then almost got Mike Riley, then the Chargers' head guy, then almost got Rich Brooks, who was unemployed. When Craft was shown the door I was therefore adamant that SDSU not repeat the thoroughly botched hiring process that resulted in his hiring. (Among other things our idiot AD reportedly appointed the fired Ted Tollner to sit on the interview committee to replace himself. Yes, that's apparently true, as amazing as it sounds.) I therefore created channels from which to obtain information from insiders about the process to replace Craft.

I won't bother with specifics and rumors but one thing that's a matter of public record is that SDSU hired Chuck Neinas to vet the candidates. After the attendance swoon created by the lousy teams at the end of Tollner's tenure and four years of Craft, SDSU's athletics budget was in bad shape. The general consensus was, therefore, that the university was unnecessarily spending a reported $35K on Neinas that it could have better used in some other manner. Plus reports suggested some nepotism in the retaining of Neinas. Was the $35K money well spent? No. However, that wasn't Neinas' fault in the slightest.

As I'm sure you guys do when your football coach job is open, I heard many rumors of applicants and I won't bother to detail those, either. However, I will say that none of the names mentioned was Chuck Long, who ultimately got the job. Chuck was therefore called the stealth candidate and although I wasn't sure what I thought of him when I heard he had been hired, I attended his introductory press conference and hung around after the media was done with the guy and found him to be highly personable and thought he would do well. Of course as you may know, Chuck had the worst 3-year run of any SDSU head coach in half a century and SDSU ended up buying out the last two years of his contract in order to save its football program. Did Chuck Neinas recommend his namesake, you might ask? No, I might answer. Rather, Neinas recommended Jimbo Fisher.

SDSU football is now finally back to respectability under Brady Hoke and his excellent staff. However, because SDSU's AD didn't listen to Neinas, the school's football program undoubtedly lost millions in ticket sales and alumni contributions, to say nothing of the $1.5M to pay Chuck to sit in the athletics office for two years and twiddle his thumb allegedly writing reports which nobody ever saw. (He's now the OC at Kansas. 'Nuff said.)

Listen, $35K in this day and age is peanuts when it comes to FBS football. Probably pays for nothing more than some paint for your new stadium. And maybe Neinas has an incestuous relationship with a bunch of people within NCAA institutions. But so what? There's no doubt the guy has more contacts than anybody else out there from which to gather dirt on applicants. And since he didn't recommend Chuck Long to SDSU, I'm sure Neinas found some stuff of concern on Chuck since Fourth-and-Long was at that time the highly-regarded OC for Oklahoma. Sadly, however, it's obvious our then-AD (since fired himself) knew Chuck back in the day at Kansas State and thought he was God's gift to football coaching.

In conclusion, I don't mean to stick my nose in your business and I definitely don't make it a habit to post to other schools' message boards. I just thought you guys might like to hear my perspective on the report of the hiring of Neinas.

Edited October 27, 2010 by SleepingGiantsFan

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Neinas: "You guys need a new coach"

RV: "Yeah, we hired you to help us find the right guy"

Neinas: "Where is my money?"

Here's my take on Neinas - he's made some good suggestions, he's made some bad suggestions. So...is he really necessary?

It's a hit and miss proposition anyway. Seems like Rick Villareal or any athletic director should be - in the internet age - to figure out who's available and who isn't. Plus, as long as Rick has been in the business, seems he'd have enough contact to be able to get in touch with any coach he'd want to interview.

Does anyone really know what it is that Neinas does that supposedly is worth thousands of dollars in "consulting" fees?

[Quoner]

Here's my take on Neinas - he's made some good suggestions, he's made some bad suggestions. So...is he really necessary?

It's a hit and miss proposition anyway. Seems like Rick Villareal or any athletic director should be - in the internet age - to figure out who's available and who isn't. Plus, as long as Rick has been in the business, seems he'd have enough contact to be able to get in touch with any coach he'd want to interview.

Does anyone really know what it is that Neinas does that supposedly is worth thousands of dollars in "consulting" fees?

Doesn't RV know you already made him a website? Now, draft him some form letters to send to every target, track down the emails and you got yourself a thriving business, internet master.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Doesn't RV know you already made him a website? Now, draft him some form letters to send to every target, track down the emails and you got yourself a thriving business, internet master.

Good point. I'm not in the consulting game, though. How much do I charge him?

[Mean Green 93-98]

Did Chuck Neinas recommend his namesake, you might ask? No, I might answer. Rather, Neinas recommended Jimbo Fisher.

Thanks for clearing that up. Neinas has been blamed for hiring Chuck Long, which is why I was a little apprehensive about using him in the coaching search.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

Thanks for clearing that up. Neinas has been blamed for hiring Chuck Long, which is why I was a little apprehensive about using him in the coaching search.

The process which resulted in the hiring of Brady Hoke was far less insular than for Chuck.

President Weber himself was seen by a friend of mine getting on a plane to a couple pretty podunk places at the relevant time for what can only be presumed were interviews with candidates. Further, there was a search committee composed of several former players including Marshall Faulk, former Packers All-Pro safety and fellow Aztec Willie Buchanan and others. Plus, I know from hearing it from the horse's mouth that another former All-Pro whose name you would recognize was asked to interview the finalists. Neinas wasn't involved that time around because, I think, folks like you guys thought Chuck Long was his responsibility. To repeat, that simply was not the case.

The one thing I don't think anybody should do is leave a hire as important as head football coach up to just the athletic director.

[EagleMBA]

Thanks for your post, SleepingGiantsFan. It WAS interesting and informative.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

Thanks for your post, SleepingGiantsFan. It WAS interesting and informative.

From one Alfred E. Neumann fan to another, you're quite welcome.

[Mean Green 93-98]

The one thing I don't think anybody should do is leave a hire as important as head football coach up to just the athletic director.

That's why we're here!

[NorthTexan95]

Thanks for the info. The moral of the story ... don't pay someone $35k for advice and then not listen to them.

[PlummMeanGreen]

San Diego State fan here. Undoubtedly the first to post here since we've never played you guys. (But there's a first time for everything.)

This might be a bit long, for which I apologize, but I think it might be of interest to you.

Five years ago Tom Craft was completing his final season as SDSU's football coach. I heard enough rumors to think he might get canned mid season like NTU just did with your guy and then I thought Tom actually might survive but he lost the finale to a bad Hawaii team and sealed his fate. (I later heard from well-placed sources he was gone regardless.) Anyway, Craft had more than just high school head coaching experience but it was just at the JC level and I was aghast at hearing he had been hired when we almost got Jeff Tedford, then Oregon's OC, then almost got Mike Riley, then the Chargers' head guy, then almost got Rich Brooks, who was unemployed. When Craft was shown the door I was therefore adamant that SDSU not repeat the thoroughly botched hiring process that resulted in his hiring. (Among other things our idiot AD reportedly appointed the fired Ted Tollner to sit on the interview committee to replace himself. Yes, that's apparently true, as amazing as it sounds.) I therefore created channels from which to obtain information from insiders about the process to replace Craft.

I won't bother with specifics and rumors but one thing that's a matter of public record is that SDSU hired Chuck Neinas to vet the candidates. After the attendance swoon created by the lousy teams at the end of Tollner's tenure and four years of Craft, SDSU's athletics budget was in bad shape. The general consensus was, therefore, that the university was unnecessarily spending a reported $35K on Neinas that it could have better used in some other manner. Plus reports suggested some nepotism in the retaining of Neinas. Was the $35K money well spent? No. However, that wasn't Neinas' fault in the slightest.

As I'm sure you guys do when your football coach job is open, I heard many rumors of applicants and I won't bother to detail those, either. However, I will say that none of the names mentioned was Chuck Long, who ultimately got the job. Chuck was therefore called the stealth candidate and although I wasn't sure what I thought of him when I heard he had been hired, I attended his introductory press conference and hung around after the media was done with the guy and found him to be highly personable and thought he would do well. Of course as you may know, Chuck had the worst 3-year run of any SDSU head coach in half a century and SDSU ended up buying out the last two years of his contract in order to save its football program. Did Chuck Neinas recommend his namesake, you might ask? No, I might answer. Rather, Neinas recommended Jimbo Fisher.

SDSU football is now finally back to respectability under Brady Hoke and his excellent staff. However, because SDSU's AD didn't listen to Neinas, the school's football program undoubtedly lost millions in ticket sales and alumni contributions, to say nothing of the $1.5M to pay Chuck to sit in the athletics office for two years and twiddle his thumb allegedly writing reports which nobody ever saw. (He's now the OC at Kansas. 'Nuff said.)

Listen, $35K in this day and age is peanuts when it comes to FBS football. Probably pays for nothing more than some paint for your new stadium. And maybe Neinas has an incestuous relationship with a bunch of people within NCAA institutions. But so what? There's no doubt the guy has more contacts than anybody else out there from which to gather dirt on applicants. And since he didn't recommend Chuck Long to SDSU, I'm sure Neinas found some stuff of concern on Chuck since Fourth-and-Long was at that time the highly-regarded OC for Oklahoma. Sadly, however, it's obvious our then-AD (since fired himself) knew Chuck back in the day at Kansas State and thought he was God's gift to football coaching.

In conclusion, I don't mean to stick my nose in your business and I definitely don't make it a habit to post to other schools' message boards. I just thought you guys might like to hear my perspective on the report of the hiring of Neinas.

Your not one of those young guys trying to revisionist out one of our all time best wins in our history, now are you? Actually, we beat your alma mater when yall were ranked #20 in the AP and/or UPI poll during Hayden Fry's 2'nd year in Denton. Your coach(?) then almost kicked one of our visiting room water coolers over into the next county right after that game.

BUT......yall tore us out a new one with the return game as I recall beating us quite handily. (Get your SDSU media guide out for more on that).

BTW, thanks for your information.

GMG!

Edited October 27, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[SleepingGiantsFan]

Your not one of those young guys trying to revisionist out one of our all time best wins in our history, now are you? Actually, we beat your alma mater when yall were ranked #20 in the AP and/or UPI poll during Hayden Fry's 2'nd year in Denton. Your coach(?) then almost kicked one of our visiting room water coolers over into the next county right after that game.

BUT......yall tore us out a new one with the return game as I recall beating us quite handily. (Get your SDSU media guide out for more on that).

BTW, thanks for your information.

I graduated from SDSU in 1981 so I'm only young in comparison really old guys. The two games you reference preceded me so I wasn't even aware of them. I do know who our coach was, however.

Claude Gilbert had been Don Coryell's DC and was promoted to head coach when Coryell was hired by the then St. Louis football Cardinals. Claude was on a roll until SDSU was admitted to the WAC in 1978 when Arizona and ASU left for the Pac. Claude's downfall began with a 63-14 beatdown by BYU in San Diego on national TV in a game that was considered a toss up going in.

BTW, the general misery of SDSU football since the time you reference is exemplified by the fact Claude was the first of eight consecutive coaches to leave SDSU not because they were hired away by somebody else but because they were fired. Just one of a myriad of embarrassing factoids about SDSU football.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

And quite possibly the biggest blunder in San Diego State history will always be referred to as The Christmas Miracle of 2009 in all of North Texas. I will always be eternally grateful to SDSU, their enormous sacrifice will forever be celebrated during each holiday season.

I'm not trying to be a smart ass in saying this but I don't have any idea what you're talking about.

[frzgopher]

Same firm Minnesota used to find brewster ???

[Green Nightmare]

I'm not trying to be a smart ass in saying this but I don't have any idea what you're talking about.

Make that 2 of us

[Mean Green 93-98]

Same firm Minnesota used to find brewster ???

I don't know, was he? I have heard that Minnesota has hired Neinas to find a replacement for Brewster, I don't know about the other.

[NT80]

I don't know, was he? I have heard that Minnesota has hired Neinas to find a replacement for Brewster, I don't know about the other.

Don't think so; from FootballScoop:

Monday Octber 25, 2010

Let us know what you are hearing. Send us an email to mail@footballscoop.com or text message 662-202-6408.

University of Minnesota: Our sources tell us that Montreal Allouettes head coach Marc Trestman is indeed interested in the Minnesota head coaching job. Also, Minnesota AD Joel Maturi has hired Parker Executive Search firm to assist in the process.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Don't think so; from FootballScoop:

Monday Octber 25, 2010

Let us know what you are hearing. Send us an email to mail@footballscoop.com or text message 662-202-6408.

University of Minnesota: Our sources tell us that Montreal Allouettes head coach Marc Trestman is indeed interested in the Minnesota head coaching job. Also, Minnesota AD Joel Maturi has hired Parker Executive Search firm to assist in the process.

http://fringebowlteamblog.com/?p=2240

EDIT: Well, it sounds as if nothing has been confirmed.

Day 1 of Maturi's coaching search proceeded with already conflicting news reports, with one website reporting that the athletic director had hired coaching headhunter Chuck Neinas to assist in identifying candidates, and the Associated Press reporting that Maturi had not. University officials said no contract with Neinas, known for enabling such pairings as Mark Dantonio with Michigan State and Bob Stoops with Oklahoma, has been agreed to by the school.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/105226969.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

Edited October 28, 2010 by Mean Green 93-98

[PlummMeanGreen]

Probably a smart move using Chuck Neinas. He seems to be all over the place in the NCAA, but I'd bet he would know things about many coaches out there unknown to most that could spoil the whole new stadium thing for us next year if we find out we picked someone with unseen warts/blemishes (when we hired him).

Anyone from UNT Athletics can take a peek on this board to see how many prospective HFC's have already been listed by numerous posters.

So....let Neinas recommend the our next HFC and if we screw it up again............BLAME CHUCKY BOY!

GMG!

Edited October 28, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen