Falcons Land Graduate Transfer WR

The loss of Gehrig Dieter threw a wrench in BG's plans, no doubt about that.  What started out at Dieter, Moore, Redding, Rhodes, Miller became Moore, Redding, Rhodes and Miller.

That makes a difference.

Only Moore has real experience and I don't think he's ever struck anyone as a #1 WR.  None of the other 3 has put anything on paper, to speak of, as a WR.  Not to say they are without ability, just not proven.  And, in offenses where you need 4 or 5 WRs, you are vulnerable to injuries.

There were 4 WRs from signing day, with the most likely contributor being Darrion Landry, a JUCO WR.

And today The Blade is reporting that BG has Da'Mario Jones from UM....who has graduated and is going to play one year at BG.  (Graduate transfers:  the rule you hate until you don't).

Jones is an interesting story.  He went to Westland John Glenn HS, which is in the Detroit area.  He was lightly recruited for a couple reasons, including that he had moved around a lot for family reasons as a young man and that his HS team played mostly power ball.  He was committed to CMU and then switched it to UM when Hoke and Borges called while he was writing a "12-page paper on Julius Caesar."

He was not productive at Michigan.  He played 23 games and had 2 catches.  He played special teams mostly, according to his bio.

That being said, he had good speed out of HS and would be in a system that highlights WRs in space.  Who knows, he could contribute and he provides depth that is badly needed.

Welcome to the Falcons Da'Mario.

Confirmed: Huger hired to Coach MBB at BG

BREAKING: #BGSU hires former player Huger to be men's basketball coach. http://t.co/9PeFmGEFnP
— The Toledo Blade (@toledonews) April 16, 2015

This will be a very popular choice inside the Falcon nation...and frankly something that was needed given the anxiety that has been experienced within the program over the last couple of days.  This will be a very popular choice.  Of course, over time it is more important that he be a successful choice, but for now, I think it will calm the waters.  As a younger Coach, I think you will see Huger settle the team down and keep the guys around for next year.  Now, as my son pointed out, all the Michigan people were happy to get Brady Hoke, too, so you have to actually do the job on the court.

Huger was a truly outstanding player at Bowling Green.  He was 1st and 2nd team All-MAC...led the team in assists twice.  Was a team captain and was team MVP in 1993.  My feeling always is that if you make all-MAC, you belong on the short list of the best players in our program.

Of course, Huger played for Jim Larranaga while at BG.  He's from NYC, where Larranaga had good recruiting ties.

After college, Huger was a very successful professional player abroad. He played professional basketball in Europe, spending time in Finland (1992-94), two years in Holland (1994-96) and nine in Belgium (1996-2005). He was selected Dutch League MVP in 1996 after averaging 25.3 points and 5.8 assists, and went on to earn First Team All-Belgium honors in 2000 and 2004 after leading his clubs to Belgium Cup championships in both seasons.

Huger began his coaching career at Longwood University (Va.) where he spent two seasons.

Then, he joined Coach Larranaga at George Mason. In four seasons at George Mason, Huger helped lead the Patriots to the postseason every year -including NCAA berths in 2008 and 2011--including, of course, their magic run to the Final Four.  (We regret the error).

Then, he went to Miami with Larranage, where he coached four seasons. He was the team’s defensive coordinator and the Canes were nationally ranked No. 39 in scoring defense (60.6) and No. 48 in field goal percentage defense (40.0).

So, on the plus side, he has high quality coaching experience in successful programs.  He is a BG grad and someone who will feel strongly about succeeding here.  On the down side, he has no head coaching experience.

No candidate has everything.  For now, I think he settles things down and can get about the business of first fixing the damage that has been done and then second continuing the program's upward trajectory.

Welcome back, Michael.  We're behind you.

MAC Blogger Roundtable, Compiled...

It is MAC Blogger Roundtable time this week.  I'm jumping in to guest host this week.  I posed 3 questions to the collected wisdom of the MAC bloggers...below are answers from Let's Go Rockets, Hustle Belt, Bull Run and Eagle Totem.

1. So the MAC picked up two wins over the Big Ten but lost an FCS game, as well as a game to South Alabama and Army. On balance, good week or bad week for the MAC?

Let's Go Rockets:

It’s difficult to use the Big Ten as a barometer for MAC success anymore because they are not as good as they have been in years past — seeing the top teams in their conference lose last week (one loss to an unranked ACC opponent). It’s always positive for the MAC to play well against OOC opponents especially when they are in a top tier conference, but defeating the Purdues of the world isn’t as glamorous or infrequent as it used to be for MAC teams. It doesn’t appear that Northwestern is going to do much this season either so we put less emphasis on that win than we would have in years past. We feel that the past week was basically a wash for the MAC with a couple good wins and a couple tough loses that shouldn’t have happened.

Hustle Belt:

I'd have to go with bad. Ball State holding their own in Iowa was a pleasant surprise. NIU and CMU's wins were more expected than anything, leaving us with a Miami loss to Eastern Kentucky, Toledo getting blown apart, and Bowling Green losing Matt Johnson for the year. Add in the Kent State and Buffalo losses, and you have a rather down week. The truth hurts.

Bull Run:

On balance a decent week but the last minute loss by Ball State and the flat performance by Buffalo kind of keep it from being "an awesome" week.

People, and I'm taking clueless people, will look at this week and say "Wow The MAC beat two Big10 teams". As someone who started following the MAC in 2006 or so even I can look at the week and say "meh".

The MAC has done it before and we will do it again. Now once in awhile we will have Ohio down Penn State or Toledo beat Michigan. When we see a week where all the "good" MAC teams win and one or two of the cellar dwellers pull off a nice upset we can uncork the campaign.

Eagle Totem:

Any week the MAC wins two against the Big Ten is a good week. The positive publicity gained far outweighs the negative of a bad loss or two. Northern Illinois continues their superior play, and the Huskies knocking off a Big Ten team is old news by now. Central Michigan made a statement, albeit against a woeful Purdue team, that the Chips will be a tough out this year within the conference.

2. Once again, it seems like the West is much stronger than the East. If this continues, do you think the MAC should re-align the divisions to even things out?

Let's Go Rockets:

We don’t see any need to realign the divisions because the West is stronger than the East. If you take a look around the country, you’ll see many conferences where there is disparity between the divisions but there are no plans to change the alignments — in the SEC, for example, the West is much stronger than the East but there are no plans to realign.

Hustle Belt:

No. I like the geographical alignment. Also, keeping rivalries would be tough. The three directionals have to stay together, and you'd like NIU to keep their rivalries with Toledo and Ball State. Toledo would want to keep a rivalry with Bowling Green, so then you'd have 4 power schools right now all together, and then you'd fill it with what? UMass and Miami?

Hell, even if you broke Toledo away from NIU, then you start to get long travel times to divisional teams. Propose you keep CMU, WMU, EMU, Toledo, and BG together because, hey, they pretty much form a pennant flag on the highways. Who is your 6th team? Do you pluck Buffalo for the Ontario Sandwich? You can't separate Miami and Ohio or Akron and Kent State, so those 4 are together. Then you have to put Ball State and NIU with those 6 and Buffalo is left over (forget UMass, because they're gone anyways).

So this new proposal would be:

Great Lakes: Bowling Green, Buffalo, CMU, EMU, Toledo, WMU
Trivals (TRY-vals, like tri-rivals), or Corn Belt: Akron, Ball State, Kent State, Miami, NIU, Ohio

Actually, this isn't bad. Screw it, MAKE IT HAP'N CAP'N!

Bull Run:

As "bad" as the disparity is in football is not nearly as bad as it has been in Basketball. Hell in hoopsland the MAC has looked like Al Frankin taking Candy from a baby for nearly a decade.

We did not realign for hoops over the MAC West 7 year drought of futility why football?

The MAC East has quite a few football championships over the past ten years. Miami, Akron, Buffalo, and Bowling Green all have a trophy where as in the West the only trophies go to NIU and CMU.

Don't get me wrong I would like to see a MAC North and South where UB is paired with the Michigan Schools, NIU, Bowling Green, and Toledo but I don't see a huge benefit to outside of scratching a "realignment itch".

Eagle Totem:

tend to think that realignment is an overreaction, the solution is for the programs in the East to get better. I do dislike the fact the Bowling Green and Toledo are in different divisions, I’m not sure what the best solution is to get them together, but if realignment were to take place then at least that problem can be fixed.

Current trends in conference alignment and set up completely disregard geography, so maybe you could shift Toledo to the East and have Buffalo join the West. Then EMU and Buffalo could have a yearly battle for the Ontario Sandwich. (Editor's Note: Should totally be the poutine bowl).

3. Brady Hoke, Tim Beckman and Darrel Hazell are all former MAC coaches who are struggling in the Big 10. What are the odds all 3 are gone by the end of the year and do you think any of them will coach in the MAC again?

Let's Go Rockets:

These three coaches are in three distinct situations:

• Brady Hoke’s Michigan team was shut out for the first time since the 1980’s. Losing the last scheduled rivalry game with Notre Dame and having to play Ohio State and Michigan State on the road, is all pointing to the departure of Hoke after this season.
• Tim Beckman just hasn’t been able to recruit at Illinois like the program has needed to in order to be competitive. We suspect he will be gone after this season.
• Darrel Hazell will get some breathing room at Purdue before he sees his tenure come to an end… but how much time is not clear. Winning or, at least, being competitive in all their games will buy Hazell some time to recruit.

Hustle Belt

Hoke? Still depends on the season, but anything less than 9 wins and his job is likely open. Beckman is gone. I'm surprised he's still at Illinois after where he's taken that team. Hazell will get another year, but his seat is getting really toasty quick. If Purdue isn't at .500 next season, he's gone as well.

As far as coming back? I think Beckman and Hazell might get jobs as a coordinator and head coach respectively. Hoke will never come back, probably because his ego thinks he's too high for it now. But who knows, if Terry Bowden and Frank Solich can come to the MAC, anything's possible. (Editor's Note: If Bowden and Solich can coach in the MAC...so can either of those 3 guys).

Bull Run

I'd say Hoke is the only one in serious trouble. I think after three seasons where Michigan has struggled despite some talent he is in trouble. Then add getting set upon by the and he may already be a dead man walking. He needs to make some serious noise in the B10.

Look at the bright side, I suspect that Pete Lembo will be hired away from Ball state after the season and that creates a very nice fall back job for Hoke in Muncie. He can go after that MAC championship he never won.

Hazell and Beckman have more time. Neither Illinois nor Purdue has a recent culture of winning and those two coaches have had just one and two seasons respectively to turn those programs around.

Eagle Totem

Right now it looks like a 100% chance that all three will be gone, but if I had to pick one who could possibly survive it would be Beckman. Hoke has lost the fan base, and unless Michigan combines an eight or nine win season with an upset of either MSU or Ohio State he is finished. I don’t see that happening. Hazell took on a tough job, but that program is going nowhere. Hazell did a fine job at Kent State, but appears to be in over his head at Purdue.

As for whether they will coach in the MAC again, I doubt it, unless Hazell were to return to Kent State. Once MAC coaches “move up” to a bigger program, they rarely come back if the attempt fails. Once you get the stank of losing on you, ADs prefer to stay away, and go with the hot coordinator or loyal assistant.

Doug Martin Leaving KSU and Parrish leaving BSU

Well, as discussed and debated on the MAC Blogger Roundtable throughout the season, Kent's HC Doug Martin is resigning.  He brought good players to Kent, but never turned the corner.  He battled some bad luck, especially with injured QBs and with RB Eugene Jarvis, and whoever gets the job will have a lot of returning players.

Among the chatter as a replacement...

• Pete Retskis, the current DC and architect of that nationally ranked Kent defense.
• Notre Dame defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator Chuck Martin
• Wake Forest offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke.
• Ohio State linebackers coach Luke Fickell 
• Notre Dame wide receivers coach Tony Alford
• UTEP defensive coordinator Andre Patterson
• Buckeyes defensive backs coach Paul Haynes (1992 KSU alum)
• Ohio State assistant head coach Darrell Hazell would also be a good fit if KSU could afford him. 

In other news, Ball State also fired Stan Parrish.  He was in the second year of a four year deal.  I find this a little surprising.  Granted, the Cards have sucked wind since Hoke left, but they did lost some pretty good players, and had that injury to Dante Love.  Counting BSU and K-State, he is 8-49-1 over his last fiveish years of Coaching, and as a D-1 coach.

Eddie Faulkner is the interim coach and will seek the main job, though this strikes me as a situation where you could want someone outside the program.

Footballscoop.com is mentioning Oregon offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich which would obviously be a huge get. I'd have to think he can do better, given the Oregon offense.

The Muncie Star-Press had some of the following names, based on people with BSU connections.

• Jeff Hecklinski, assistant head coach/running backs coach/recruiting coordinator past two seasons at San Diego State. 
• Rick Minter, linebackers coach, Indiana State.  Interim head coach at Marshall at end of 2009 season, led Thundering Herd to a win in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Was defensive coordinator at South Carolina and in two stints at Notre Dame.
• Mike Neu, former star quarterback at Ball State. Currently in second season as an area scout with the New Orleans Saints, evaluating college players in the northeast U.S. 
• Bernie Parmalee, Ball State's all-time leading rusher when he finished his career in 1990. Currently tight ends coach for Kansas City Chiefs. 
• Brian Polian, special teams coordinator, Stanford University. 
• Don Treadwell, offensive coordinator, Michigan State (and interim coach during Dantonio illness)/