2025-26 Coaching Carousel

[Larry Fisherman]

Fleck would be scary at PSU. He's kinda made for that place to be honest. A lot of similarities to Franklin personality wise, has thrived up north for his whole career, can recruit his ass off, and knows the B1G as well as anyone.

I've wondered why they haven't gone after him to be honest.

I’ve got a brother in law from MN that knows people that know things and he makes it sound like Fleck has been floating his resume for the past 3-4 years. I don’t get why he hasn’t made a move.

 

[Irv]

that is all I care about at this point, I hope someone hires PSU's interim HC too lol

 

[djw004]

I’ve got a brother in law from MN that knows people that know things and he makes it sound like Fleck has been floating his resume for the past 3-4 years. I don’t get why he hasn’t made a move.

I had this discussion with a buddy - I think there is something to these guys striking when the iron is hot or it becomes too late at these "big but middle tier" programs.

He could've gone anywhere he wanted that year they got to like 10 wins and took down...Penn St. But he didn't, wanted to display loyalty for the first time in his career, and now it seems like no one calls. Then they come back on the other end and spin it to "I'm here because I want to be here my whole career" No, you didn't go when you could, and now you're not shiny anymore so no one calls.

Same thing with Matt Campbell. No one wants to spend their whole fucking career in Ames, IA. No one. But, he thought he'd get Notre Dame when it opened up, so he sat, and now it seems like he doesn't even get invited to the party anymore. Your options are 1) strike when it's hot 2) SUSTAIN that success that made you talked about or 3) Really be humble enough to stay in that spot.

I don't think these guys get where they are out of supreme humility that makes them "stop chasing", what I think happens is you see Matt Campbell go 9-3 at Cockeye Fucking State, and you go WOW! INCREDIBLE! Then he stays, and you see him go 4-8 a couple times and you say "hmm - maybe he should stay there"

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Is Hartline a bad interviewer or something? Would have expected him to be able to get a much higher profile job if he wanted it.

Happy to have him out of conference, & watch another PSU candidate go elsewhere, though.

I wonder if contract size, which perplexingly hasn't gone down with the need to spend millions a year on labor, is screening out a lot of coordinators. You need to know that the dude can run a program if table stakes is now 7/$50 million or whatever.

That's not to say coordinator won't get hired or that HCs work out at a higher rate, just a potential explanation for how schools are thinking about uncertainty

 

[Goskers07]

USF strikes me as the right level for Hartline to get a start. This isn't a grizzled vet coordinator who has bounced around a bunch of places and knows how things work, he's only ever been a coach at Ohio State

Agreed. The guy can recruit as good as anyone in the country, but I want to see him have to truly coach players up before I get too into the hype about him as an HC.

 

[BeerConsumer67]

Fleck would be scary at PSU. He's kinda made for that place to be honest. A lot of similarities to Franklin personality wise, has thrived up north for his whole career, can recruit his ass off, and knows the B1G as well as anyone.

I've wondered why they haven't gone after him to be honest.

Fleck is a great coach, but also Fleck has to be your coach lol. He def beats to a different drum.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Agreed. The guy can recruit as good as anyone in the country, but I want to see him have to truly coach players up before I get too into the hype about him as an HC.

USF is the perfect spot for him to give it a go, he will have some dudes on offense guaranteed.

 

[djw004]

USF is the perfect spot for him to give it a go, he will have some dudes on offense guaranteed.

I am not one that has ever believed the hype about him as an HC - but the issue I see here is that he's one of the few remaining names that has been linked to State Penn since the job opened, and he goes to the American conference?

Maybe they think he won't be good and cooled (honestly very likely) and want a proven HC - but the optics just get worse and worse for State Penn...

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Fleck is a great coach, but also Fleck has to be your coach lol. He def beats to a different drum.

That's the challenge of Fleck at places that actually give a shit.

 

[BigRedSob]

I’ve got a brother in law from MN that knows people that know things and he makes it sound like Fleck has been floating his resume for the past 3-4 years. I don’t get why he hasn’t made a move.

I just noticed the Matt Rhule face in your profile pick😂

 

[Irv]

I had this discussion with a buddy - I think there is something to these guys striking when the iron is hot or it becomes too late at these "big but middle tier" programs.

He could've gone anywhere he wanted that year they got to like 10 wins and took down...Penn St. But he didn't, wanted to display loyalty for the first time in his career, and now it seems like no one calls. Then they come back on the other end and spin it to "I'm here because I want to be here my whole career" No, you didn't go when you could, and now you're not shiny anymore so no one calls.

Same thing with Matt Campbell. No one wants to spend their whole fucking career in Ames, IA. No one. But, he thought he'd get Notre Dame when it opened up, so he sat, and now it seems like he doesn't even get invited to the party anymore. Your options are 1) strike when it's hot 2) SUSTAIN that success that made you talked about or 3) Really be humble enough to stay in that spot.

I don't think these guys get where they are out of supreme humility that makes them "stop chasing", what I think happens is you see Matt Campbell go 9-3 at Cockeye Fucking State, and you go WOW! INCREDIBLE! Then he stays, and you see him go 4-8 a couple times and you say "hmm - maybe he should stay there"

Yeah, if you start in one place too long, you have too much track record that can be used against you. People will point to the down years. You have to move while everything looks great.

 

[BeerConsumer67]

That's the challenge of Fleck at places that actually give a shit.

Place like Penn state ain’t going to let him come in and make it all about him. Idk why they wouldn’t lol their history as a program is flawed to say the least. Just like lane won’t get to rebrand the entire LSU program like he did ole miss with the sip and all the alternate shit. LSU thinks of themselves too highly to allow that to happen.

 

[Tonkasker]

Is Hartline a bad interviewer or something? Would have expected him to be able to get a much higher profile job if he wanted it.

Happy to have him out of conference, & watch another PSU candidate go elsewhere, though.

This is probably the best G5 job in the country now, you could argue Tulane or Memphis is better but its marginal

They overhauled their athletic department a few years ago and its operating at a really professional level

Ultimate springboard job. Two years here and he should be able to pick his spot

 

[OmahaHusker]

 

[Bootleg11]

Daboll

 

[Irv]

Daboll

Holy shit. They really just are following the Pederson Playbook (tm).

 

[Juro]

Daboll

Maybe our curse might be finally lifted considering Penn State is doing exactly what we did with Solich and then the hiring of Bill Callahan later.

 

[Irv]

Was looking up Daboll’s resume (some enterprising trickster already has him listed as Penn State head coach in his wiki).

The guy has no direct connection to PSU. Maybe he was a fan or something? Or maybe his dad is connected? It’s weird how his name has been tied to this search for so long - I was sure he must have played there.

Edit to add: he has one year of college experience this century.

 

[herbsinator]

Daboll

PSU has found their Bill Callahan

 

[Tonkasker]

I’ve got a brother in law from MN that knows people that know things and he makes it sound like Fleck has been floating his resume for the past 3-4 years. I don’t get why he hasn’t made a move.

Fleck ultimately wants out but isn't unhappy at Minnesota. This is a really competitive sports market and he's in a constant state of leveraging them for additional resources. Not much more he can do here. Not a coincidence his best season at the U was the last pure college football season where recruiting and development superceded NIL as limiting factors. At the end of the day he's a climber and he's maxxed out what he can do at Minnesota

Also not a coincidence that half of his coordinator hires have been poached by larger schools

I think he's a playoff coach at a resourced school. I would gladly take him at Nebraska and he would gladly coach here