Head Coach Mike Desormeaux

[Scott Malkinson]

WOW, ok

Talked off the ledge by someone more knowledgeable on college coaching than everyone on this board combined

[CajunVic]

Talked off the ledge by someone more knowledgeable on college coaching than everyone on this board combined

The board ought to follow your lead . . . only thing I wish is that you and others would have sought that assistance earlier rather than latter, it could have spared our new HC much unnecessary fandom . . .

[TravlnCajun]

My guy VOB is on the right track here. We have to keep this all in perspective.
The very LAST thing we need to be right now is a circular firing squad. The LAST thing we need right now is to all retreat to our corners and __________ post about the hire, or choke on Vermilion & White ding dong to back the hire.
Mike Des shouldn't be a polarizing thing. But he is, and we all need to accept it. I can tell you, I had (and still have) some concerns. But the more you think about it, the more you talk to people involved intimately with the hire, the more it makes sense, in my view. I will not argue with people that worry about sustaining staff members and hiring into the future. It is a legitimate thing to worry about. Des will prove that he can build a staff. Or he won't. Any hire would have inherent risk. I promise you, Maggard wanted to know his plan, his relationships and his potential incoming staff. It was a big part of Napier's hire. But again, the pro-Des camp can't castrate the people with concerns; the Des-curious camp can't trash the hire. We can discuss and SHOULD discuss it. But maybe let's try to meet in the middle on this one. The fact is, Mike will be questioned by plenty enough people. Maybe more than ever, this coach needs the diehards to support him in a fierce way.

I hope I don't get in trouble for this but ____ it. Seems like an appropriate time. GA assistants were interviewed. Glen Schumann and Lanning. Can't confirm Lebby, but the information that I got came from trustworthy place. Supposedly, he was interviewed (or was scheduled to interview). There were 2 others. Don't know the names. Mike Desormeaux just flat out blew the interview out of the water. He was recommended by Rob Sale (from what I understand, our first call) and by Billy Napier. We were able to keep our staff mostly in place because we retained Mike. Our current kids all support the hire and our recruiting class will stay in tact, relatively speaking, because we kept the staff. Toney and Juluke will hurt and they'll take some kids with them. But our relationships in state (because of Mike in large part), are in the best shape they've ever been. The infrastructure is in place. Ask App St how hiring from within has worked out. Ask Bama, Clemson, and Georgia how promoting from within goes. Good organizations breed good people. We have it.

But, the most immediate line of business: judging the Des hire on the Bowl game is completely unfair, IMO. So many moving parts to all of this right now. Marshall is a quality team and NOLA is NOLA. I hope we win the game, but I'm not going to say he "failed an exam." C'mon..

I don’t always agree with what / how you state, but I 100% agree with this post and its tone

[angeleast]

I will take back what I said and have a wait and see approach

Takes a man to step up and admit he might be wrong. Your a good dude

[angeleast]

My guy VOB is on the right track here. We have to keep this all in perspective.
The very LAST thing we need to be right now is a circular firing squad. The LAST thing we need right now is to all retreat to our corners and __________ post about the hire, or choke on Vermilion & White ding dong to back the hire.
Mike Des shouldn't be a polarizing thing. But he is, and we all need to accept it. I can tell you, I had (and still have) some concerns. But the more you think about it, the more you talk to people involved intimately with the hire, the more it makes sense, in my view. I will not argue with people that worry about sustaining staff members and hiring into the future. It is a legitimate thing to worry about. Des will prove that he can build a staff. Or he won't. Any hire would have inherent risk. I promise you, Maggard wanted to know his plan, his relationships and his potential incoming staff. It was a big part of Napier's hire. But again, the pro-Des camp can't castrate the people with concerns; the Des-curious camp can't trash the hire. We can discuss and SHOULD discuss it. But maybe let's try to meet in the middle on this one. The fact is, Mike will be questioned by plenty enough people. Maybe more than ever, this coach needs the diehards to support him in a fierce way.

I hope I don't get in trouble for this but ____ it. Seems like an appropriate time. GA assistants were interviewed. Glen Schumann and Lanning. Can't confirm Lebby, but the information that I got came from trustworthy place. Supposedly, he was interviewed (or was scheduled to interview). There were 2 others. Don't know the names. Mike Desormeaux just flat out blew the interview out of the water. He was recommended by Rob Sale (from what I understand, our first call) and by Billy Napier. We were able to keep our staff mostly in place because we retained Mike. Our current kids all support the hire and our recruiting class will stay in tact, relatively speaking, because we kept the staff. Toney and Juluke will hurt and they'll take some kids with them. But our relationships in state (because of Mike in large part), are in the best shape they've ever been. The infrastructure is in place. Ask App St how hiring from within has worked out. Ask Bama, Clemson, and Georgia how promoting from within goes. Good organizations breed good people. We have it.

But, the most immediate line of business: judging the Des hire on the Bowl game is completely unfair, IMO. So many moving parts to all of this right now. Marshall is a quality team and NOLA is NOLA. I hope we win the game, but I'm not going to say he "failed an exam." C'mon..

Matt, this is one of your best posts ever.

[CharlieK]

Talked off the ledge by someone more knowledgeable on college coaching than everyone on this board combined

What did this person tell you?

[ragincajun97]

My guy VOB is on the right track here. We have to keep this all in perspective.
The very LAST thing we need to be right now is a circular firing squad. The LAST thing we need right now is to all retreat to our corners and __________ post about the hire, or choke on Vermilion & White ding dong to back the hire.
Mike Des shouldn't be a polarizing thing. But he is, and we all need to accept it. I can tell you, I had (and still have) some concerns. But the more you think about it, the more you talk to people involved intimately with the hire, the more it makes sense, in my view. I will not argue with people that worry about sustaining staff members and hiring into the future. It is a legitimate thing to worry about. Des will prove that he can build a staff. Or he won't. Any hire would have inherent risk. I promise you, Maggard wanted to know his plan, his relationships and his potential incoming staff. It was a big part of Napier's hire. But again, the pro-Des camp can't castrate the people with concerns; the Des-curious camp can't trash the hire. We can discuss and SHOULD discuss it. But maybe let's try to meet in the middle on this one. The fact is, Mike will be questioned by plenty enough people. Maybe more than ever, this coach needs the diehards to support him in a fierce way.

I hope I don't get in trouble for this but ____ it. Seems like an appropriate time. GA assistants were interviewed. Glen Schumann and Lanning. Can't confirm Lebby, but the information that I got came from trustworthy place. Supposedly, he was interviewed (or was scheduled to interview). There were 2 others. Don't know the names. Mike Desormeaux just flat out blew the interview out of the water. He was recommended by Rob Sale (from what I understand, our first call) and by Billy Napier. We were able to keep our staff mostly in place because we retained Mike. Our current kids all support the hire and our recruiting class will stay in tact, relatively speaking, because we kept the staff. Toney and Juluke will hurt and they'll take some kids with them. But our relationships in state (because of Mike in large part), are in the best shape they've ever been. The infrastructure is in place. Ask App St how hiring from within has worked out. Ask Bama, Clemson, and Georgia how promoting from within goes. Good organizations breed good people. We have it.

But, the most immediate line of business: judging the Des hire on the Bowl game is completely unfair, IMO. So many moving parts to all of this right now. Marshall is a quality team and NOLA is NOLA. I hope we win the game, but I'm not going to say he "failed an exam." C'mon..

DAMN so Des impressed maggard enough in an interview for him not to pursue DAN LANNING

[fanof71]

No idea who that is

Ragin Pagin Coaches Assoc

[Bankruptcyman]

Picking a head coach you do not know is like judging a beauty pageant. You see what the contestant wants you to see and the contestants project what they believe the judges want to see. We hear all of these other names of who many believe would have been a better hire than MD. MD was not in a beauty pageant. The other applicants were but not MD. Dr. Maggard, Billy Napier, President Savoie saw MD every day and watched first hand what he did and how he handled his business. Dr. Maggard saw nothing in his coaches search that was better than MD so he hired him for us.

We all believe that Billy Napier is going to kill it at Florida. I am hearing predictions that he will a national championship within 6 years. If that is true then wouldn't every school in the country want a head coach that learned at the knee of such a man? Wouldn't every school want a head coach that was strongly recommended by such a man? We are getting such a coach in MD. Remember how impressed we all were that Saban and Swenny both recommended the almost unheard of Napier. If we believe in Billy Napier, you have to also believe in MD.

Does this hire have risks? Sure but every hire has risk. Because we know MD should not disqualify him as our head coach.

[CajunVic]

Picking a head coach you do not know is like judging a beauty pageant. You see what the contestant wants you to see and the contestants project what they believe the judges want to see. We hear all of these other names of who many believe would have been a better hire than MD. MD was not in a beauty pageant. The other applicants were but not MD. Dr. Maggard, Billy Napier, President Savoie saw MD every day and watched first hand what he did and how he handled his business. Dr. Maggard saw nothing in his coaches search that was better than MD so he hired him for us.

We all believe that Billy Napier is going to kill it at Florida. I am hearing predictions that he will a national championship within 6 years. If that is true then wouldn't every school in the country want a head coach that learned at the knee of such a man? Wouldn't every school want a head coach that was strongly recommended by such a man? We are getting such a coach in MD. Remember how impressed we all were that Saban and Swenny both recommended the almost unheard of Napier. If we believe in Billy Napier, you have to also believe in MD.

Does this hire have risks? Sure but every hire has risk. Because we know MD should not disqualify him as our head coach.

If only you would have listened to me on Dec 1, you would not have to post so many books . . .

[Turbine]

If only you would have listened to me on Dec 1, you would not have to post so many books . . .

You had zero credibility on D1, now its marginal.

[ULGrad@HOU]

To put this in perspective, no other P5 or G5 program in the country would hire MD as their Offensive Coordinator at this point of his career, but we make him Head Coach.

I believe this is a poor choice by Dr. Maggard.

I truly hope I'm wrong and he has tremendous success as our Cajuns Coach. I will gladly admit my error in judging both Dr. Maggard and Coach Des.

Bump. Not looking good so far.