Offensive Coordinator Candidates

Cougar Football
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EDIT for new names mentioned.

This is not meant as a post for or against any particular guy, just wanted to put a list together of potential new OCs. For reference, I have included current salaries of candidates to compare with Brian Johnson’s UH salary of $440k. Feel free to add other names.

Kendal Briles, Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Florida Atlantic, $350k
Pros-Dynamic offensive mind, relentless recruiter, deep ties to Texas high school football, UH alumni
Cons-Rumors abound of shady recruiting tactics, tainted by involvement in the Baylor scandal

Graham Harrell, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach at North Texas, $235k
Pros-Dynamic offense, deep ties to the state of Texas
Cons-Different offensive philosophy(Air Raid), not very experienced

Jason Phillips, former Wide Receivers Coach/Passing Game Coordinator at Oregon State, $220k
Pros-Deep ties to the University of Houston, can recruit lights out in Texas and Louisiana
Cons-Limited playcalling experience, limited relationship with existing staff

Doug Meacham, Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers coach at Kansas, $520k
Pros-Experience at UH(albeit just 1 season), over a decade coaching and recruiting in this area
Cons-Limited relationship with existing staff, higher-priced option

Brian Wright, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach at Toledo, $146k
Pros-Runs a dynamic offense, Finalist for Broyles Award in 2017
Cons-Was fired as OC at FAU in 2015, no experience in Texas or with current staff

Matt Kubik, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach at Louisiana-Monroe, $120k
Pros-High octane offense, deep ties to Louisiana and east Texas
Cons-Not much experience at FBS level, no relationship with existing staff

Drew Mehringer, Wide Receivers Coach/Passing Game Coordinator at Texas, $350k
Pros-Deep relationship with current staff, Helped recruit many of the current players at UH
Cons-Similar situation to Johnson, bright young offensive mind who was unsuccessful in his first play-calling experience, albeit at Rutgers

Ryan Day, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach at Ohio State, $400k
Pros-Established playcaller at college and NFL levels, deep experience with dual threat QBs
Cons-No ties to Texas, would he leave OSU for playcalling duties here

Kenny Edenfield, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach at Troy, $150k
Pros-Proven OC at the FBS level, has worked under multiple HCs
Cons-No Texas ties, Has not worked above Sun Belt level

Tim Cramsey, Offensive Coordinator at Sam Houston State, Salary not available
Pros-Explosive offenses at FCS level
Cons-Limited experience in Texas, no relationship with current staff.

Bob Stitt, Former Head Coach at Montana & Colorado School of Mines
Pros-Arguably the most cutting edge offensive mind in college football, credited with many spread concepts
Cons-Mediocre record as head coach, no experience in Texas

Mike Sanford, Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator, Western Kentucky, $180k
Pros-Former head coach at UNLV & Indiana State, Former OC for Urban Meyer, familiar with current offensive scheme
Cons-No Texas experience, has bounced around in his career

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Since most of those appear to be pass based OCs, I don’t see it

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Out of those Wright seems like the best option, his firing at FAU is troublesome though, not exactly sure what happened there. I wouldn’t worry too much about ties to the area, Orlando had none when he was hired and has quickly become one of the state’s best coordinators

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I’d add Drew Mehringer from UT on there. He was our WR coach two years ago, went to be OC at Rutgers for a year, and then went back to be Herman’s WR coach in Austin. Great recruiter who has ties to Applewhite and knows the system. His year as OC at Rutgers was a bust, but that was going to be a bad team anyway.

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FAU, Toledo, North Texas, and Louisiana-Monroe all had balanced offenses, similar number of rushing/pass attempts.

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Also, Ryan Day, co-OC and QB coach at Ohio State, would be an interesting hire. He’s not calling plays there so he may want to get back to doing that. He was an OC at Temple in '12 and an OC at Boston College in '13 & '14 before leaving to work with Chip Kelly in the NFL for a few years. His offenses at BC were very good and his first year in Philly made Sam Bradford look good. Ohio State seemed to put a Chip Kellyish spin on the normal Meyer offense which may be a good fit here.

More on Day

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/film-study/2017/10/86135/film-study-chip-kellys-influence-on-the-ohio-state-offense-courtesy-of-ryan-day

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Someone did their homework.

However it would be a change to go balanced. Seeing our running attack for the last two years, I think a balanced offense is warranted.

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I will be surprised if it is Briles, Meachem or Phillips. If Phillips had experience as OC, then I could possibly see it. Harrell’s philosophy seems too pass-happy unless Major is willing to turn over all of the keys to him. Briles and Meachem come with gray clouds that I don’t think a 7-4 coach with some eyebrow raising losses can risk right now.

Mehringer is an interesting name.

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I’m intrigued by both Harrell and Wright, and since both have been at their respective schools for 2 years, I looked into the numbers to compare. This obviously doesn’t take into account head coaches, athlete talent level, or really even level of competition. But I think it is fun, so here it is.

Toledo has been fairly consisent, but still improving, which is always nice to see. But that North Texas jump from 2016 to 2017 is amazing and resulted in a C-USA west division championship. And at a glance, those pass/rush numbers don’t look any more “air raid” to me than UH’s numbers. In fact, although I have not watched either of them play in the last 2 years, neither UNT nor Toledo look like “air raid” offenses based soley on the numbers. UNT QBs averaged 35 pass attempts per game, Toledo averaged 29 and Houston averaged 30.5.

Looks like both of these guys know how to put up points which is what was severely lacking for UH this year. I don’t really care how it happens, but we have to find someone who can help us put more points on the board and keep our defense off the field more with sustained drives.

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If no one picks him up, Jedd Fisch (OC UCLA) would be a fantastic hire. Guy has a long pedigree and was a QA asst for the Texans awhile back. UCLA offense was awesome this year and Fisch has been known to shape his offense to the personnel.

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Just because they run more than they pass doesn’t mean it can’t be Air Raid

Per this article, albeit before the 2016 season, it says they run the same Air Raid as TT did when Harrell was QB there
http://ntdaily.com/north-texas-football-confident-implementing-new-offense-despite-wr-inexperience/

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UNT is still an Air Raid team, even with the numbers. You can be a 60/40 run/pass team and still be an Air Raid team. It’s about the concepts in the passing game.

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please no Briles, Phillips or Meacham

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Looks like Memphis lost their OC to A&M so they are in the market, too.

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He may go after someone from AZState staff considering Norvell is a Toad Graham disciple.

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Per Duarte Twitter CMA calling plays in Hawaii. No OC hire until after our bowl game.

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https://twitter.com/joseph_duarte/status/940405447596572672

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it bears mentioning that the coaching staff may not have much of a relationship with jason phillips but our new AD does…

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Bears mentioning.

Our new AD.

Heh. (Ignore me it’s late)

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Twitter (and me) speculating new OC is in a bowl game of his own, otherwise why not hire before early signing period? I don’t buy it that we won’t have our guy chosen before Hawaii, but obviously no official announcement. Just speculating. Maybe it will leak before the game.

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