So… when the hell are we gonna extend Ludwig’s contract? I think the 10-15 year OC rotation experiment is over, he deserves to take the reins of the offense. Is it odd to extend a coordinator contract 3-4 years?
So you’re saying, “Extend Ludwig!”?
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As I was telling one of my sons, “This is not your father‘s Ludwig.”
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extending the OC can be difficult. First question is does he have aspirations for HC somewhere? Ludwig has been a revelation this year but in football it is all about what have you done for me lately. Next season with a new QB could be a different story. Or Ludwig could bolt for a HC shot.
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I am sure Ludwig has had opportunities to be a head coach at some point since he left Utah back in 2008. I don’t think it is something he has wanted to do or he probably would have done it by now. I don’t at all worry about Lud leaving for a HC job. I do however, worry about Scalley leaving.
Does Scalley want another 3,4,5 years until Whitt is done to see if he gets the HC job or does he leave before then?
Knowing Scalley and his wife, I am confident in saying that she does not want to leave Utah. Before he was making the kind of money he is now making at Utah, he had the opportunity to go to both Florida and Ohio State, for much more money, and stayed at Utah. That is not to suggest that things cannot change. However, the type of job that Scalley would qualify for, in part because he has been at Utah so long and did not go to Florida or Ohio St., is a G5 job at best and maybe not even that. Scalley makes twice as much as Hill at Weber St. and while a move to a G5 might not hurt him financially, it would need to be the right move. A school that has traditionally done well and whose coach has had success and is moving to be an HC at a P5. If Urban took the USC job and offered him $1mil a year to be DC, that might be something he would look at, but at the end of the day, my money is on his wife.
As for Andy, I don’t think it has ever been his goal to be HC. He likes the details of football and not the business/booster side that suck the life out of the HC. He has done very well for himself and my guess is that this might be his last job before he retires.
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I hope he stays. There’s actually an offense. I’m not on wonk, but it appears the line is clicking.
Too many people constantly whine about terrible play calling, as if they know the personnel better than the coaches who literally spend the majority of their days entrenched in learning the intricacies of the teams they lead. It kills me when I’m sitting next to some jerk off fan at a game, who apparently midnights as a D1 football coach, because they seem to understand how to stop Washington State’s air raid attack better than the guy with thirty years of defensive playcalling experience.
That said, there does tend to be at least one or two head scratching calls per game, that even us non-savants can pick out. Ludwig hasn’t had those moments to my recollection, and he even seems to have won over the daytime CPA who doubles as a P5 offensive coordinator consultant. Huntley, Moss, and the o-line have been stellar, but Ludwig has put them in positions to be successful game in and game out. Our offensive future is as bright as it’s ever been.
The one thing that I’m a little worried about is the QB spot. Losing Moss will hurt, no doubt, but we have a stable of capable backs to help mitigate the damage. Shelley was serviceable last year in Huntley’s absence, but there’s a clear drop off between the two, and I haven’t seen anything from Lisk to make me think he can lead this team to the promised land. I sure hope Rising is a gamer.
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I had the opportunity to sit next to a former D1 OC at a bowl game a few years ago. Very interesting to hear him talk offense during the game. Kept asking us what we would do in various situations. Frankly it is a very tough job, many quick split second decisions that if right you are the hero, if wrong, the scum of the earth. Ludwig has been a big improvement and hopefully continues on. I’d love some continuity.
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Morgo is making a name for himself as one of the top Defensive minds in CFB. And now that he is clearing just under $1M a year at Utah, I just don’t see him leaving. I would prefer that he gets HC experience somewhere before he would be considered to replace Whitt after 2023-ish, but as you said it would need to be a successful program (e.g. Cincinnati or maybe Boise St./Sandy Eggo State.)
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That reminds me of Deshaun Watson’s answer to this question. People who watch the game and think they know what to do, truly have no idea what REALLY is required. Deshaun Watson comes over as an absolute master of the craft with a Ph.D. and 20 yrs of experience reading defenses, vs somebody who maybe played a few downs of JV ball.
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Love the reporter’s quick pull-the-escape-hatch-lever “thank you” after Watson schools him and everyone else in the room.
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You need to remember that not all calls will be successful. Sometimes the defense will react in an unexpected manner, other calls are made to set up the defense for future plays. It used to drive me crazy when during the McBride era we would run the sweep in one direction time after time and you could see the defense start to shift that direction and set themselves up for the counter; but we would never run that counter.
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