Mike DeBord Retiring

[Alford Bailey 12,236]

So we appear to be going external but not really. Only IU would hire back a previously unsuccessful OC.

[mamasa 14,815]

Crimson Quarry article from 12/5.  Not saying I'm for or against, just adding info

 

Matt Canada’s out of a job. Time for Indiana football to try something a little nuts.

 

Indiana’s paying below-market rate to Tom Allen as rivals turn on the money spigot. The offensive scheme needs an overhaul. An alum, native son, and former coach needs a landing spot. Hmm. Time for an outside-the-box idea.

By Kyle Robbins@kylerrobbins  Dec 5, 2018, 7:25am EST

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I’m sorry for what I said when I was, uh, [squints] was living in a 10-year period between 2007-2017.

Time for a quick mea culpa.

A long-held position of this blog is that Matt Canada was and is not a good offensive coordinator because we were situationally enraged by certain playcalls in 2008. Perhaps this was or was not reasonable. Perhaps it is a disgracefully bad take. Perhaps it was just an extreme commitment to doing a bit, representative of the disengaged blend of sardonicism and kayfabe in which this blog will reside until the sun swallows the earth whole.

This is 2018 now though, up is down, down is up, and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a MGoBlog forum poster. What if, instead, this blog is full of smooth-brained idiots, and former Indiana student assistant, offensive coordinator, New Pal native, and Eagle Pointe resident Matt Canada is, instead of bad, actually very ******* good?

That may be true, it may be hyperbolic, whatever. After a circuitous route over the past few seasons from firing at NC State to success at Pitt to a, uh, short high-paid stint at LSU, Matt Canada’s been one of the hotter names in college football again during the early part of the offseason for the non-bowling set. He was involved in the head coaching searches at Louisville and Maryland, and seemed primed to land some sort of a head job for 2019 after his admirable job keeping things on the rails after Jordan McNair’s death and DJ Durkin’s departure at Maryland.

But with Maryland’s hiring of Mike Locksley earlier today, that puts Canada officially out of a job. Most considered him the front-runner to drop the interim title and keep the job permanently, but he’ll now be looking elsewhere for employment next season.

His first call tomorrow should be from Tom Allen, Fred Glass, and Indiana.

Here’s why it would make sense for Indiana — and how Indiana might be able to make it make sense for the former IU quarterback and offensive coordinator.

Indiana’s offense will be young and uber-talented next season. But Mike DeBord’s scheme and philosophy don’t fit at Indiana — and his time should probably be up.

By all accounts, Mike DeBord is a good and decent man whose presence is at least in part responsible for the Indiana’s glut of very young offensive talent. (Thanks, Mike Hart!) Stevie Scottjust ran for 1,000+ yards as a freshman. Mike Penix will be Indiana’s three-to-four year future at quarterback once he’s healthy. Reese Taylor, Ronnie Walker, Whop Philyor, so on, so forth. Indiana has far too much offensive talent to not improve next season — and be set up well for the future.

But all too often in 2018, Indiana’s offense was plodding. DeBord’s quick throw, short-of-the-sticks passing schemes did little to take the top off defenses and open up running lanes — especially in comparison to the Kevin Wilson-architected aerial attacks of the previous era in Bloomington.

Mike DeBord will be 63 next season, and it’ll be year three of the Tom Allen era. With the competitive landscape only improving after Jeff Brohm’s re-upping at Purdue, it’s time to make a change from DeBord.

Indiana isn’t going to let Tom Allen go to make room for Canada to run the program — and they shouldn’t. Just let them run the place together, pretty much.

Indiana’s last two 5-7 seasons have ended as disappointments, but it’s still far too early to pull the plug on the Tom Allen era at Indiana. He’s recruiting to Bloomington better than any coach ever before, Kevin Wilson left obvious holes in the roster that left Allen thin in critical spots the last two seasons, and it’s not like Indiana has backslid wildly. Despite an arguably less-talented roster, the difference between Wilson’s bowl bids in his final two seasons and Allen’s 5-win seasons is Jeff Brohm’s residency in West Lafayette.

Still, Tom Allen isn’t an offensive savant. He’s a career defensive position coach and coordinator

Want to stick to Allen, shore up the program around him, and bring back one of IU’s most successful alums in the coaching ranks? Enter Matt Canada as offensive coordinator and some sort of super-associate head coach. THE ORIGINAL MIKE DAVIS AND JOHN TRELOAR IDEA, BUT FOR FOOTBALL, IN 2019.

And how can you bait a guy who had some looks at power-five head coaching jobs but might have missed out for this cycle? Glad you asked!

Pay Matt Canada head coach money to come run Indiana’s offense and take on associate head coaching duties.

Here’s where we get a little nuts, but also where Indiana can demonstrate a major commitment to an investment in football.

After Jeff Brohm’s choice to stay at Purdue, Tom Allen’s now making somewhere between 2.5 to 3 times less than what the other state program is paying their football coach. For further context, Allen’s the only coach in the Big Ten that makes less than $2 million annually. Only one other current coach makes less than $3 million — and that’s Chris Ash at Rutgers with his 3-24 career Big Ten record. Let me repeat: Indiana’s football coach makes less than the football coach at Rutgers. And now $1 million less than the head coach at Kansas. That’s Very Bad and, you know, not Good.

Tom Allen’s earned more time, but he’s also not exactly earned a massive raise. Bringing him up at least to the $2 million range would be fair in line with the market. But it still should leave Indiana with plenty of cash to spare compared to the reportedly up to $5 to $6 million per year Purdue will pay Jeff Brohm — if they want to demonstrate a commitment to football.

Canada would be the perfect fit alongside Allen. He’s a Hoosier through and through with deep, deep ties to the state and Bloomington that are still current today. Just consider:

• He’s from New Palestine and his entire family still lives there.
• His closest friends still live right in Bloomington.
• He’s coached at Indiana for four different head coaches: Mallory, DiNardo, Hoeppner, and Lynch.
• He’s actually already worked for this athletic administration! Also fired by them too, so, uh, yeah!

If Canada doesn’t land a head job, the pull of home and some extra cash might be enough for a short, one-year stay as a mercenary to clean up the offense at his alma mater before picking up his own head job at worst.

So, open up the checkbooks and pay Matt Canada top dollar as an assistant to come home. Indiana isn’t the traditional type of program to pay a coordinator a million bucks or so, but when you aren’t paying your head coach market rate for a Power 5 job — you should be free to do so. Is the idea crazy? Yes. Would Canada ever entertain to a cheap program where it’s hard to win in 2018 when he might be a candidate at, like, Alabama? Perhaps not.

But it’s worth a phone call.

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

14 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

So we appear to be going external but not really. Only IU would hire back a previously unsuccessful OC.

I've seen plenty of examples where coaches have a rough start initially and then turn into very good coordinators with the right coaches around them/just getting experience. Look at Canada the last few years not what he was a decade ago. 

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

I do find it kind of interesting that Matt Canada has been at 6 stops and different schools in the last 9 years since leaving IU. That's a lot!

[KzooHoosier82 972]

3 hours ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

I do find it kind of interesting that Matt Canada has been at 6 stops and different schools in the last 9 years since leaving IU. That's a lot!

I think he's a product of bad luck, being coupled with bad HCs or in Durkin's case, a very good HC who was a head case. His offenses have done very well over the the years. He's an IU guy, which isn't required in my opinion but it's nice to have. I don't see anyone out there that we can actually get who would be better. Allen said he wants a guy who's called plays at the D1 level. Kingsbury is off the board and we're not getting Applewhite either who will make more money than Allen next season wherever he lands. Unless we go shopping for OCs from the MAC I don't know who else we can even get that would be a better hire than Canada. 

[Alford Bailey 12,236]

Canada seems to have peaked with the short stint at LSU and now hes headed back down the mountain. First stop Maryland and now a little lower to IU.

[lucel15 3,052]

I’m hesitant about Canada a little bit, but I am not holding the LSU thing against him. There’s a reason he left/was let go. coach o didn’t let him run his offense. He didn’t do jack squat at LSU for that reason. I think he’s a creative coach and does what he can with the talent he’s given, when allowed to run his own offense.  

[Naturalhoosier 15,353]

I will be candid, if Canada is hired, I will be disappointed and gladly eat crow should he manage to produce consistent team improvements.

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

2 hours ago, Naturalhoosier said:

I will be candid, if Canada is hired, I will be disappointed and gladly eat crow should he manage to produce consistent team improvements.

Just curious, what is your preferred realistic hire then? I would love to see someone like Major Applewhite come in but that's just not happening. Even if it did, that type of OC would only be here for a year. At least with Canada, you have a guy that brings a wealth of OC experience and has certainly improved a lot since his time at IU. He did really well at Pittsburgh in 2016, which got him the LSU job. He was a scapegoat at LSU but not the problem. I watched some of his Maryland games and thought their offense was pretty good even with losing QB's left and right. The bonus is he's an IU guy so will hopefully view this as a longer term gig if we can have success as a program.

It's fine if you are skeptical but I just don't see many alternatives externally that would be as good as Canada unless you want to sniff around for an OC at mid major or a QB coach maybe at a P5 without any OC experience. 

[Naturalhoosier 15,353]

26 minutes ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

Just curious, what is your preferred realistic hire then? I would love to see someone like Major Applewhite come in but that's just not happening. Even if it did, that type of OC would only be here for a year. At least with Canada, you have a guy that brings a wealth of OC experience and has certainly improved a lot since his time at IU. He did really well at Pittsburgh in 2016, which got him the LSU job. He was a scapegoat at LSU but not the problem. I watched some of his Maryland games and thought their offense was pretty good even with losing QB's left and right. The bonus is he's an IU guy so will hopefully view this as a longer term gig if we can have success as a program.

It's fine if you are skeptical but I just don't see many alternatives externally that would be as good as Canada unless you want to sniff around for an OC at mid major or a QB coach maybe at a P5 without any OC experience. 

I would like to see Brian Wright from Toledo.  He's absolutely destroyed the MAC in his what, 3-4 yrs there?  Now that Debord is gone, we have a relatively young staff so White fits there.  The players will relate to him and he to them. However, destroying the MAC and translating that to the talent level of the Big Ten remains to be seen.  For me personally, I am willing to take the risk on a younger guy than risk going back to Canada who has shown medicroty at best. 

Of course I would love a big-splashy hire, but I think we can all agree that isn't happening. 

[JaybobHoosier 11,821]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I made sure and texted Natty once I got the notification lol.  I do want to thank Coach DeBord for all his time here and his commitment to the program.  With that said, I'm very happy that a change is coming with the offense.  The offense needs a fresh mind to lead it, and I think this will help get IU to a bowl game next year.  Really hope Canada will step up in a big way to take the offense to the next level, so we will see.

I like college football, but I only watch IU so I can't speak about coaches and who we should have tried to get.  Just want to see a consistent offense that doesn't leave me scratching my head more than I should be.  

[akinnaird24 517]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I made sure and texted Natty once I got the notification lol.  I do want to thank Coach DeBord for all his time here and his commitment to the program.  With that said, I'm very happy that a change is coming with the offense.  The offense needs a fresh mind to lead it, and I think this will help get IU to a bowl game next year.  Really hope Canada will step up in a big way to take the offense to the next level, so we will see.
I like college football, but I only watch IU so I can't speak about coaches and who we should have tried to get.  Just want to see a consistent offense that doesn't leave me scratching my head more than I should be.  

Sounds like Canada could be a candidate for the NIU HC gig if their coach goes to Temple


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[LamarCheeks 16,805]

Love him or hate him, I'm starting to think Matt Canada might end up being a long-shot anyway. In addition to the possibility of heading to Northern Illinois as the head man, I've seen reports linking him to OC gigs with Southern Cal, Georgia and Pitt, and he interviewed with Tennessee before they hired Georgia's OC. ... All those jobs -- and there are probably others -- are more attractive than IU, I would think. 

[Alford Bailey 12,236]

10 hours ago, LamarCheeks said:

Love him or hate him, I'm starting to think Matt Canada might end up being a long-shot anyway. In addition to the possibility of heading to Northern Illinois as the head man, I've seen reports linking him to OC gigs with Southern Cal, Georgia and Pitt, and he interviewed with Tennessee before they hired Georgia's OC. ... All those jobs -- and there are probably others -- are more attractive than IU, I would think. 

I be shocked if he landed at Southern Cal or Georgia.

[KzooHoosier82 972]

11 hours ago, LamarCheeks said:

Love him or hate him, I'm starting to think Matt Canada might end up being a long-shot anyway. In addition to the possibility of heading to Northern Illinois as the head man, I've seen reports linking him to OC gigs with Southern Cal, Georgia and Pitt, and he interviewed with Tennessee before they hired Georgia's OC. ... All those jobs -- and there are probably others -- are more attractive than IU, I would think. 

I think he'd take the NI job if offered. That would be a great opportunity for him. Hopefully the prospect of coming home and building his alma mater means enough to him to get him here but USC and Georgia would be tough to pass up. As much complaining as I've read about getting Canada back as our OC as I've seen, I haven't heard of one better candidate available so it'll be interesting how this shakes out. If Allen hires him as AHC/OC and pays him $1.5M a year that might be enough to get him here and keep him. 

[JustWinWoody 3,259]

 

 

[Naturalhoosier 15,353]

3 minutes ago, InArchWeTrust said:

 

 

Jeebus. Is CTA a control freak?  That's not an ideal view for a program to have when attempting to build a program from nothing. Give the OC and DC a longer rope to do what they want. 

[JustWinWoody 3,259]

1 minute ago, Naturalhoosier said:

Jeebus. Is CTA a control freak?  That's not an ideal view for a program to have when attempting to build a program from nothing. Give the OC and DC a longer rope to do what they want. 

I thought the same thing and don't blame Canada if this is accurate.    

[HoosierAloha 29,885]

IU football is going to IU football


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[MisterBigRig 66]

I don't blame Tom Allen for not wanting to shake up the offensive staff for Matt Canada. He is a journeyman offensive coordinator who usually only stays for one year. He's a very good play caller don't get me wrong, but I just don't see the value in replacing the offensive staff for a likely one year stint by him.

Pat Narduzzi, Matt Canada Have Discussed Pitt Return