FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: USC Contacts Eric Bieniemy

USC has contacted Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy as part of its coaching search to replace Clay Helton, according to sources

Bieniemy is one of several coaches contacted during the search process, the source said.

“Under this scenario (Bieniemy) would hire a lot of assistant coaches with Southern California backgrounds (for recruiting),” a source said.

Even if USC eventually wanted Bieniemy, there is no guarantee he would take the job. He might get offered an NFL head-coaching job after the season or he could get offered the Chiefs job if Andy Reid decided to retire.

91 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: USC Contacts Eric Bieniemy”

  1. Please…..Not Eric Bieniemy. Why would they want him? If they thought UM had baggage problems because his O-Line coach was having marraige problems, how could they consider Bieniemy who has had problems with the law many times. Just google in ‘Eric Bieniemy Wiki’. They have a whole section on his problems with the law. He’s never been a head coach. He’s had some success as OC at KC because he has one of the best QB’s in the game running his offense. He’s really not even an offensive co-ordinator because he doesn’t call plays. Andy Reid calls the plays. He’s an OC the way all the people at SC were DC’s under Pete Carroll when all the while Pete was really running the defense and DC was just a title to them. Even if he was a good OC, that doesn’t mean that he would be a good HC. Norm Chow, Charlie Weis, Buddy Ryan and many others were good Co-ordinators but never turned out to be good HC’s.
    I would still go after Chris Petersen. I heard that TCU is pursuing him. Most good coaches who go into broadcasting usually want to get back to their 1st love which is coaching(ALA….UM) unless they are up in years. They may say that they love their broadcasting job but a lot of them eventually go back into coaching. My 1st 2 choice would be Fickell and Petersen. I would make them tell me NO and then go from there.

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      1. Petersen may be the exception but I still say that most of those coaches who go into broadcasting want to get back to their first love which is coaching unless they are too old to handle the stress. UM is the best example. I think that Petersen probably wants to get back into coaching. I know he once wanted the USC job badly until he had 2 meetings with Pat Haden who made it clear to him that USC wanted no part of him. My first 2 choices are still Fickell and Petersen. Make them tell you NO and then go from there. If they can get Aranda, that would be great. But I think that he is looking at the LSU job. But so is Jimbo Fisher(who I think wants that job badly) and others. I still think that SC is a better job than LSU(contrary to all the pundants on the internet). At SC you don’t have to play all those SEC powerhouses each year.

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    2. Let me be a semi-dissenting voice on this opinion. I ask everyone who is presently opposed to Eric (cuz I respect everybody who has signed on to parcelman’s post with a “like”) to check out Eric’s postgame interviews on YouTube —he’s super smart and intense. He’s real. I think he’d be the kind of coach THIS team would respect and work hard for.
      #AndHeDOESUnderstandOffense

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      2. I hear ya, PT —I’m just saying check him out. He could be a real ‘diamond in the rough’ (you know, like Disney’s Aladdin)…..

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      5. There are a lot of reasons why I’m not high on Eric B. but the main reason is that I think that you are taking a chance anytime you take a coach that has never been a HC. Eric B. is not really the OC for the Chiefs because he doesn’t call plays. The only time that he has ever been an OC was in 2011-2012 at Colorado. In 2011, the buffalo’s were rated 90th in total offense and in 2012 they were rated 114th. I’m not saying that he might not become a great HC. I’m saying….do you want to take another chance after 3 failures in the last 11 years and be stuck for another 4-5 years with another CH. I look at his resume and I don’t see that much difference between His resume and CH’s when they hired him. This is SC’s big chance to make a real good hire. We don’t need to take chances. There are a lot of outstanding coaches out there who are proven winners and would love to land at SC.

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    3. Watch a Baylor game and tell me you dont respect Aranda’s coaching. I think that his players are only OK, but the coaching staff is excellent. They win games that they should actually lose. He is definitely going to be improving his team each year until it is one of the top in the country and he will win consistently.

      This story is just a plant by Bienemy’s agent to try to get him some leverage. Make his name hot.

      He would be a huge gamble.

      I like… Aranda, Fickell, Peterson. I heard that if Peterson took over it would be for a limited number of years and he would hire a coordinator that was positioned to take over. If the coordinator is a top coach, that might be a good deal.

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      1. IF USC’s next head coaching era is coming to us as a “package deal” put together by Bohn (“Let’s see–we need this Offensive Coordinator to work with this Defensive Coordinator who will, later on, become Head Coach…”), we are on the wrongest track imaginable……
        #”AndThatSpellsTrouble”
        —- The Music Man

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      2. As much as I would love to have Aranda or Fickell or Campbell, I have no confidence they would be interested in the USC job.

        We have to be open minded to guys like Bieniemy, Jonathan Smith and maybe Deion Sanders because, what’s the alternative? We just have to PRAY they can attract quality assistants

        USC today is not the USC of the past, California today is not the CA of the past, LA today is not the LA of the past. Who the hell wants to be here with an administration who doesn’t give a crap about tradition, abandonment of USC’s conservative-ish culture and SC football.

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      5. My main two are Petersen and Fickell. But if they explicitly say NO, I’d love to have Aranda. I think that he is seriously looking at the LSU job and they are looking at him. But they are also seriously looking at Jimbo Fisher(who has won a NC at FSU) and Fisher has said that he has always loved his 7 years at LSU as OC. He said he loved living in Baton Rouge. That’s where his 2 sons were born. I think that he also wants the job badly. If Aranda can’t get the LSU job, he’s a SoCal boy. He surely would be interested in the SC job. He might be more interested in the SC job anyway, since it is a better job. I still like Petersen and Fickell but Aranda would be great.

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      6. MG,
        Question wasn’t for you as you haven’t claimed to have worked on any audits.
        Since you seem eager to answer anything and everything, do you find it suspicious that someone would boldly claim to have worked on the AZ audit and promise shocking findings and then go completely silent when the actual findings petered out?
        It’s seems highly possible that people make up BS about election fraud, post it online and others accept it as gospel.

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    4. I’m not sure Eric Bienemy is the Offensive spark in KC.
      He did not do so well in his short stint coaching for AD Bohn at CU in 2010.

      He is getting plenty of mention for HC jobs in the NFL and should take that job.

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  2. Chiefs offense stinks in 2021. Mike Bohn already fired Bienemy once at Colorado. This would be such a Bohner move, pulling Bienemy off of the trash heap. I’ve said it all along … Mike Bohn does not have the testicular fortitude to make a big-time hire. Brace yourselves.

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    3. Actually, the Chiefs Offense is #4 in the NFL in yards per game. Their problems are defense where they are 29th in yards allowed per game. I’m not saying that he doesn’t share some credit for their offense but he is not a true offensive co-ordinator. OC’s call plays. At KC, Andy Reid calls most of the plays. Eric B. has the title of OC but he’s an OC like all the people during the Carroll years who had the title of DC were really just organizing practices. Pete Carroll was the real DC. Similarly, Andy Reid is the real OC at KC.

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    4. Why isn’t Eric Bienemy a CFB or NFL coach already!? Mike Bohn, no more bullsh*t first-time head coaching experiments at USC. Hire a big-time established head coach or get the F out!

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    5. I just know that Mike Bohn is going to whiff on this hire and USC State Media is going to gaslight everyone and say what an INSPIRED hire it is, noses firmly up arse.

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      1. I’m with you Charles (have same feeling – except I think it will be Bohn having his strings pulled). Hope we’re wrong. Time will tell.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Agreed on all of your points. Do not believe he has been anything more than an echo of Any Reid who designs the playbook and calls all plays. Would seemingly end up being a different type of shipwreck than what we’ve grown accustomed to. Hope the debris lands in Kansas City (since he has been groomed to be Reid’s successor and multiple factors militate in favor of). When the Chiefs started poorly (fact is, they’re still playing poorly and the offense has been the main problem, with Mahomes not looking like the player of the past three years at all), the Bieniemy talk died down (just like the Lynn talk dimmed once the Lions…Lioned)…hopefully they will go into a nosedive and attention will shift elsewhere. Realize there’s that huge push from some quarters to make a diversity hire…I don’t care about eidetic characteristics – just pick the best candidate available, pay whatever is necessary to attract them, and give them full, untrammeled authority. If Bieniemy is the best candidate they can get to take the job…then so be it. But seems like there are better candidates.

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      1. Bourbon-I’m basically an average overachiever – got that word from a class – it stuck (simple but important concept with a fancy name). Have heard the discussions in different quarters, including a recent interview with Troy Polamalu (of course I don’t know him, but suspect what he meant was that USC needed to be more open in considering coaches hailing from different backgrounds than has heretofore been the case)…think most (to include most of us here) would agree that the selection should be based on merit, pure and simple. Best available coach. Not quite the same, but I always think of Chuck Noll saying that was how he built the Steelers dynasty – didn’t look at need, just picked the next best player available on their draft board. Think coaching selections should be the same. Realize there are factors that are far more open to scrutiny in the present, and they have to be taken into consideration (I don’t believe there’s a contradiction – if your best skilled coach also happens to be facing off-field issues that would ultimately undo any success they might achieve…but that’s a far sight different than media fear mongering and muck-raking/character assassination because the coach doesn’t suffer fools easily or at all).

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  4. #Itoldyouso It’s not just his law breaking, it’s his hiring hookers, got alcohol and get-highs for recruiting parties at Colorado. lool Look, I know everyone does it but he got busted.

    But can we all say now what amazing hypocrites both media and USC administrators are to not have hired Urban Meyer but to be reaching out to hire EB because they want a Black HC to seem woke??? I mean Lynn is incompetent, Tomlin would be great (at least from a status/recruiting angle– but Tomlin is really praying to God he makes the playoffs and doesn’t get kicked to a curb so “low” as USC), but really, this is getting ridiculous. Funny thing is, they’re also looking for someone not named Antwaun or Rashaan or Deion because that would be a step too far for some boosters, but woman battering pimps and losers are A-OK. lmaoo

    This is why I keep telling you, USC will throw the bank at dude at MSU if he just wins a couple more games– and that might be okay, though it will have to be outbidding LSU.

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      4. Thinking more like scene from original Alien after Ash has been neutralized and he asks to say one more thing: “I can’t lie to you about your chances…but you do have my sympathies.”

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      6. Yeah, think she would have some remarks for Folt and Bohn along the lines from the beginning board room scene from “Aliens,” to paraphrase “Did IQs drop suddenly while I was away? I already told you m’am that it was…[a terrible idea to retain Helton a moment longer than it took to say like Cosmo Spacely “You’re Fired!”]”

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    3. If money is the main object for Tucker then LSU will win. They go in with an open checkbook. But I still think that LSU is seriously looking at Jimbo Fisher who has always said that he wanted that job.

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      1. Agreed – he’s accomplished a minor miracle at Michigan State (much like O’Brien did at Penn. State).

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      2. He may be not want to look bad after jumping ship early a few times, esp the way he slipped out of Colorado in the dark of the night after one season. Colorado shouldn’t have let the OC Jay Johnson get away. I don’t want Mel by himself– Johnson is a sleeper, an actually good running game and passing coordinator with a strong understanding of blocking. Those guys are becoming really rare.

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  5. If the integrity queen was so worried about UM, why is USC wasting time on Bienemy??? Couldn’t that time be better used finding a quality leader. We REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need an experienced proven winning head coach, Football is littered with OCs elevated to head coach who failed miserably. No more on the job training. We’ve been in that with helton et al for over 6 years.

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    1. I love you Carra —but believe me when I say ‘Helton is not a good example of an Offensive Coordinator.’ Or a QB coach. Or a coach. Eric is in a different league (literally). He may not be the best possible choice —but if he winds up being the only big name who will take the job, we’ll be in good hands…
      #I’mOnlyWorriedAboutHowFastHe’llTellFoltToPissUpARope…

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      1. It’s always a mixed bag of sometimes A or sometimes B or more frequently neither. Generally, I believe there is a better track record of defensive coordinators becoming successful head coaches (hiring offensive coordinators … hopefully not letting egos get involved – as discussed here by many, see P.C. +/- N.C.)…but some have been woeful (or woeful first time around, then later…eg Belichick). Offensive coordinators have all too frequently turned out to be more Josh McDaniel or Norv Turner like…but then you have a Bill Walsh or Joe Gibbs…

        So you really never know. I think what it goes to is that it’s less about the details, and more about the character traits and prior experience along the way…

        Since others are continuing to throw hats in the ring, I will restate that I think Bill O’Brien would be the absolute best hire, followed by Peterson – if either is willing (doubt it, as also discussed here, because of the strings that will all but certainly be attached).

        I am on record as believing that Bohn’s strings will be pulled and he will dutifully botch this hire, and USC will go further in the wrong direction…but while I said I thought Braves-Astros would be an awful World Series (and think that was accurate), I also picked the Rays to win it all…and thought Arizona State would win the Clay Helton Pac-12 South Trophy…so my track record is…well…a little south of perfect!

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      2. James — Speaking of Arizona State…..
        —Is there a chance our inferior coaching staff can beat their way superior coaching staff this Saturday?
        #IAskCuz…
        #…I’mNotImpressedWithTheirReceiversInTheLeast…
        #…ButCanWeStopTheirRun?

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      3. If ever there was a poster child for my above “sometimes this…sometimes that…and you never know…” it would be Squirmin’ Herman and Slow Mo Lewis and that staff…Daniels does not seem to have progressed as would have been anticipated, but is always dangerous (and USC against running QBs is an old soap opera)…

        Hilarious (to me at least) to think that the late, great Joaquin Andujar’s equal-to-Plato-in-brilliance observation remains the rule in general, and particularly with the Soup Sandwich that is the Pac-12 in football: When asked to describe baseball in one word, he supposedly responded: “Youneverknow…”

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      4. Ha! Funny cuz it’s true.
        [Did Miller Moss ever recover from his training camp injury]?
        #ItWouldBeNiceToHaveAtLeastOneRunningThreatAtQB

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      5. Love your comments as well, I like thought put into opinions. I was really thinking of Charlie Weiss. He was a great OC under Belichick and Bill may have provided the brains because Weiss failed greatly when he went to ND as HC to save his beloved alma mater. I thought he would save them……..NOT! Based on that I worry that Andy Reid is the puppeteer behind Eric. I like to keep an open mind, I will look at the Bieniemy post game youtube videos. thank you.

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      6. Exactly (Josh McDaniels followed as did many other assistants in Weis’s wake). Reid runs the Chiefs offense, period. Bieniemy could very well learn a great deal from him and become successful…more likely, he will be Maurice Carthon…

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      7. Okay then, Carra!
        #…TellUsWhatYouThinkAfterYou’veWatchedHimOnYouTube…
        #[IThinkHe’sAs”Real”AsClayWas”Phony”]

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    2. Helton was never a top coordinator. Look at Aranda, he is doing great at Baylor. Bottom line is that there are a few coordinators, like maybe Venables or Lanning, that might be able to pull it off. But it seems like there is the perfect candidate just one state away.

      I wonder if Aranda is already the choice and they just need to keep throwing false storylines out there to distract attention away from Aranda during the season, so he can focus his team on winning??

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  6. USC has to interview a minority for it’s head coach position, that’s what this contacting Bienemy is all about.

    Don’t read too much into it.

    USC has to try and repair the damage to it’s image that it suffers from under the corrupt and scandalous tenure of C.L. Max Nikias, they can’t afford to hire a thug with a criminal past as their new head football coach, they (the powers that be at USC) can’t be that stupid.

    Or can they?

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  8. Eric Bienemy will be a token interview, the administration has no intentions on hiring him. Bienemy, and John Embry ran the Colorado program into the ground almost to the point of no return. 😂😂. Cockadoodledoo!!! 😃

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    1. Pisley, you POS, you’re back, why? I guess that means there’s a SUCC toilet or 10 backed-up and over-flowing in the bozo’s hubris hall.

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  9. Making contact is one thing hiring is another thing. We need someone with proven head coaching experience, and importantly success at doing that. We cannot afford to gamble on an assistant coach hopefully maturing into a highly successful head coach later on.

    Mr. Bohn: “Just Win Baby”, and “Win Today not hopefully Tomorrow”

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  10. USC is USC because of guys like McKeever, Wood, Banks, Carrier, Browner, Lott, Seau, McGinest, Polamalu, Clairborne, Patterson, Maualuga, Cody, Udeze, Cushing, etc, etc, etc… Yes, they’ve had more than their share of offensive stars, but offensive stars don’t scare the shit out of you, or take away ones will to play. Somewhere along the way it got twisted and USC’s modus operandi became some high-flyin’, let’s outscore you in a shootout, air-raid circus act. How soon we forget that every single one of our National Championships came from a very different football philosophy:
    Our defense will give you nothing. We will impose our will on you from kickoff to final whistle. If you want to run your mouth we will knock you the fu*k out. Period.

    USC’s future HC needs to have this mindset in his blood. All this prerequisite chatter about a candidate needing to be media friendly, in love with cats AND dogs, and/or trending on Instagram is beyond ridiculous when it comes to reestablishing The Trojan Football program. Trust, if we start playing D like we used to, like the biggest, baddest mf’ers on the block, recruits will come in droves. We won’t need 43 jersey combos, or cleats that sparkle everytime someone catches a 2yd screen. That said, for what it’s worth, and in imho, there’s one dude that should be at the tip-top of our list, someone who might be in play if the price is right:
    He’s the pride of Riverside, CA. Someone who got/gets nowhere near the credit he deserves for LSU’s 2019 natty. Finally and most recently, he’s someone who has Baylor (ya, Baylor) playing lights out football, HC Dave Aranda.

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    1. Wow. That’s a piece of gold. I’m sold.
      My only question: Would Aranda put up with Folt & Bohn?
      [I ask because the man you described wouldn’t want to spend 2 seconds in their bullshit presence]….

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      1. bohn might be ok on his own. Just include a clause in Aranda’s contract that due to a specific type of allergy caused by something that is found in all homes in Santa Monica, he can never be anywhere near the pretend president or else he might go into shock.

        The latter part would be true.

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      2. NO one should be permitted to enter the City of Santa Monica (including it’s own citizens, business owners & Mayor) until Carol leaves town…..
        #It’sTheOnlyWayToMakeThePoint

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    3. keep preaching…the Aranda train is rolling.

      we need to have Baylor lose to Oklahoma, so they dont have a chance at a CFP bid. that would delay getting him to USC. we need to have our new HC announced at the end of the year, so he can execute a fast recruiting pitch to some really great prospects that are waiting to see who the USC coach is.

      After watching Baylor play, Aranda has moved up to the #1 pick for me, above even Fickell. Fickell is a great head coach, but Aranda is the Yoda of college football. Highest IQ/knowledge in the game. And he can bring over his offensive coaching staff, which is doing really good things at Baylor.

      If we announce a new coach before the Early Signing Period, the sky is the limit on how high USC’s recruiting class can sail.

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    4. I’m going to remind folks of a bunch of trophy winning tailbacks and WRs, TEs and the dominance of the offense that won our last two championships. But it’s not just about SC’s past, today more than ever we see high powered offenses killing defenses; no one is really getting shut out among those top offenses when they’re clicking even when the defenses are terrific.

      But the most important thing, is that when an offense can control the ball, and convert on 3rd downs and for points on drives, defenses will always tire out more than offenses, and defenses that have to gamble more, be on the field more, come off of quick changes of possession will eventually break. Defenses even more today do best when they play less, and are rested because even aggressive defenses are reactive, which wears a player out much more quicker than being on offense.

      Today you can’t knock the poop out of players to intimidate as easily unless you’ve decided certain players are expendable and the penalty yards don’t matter in certain situations.

      Being the smart and disciplined complement is what defines good defenses today. DC’s don’t have to be geniuses and a good DC is a lot less rare than a good OC imho. Good tackling, good angles and leverage and tackling, good shedding blocks, good hand fighting, good discipline including playing your assignment and not doing too much and keeping eye and feet discipline, good gang talking and stripping, cutting down on dumb penalties, good ball skills, good speed and size and quickness and leaping, in both team and individuals– and a defense will do great things.

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      1. Bohn’s response to Global:
        “I like passing. Lots & lots of passing. High passing numbers. Passing yardage. Lots of Jump Balls.”
        #”It’sAboutTheSeed”

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    5. Aranda’s top RB is gaining about 8 yards per carry–about 800 yards already this season. One of the top running games in D1.

      So, a tough D coach who knows the run game.
      I’m in.

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  13. What a bunch of FB pussy’s. So now SUCC rah-rah’s are worried about rap sheets belonging to possible HFBC. WTF!

    I have it on good authority Osa Messina and Geo. Tyndall think Bieniemy would make a great Clown U FB coach.

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      2. Or his little orange sponge bob would advise you to quit focusing on it! Mule gets it (and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t come back by comparing USC football to “Allentown” – and he would be correct to do so , unfortunately)…

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      1. THE QUESTION OF THE DAY:
        How will Georgia Southern fans like it when they have to look at the first close-up photo of BOTH their Athletic Director AND their Head Football Coach on the sidelines of a blowout loss…. wide eyed & breathing through their open mouths?
        #GetReady….
        #….ItWillOccurInEarlySeptember2022

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  14. First step is …………….HIRE A COACH THAT UNDERSTANDS DEFENSE DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIP NOT THESE GIMMICK AIR RAID OFFENSES. ALOT OF OUR PROBLEMS IS WE DON’T PRACTICE A PHYSICAL TYPE OF PLAY, AND WHEN IT’S GAME TIME WE GET BEAT UP.

    A strong defensive minded head coach will put emphysis on physical practices, and winning games in the trenches. If we get that type of coach like Pete Carroll was it is easy to then hire a great offensive coordinator. Usually a strong defensive team plays physical, and alot of those type of teams also have a good running game. USC needs to go right after their opponents, and throw out this fancy stuff which is not working. Recruit, play strong defense, run the ball consistently on offense, bring back the fullback, and a “dual threat QB”>

    Aranda may very well be the man. I will be watching how he does this week vs. Oklahoma, and how well he finishes the season. The new coach at Michigan State preaches physical play also. It is a good thing he left Colorado this guy can coach.

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