Today, in a two-part exclusive interview former NFL scout Chris Landry, who currently runs a coaching/scouting/consultation business, provides Inside the Gators his thoughts on where Florida is in the process, what Scott Stricklin may be looking for as well as detailed breakdowns of the top candidates.
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If you are into the nuts and bolts, behind the scenes, type of information, you MUST visit LandryFootball.com to access scouting reports, team and coach information and data as well as listen to his podcast.
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* When your company is hired to do a scouting report on head coaching targets. What does that entail?
Landry: When I provide scouting reports on a coach for any college program or NFL team, I do it exactly like I do it when grading an draft prospect. There are a number of critical factors and coaching specific areas where I grade coaches and describe that in detailed form explaining my grade. Along with that is a summation of their skills which includes strengths and weaknesses. Again, just like grading a player, I also indicate how a coach might or might not fit a certain job just like I would evaluate that for a player’s fit into a certain scheme.
* Looking at some of the top targets, why would they be a great hire and why might they not be?
Chip Kelly: He would fix the offense and be tough to defend and be exciting for the fan base. He has been extremely successful running a big time program at Oregon and that includes recruiting.
With an up-tempo offensive scheme the defense will never be elite regardless of the talent as that style will put the defense on the field too often and too quickly between series intervals. Ideally he would prefer to coach only and not deal with things such as the media and fan base.
Scott Frost: He is a bright offensive mind, leader, and ideal face of the program. Players love playing for him and would great with the fan base and media.
He has only been a head coach a short time and has not been a head coach at a program at the level of a Florida yet.
Dan Mullen: He is a proven winner in the league at a program where the resources are less than what Florida has. An outstanding developer of quarterbacks and his teams consistently play smart, tough and usually achieve to the level of their abilities.
Even though he has done more with less, he has not had a good record when his team has been ranked and has played other ranked teams – however, in most cases he was the underdog. He prefers to be out of the spotlight and may not be ideal for the spotlight of the Florida job.
Willie Taggart: He has had successful head coaching experiences at Western Kentucky and South Florida as well as doing a nice job of rebuilding Oregon this year. He is a Florida native who is an outstanding recruiter.
He has only been at Oregon one year and the timing is not ideal for him to leave now. Despite the nice job at both head coaching stops, he hasn’t been ahead coach at a major college program for long.
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* In your situation you have been involved in or closely followed more than your fair share of head coaching hires. How much of the information put out during this process is either false or misleading by agents or those involved to either throw people off the track or to enhance bargaining positions?
Landry: Quite a bit. Remember an agents job is to present his client in the best light possible even so far as to put information out about him being a candidate at several posts. The more places a coach is believed to be a candidate the better he appears in the public eye which includes administrators that are searching for a coach now or in the future...
* Walk us through the process and where do you think Stricklin currently stands in that process?
Landry: Scott has been doing a very thorough job researching coaches and to my understanding has talked with a number of candidates (or their representatives), which I recommend. The more people you can talk to and the more quality feedback you can get regarding your program and possible fits to lead it, the better off you will be and the more comfortable you will be with your ultimate selection. The goal should be to hire the BEST coach for FLORIDA and once you have decided on that THEN, and only THEN do you try to do it as quickly as you can.
* In your scouting report of Chip Kelly, what was your take on his NCAA issues? How would you classify them several years removed and how big a hurdle is that to overcome?
Get this answer and an in-depth breakdowns of the top candidates, where Florida ranks as a head coaching job, who he thinks is the best fit and much more in PART-TWO OF THE Q&A.
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***UPDATE: To clarify an earlier edition, due to confusion on my part, it stated that Landry provided a scouting report specifically for Florida. He did not. My apologies for the error***
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