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Defensive Coordinator Search

I'm praising him for firing a long time coordinator and suggesting he's doing a search.
 
Hey shame on you for being positive about the guy. Not the WFU way. Stop it.
 
BDL said:
Maybe we should wait to see who he actually hires before praising him for not making a type of hire?
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Are you suggesting posters on this board show patience and restraint?
 
Deaconblue said:
There were some other names mentioned on the Clawson new contract thread and the 2016 football thread.
Mike London, current MD "Associate Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach"
Nate Woody is the App State DC
Bob Diaco (UConn coach, just released)
Minnesota (just fired) head coach Tracy Clayes. former DC at NIU when Clawson was at BGSU.

Most of these are pure speculation and names of people who are currently without work or people who would be good to get, and might possibly move.
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I guess supporting the players in the boycott cost Clayes his job? 9-4 at Minnesota this year. 5-4 in the Big Ten. Lost in OT at Penn State and by only a TD against Iowa and at Nebraska. The "blowout" loss was 31-17 at Wisconsin.
 
Claeys makes a lot of sense actually given the timing of his firing and what he can bring from a defensive scheme standpoint. That would be an excellent hire.

Not sure of all the details behind the Minnesota thing, but it's pretty clear his players love him and he will stand up for them (even if it may not be warranted). That will obviously be good for recruiting.
 
Claeys is from Kansas, went to Kansas State and has coached in Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota. He was the DC at N. Illinois when Clawson coached at Bowling Green; so, it's possible they have crossed paths. That said, would guess that the mutual attraction between Claeys and his next school will likely be in the Big 10 or Big 12.
 
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What about that guy the Redskins fired ? Joe Barry. The Skins only draft offense and leave him with a bunch of cast offs and later round draft picks. He was martyred.

Redskins defense has one player drafted by the Redskins in the first four rounds between 2010 and 2015 (Breeland). In 2016 they went defense in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th.

Give the man some players and see what he can do !

Also, what about Wade Phillips ?
 
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith is expected to become the new defensive coordinator at Wake Forest although we have not heard that the deal is complete at this time. Smith has served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas the past three seasons. He spent the 2013 season with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Greg Schiano and was at Rutgers from 2009-2012.
 
GPDeac said:
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith is expected to become the new defensive coordinator at Wake Forest although we have not heard that the deal is complete at this time. Smith has served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas the past three seasons. He spent the 2013 season with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Greg Schiano and was at Rutgers from 2009-2012.
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THE REVERSE GROBE
 
GPDeac said:
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith is expected to become the new defensive coordinator at Wake Forest although we have not heard that the deal is complete at this time. Smith has served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas the past three seasons. He spent the 2013 season with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Greg Schiano and was at Rutgers from 2009-2012.
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This would be beyond amazing.
 
He going to bring some ess eee see speed with him?
 
Smith was Cohen's DC at Rutgers in 2012 before Cohen took over as Rutgers DC.

He has his critics. This is the first Google hit for Robb Smith.
https://www.seccountry.com/arkansas...just-business-time-to-move-on-from-robb-smith

Hogs for Breakfast: Not personal, just business — time to move on from Robb Smith


The old chicken or egg.
Has the Arkansas defense been bad this season because players are responding to poor coaching? Or has it been bad because coaches have poor players?
More importantly, does it matter?
That there are viable reasons supporting either side is one among the several that it’s time for Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith to go.
It sucks to have written that.
Smith is a stand-up guy. He’s been solid with the media, even making a friend or two among some of this ilk. And in his first season with the Razorbacks he looked like a slam dunk, all-world type of hire, poached from the NFL. Arkansas had the No. 9-scoring defense and No. 10 overall defense in the country. And that during a 6-6 regular season, no less. It appeared the groundwork was laid for a magnificent future.
Two short years later and the same scheme, some of the same personnel and the same Smith are ranked 84th and 85th in those two categories. What makes it worse is that Arkansas has actually improved, overall, as a team in that span. The Razorbacks won seven games last year when their defense took a step from the top 10 to 50s and 60s defensively. This season, with still a game to play against SEC East cellar-dweller Missouri — a game Arkansas should win — the Razorbacks have seven wins again. This is despite a defense that some fans have proclaimed is as bad as they have ever seen.
I’m not interested in going that far. But you do wonder if the Razorbacks would own at least two more wins with competency on that side of the ball. Texas A&M, especially, comes to mind.
Only five times in the last 11 seasons has a team given up more yards per carry than Arkansas has this year. Never in the history of Arkansas in the SEC has the team given up as many points per game (38.5) as it has this year. Not even in Bielema’s first year, a year in which the Razorbacks won precisely zero conference games.
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This doesn’t mean Arkansas will relieve Smith of his duties, however, although Ed Orgeron and Charlie Strong make for appealing names if it does. Bielema and Smith seem to get along well, better than many head coaches and their coordinators. Could be a deterrent. Consider, too, the trouble spots of defensive line and linebacker have been the biggest concerns and it’s possible defensive line coach Rory Segrest or linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves are the ones who will take the proverbial bullet.
Someone is going to have to, though, because this has been unfathomably bad. And fair or not, it’s on Smith.
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(LOL Ed O and Strong)

Looking for more info about this guy. He may be a talented guy who just had a rough year. Arkansas gave up 5.9 ypc this year.

A similar piece:
http://razorbackers.com/2016/10/23/the-end-is-near-for-robb-smith/

The End is Near for Robb Smith



t’s been a rough year for the Razorbacks on the gridiron and a major reason for that has been the Robb Smith defense.

Going into Auburn, many were wondering how the Hogs could be the underdog. Even I, who normally am really realistic and honest about my team, thought we would beat them. I couldn’t have been more wrong about this game.
Arkansas was flat out uncompetitive at Jordan-Hare. The defense, led by defensive coordinator Robb Smith, fell flat on its face again. This isn’t new to a lot of fans who have watched this year. Make no mistake, however, it hasn’t just been this year. The defense struggled handily last year as well, the Hogs just had a solid offense to outscore their opponents.
Robb Smith is currently the highest paid assistant on the staff. To put it very bluntly, Arkansas is getting a bad deal here. The product doesn’t come close to matching the price.
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GPDeac said:
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith is expected to become the new defensive coordinator at Wake Forest although we have not heard that the deal is complete at this time. Smith has served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas the past three seasons. He spent the 2013 season with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Greg Schiano and was at Rutgers from 2009-2012.
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Great find. Interesting choice. He is from Pennsylvania (went to Allegheny College). Like Clawson worked his way up the ladder. Grad assistant at Iowa. Position coach at Maine (FCS); worked his way to the Assistant Head Coach/DC at Maine. Schiano then hired Smith as the special teams/LB coach at Rutgers. He worked his way to the DC job at Rutgers. His last year at Rutgers, their defense was strong Rutgers went 9-3 losing to VA Tech 13-10 in the Russell Athletic Bowl. He spent one season (2013) with Schiano as the LB coach for the Bucs. The last 3 seasons, he has been the DC at Arkansas. The Arkansas defense was weak last year (#75 in NCAA rankings; #58 in Phil Steele's rankings).
 
The experience as an ST coordinator is an interesting development here too.
 
He was making a lot of $$$ at Arkansas.
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ive-coordinator-robb-smith-signs-new-contract

Jan 5, 2015
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Arkansas coach Bret Bielema says defensive coordinator Robb Smith has signed a new contract with the school.
Smith's new contract is a three-year deal that will pay him $750,000 annually and will go up $50,000 each year, a source told ESPN's Chris Low.
The signing is key for a team that improved from 76th to 10th nationally this season in total defense in their first year under the former Rutgers and Tampa Bay assistant coach.
Smith, 39, was making $500,000 annually and was signed through next season.
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So he made $800K this past season. Wow.
 
Johndeac said:
This is good? A quick search of him turned up an article calling for him to be fired from Arkansas and pointing to a historically bad defense there. And these Arkansas fans seem pretty excited about it: http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=625473.0
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My impression of most of the SEC fans I know is that their team should win the national championship every year and that if they're not in contention the coach should be fired. And most of them know more about the game than the coaches do. So that board is not surprising to me. (It looks a little familiar.)
 
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