DL Coach Update: Texas Has Found Their Man (Thurs 11:02 AM)

when LSU hired unknown Joe Brady everyone on LSU board said who the hell is this guy

2 hours ago, T Bonilla said:

From his interviews it seems like he’s a perfect fit for how Sark wants to run his program. His dad was a high school football coach so it’s in his blood, he cares about building relationships (person 1st, player 2nd), he’s worked his way up the ranks fairly quickly, he’s big on culture and having young men on the team who are the right fit, he concentrates on teaching fundamentals and ensuring consistency. Only time will tell but every word he speaks sounds like he’s meant to be in burnt orange (Sark 2.0). Congrats and can’t wait to see how he elevates our culture and player production on the field.

This sums It up as good as it gets! Keep posting.

2 hours ago, Gary Smallwood said:

After watching the interviews, reminds me Valor of Coach Choice, personality wise, energetic, appears to enjoy what he does, now we just gotta let him do it, after its all said and done we basically gotta trust Coach Sark, he really hasn't missed on a hire yet.

To be fair, he did decide to retain and hire Andre Coleman, fired after one year suggests that wasn’t a good decision. With our secondary struggles the last three years, passing defense being ranked 113th out of 130 schools this year and hasn’t improved as Rod Babers has constantly pointed out, the Blake Gideon and Terry Joseph hires can be questioned from a developmental and coaching standpoint. With that said, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick have missed on coaching hires, it happens. Minus those three coaches, Sarks done a great job. 

4 hours ago, HookEm said:

Great videos! Thanks Blake. This man seems confident. I like it.

Like the hire. Young guy something to prove will be by default a good recruiter. His personality seems like 16-20 yo guys will gravitate to him. 

17 minutes ago, TexasLonghorns said:

To be fair, he did decide to retain and hire Andre Coleman, fired after one year suggests that wasn’t a good decision. With our secondary struggles the last three years, passing defense being ranked 113th out of 130 schools this year and hasn’t improved as Rod Babers has constantly pointed out, the Blake Gideon and Terry Joseph hires can be questioned from a developmental and coaching standpoint. With that said, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick have missed on coaching hires, it happens. Minus those three coaches, Sarks done a great job. 

Agree with this. Sark has missed on some hires but fortunately corrected within 1-2 years. The recruiting of DBs last two years by Gideon and Joseph has been very good. DB play has been average but that will hopefully improve. Some of it is Pk scheme and can’t be blamed on Gideon or Jospeh. 

37 minutes ago, TexasLonghorns said:

To be fair, he did decide to retain and hire Andre Coleman, fired after one year suggests that wasn’t a good decision. 

JWhitt issued an ultimatum when Sarkisian was hired that he was gone if Coleman or Drayton were not retained. I think Roschon said the same about Drayton and Bijan might have transferred out if Drayton was not retained.

With all on Sarkisian's plate at the time, it was easier just retaining those two coaches and putting out brush fires.  Also Coleman had the résumé to have done much better than he did.

3 hours ago, sith_horn said:

Can anyone shed light on who "One of the most respected DL coaches/minds in the business" that Gerry is referring to?

Gerry could but he will not for reasons of confidentiality.

5 hours ago, sith_horn said:

Can anyone shed light on who "One of the most respected DL coaches/minds in the business" that Gerry is referring to?

It's been reported he was mentored by Pete Jenkins and he is like the godfather of modern technique so probably him imo.

Not gonna pretend to have any clue who he is. With that said, after last year, I think Sark deserves the benefit of the doubt. Hiring a young, up and coming guy from the NFL on a team in which he tries to emulate, count me in. 

7 hours ago, Blake Munroe said:

Here are a couple of videos to watch so you can get to know Baker:

 

 

Is it just me or does he remind you of Tashard Choice?

Probably the reason most are upset with this hire is his  resume not being at larger schools and more development of players. I only know what I read, and he may be a diamond in the rough who knows. But that is the point, shouldn't the University of Texas have the pick of the litter for this important job?

That will be the question many will ask fair or not. We waited this long and he more than likely wasn't even the 1st choice. Again not criticisms, just questions I know people are thinking. By God we are UT and should be able to get the best DL coach out there ha! JK but trust me a lot of people are shaking their head on this one. Time will tell, but DL is crucial in the SEC .Mess it up and pay the price.

7 hours ago, T Bonilla said:

From his interviews it seems like he’s a perfect fit for how Sark wants to run his program. His dad was a high school football coach so it’s in his blood, he cares about building relationships (person 1st, player 2nd), he’s worked his way up the ranks fairly quickly, he’s big on culture and having young men on the team who are the right fit, he concentrates on teaching fundamentals and ensuring consistency. Only time will tell but every word he speaks sounds like he’s meant to be in burnt orange (Sark 2.0). Congrats and can’t wait to see how he elevates our culture and player production on the field.

All of this, plus the guy seems incredibly likable and relatable. Should help him on the recruiting trail..  

The way I see it Sark got the heads up or knows much more about this man than we do. We should trust in Sark he hasn’t let us down so far. Do they all work out absolutely not. With that said I don’t see the need for a melt down. We made it to the CFP for the first time and the Big 12 championship since 2009. So we should trust the system instead of fret over it just because we did not make a splash with a big name. 

Never heard of this dude but I’m gonna pretend it’s an awesome hire to keep the buzz going. 

3 takeaways from this hire.

1. Sark has a much better pulse on the program & the coaching staff as a whole. He is going to make a hire based on certain traits he wants in his coaches, which has worked with almost every hire he’s made.

2. Being from the NFL, Baker is bringing at least somewhat of a development pedigree to the table. The improved stats across the DL for each individual Dolphins player is probably a pretty good indicator of this.

3. He’s not really a proven recruiter but the traits are there. I love Bo Davis, especially as a developer of talent. But the DL position group is the only one, outside of TE (certainly not an indictment on Banks considering how many prospects he’s involved with each cycle), that hasn’t landed a consensus 5 star prospect since Sark’s been the head coach. Baker has the traits to be a tremendous recruiter & you gotta believe in Sark’s vision when it comes to accumulating talent on the roster.

I’ll continue to believe in Sark until I’m given a reason not to, Hook ‘em.

6 minutes ago, goattalk100 said:

3 takeaways from this hire.

1. Sark has a much better pulse on the program & the coaching staff as a whole. He is going to make a hire based on certain traits he wants in his coaches, which has worked with almost every hire he’s made.

2. Being from the NFL, Baker is bringing at least somewhat of a development pedigree to the table. The improved stats across the DL for each individual Dolphins player is probably a pretty good indicator of this.

3. He’s not really a proven recruiter but the traits are there. I love Bo Davis, especially as a developer of talent. But the DL position group is the only one, outside of TE (certainly not an indictment on Banks considering how many prospects he’s involved with each cycle), that hasn’t landed a consensus 5 star prospect since Sark’s been the head coach. Baker has the traits to be a tremendous recruiter & you gotta believe in Sark’s vision when it comes to accumulating talent on the roster.

I’ll continue to believe in Sark until I’m given a reason not to, Hook ‘em.

My thoughts exactly. Bo was a great coach, but not much of a recruiter. Let’s give Coach Baker a shot.

17 hours ago, BurntOrangeHorn said:

JWhitt issued an ultimatum when Sarkisian was hired that he was gone if Coleman or Drayton were not retained. I think Roschon said the same about Drayton and Bijan might have transferred out if Drayton was not retained.

With all on Sarkisian's plate at the time, it was easier just retaining those two coaches and putting out brush fires.  Also Coleman had the résumé to have done much better than he did.

Well said, and I believe Sark made the right decision at that time.