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Dimitri Dorlis's avatar

I know you keep saying that, but UCLA can absolutely afford a good number of people on this list, especially once you consider what Kelly’s salary was and that they’re not paying for a buyout on him. The bigger issue is the timing, with NSD being done and spring practices right around the corner. Not a lot of coaches are going to be thrilled about switching at this moment.

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Evan's avatar

I'm sure we can afford Foster and probably Nebraska's DC, but it is not optimal to settle for them. And yes the timing compounds it. If this process could have just waited another 9 months we could have made someone a top 10 highest paid coach. The facts are this is not going to be an A+ hire, but it could have been in 9 or 10 months.

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ArmyBruin's avatar

We were paying Chip $6 million. That’s a competitive salary. Fisch was just hired for $7.75 million which puts him as 13th highest paid coach in the country.

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Evan's avatar

It's not really that competitive. Chip was not one of the top 25 paid coaches. Without new money, we are not going to fetch an elite coach using the money that was earmarked for Chip. With the money we'll have next year, we could have afforded a top 10 coach.

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BB88's avatar

This is why Jelly 2.0 who said he has 96 hours will select an interim coach, my guess would be one of the current assistants. 2024 wasn't looking very bright for this program anyway, hence an interim at this point makes sense. You can thank your pals Jelly 2.0 (and/or Blockhead) and the Chipster (OG) for this cluster by the way.

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Evan's avatar

it would have to be a current assistant because nobody in their right mind is going to leave a stable job for a 1 year contract at a bad job. Might as well give it to Jerry.

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BB88's avatar

Yes, it would have to be a current assistant and that's my guess. It won't be D'Anton Lynn because he would want a long-term contract which Jelly 2.0 will not give him and he'd be stupid to come back for just a one-year stint, which is all he'd get because they more than likely will have a pretty rough season no matter who runs the show.

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Evan's avatar

Lynn would at least have a reasonable chance of winning the job permanently.

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BigB88's avatar

Yes, but he would want that longer-term contract BEFORE proving himself. He would not take an "interim role", he would probably want at least a 3 year multi-million-dollar deal because he needs some permanency to prove himself and to springboard himself back to an NFL DC or head coaching gig, which is what he really wants.

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Evan's avatar

And there is the dilemma with the interim solution. Nobody is going to agree to that.

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BigB88's avatar

Well, Lynn won't but other UCLA assistants will. They know they are there to prove themselves and if they do, they get a longer deal. If they don't, they are gone, and you get your $8m guy in. Right now, the interim solution is the best for all parties. It keeps the program limping along, it gives incentive to both the interim coach and his players and it buys time before the Big-18 payday where Jelly 2.0 will have more $ to play with to get a good coach if the interim fails.

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W412's avatar

That’s why I think it makes more sense to take a chance on one of the up and coming or quality coordinators from the NFL. They’re in their offseason.

Yes, they would need the right staff around them to teach them the ropes of recruiting. I think from the side of Xs and Os, and ability to coach up their players, they’d be more advanced than other listed options.

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