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Baylor Football

BREAKING: Baylor to hire Chris Kapilovic as its next OL coach

December 12, 2023
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Baylor is set to hire former Michigan State offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic as its next offensive line coach, SicEm365 has learned. Kapilovic joins Dave Aranda’s reconfigured offensive staff and will oversee the trenches under new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.

Kapilovic joined the staff in East Lansing in February 2020 after spending the 2019 season as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator in Colorado. He has more than 30 years of coaching experience, including roles as an offensive coordinator and/or run game coordinator at Southern Mississippi (2008-11), North Carolina (2012-18), Colorado (2019) and Michigan State (2020-present). 

Prior to Colorado, Kapilovic coached the offensive line for seven seasons at North Carolina (2012-18) for head coach Larry Fedora. Kapilovic served as the run game coordinator for the Tar Heels his first two seasons (2012-13), was promoted to co-offensive coordinator for the next two years (2014-15), and was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator his final three seasons (2016-18).

Kapilovic’s offensive line was a key to Michigan State’s 2021 in which the Spartans finished 11-2 overall. The o-line helped pave the way for unanimous All-American Kenneth Walker III, who led the Big Ten and ranked No. 2 in the FBS with 1,636 rushing yards (136.3 ypg) to go along with his 18 rushing touchdowns. In addition to blocking for Walker, the Spartans allowed just 1.62 sacks per game, fourth fewest in the Big Ten and 27th in the FBS. The Spartan offensive line was named one of 13 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top offensive line.

In his career, Kapilovic has been the primary or secondary recruiter for a number of four-star prospects, including at least eight prospects ranked in the top 250 nationally. 

Kapilovic is the third offensive staff addition this offseason for the Bears. The veteran OL coach joins new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital as well as new associate head coach and running backs coach Khenon Hall in Waco. 

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BREAKING: Baylor to hire Chris Kapilovic as its next OL coach

18,094 Views | 56 Replies | Last: 4 mo ago by jikespingleton
BealBear
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4:03p, 12/12/23
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boognish_bear
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4:14p, 12/12/23
All the comments from the MSU fans in this thread are not encouraging

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ScottS
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4:17p, 12/12/23
Is he a magician?
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BBWCBear
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4:27p, 12/12/23
There's that connect to Fedora. MEH. Aranda's coaching tree… I dunno. But then again, lame duck HC.
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bear2be2
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4:38p, 12/12/23
I'm not going to pretend to have any idea how I should feel about a random position coaching hire. I'm just glad we have an OL coach in place so maybe we can add a couple of starting caliber linemen out of the portal. The proof will be in the pudding after that.
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bear2be2
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In reply to boognish_bear • 4:42p, 12/12/23
boognish_bear said:
All the comments from the MSU fans in this thread are not encouraging

Fans always roast outgoing coaches and remember the bad over the good. We saw that here with Grimes and Mateos, who delivered two solid seasons and are now looked at as incompetents because of one dreadful one.

We'll see what this guy has. He's got a tough row to hoe, but we've seen significant one-year turnarounds up front before -- the most notable engineered, ironically, by Grimes and Mateos in 2021.
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boognish_bear
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4:43p, 12/12/23
I like that he has a reputation as a strong recruiter. We seem to have fallen off in that lately.
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boognish_bear
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4:59p, 12/12/23
I know fedora does not have the best cred around here… But FWIW

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Bigkahunaww
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7:21p, 12/12/23
At least it wasn't A JUCO line coach.
But he has a tough road ahead.
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Big_Pumpin
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8:50p, 12/12/23
Well he's not soft spoken. I've never seen so much talk about an offensive line. You can get to know the guy a little in this press conference after fall camp

https://www.wlns.com/sports/msu-provides-update-following-fall-practice/amp/
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mcleod66
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In reply to bear2be2 • 9:38p, 12/12/23
bear2be2 said:
boognish_bear said:
All the comments from the MSU fans in this thread are not encouraging

Fans always roast outgoing coaches and remember the bad over the good. We saw that here with Grimes and Mateos, who delivered two solid seasons and are now looked at as incompetents because of one dreadful one.

We'll see what this guy has. He's got a tough row to hoe, but we've seen significant one-year turnarounds up front before -- the most notable engineered, ironically, by Grimes and Mateos in 2021.
TWO dreadful ones
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bear2be2
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In reply to mcleod66 • 9:59p, 12/12/23
mcleod66 said:
bear2be2 said:
boognish_bear said:
All the comments from the MSU fans in this thread are not encouraging

Fans always roast outgoing coaches and remember the bad over the good. We saw that here with Grimes and Mateos, who delivered two solid seasons and are now looked at as incompetents because of one dreadful one.

We'll see what this guy has. He's got a tough row to hoe, but we've seen significant one-year turnarounds up front before -- the most notable engineered, ironically, by Grimes and Mateos in 2021.
TWO dreadful ones
2022 wasn't dreadful. We averaged 32.2 points and almost 415 yards per game. We'd have won nine games with a good defense that year.
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boognish_bear
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10:53p, 12/12/23
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Karab
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11:42p, 12/12/23
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
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Karab
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In reply to boognish_bear • 12:10a, 12/13/23
boognish_bear said:
All the comments from the MSU fans in this thread are not encouraging


Reddit is not encouraging either. Some gems:

"I'm so sorry, Baylor fans. It is very clear you need to make a head coaching change now more than ever. :/"

"How did this hyped up scrub get another job? Lmao"

"How do you take a look at one of the worst OL in the country and say "I want the man responsible for that!""

"This guy is absolutely buns at developing linemen though. He can recruit them but they don't improve over their time at the school"

"Yeah I hate to beat a dead horse, but MSU kept getting 300lb + dudes on the O line and EVERY YEAR they were the softest line I'd seen in conference play, just abysmal at establishing a run presence."
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bear2be2
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In reply to Karab • 12:52a, 12/13/23
Karab said:
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
Yeah, Grayson is doing some world class sunshine pumping here. Kapilovic had some good run games at UNC, but his teams at Michigan State were awful on the ground three of his four years there. They ran for 91.7 ypg and 2.7 ypc in 2020, 113.0 ypg and 3.8 ypc in 2022 and a woeful 89.5 ypg and 2.9 ypc this past season.

This guy had better recruit because his recent track record is pretty damn bad.
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Karab
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In reply to bear2be2 • 1:14a, 12/13/23
bear2be2 said:
Karab said:
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
Yeah, Grayson is doing some world class sunshine pumping here. Kapilovic had some good run games at UNC, but his teams at Michigan State were awful on the ground three of his four years there. They ran for 91.7 ypg and 2.7 ypc in 2020, 113.0 ypg and 3.8 ypc in 2022 and a woeful 89.5 ypg and 2.9 ypc this past season.

This guy had better recruit because his recent track record is pretty damn bad.


I just don't understand how we could mess this up so badly.

OL was one of the biggest needs for this team, and we wind up with a laid off coach who has been WORSE than Mateos?

Even if we are offensively banking on Spavital creating some magic and Aranda "fixing" the LBs and defensive play calling... We couldn't do ANY better? It's almost like Aranda caught wind that we might be good with Spavital, so he decided to self-destruct with a poor OL coach hire.

This also explains why we are suddenly trying to get the Toledo QB because Spavital knows whoever is QB is going to be running for their life.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Karab • 1:22a, 12/13/23
Karab said:
bear2be2 said:
Karab said:
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
Yeah, Grayson is doing some world class sunshine pumping here. Kapilovic had some good run games at UNC, but his teams at Michigan State were awful on the ground three of his four years there. They ran for 91.7 ypg and 2.7 ypc in 2020, 113.0 ypg and 3.8 ypc in 2022 and a woeful 89.5 ypg and 2.9 ypc this past season.

This guy had better recruit because his recent track record is pretty damn bad.


I just don't understand how we could mess this up so badly.

OL was one of the biggest needs for this team, and we wind up with a laid off coach who has been WORSE than Mateos?

Even if we are offensively banking on Spavital creating some magic and Aranda "fixing" the LBs and defensive play calling... We couldn't do ANY better? It's almost like Aranda caught wind that we might be good with Spavital, so he decided to self-destruct with a poor OL coach hire.

This also explains why we are suddenly trying to get the Toledo QB because Spavital knows whoever is QB is going to be running for their life.
I'm not ready to go that far. This hire could work out. But this idea that it's some sort of home run is absurd. The mods on this site and their premium board minions never seem to learn. The hyperbolic praise that gets thrown around constantly by those folks is annoying. I can't take anything any of them say seriously.
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Golden Helmet
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In reply to boognish_bear • 5:00a, 12/13/23
Fans....LOL

They're such a great source of football knowledge after all.

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Big_Pumpin
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In reply to boognish_bear • 7:40a, 12/13/23
boognish_bear said:


Man my handle is based on pumpin sunshine but wow.

Points per game as to why the OL coach is a home run hire?

Citing 2015 as recent success?

Over 30yrs experience? And still an OL coach?

Not knocking the coach. I'll let him prove it on the field. Just questioning the attempt to spin this into a home run hire.

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Daveisabovereproach
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8:35a, 12/13/23
I think the hire is commensurate with a head coach that has a 50/50 chance at best of being here in 2025

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boognish_bear
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In reply to No Quarterback • 8:37a, 12/13/23
No Quarterback said:
I think the hire is commensurate with a head coach that has a 50/50 chance at best of being here in 2025



Agree. Aranda's tenuous grip on the job had to impact who we could reasonably get.

I'm kind of surprised we were able to get Spavital.
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Karab
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In reply to Big_Pumpin • 10:12a, 12/13/23
Big_Pumpin said:
boognish_bear said:


Man my handle is based on pumpin sunshine but wow.

Points per game as to why the OL coach is a home run hire?

Citing 2015 as recent success?

Over 30yrs experience? And still an OL coach?

Not knocking the coach. I'll let him prove it on the field. Just questioning the attempt to spin this into a home run hire.


That's Grayson's MO. He loves the recruiting side of things and is always the sacrificial lamb on the SicEm365 staff that will pump even when everyone else is in doubt.

This is far from a home run hire. This is lateral at BEST, but smells a lot like a downgrade. If the OL improves this year, I suspect it's more from abandoning Grimes' wide zone than actual technical prowess on the OL
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Golden Helmet
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In reply to Big_Pumpin • 10:18a, 12/13/23
30 Years as a CEO and still a CEO?

He must be awful because he's not Chairman of the Board right?

LOL
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bear2be2
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In reply to Golden Helmet • 10:30a, 12/13/23
Golden Helmet said:
30 Years as a CEO and still a CEO?

He must be awful because he's not Chairman of the Board right?

LOL
O-line coach is not a CEO. And most position coaches aspire to be coordinators or head coaches. The lack of upward mobility doesn't mean he's a bad coach or hire, but your analogy here is pretty terrible.
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Daveisabovereproach
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10:37a, 12/13/23
Transformational change is not the goal here folks. Six wins is the baseline for success that Aranda is banking on in 2024. Brace yourselves for a long and disappointing season
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Golden Helmet
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In reply to bear2be2 • 12:29p, 12/13/23
I was attempting to match the stupidity of the initial statement.

Seems as though you & I are on the same page.

Not everyone wants to fly the plane and that's OK.

I wish Aranda had realized his own personal limitations and never gone for HC at BU.
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morethanhecouldbear
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11:04p, 12/13/23
I saw we hired this guy and came here to post that Sparty had one of the worst rushing attacks in the country. Looks like someone already beat me to that lol
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Quinton
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In reply to bear2be2 • 8:04a, 12/14/23
bear2be2 said:
Karab said:
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
Yeah, Grayson is doing some world class sunshine pumping here. Kapilovic had some good run games at UNC, but his teams at Michigan State were awful on the ground three of his four years there. They ran for 91.7 ypg and 2.7 ypc in 2020, 113.0 ypg and 3.8 ypc in 2022 and a woeful 89.5 ypg and 2.9 ypc this past season.

This guy had better recruit because his recent track record is pretty damn bad.
This game and business is pretty insular. Most think that their guys are "great football coaches." Most aren't.
Aranda has one of the worst track records for hiring in high D1 so its only rationale to be highly skeptical.. especially when the coach hired has a mediocre to weak history as well. Better recruit fully developed linemen ready to go.
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boognish_bear
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In reply to Quinton • 10:41a, 12/14/23
Quinton said:
bear2be2 said:
Karab said:
"Michigan State ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the nation in rushing this season at just 89.5 yards per game. There were zero rushing touchdowns by the running backs in the final 10 games combined as the Spartans finished 4-8."

Not promising. His 2021 year was one good year, which was coincidentally 4 years after a good Dantonio year.

The new HC Jonathan Smith from Oregon State brought his high performing OL coach over to replace him.

Hard saying how the Mel Tucker scandal impacted this season for MSU... But I'm not optimistic in this hire nor the RB coach hire. I'm not buying the sunshine pumping and how good these guys are supposed to recruit... They have 1 year to succeed or the whole staff should get wiped, so they aren't going to make or break on recruiting.
Yeah, Grayson is doing some world class sunshine pumping here. Kapilovic had some good run games at UNC, but his teams at Michigan State were awful on the ground three of his four years there. They ran for 91.7 ypg and 2.7 ypc in 2020, 113.0 ypg and 3.8 ypc in 2022 and a woeful 89.5 ypg and 2.9 ypc this past season.

This guy had better recruit because his recent track record is pretty damn bad.
Aranda has one of the worst track records for hiring in high D1 so its only rationale to be highly skeptical...


His hiring track record is comically bad. Maybe through the law of averages he's bound to hit on one of these guys this year.
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DTBear
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10:53a, 12/14/23
I like his first OL he offered today from Montana St. He is from Katy. Who knows if Baylor has a chance but at least he is an aggressive kid and Baylor can use some of that as a starter to hopefully bleed through the OL.
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jikespingleton
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11:50a, 12/14/23
Replacing mediocre (mateos) with something worse (new guy) sounds about right for us.
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PacificBear
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12:26p, 12/14/23
Last Chance U. No one wanted this guy and no one good is coaching under Aranda. Table scraps.
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cowboycwr
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In reply to boognish_bear • 12:33p, 12/14/23
boognish_bear said:
This seems like a lot of stretching to make a list....


1. This seems more like the result of the OC he has been under then the O line coach
2. Again he was part of that success, not the cause of it and 2015 isn't really recent when talking coaching
3. 30 years and still a position coach.....
4. OK let's hope so
5. Or so the claim as there is no evidence to back this up as no list was ever released of his candidates...
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Daveisabovereproach
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In reply to cowboycwr • 12:40p, 12/14/23
cowboycwr said:
boognish_bear said:
This seems like a lot of stretching to make a list....


1. This seems more like the result of the OC he has been under then the O line coach
2. Again he was part of that success, not the cause of it and 2015 isn't really recent when talking coaching
3. 30 years and still a position coach.....
4. OK let's hope so
5. Or so the claim as there is no evidence to back this up as no list was ever released of his candidates...


That's just how premium board "nuggets" work man. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's speculation, but to the highly susceptible and suggestible sunshine pumping crew, it's the gospel truth, and you had best not question it or you'll be called out
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