Our Next DC Should Be...

Let's assume Heupel kicks Banks to the curb.

Who should we be hiring as our new DC? Which names would be elite? Which guys would be decent?

 

Jayvol.

 

JMO the only way to being elite was for Tenn to beat OU, OU implodes and we hire Venables as DC.


Other than that? Steal Durkin from Auburn/Golesh or make a big offer to Pry. However, from what I've heard, I think Pry is taking some time off.

 

Eric Berry DC and Peyton Manning OC, imo.

 

Wilcox (if you can get him off the Left Coast)

 

Absolutely not on Durkin.

 

I don't see any of the other names (Wilcox, Muschamp, Stoops, etc) ever coming here.


Durkin is IMO not elite and will not be sufficient to push us into that category but he's better than what we currently have.

 

He won't come back

 

ChatGPT

 

I’d just prefer a coach that didn’t kill a guy, have his team walk out on him in his first meeting after he returned from leave, and then was fired.

 

Which would be an improvement over what we currently have.

 

100% fair. I’ve honestly never read up much on what happened at Maryland, how you described it is exactly the extent of my knowledge.

He’s done a good job at Auburn and his players love him, which to me makes me wonder if he’s the same guy he was at Maryland. Regardless, I think he’s good but not quite good enough to get excited about given the baggage.

 

You honestly might be onto something, at least from a playcalling perspective.

 

Pry might end up back at Penn State on the defensive staff. Blake from LSU likely gets the Tulane job if he doesn't stay on Kiffin's staff so the options are getting tight. I like Rob Aurich from San Diego State but not sure he would come this way (SEC is hard to turn down though). Stoops may be an option but he will probably create more issues in the coaching staff than he fixes on the field. Was hoping Baylor would fire Dave A. so we could grab him. I think they would have fired him this year had there not been so many openings to contend with for a new coach.

 

I mentioned it in another thread; was Stoops a good DC during his time as such?

 

He wasn't terrible but his last name inflated his value

 

Hell, I will take not terrible.

 

Ryan Walters, his results speak for themselves.

Missouri
2018-52nd
2019-15th
2020-25th

Illinois
2021-29th
2022-1st

Washington
2025-22nd

He’s only making $1.5 million at Washington. He and Heupel overlapped at Missouri from 2016-2017 as well.

 

Reading the tea leaves I think Pry takes some time off. Might take analyst job a la Muschamp.

I do think that if he goes straight into DC it'll be for PSU

 

Plus you’d have to question at this point in his career A) How much he wants it, if he’s still hungry and B) The extent to which he might be a dinosaur at this point