Spangler Leaves Presbyterian for La Tech

[PCbluehose]

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Spangler Leaving Presbyterian; PC Begins Search For New Head Football Coach

CLINTON, S.C. – Presbyterian College has begun a national search for a new head football coach after Tommy Spangler announced that he has accepted a position at another institution, college officials announced today.
“I was disappointed to learn of Coach Spangler’s decision to leave PC,” Blue Hose director of athletics William “Bee” Carlton said. “He has built our program into a consistent legitimate contender for the South Atlantic Conference championship and has set the stage for our successful transition into the Big South Conference and the Football Championship Subdivision of the NCAA."
Coach Spangler has made innumerable contributions to our football program. More important is the impact that he has made on the development and growth of the young men he has led during his ten years at PC. As with any outstanding coach, that will be his lasting legacy. I understand the reasons for his decision and I have no doubt that he will be successful in his new position. We all wish him the greatest success in the future.”
Carlton said a national search for Spangler’s replacement will begin immediately.
“At this critical time in the recruiting year, it is important that we move quickly to find his replacement. We will certainly move as expeditiously as possible, but we will not make a hasty decision,” he said. “Thanks in great measure to Coach Spangler’s work, I feel confident that this will be an attractive position to many talented individuals.”
During his six years as PC’s head football coach, Spangler guided the Blue Hose to a 42-24 record — a mark that stands as the highest winning percentage (.571) among the school’s 14 head football coaches. During the 2005 season, Spangler guided the Blue Hose to a 10-2 record, the South Atlantic Conference championship, a top regional seed in the NCAA Division II Playoffs, and a spot in the final top ten rankings.
Spangler was honored following that season as the American Football Coaches Association’s Region 2 Coach of the Year.
A 1983 University of Georgia graduate, Spangler was a member of three Southeastern Conference championship teams, including the 1980 team that defeated Notre Dame for the NCAA Division I National Championship. He served for two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater under legendary Bulldog head coach Vince Dooley before moving on to a 10-year stint at Georgia Southern University — the latter five as defensive coordinator.
He arrived at PC in 1997 as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator on former head coach Daryl Dickey’s staff and assumed the reins of the Blue Hose program in 2001 when Dickey was named quarterbacks coach at Florida State University.
“Tommy Spangler is a man of character, sportsmanship, and integrity — traits that have been reflected in his Blue Hose football teams. He has been an outstanding coach, mentor, and colleague,” PC president John Griffith said. “He has set a high standard as we begin a national search for his successor, but he also has left the football program in a strong position. We are determined to find the proper individual to guide this storied program successfully to the next level.”


From the rumors that have surfaced lately, it looks as if he is going to Louisiana Tech. This is not what PC needs as it is in transition to DI (FCS)

[Eyes of Old Main]

Too bad Coach Spangler will be leaving. From the experience of having a similar school (Wofford) walk that same road of moving up from D-II to FCS I can say that staff continuity is key to having any chance at all. Hopefully, PC will find someone right for the job (and the challenges that are going to come with it). Good luck (and stay away from Wofford's staff).

[Baldy]

WHY? :confused:

LA Tech is a dead end job. Congrats to Coach Spangler anyway. He's one hell of a D coach

[McUMass]

Tech is still a D-I job in the south in a conference that has shown the ability to produce high-caliber teams (See: BSU, Utah). I know for a fact they like their football down there and I'm sure they have the ability to pay him a solid amount of money.

No job is a deadend job if you are good at what you do. All they need is another Tim Rattay and a defense :smiley_wi

[andy7171]

WHY? :confused:

LA Tech is a dead end job. Congrats to Coach Spangler anyway. He's one hell of a D coach
How is LaTech a dead end job?:eyebrow:

[Baldy]

How is LaTech a dead end job?:eyebrow:
Some of the worst facilities in college football, tiny budget, the WAC is a good conference but a logistic nightmare and budgetary black hole.

[andy7171]

Some of the worst facilities in college football, tiny budget, the WAC is a good conference but a logistic nightmare and budgetary black hole.
...but a big step up from PC.

[Baldy]

...but a big step up from PC.
Technically, but a large blow to his job security.

[CSUBUCDAD]

Man is that going to put some pressure on a new coach. New program and moving up a division to boot. Will be interesting to see if they seek out an experience head coach or find some hot shot young coordinator to promote.

[andy7171]

Technically, but a large blow to his job security.
I understand what you're saying. But if he has higher aspirations, it's the right move. The WAC is good, but it shouldn't be too hard to improve within it. If he can turn the program in the right direction, he can take another step up.
Not everyone can make a Jim Tressel jump.

[Baldy]

I understand what you're saying. But if he has higher aspirations, it's the right move. The WAC is good, but it shouldn't be too hard to improve within it. If he can turn the program in the right direction, he can take another step up.
Not everyone can make a Jim Tressel jump.
I hope so. I loved him when he was at Georgia Southern.

[PCbluehose]

The latest news for the new head coach is Harold Nichols, the OC for Rhode Island. He is a PC Alum, and coach in the early and late 90's while coaching at Georgia Southern for a couple of years.

What do you guys at Southern remember about this guy and his coaching style?

[PCbluehose]

What is Rhode Island's Fanboard website?

[Sir William]

The latest news for the new head coach is Harold Nichols, the OC for Rhode Island. He is a PC Alum,


Would Bobby Bentley (HC at nearby nationally prominent Byrnes High School, and a PC alum) be a serious potential candidate for the job? I would think his name would be mentioned.

[catamount man]

According to some PC insiders, Nichols is a done deal. Bentley, IMO, would've been a great hire at PC. Good luck Hose in 07, except in Cullowhee on 9-22.

GO CATAMOUNTS!!!

[youwouldno]

Are they going to run the option?

[Coastal89]

Would Bobby Bentley (HC at nearby nationally prominent Byrnes High School, and a PC alum) be a serious potential candidate for the job? I would think his name would be mentioned.
Bentley probably makes more money at Byrnes than he would at PC.

[JohnStOnge]

Louisiana Tech did beat the SEC champion in 1999. But there are serious problems with their current situation. They're located in Ruston, LA, and are part of a conference that extends over to Hawaii. Their gamble was that they'd eventually be able to work themselves into a more reasonable situation conference wise. They wanted in to CUSA and made a pitch for it during the last realignment. But CUSA took Rice and SMU while leaving Tech in the cold.

[Sly Fox]

Whoever the Hose wind up hiring, they need to get their staff out recruiting post haste. Obviously January is prime time for FCS schools.

[Mr. C]

Are they going to run the option?
More than likely, Nichols would install the Paul Johnson spread option at PC, considering that he has been around it at Georgia Southern and Rhode Island. It would be nice to see another team go to this high-powered attack.

[Baldy]

More than likely, Nichols would install the Paul Johnson spread option at PC, considering that he has been around it at Georgia Southern and Rhode Island. It would be nice to see another team go to this high-powered attack.
With all due respect, the option Stowers runs and PJ's option are two very different animals.

[Mr. C]

With all due respect, the option Stowers runs and PJ's option are two very different animals.
They still have the same roots and I was giving Johnson credit where it was due. Everyone runs their version slightly differently, but Navy, Nicholls State, Bucknell, Central Connecticut State and Rhode Island are all using basically the same offense, with roots in Georgia Southern.

[Baldy]

They still have the same roots and I was giving Johnson credit where it was due. Everyone runs their version slightly differently, but Navy, Nicholls State, Bucknell, Central Connecticut State and Rhode Island are all using basically the same offense, with roots in Georgia Southern.
I don't think PJ would appreciate that comparison. xlolx

Nichols State and Bucknell, probably. To me, CCSU and Rhode Island are more similar to Wofford's O than PJ's. The only real difference I have seen is that RI and CCSU pass more often than Woffy.

[SoccerSmells]

Presbyterian has been completely wide open, spread pass since the mid 1990s, so a move to the option game would be a huge adjustment early for personnel.

Maybe Patton or Mills from Big South schools will apply for this one. CDB is an alum too, but I doubt he'd be interested in moving inland.

[Mr. C]

I don't think PJ would appreciate that comparison. xlolx

Nichols State and Bucknell, probably. To me, CCSU and Rhode Island are more similar to Wofford's O than PJ's. The only real difference I have seen is that RI and CCSU pass more often than Woffy.
There are a lot of things I've said to our lovable friend PJ over the years that he didn't like. :D But he always has been tremendously accessable while telling you what he thinks of your questions and comments, so that is an acceptable, grin it and bear it thing. He may be irascible sometimes, but that's just Paul. He is a tremendous coach whose influence is a lot farther reaching than some may realize.

I agree that the Tim Stowers version of the spread option puts more emphasis on the pass than the Paul Johnson original version does, so Rhode Island and Central Connecticut State do some different things. A lot of that goes back to the Dexter Dawson-Kenny Robinson days of the mid-90s. I've talked with Stowers about how he was wanting to get the impecible Dawson more involved offensively, so he made some changes. Robinson was one of the better throwing QBs that Georgia Southern has ever had, too.

It also may be interesting to watch how Mike Sewak runs his version of the spread option when he emerges somewhere else (as I'm sure he effentually will at another FCS school). Do you think Sewak's version was more true to PJ's?

The Wofford offense is a hybrid of the Jim Brakefield wishbone that Brakefield ran at Wofford and Appalachian State in the late 60s and through the 70s. Brakefield's offensive coordinator was Fisher DeBerry, who eventually landed at Air Force. Brakefield had some QBs like Robbie Price and Steve Brown at ASU that were good throwers and runners, so he came up with a lot of innovations that put more of a passing emphasis on the wishbone. Paul Hamilton was one of the offensive coordinators trained under DeBerry and you could see that influence when Hamilton was in his first years at East Tennessee State. Buddy Sasser was a coach under Brakefield and Sasser then had a young guy named Mike Ayers on his staffs, so things got passed along. Ayers has always been more run oriented, though I think he would pass more with the right QB. The Terriers were a little better at passing it this season and I'd expect them to do more next year. There are also elements of the Delaware Wing T in the Ayers-Wofford flexbone system.

One of the reasons I think that Wofford has been so effective slowing down the Georgia Southern spread option over the years is that Ayers and his staff understood the option so well.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see another southern team, Presbyterian, running this unique offense. I'd love to see Georgia Southern go back to it someday, too.

[OL FU]

Would Bobby Bentley (HC at nearby nationally prominent Byrnes High School, and a PC alum) be a serious potential candidate for the job? I would think his name would be mentioned.

I think Bentley makes too much money for FCS:D

[aceinthehole]

I don't think PJ would appreciate that comparison. xlolx

Nichols State and Bucknell, probably. To me, CCSU and Rhode Island are more similar to Wofford's O than PJ's. The only real difference I have seen is that RI and CCSU pass more often than Woffy.

I really don't know how to describe CCSU's O (at times its was predictive and ugly). The "option" wasn't really sucessfull (lots of missed timed pitches) for the Blue Devils. We had a great RB who had a great speed and and was a N-S type ruunner. Although we had an efficient passing game, after the week 3 injury to our starting QB and the emergance of Justise as a leathal I-AA RB, we basically abandoned the pass for an exclusive run game. Most of the QB runs were draws or set plays with no option.

2006 CCSU season stats
563 rushing attemps for 3,360 yards
131 passing attempst for 1,112 yards

2006 Wofford season stats
571 attempts for 2,899 yards
111 attempts for 784 yards

2006 URI season stats
573 rushing attempts for 2,583 yards
157 pass attempts for 1,276 yards