Georgia Southern Head Coach's Contract Will Not Be Renewed

[CSN Log]

11-21-2009 09:22 PM

Georgia Southern Head Coach?s Contract Will Not Be Renewed

Georgia Southern University announced Saturday evening (Nov. 21) that head football coach Chris Hatcher’s contract will not be renewed.

Read more ... (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/11/21/georgia-southern-head-coach-s-contract-w?blog=2#more5850)

[Ivytalk]

Baker, you can't escape your fate...you suck!:p

[Kill'em]

Sam Baker created this mess and he should be the one to pay for it. Chris Hatcher is a good coach and a good man. He deserved better than this. xmadx

[seantaylor]

Thank god. Hatcher is an awful coach. Look for a Georgia Tech infusion to be announced on Monday.

[kirkblitz]

gsu can only win with the option, that school amazes me. Spurrier could come in and run the spread and u would lose. Is there some sort of ghost inhabiting your school thats option friendly? xlolxxlolx

either way i await your return to the option because i think it ****ing rocks

[CID1990]

gsu can only win with the option, that school amazes me. Spurrier could come in and run the spread and u would lose. Is there some sort of ghost inhabiting your school thats option friendly? xlolxxlolx

either way i await your return to the option because i think it ****ing rocks

Then you will be waiting at least two years to see it produce anything. We would love to go back to the option at El Cid but after years of recruiting for the spread it is just not something you can go back to overnight.

Then again, if we switched overnight we probably wouldn't have been much worse off this season.

[straightshooter]

Thank god. Hatcher is an awful coach. Look for a Georgia Tech infusion to be announced on Monday.

You're so easy to follow: eagleskins on gsufans.com and seantaylor here. Still the same spewing of hate for Hatcher. Did he steal your lollipop when you were a baby?

[Eaglesrus]

Just so non-GSU fans know, I'm pretty confident that most GSU fans don't like the timing of this, and many are incensed by the way that it transpired. Outside of seantaylor and mrklean, everything I've heard and seen said that Hatcher should have been given at least another year. Now, a lot of GSU folks will get over it pretty quickly if a triple option coach is hired, but that alone won't do it for me. Hatcher is clearly a good person who deserved better. Like others, I believe that there are no good ways to fire someone, but I'm sure that some are better than others and that it would have been almost impossible for GSU's administration to find a way to handle this any worse. It's almost funny to me that one of the AD's justifications for it was to get started on bringing back fans that had been alienated by the program; guess they can replace those of us that have now been alienated by this.

[PhoenixMan]

Just so non-GSU fans know, I'm pretty confident that most GSU fans don't like the timing of this, and many are incensed by the way that it transpired. Outside of seantaylor and mrklean, everything I've heard and seen said that Hatcher should have been given at least another year. Now, a lot of GSU folks will get over it pretty quickly if a triple option coach is hired, but that alone won't do it for me. Hatcher is clearly a good person who deserved better. Like others, I believe that there are no good ways to fire someone, but I'm sure that some are better than others and that it would have been almost impossible for GSU's administration to find a way to handle this any worse. It's almost funny to me that one of the AD's justifications for it was to get started on bringing back fans that had been alienated by the program; guess they can replace those of us that have now been alienated by this.

I thought it was handled poorly from what little coverage I saw of it. GSU is getting the rep that says to potential coaches that you have to win and win big in 2-3 years, or you're out. Not good, but I realize the fans are used to success and the school has a rich tradition of winning. Gotta give a coach time in most cases. Hatcher seemed like a guy that wanted to do things right. Also, as for the option...you MUST have a great (and durable) athlete at QB to make it work.

[blueballs]

Also, as for the option...you MUST have a great (and durable) athlete at QB to make it work.

...but it is much easier for GSU to recruit a great option QB than it is a conventional QB. There are plenty of powerhouse HS's in GA and FL that still run the option and most of the big schools who are recruiting the option QB's are trying to get them to sign as DB's or WR's. This is exactly the dynamic that led Tracy Ham, JR Revere, Chaz Williams, Jayson Foster, Raymond Gross to GSU.


The quarterbacks Hatcher was trying to recruit are also being recruited by every BCS & FBS school in the SE as well as all the FCS programs, same goes for the type of receivers Hatchers offense requires to be successful.

It is easier to recruit offensive linemen too as there isn't as much a premium on size but rather technique and agility.

For years the GSU paradigm was to sign as many great HS QB's who ran the option as possible, keep the best at the QB position and move the rest to WR, slot back, DB (especially safety). GSU would sign the undersized but athletic linemen too. ALL QB's and o-linemen redshirted and didn't really play big roles for the most part until their third year in the system.

Even Adrian Peterson (the greatest RB in the history of the division) redshirted, so did Chaz Williams, Jayson Foster, Greg Hill, and JR Revere. Tracy Ham played 5 years due to a rule allowing an extra year if the program was transitional, which GSU was at the time. The only quarterback who was really the exception was Raymond Gross, who is IMO the most under rated player in the history of the division.

GSU's unparalleled playoff success is due to the option system. When you have great athletes running a system for 5 years that teams from around the country rarely if ever see it is darned nigh impossible to prepare for it in a week's time. You can't simulate it in practice... and if you go back and look GSU was the biggest frontrunner there was, they would jump on teams before they could adjust and simply play from in front while grinding it out.

If GSU goes back to the option they won't be that far away if they can get a QB to fill in for a couple of years (Jaybo Shaw, you listening???) while they restock the pipeline at that position. They have capable RB's, players who can play the slot, good young defensive players and plenty of depth on that side of the ball. Another thing is that they redshirted an entire OL recruiting class in 2009 so the future could be bright for them, and sooner than one may think.

[blueballs]

Then you will be waiting at least two years to see it produce anything. We would love to go back to the option at El Cid but after years of recruiting for the spread it is just not something you can go back to overnight.

Then again, if we switched overnight we probably wouldn't have been much worse off this season.

I wouldn't be so sure... it didn't seem to stop Paul Johnson at any of his previous stops.

[LegalGaSouthernEagle]

It's almost funny to me that one of the AD's justifications for it was to get started on bringing back fans that had been alienated by the program; guess they can replace those of us that have now been alienated by this.It is funny to hear Sam talk about his concern over alienated fans. Talk about irony. Sam Baker, over the past 10 years, has created the hugest divide among Eagle fans. He alienated anyone who ever dreamt about GSU in I-A.
While I don't agree that hatcher should've gotten another year, I totally agree that this was handled horribly.
Sam Baker needs to follow Hatcher out the door, sooner than later.