Portland State's new head coach

[JALMOND]

Nigel Burton is the new head football coach at Portland State.

www.oregonlive.com/vikings/

[JALMOND]

Listening to Burton talking on one of Portland's sports radio stations, I have to say I am impressed with this hire. One thing he mentioned was that we at Portland State can't worry about where we think we should be or what conference we think we should be in. We are in a very good overall conference in the Big Sky and we need to concentrate on what we need to do to win at this level.

Also, he stressed the importance of keeping the Portland metro athlete in Portland, saying that good academics are in Portland, good athletics are in Portland and no one should feel like they need to leave the city and go elsewhere (specifically mentioning Oregon and Oregon State) for better opportunities.

Way too early to say for sure, time will tell how this will go, but I for one am encouraged by this hire.

[ncbears]

Keeping any of the assistants???

[W. DeMontague]

Were his defenses any good at Nevada? I seem to recall the Wolfpack scoring a lot of points, but not necessarily stopping any of the better teams in the WAC.

Don't know what to think about this hire. Seems as though better qualified coaches are out there.

[JohnStOnge]

Also, he stressed the importance of keeping the Portland metro athlete in Portland, saying that good academics are in Portland, good athletics are in Portland and no one should feel like they need to leave the city and go elsewhere (specifically mentioning Oregon and Oregon State) for better opportunities.
.

I don't think it's real realistic to suggest that someone shouldn't feel like they should give up a definite chance to play in a BCS league conference in order to play for a FCS school. I mean, I'm not completely ruling out the possibility that some guy who has tremendous loyalty to his home town FCS university would pass up a football scholarship to a BCS league school to play for the home town FCS team; but it is really, really unlikely.

The other thing I'm wondering about is whether or not Portland is a hotbed of football talent anyway. I mean, if you're in California looking at Los Angeles or Texas looking at Houston or Dallas or Florida looking at Miami or Louisiana looking at New Orleans you're looking at metro areas that have well established reputations as producing copius football talent. But Portland? Frankly, I think that if Portland State wants to be a football power it needs to think more in terms of getting talent from far and wide.

[JALMOND]

Keeping any of the assistants???

All assistants were dismissed along with Glanville. I'm sure, though, that if Burton wants to take a look at them, he will be able to.

[GOKATS]

All assistants were dismissed along with Glanville. I'm sure, though, that if Burton wants to take a look at them, he will be able to.

Dismissing all assistants is common procedure when a HC is replaced. A HC moving to another school usually has key personnel he will take with him. Since this is Burtons first HC job it's likely that he might hire some of the existing staff, but he has the option of bringing in all new coaches if he wants.

[JALMOND]

I don't think it's real realistic to suggest that someone shouldn't feel like they should give up a definite chance to play in a BCS league conference in order to play for a FCS school. I mean, I'm not completely ruling out the possibility that some guy who has tremendous loyalty to his home town FCS university would pass up a football scholarship to a BCS league school to play for the home town FCS team; but it is really, really unlikely.

The other thing I'm wondering about is whether or not Portland is a hotbed of football talent anyway. I mean, if you're in California looking at Los Angeles or Texas looking at Houston or Dallas or Florida looking at Miami or Louisiana looking at New Orleans you're looking at metro areas that have well established reputations as producing copius football talent. But Portland? Frankly, I think that if Portland State wants to be a football power it needs to think more in terms of getting talent from far and wide.

I think the issue is for the Portland athlete to be aware of the opportunities that exist for them at Portland State. Most of the other Big Sky schools have a roster that is full of athletes from their respective state, even those with bigger Pac-10 schools in the same state. Chances are that PSU will not get the top name athlete from Portland (like a Joey Harrington or that Suh kid playing at Nebraska) but Burton wants to make sure that the rest know about the opportunity to continue their education in Portland and continue playing football in front of their friends and family and not have to head south to Corvallis and Eugene for a chance to "walk-on". UM, EWU, MSU and NAU all recruit the Portland area heavily and there is no reason those kids should not consider staying home and going to Portland State.

[JSUBison]

Don't know much about him, but it seems like a good fit to say the least. It's good to see younger guys getting a chance instead of seeing the same old recycling of washed up HC's and coordinators.

[mtgrizfan4life]

Cool, another coach that is a better offensive coach than defensive. At least from the get go, we should not have worry about PSU defense. I hope he hires a solid defensive staff. That has been PSU's weakness for awhile now.

[I Bleed Purple]

I think the issue is for the Portland athlete to be aware of the opportunities that exist for them at Portland State. Most of the other Big Sky schools have a roster that is full of athletes from their respective state, even those with bigger Pac-10 schools in the same state. Chances are that PSU will not get the top name athlete from Portland (like a Joey Harrington or that Suh kid playing at Nebraska) but Burton wants to make sure that the rest know about the opportunity to continue their education in Portland and continue playing football in front of their friends and family and not have to head south to Corvallis and Eugene for a chance to "walk-on". UM, EWU, MSU and NAU all recruit the Portland area heavily and there is no reason those kids should not consider staying home and going to Portland State.

91 on Weber's roster. 33 from in state. 21 from California. 13 from Hawaii. I'd imagine that will have to be the new coach's formula for success. Just trade out Hawaii with Washington. We're not the Montana schools, so we can't get the best in state talent. Go pick the second level talent along the I-5 corridor. Does the Bend area have good football? Get some guys out of there. I know we have a recent recruit from The Dalles, as well. Find some guys in Washington that can play. Go into the Vancouver area. We got a guy from there.

[JALMOND]

More good stuff on Nigel Burton, new coach at Portland State...

www.oregonlive.com/vikings/

Sounds like the offense will be similar to Nevada's "pistol" offense and he will be bringing back the 4-3 that Walsh used on defense (Glanville brought in the 3-4). Also it sounds like his staff will consist of Nevada and Oregon State connections.