Conference USA coach comments on Vanderbilt job rumors
When the Vanderbilt head coaching job came open this past weekend, Charlotte coach Will Healy immediately received buzz as a candidate.
On Wednesday, Healy was asked about those rumors by Kyle Bailey of WFNZ radio in Charlotte. Healy acknowledged he has heard the rumors and called them flattering, but says he hasn’t had conversations with anyone at VU.
Will Healy, HC of @CharlotteFTBL, just told me that rumors of @VandyFootball showing interest him replacing Derek Mason are “flattering” and that he “hears the rumors,” but Healy tells me there have been no conversations and that Vandy has not reached out to him.
— Kyle Bailey (@KyleBaileyClub) December 2, 2020
The 35-year-old native of Chattanooga, Tennessee played quarterback at Air Force and Richmond before getting into coaching as a Chattanooga assistant in 2009. He took the Austin Peay job in 2016. After going 0-11 in 2016, The Governors went 13-10 under Healy the next two seasons. At Charlotte, he led the 49ers to their first bowl game in his first season with the program.
We’ll see if Vanderbilt reaches out to the up-and-comer.
I’d be careful there. CUSA is about the worst conference there is. I dont know how much stock you can put into wins in that conference.
I get that its not top competition but I believe in Will Healy. I live in Charlotte and he’s got a lot of people excited about the program. He’s a marketing genius that has gotten a lot of local and regional recruits to stay in Charlotte and play. His marketing will make him attractive as Vanderbilt tries to get serious about football. He won at Austin Peay which is really tough, and gave the Charlotte program their first winning season and bowl game (they’ve been overrun by Covid cancellations this year). Now obviously there’s only so much you can do with the current climate at Vandy (they need much better facilities and a new stadium to be honest) but Healy is a good coach and Vandy is a good fit for him
Vandy may not have reached out to him, but his agent may have had words.
Will Healy appears to be the most favored candidate for this job when listening to the media, the fans, and other coaches from the past. I know he has the high endorsement of Mack Brown.
There are others that are trying to convince the Vanderbilt family that Jeff Monken is the only coach that could ever make Vanderbilt a consistently middle of the pack program, where the ceiling might be 9 wins and the basement 5 wins once he’s had time to put his pieces in place.
Jamey Chadwell offers the best of both worlds–the option and the wide open offense, but Ken Seals is at best a below average runner and would not be great in that offense.
Bill O’Brien and Josh Gattis offer the chance to potentially make Seals into an NFL prospect, but I am not sure either will seriously be in the mix. Gattis does have brief Vandy ties.
Clark Lea is not an offensive side of the ball coach, so unless he can lure a top OC and guarantee that, I don’t see him as the choice.
Jeff Fisher was never considered an offensive minded head coach, except the brief time where OC Mike Heimerdinger ran the offense with Steve McNair, Derek Mason, Kevin Dyson, and Frank Wycheck. He has no recruiting experience, and even if he brought along fellow Middle Tennesseeans, Rex Ryan, Les Steckel, and Dave McGinnis (all ex NFL HCs), without a great recruiter on staff, it won’t work.
Jay Norvell, Lance Leipold, and Billy Napier are basically not being talked about except by a couple of national pundits. So, maybe one of these three guys will actually be hired, since Vanderbilt likes top operate in secrecy. Of the three, I would be quite happy with Leipold.
Alabama recruiting coordinator Charles Huff is getting a lot of publicity as the dark horse for the job, because most of winning on the gridiron comes down to recruiting, and he’s supposed to be the best in the business. He’s never even been a coordinator.
Of course Vandy could take a page from Jackson State and hire another Deion Sanders. Go hire Eddie George or Blaine Bishop.
Just heard an incredible interview on local sports talk radio with Jeff Monken. Without coming out and saying it, he basically presented his case in a public forum for the Vanderbilt job, and the dudes on the radio came out and called on Vandy to hire him.
Coach Monken almost sounded like he was beginning the interview in advance, which would be very James Franklinish. He presented a rational case for how the option could work at schools where the overall talent was not the equal of its opponents, namely how to double team block the all-American guy in the trench, read the all-American guy on the terminal, and pitch off the reaction of the all-American guy on the corner.
I think Monken is the slam-dunk best candidate for the job. He’s squeaky clean (unlike Chadwell); he’s proven that he can win big with the offense, and he’s scared the pants off Oklahoma in Norman, in a year the Sooners made the Playoffs, and Michigan in A2. He can win 6 and 7 games a year at Vanderbilt, and if the administration gives him any extra help, he might take VU to where Paul Johnson took Georgia Tech.