UH Coach Update: Pardee's Potential Picks

Not really an update on the Cougar coaching gig, but Michael Murphy blogs some of the color commentary going on in the hunt for a new coach. His filed story centers on the fact that Maggard sat down with Tulsa OC, Gus Malzahn. Both blog and story broach the topic of who might get the call to flesh out each coaching staff. Obviously, I'm rooting on the Pardee choice for reasons named Klingler and Phillips. But an additional name has now caught my interest:

From what I've been told, Pardee's staff would include current assistants Jason Phillips (wide receivers), Bubba McDowell (cornerbacks) and Tony Fitzpatrick (defensive line), with newcomers like former SMU assistant Ronnie Vinklarek (offensive line, which he did during the Run 'N Shoot heyday), Tomball High's Tommy Kaiser (S-backs and special teams), Arlington Bowie coach Kenny Perry (safeties) and former Cougars quarterback David Klingler (offensive coordinator and maybe quarterbacks coach, too). I've heard both Pat Thomas and Chris Thurmond mentioned as DCs.

I recall being a huge Bubba McDowell fan from his Oiler days. About all that's left is bringing in Bubba's former Oiler teammate, Bo Orlando, and you've got the Bubba & Bo Show 2.0. Seriously, though ... and assuming this list has been checked for some semblence of availability and willingness ... it demonstrates what might be a big part of the Pardee allure. There are numerous former players out there who still hold Pardee in high regard and you've got to think getting some NFL-experienced players rounding out the staff should be doable.

Additionally, the post-Pardee successor has ample room for potential. True, for sentimental reasons, I'd love to see Klingler prepped for that spot. But in Tommy Kaiser and Kenny Perry, you've got some HS head coaching experience there to pick from as well. Oddly, Perry's name has been mentioned in connection with Art Briles at Baylor on at least a few instances that I've seen elsewhere. I'd love to see a DFW-area coach in the mix for recruiting purposes, so I hope there's some smoke to that fire.

I'm also curious who the recruiters are for Pardee - one of the significant drawbacks I suspect that might be related to Pardee's age. Sure, it's a role that Klingler and Phillips and others can grow into ... but who among that list has significant experience. Since some of those names are from an older Cougar era, I'm a bit fuzzy on which of the exes might have operated well in that capacity.

Recruiting is about the only reason I chalk up Notre Dame's Haywood as a close second choice - he's got experience at it, he's recruited this geography, and I think he'd make a compelling argument to a local recruit looking at signing with a big school elsewhere (which he did as a Texas HS player). That's more than a little compelling.

Sumlin's allure is obvious (that he might build up the program to a competitive standing with Big 12 schools), but I'm not as sold on it. I'm definitely of the same mind as the esteemed Mouse Davis when it comes to UH Football - you have to find a different way of competing against the bigs. Gus Malzahn, Tulsa's OC, got his second talk with Maggard. And I'm even less sold there. Best-case scenario is that the offense lights it up and Coach Gus is gone after 2-3 good years if things click from the get-go. I've not seen much mentioned of UH coach Thurmond's chances. But consider this - like the Pardee move, it nods toward tradition and loyalty, albeit from a different angle as a potential Pardee selection. It sends a strong message to potential assistants that Thurmond has to recruit, and maybe ends up with UH pinning it's mark on our defense instead of our offense (ala some of those previous Memphis & Cincinnati teams). For me, I'll put that down as a wildcard third preference - but one that shouldn't be viewed as a letdown if the ultimate pick isn't named Pardee or Haywood.

On a sidenote, I'm curious how the media lobbying is playing on Maggard's mind. Its strikes me that David Klingler has never suffered from being unable to get local media attention. He did before when he openly lobbied for the coaching gig some years back (I wanna say when we ended up with Dimel). Paralleling from political analysis, it's sorta like how some Presidential nominees don't like it when people openly campaign for the VP spot. Dunno how that registers with Maggard, but I found it interesting that Klingler was unusually silent after his interview with Maggard in conjunction with Pardee this time around. In that same story, Pardee was only modestly talkative. If I'm reading that as an indication that Maggard asked for the volume to come down, I can chalk up Pardee's ounce of talkativeness to his age and mannerisms. If my read is correct, though, it makes this leak of names to Murphy a bit more interesting. The list obviously had to come from Pardee or Klingler (my guess would be the former, based on the print story). My point? I'm just curious if Klingler & Pardee are helping or hurting their odds with the public intel being put out there.