looks like we might be overlooking a few guys. Anyone have info on any of these names: Paul Johnson - Navy Pat Hill - Fresno St. Jim Grobe - Wake Forest Joe Tiller - Purdue Tommy West - Memphis Dan Hawkins - Boise St. John Smith - Michigan St. (wouldn't that be funny) Gary Patterson - TCU Chuck Amato - NC State Joe Novak - Northern Illinois David Cutcliffe - ? Just listing some names that have as good if not better resume than Petrino. Seems like Novak has done very well at NIU. I still think Delrio would make the best coach.
Paul Johnson - Navy.....NO Pat Hill - Fresno St. ...Interview him Jim Grobe - Wake Forest ...NO Joe Tiller - Purdue ....Interview him Tommy West - Memphis ...NO Dan Hawkins - Boise St. ...Interview him John Smith - Michigan St. ...NO Gary Patterson - TCU ...NO Chuck Amato - NC State ...NO Joe Novak - Northern Illinois ...NO David Cutcliffe - ?....NO
Pat Hill at Fresno St. is the only coach on that list, that probably should be on the list of coaches that we should be talking to. He's done excellent at Fresno and his players love him.
Had not thought of him before but reading his bio is pretty impressive. One problem is he has a kid in Fresno state now according to this article. As Pat Hill began to revamp the Fresno State football program in his vision, he admitted he was in the early stages of simply building a stronger bridge. Now, as he enters his eighth year, there have been significant signs the bridge is as strong as the Golden Gate. Under Hill, the program has received national attention as one of the top mid-major teams in the nation. Never was the spotlight brighter than in 2001, when Hill guided the program to unprecedented heights - 11 wins, a bowl invitation, a top 10 ranking, wins over Wisconsin, Colorado and Oregon State, another record-setting attendance mark and a Sports Illustrated cover story. And he is adamant this is just an indication of things to come. His motto of "Building a New Tradition on a National Level" is stronger than ever after back-to-back bowl wins over tradition-rich programs Georgia Tech in 2002 and UCLA last year. Interest in the Bulldog football program is at an all-time high. Fresno State sold over 32,000 season tickets for the second consecutive season last year, and behind that support the Bulldogs have become one of the toughest teams to beat at home. At Bulldog Stadium, Fresno State has compiled a 34-6 record in Fresno since Hill took over, including a 24-4 mark in home conference games. Hill has also taken the Bulldogs to new heights in the Western Athletic Conference. His overall league record of 39-16 is the best in the WAC over the last seven seasons. Under Hill, the Bulldogs have never lost more than three conference games in a season and no more than two since 1999. The 52-year-old Hill was the Bulldogs' recruiting coordinator from 1984-89, a six-year period in which Fresno State was 53-16-1, averaged nearly nine wins per season, captured three league titles and won three bowl games. During that six-year stint as the recruiting coordinator and line coach under former head coach Jim Sweeney, Hill contributed at a championship level. In addition to the conference crowns and bowl victories, the Bulldogs saw 14 players drafted by NFL teams, including the likes of J.D. Williams, Ron Cox, Michael Stewart and Aaron Craver. Fresno State's 1985 team was the only unbeaten Division I-A squad in the country, finishing the season 16th in the polls. Hill's offensive line also provided the pass protection and run blocking for an offensive unit that averaged 32 points per game over those six seasons, including a nation-leading 41 points per game in '85. Success continued for Hill when he moved on to the University of Arizona as Dick Tomey's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 1990 and '91. In just his first season, the Wildcats went 7-5 and played in the Aloha Bowl. Both seasons, the 'Cats finished in the top five of the Pac-10 in rushing offense, averaging nearly 200 yards per game on the ground. Four players earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors in his two seasons, and offensive lineman John Fina was a first round NFL draft choice. When he left Arizona, he did so to realize another career goal -- coaching in the National Football League. Hill joined the Cleveland Browns in 1992 and spent five seasons in the organization, coaching tight ends and offensive line in addition to working in the personnel department evaluating players. Hill would have been happy to remain in the NFL had the Fresno State job not opened a possibility for him. Hill began his coaching career as offensive line coach at Los Angeles Valley College from 1974-76, helping the Monarchs to a state junior college championship in 1975. He then served as offensive line coach at Utah from 1977-80 under Wayne Howard; was offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at UNLV from 1981-82 under Tony Knapp; and was offensive coordinator with the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in 1983 under Jack Gotta. The list of players recruited and signed by Hill at the collegiate level is impressive. Under his leadership, such greats as David Carr, Alan Harper, Rodney Wright, Randall Cunningham, Tracy Rogers, Ron Cox, Aaron Craver, Marquez Pope, Lorenzo Neal, Jethro Franklin, Tony Brown, J.D. Williams, Mike Withycombe, Michael Stewart, John Fina and Tedy Bruschi all were inked to letters of intent. A 1973 graduate of UC Riverside, Hill was a three-time all-conference center, earning All-America honors as a senior. He was inducted into the UC Riverside Hall of Fame in 1989. It was at UC Riverside where he crossed paths with Ron McBride, then a UCR assistant and formerly the Utah head coach, who helped steer Hill into a football coaching career. Hill and his wife, Cathy, have three children. Their eldest, Michael, a student at Fresno State, was 10 days old when the Hill family first arrived in Fresno in 1984, and their other sons, Matthew and Zachary, were both born in Fresno. Hill was born Dec. 17, 1951, in Los Angeles. He owns a degree in sociology from UC Riverside and selected to the school's athletics Hall of Fame in 1989. Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere Hill's accomplishments are remarkable, considering the rigorous non-conference schedule Fresno State has played since his arrival. In seven years, Fresno State has played 25 bowl opponents, including 14 the past two seasons. All 10 losses since 2002 came to teams which played in a bowl game, were ranked at the time or spent time during that year in the national polls. But more important are the victories. Since 2000, the Bulldogs have defeated seven BCS Conference opponents - California in 2000 and Colorado, Wisconsin and Oregon State in 2001 and 2003, Georgia Tech in 2002 and UCLA in 2003. In the case of the Buffaloes and Badgers, Fresno State defeated them on the road. As for the victories over the Yellow Jackets and Bruins, those wins came in bowl games. Fresno State's seven wins over BCS schools in the last three years are more than any non-BCS school. The Bulldogs are also the only non-BCS school to own consecutive bowl victories over BCS schools. "We could win a lot of games if we schedule ourselves that way," Hill says. "Our program has to play the best and beat the best to be considered the best. That's how we are building our entire program, to reach that level of respect and success." Academic Success Hill kept his promise when we was hired to shore up the team's academic woes. One of the first projects he brought to the table is well underway with positive results coming in droves. Academic Gameplan, the brainchild of John Baxter, Hill's associate head coach, was touted early in the building stages in the program, not as a quick fix-all to placate university professors, but instead to make sure academics are first priority. He has accomplished much in a short time. In the team GPA has risen from a 2.21 to a 2.87. He produced the first Academic All-American in the program's history in 1999, senior cornerback Payton Williams. In eight years, the program has produced 57 Academic All-WAC selections, second-most in the conference during that time. Prior to Hill's arrival, Fresno State had produced a total of nine Academic All-WAC selections. In three of the last four years, Fresno State has led the WAC in Academic All-WAC selections, producing an all-time high of 12 in 2002. # 57 Academic All-WAC Selections (second-most in the WAC) # Payton Williams named Academic All-American in 1999, becoming the first Bulldog football player in school history to ever receive that honor # Vernon Fox received a National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame postgraduate scholarship in 2001 # The team GPA has risen from 2.21 to 2.87 # Four Bulldogs - Jermaine Jamison, Tyrone Culver, Juan Bautista and Adam Jennings - selected Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports Scholar-Athletes # 49 players selected for Kiwanis Torch of Excellence Dinner in 2003, most in school history # No players on the team with less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA Building and Growing Hill talks of adding seats to Bulldog Stadium and continuing to take on the toughest non-conference teams in the nation. By looking at what he has accomplished in just seven years, one has to believe he can achieve anything. Under Hill's guidance, the Duncan Building training room has been tripled in size with additional taping stations, rehabilitation pools and a private doctor's office. Also constructed were two lighted practice fields and an adjacent weight room, which provides the Bulldogs with a facility that rivals any NFL training facility. A tireless worker, Hill has been a productive fundraiser. He has spearheaded capital projects on campus, including the new Ricchiutti Academic Center, which will benefit all student-athletes at Fresno State, and the Duncan Building expansion, which will include a new football locker room, coaching offices, team meeting rooms and an auditorium style theater. Hill has championed the Green V Association, a new fundraising organization designed to generate funds for the athletics department. "The Green V Association is important for the financial future for our entire athletics department," Hill said. Taking it to Another Level When Hill was hired, he promised to win games and championships. He has done that. After taking over a program that hadn't won more than five games the three previous seasons, Hill won six games his first season and won a share of the WAC Championship and received a berth in the EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl in year three. He has done this while playing some of the top programs in the nation. With perennial bowl teams UCLA, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio State, BYU and Colorado State, the Bulldogs have played as tough a schedule as anyone. Fresno State's 12 BCS opponents since the 2001 season are more than any other non-BCS school in that time. # Five consecutive bowl appearances, including victories over Georgia Tech and UCLA in each of the last two bowl games. # A No. 8 national ranking in 2001, the highest ever by a Fresno State team # Highest national ranking by non-BCS team since 2001 # School-record 11 wins in 2001 # 28 wins since 2001, sixth-highest total in the nation # Seven wins over BCS since 2001, most of any non-BCS school # Produced at least one All-American in four of the last five years # Building and Growing Hill talks of adding seats to Bulldog Stadium and continuing to take on the toughest non-conference teams in the nation. By looking at what he has accomplished in just seven years, one has to believe he can achieve anything. Under Hill's guidance, the Duncan Building training room has been tripled in size with additional taping stations, rehabilitation pools and a private doctor's office. Also constructed were two lighted practice fields and an adjacent weight room, which provides the Bulldogs with a facility that rivals any NFL training facility. A tireless worker, Hill has been a productive fundraiser. He has spearheaded capital projects on campus, including the new Ricchiutti Academic Center, which will benefit all student-athletes at Fresno State, and the Duncan Building expansion, which will include a new football locker room, coaching offices, team meeting rooms and an auditorium style theater. Hill has championed the Green V Association, a new fundraising organization designed to generate funds for the athletics department. "The Green V Association is important for the financial future for our entire athletics department," Hill said. Taking it to Another Level When Hill was hired, he promised to win games and championships. He has done that. After taking over a program that hadn't won more than five games the three previous seasons, Hill won six games his first season and won a share of the WAC Championship and received a berth in the EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl in year three. He has done this while playing some of the top programs in the nation. With perennial bowl teams UCLA, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio State, BYU and Colorado State, the Bulldogs have played as tough a schedule as anyone. Fresno State's 12 BCS opponents since the 2001 season are more than any other non-BCS school in that time. # Five consecutive bowl appearances, including victories over Georgia Tech and UCLA in each of the last two bowl games. # A No. 8 national ranking in 2001, the highest ever by a Fresno State team # Highest national ranking by non-BCS team since 2001 # School-record 11 wins in 2001 # 28 wins since 2001, sixth-highest total in the nation # Seven wins over BCS since 2001, most of any non-BCS school # Produced at least one All-American in four of the last five years
