Buffalo Head Coach, Bull Run Community List

Yesterday you all chimed in on who you thought should be tapped to take over the UB football program after the departure of Lance Leipold, this is assuming the hire is made from the outside and not an internal promotion.

I’m going to list some of what I saw but I am going to stress the current head coaches because, and this is important, we may need to bring in a whole staff, and quickly.

If we want someone who has experience in the Big Chair and can bring a staff with them

That being said the name which grabbed my attention was Curt Cignetti. You cannot argue with the guys success at JMU, two years and trips to the title game. He seems to be the Leipold of the FCS.

We could for for coach “Tuk” Tom Matukewicz, who is coaching at South East Missouri State. He has gotten the Redhawks into the FCS playoffs the last two seasons, and has a lot of experience as a coordinator in the MAC (NIU/Toledo).

Someone mentioned Steve Ryan, who has been coaching at Morningside (NAIA) since 2002. Kind of the “Leipold of the NAIA” with 192-40 record and trips into the playoffs every year since 2004 (2 championships won). I worry about the NAIA vs NCAA environment but if Leipold can make the DIII to DI jump, maybe it’s true that “football is football”

Finally there is Bob Chesney, Holy Cross (FCS). I’m not in love with this one, he’s doing “ok” at Holy Cross but not blowing the doors off of his conference.

If we want someone with ties to Buffalo

Brent Pry is a UB graduate who runs the defense at Penn State. His defenses have always been solid. But he’s making a boat load of money at PSU and is going to be on a lot of lists next November.

Of course Brian Polian is being talked about. But his performance at Nevada was not inspiring. The ties to the region are interesting, he has coached at UB before, but he’s not going to bring a lot of staff with him from Notre Dame.