Troy Coaching Search 24 – The Results
When Troy started looking for a coach two years ago, there was one clear prime candidate. The fact that we’re in another coaching search proves how easy that search was and how successful it went.
We aren’t in the same boat now. This is a quicker turnaround because of the Signing Day deadline, and there isn’t one clear choice.
Even the Matrix proved that.
As I explained, there’s a spectrum of good candidates, even though none of them check every box.
If there’s a coach with a resume of success, they likely don’t have a connection to Troy. Likewise, the Troy connections—which would be more likely to keep our players out of the portal—don’t have a proven track record.
So to get answers, I sought other sources for data… including you.
Online Poll Results
But I can’t trust some of you.
That was the most egregious example, but a few names got the benefit of troll votes. I still assumed y’all just really wanted certain people to win, so I cut the number of entries down to 5 per minute in the final results.
It didn’t really change the outcome too much.
It was an interesting experiment at least, seeing how many people want Cadillac Williams to be Troy’s head coach, even though he had the second-lowest matrix score.
Yes, I do blame Southern Charm Sports.
Big names like Ed Orgeron and Bill Clark got tons of votes. Troy fan-favorite players like Jerrel Jernigan and Mike Turk performed as well as or better than consensus picks like Jordan Lesley and Al Pogue.
The Facebook contingent of fans definitely boosted Tommie Robinson’s score, though. He had the highest combined matrix and poll score of anyone (outside Cadillac, of course).
Knowing the effect trolling had on the scores, I chose to leave it out of my final results. So, I went to other sources.
Brain Trust Polling
I gathered the best and brightest minds to tell me who they thought should be Troy’s coach… and they all left me on read.
Seriously though, I got the Twitter Triumvirate of The Trojan Wall’s Ben Whitehead, Sidelines Troy and Trojan Takes to give me their top ten lists. I also asked another Troy alum to provide their list, and they agreed provided they stay anonymous.
They each approached it with a different perspective, so I felt the data was varied enough to give me a good aggregate. I think it did.
Here are our lists.
After that, I put it all together. Top spot gets ten points, bottom spot gets one.
The searching, the polling, the calculating all came to this final list.
Here are the final, official Trojan Wall-certified top ten candidates for the next Troy head coach.
Get on with it.
Much like the Matrix, the final results are somewhat close. Al Pogue was the only candidate on all six lists, and Jordan Lesley was the only one to top two different lists.
The Matrix left off Lesley, Sidelines left off Dell McGee and Greg Gasparato. Despite only being on half the lists, Reggie Barlow finished off the top 5.
Five of the top eight from the online poll (The previously-mentioned Cadillac Williams, Jerrel Jernigan, Mike Turk, Ed Orgeron and Bill Clark) didn’t make any of our lists.
The top three candidates all scored a 30 or better, together taking a third of the score.
Lesley didn’t crack the top ten of the Matrix, but as mentioned in that article, he was in the sweet spot between Neal Brown and Jon Sumrall’s score. As a Brown assistant, it’s no surprise he’s closer to the West Virginia coach’s end of the spectrum.
Lesley is a Troy grad, a former Troy coach, and he understands the culture that both Neal and Jon want to build. He’s got a slight edge over Al Pogue, whose intensity makes up for not having a Troy degree, and honestly only Sumrall could match it.
Pogue knows the Troy players as well as Sumrall does, and if you want the coach that can keep the most players on this roster, he’s your guy.
Finally, Dell McGee is the best choice if you want the next “assistant becomes successful head coach.” His time at Georgia makes people forget he was an analyst on the successful 2013 Auburn team.
What’s more he worked under Willie Fritz at Georgia Southern—the one guy who got us into this mess.
The next three coaches scores’, added to the top three, pass the 50% mark of all votes. They’re equally qualified candidates, but varied in their resumes.
Greg Gasparato is the coach we have, the man who knows this team better than anyone. He’s leading them now in a bowl game, and if he beats this Duke team (even if they’re depleted and interimed) he may earn the permanent job.
We just can’t wait; Troy needs a permanent coach before the signing period opens next Wednesday.
Reggie Barlow is the coach we deserve, the man who’s won more at a higher level than any other coach. He might be the best overall candidate, but he may also be out of Troy’s league—which is why his Bama State teammate Al Pogue is worth a look.
Alex Atkins is the coach we should look for, the man who’s winning at the next level and deserves a shot at the head coaching spot. He’s everything Dell McGee is, down to working with Fritz at Tulane.
The copout answer is that all six guys are solid decisions, for one reason or another. That said, the only two that were on our short list when this whole process started…
Jordan Lesley and Al Pogue.
They’re one point apart from each other at the top of this list. Chris Vannini mentioned both of them in his initial list.
Either of them would be the easy decision.
I’d love to see a splash hire, getting someone else, but ultimately you have to take the players into account.
On that note…
The process seems like it’s barreling toward these two guys.
I hope Brent surprises us.
I trust him to make the right decision.
I know he will.
Here’s the full results of our search.
You can yell at us on Twitter. Do your worst.
Greg Gasparato should be “The Next Man Up”, The same personality and coaching philosophy as Jon Sumrall. He would be able to keep the team impact and has been here during the recruiting process.