Played for Kelly at UC, most recently was CB coach at UC. From Dayton, where he played for football power Wayne HS, which is a virtual talent pipeline to OSU.
Initial thought is this is a good hire. Never hurts to have someone who can recruit OH.
Link: Mickens
Deronte Jones and Christian Parker both elected to stay in the NFL. Mickens is a college coach and the only one of the candidates that's a proven recruiter (at least in Ohio).
All accounts are he was on campus and introduced to the players about a month before Mickens was selected. Jones then took a job to be the Dolphins DB coach.
I know you are supportive of the guy who ended up in the job but labeling him as the "3rd choice" when essentially only Kelly and Lea know is empty speculation. He may have been the 1st choice or the 8th choice.
I have worked in HR for 40 years and there have been lots of "team" interviews when the staff of the potential hire is involved in the process. So the fact that a candidate may have met the players doesn't mean much to me. Or it could have just been a happenstance interaction as opposed to a planned one. It also could have been a case where Mickens put the brakes on pending earlier in the process pending signing day. The fact that Kelly was interviewing pro candidates may have indicated that the college guys didn't want their name out there until after signing day. We really don't know.
I don't know exactly where he stood with Kelly and Lea from the get go. I do know that this was the longest coaching vacancy ND has ever had under Kelly and that Mickens name didn't come up until the very end, but of the 4 names that were seriously linked to the job, Mickens has the best resume in my opinion. That was the point I was trying to make.
I think there are others who present warped logic/ "insight" that Kelly can't attract good coaching candidates when they have absolutely no experience in hiring processes period much less the dynamics of hiring assistant coaches in college. There are those who continue to spread the mantra that this another failure by Kelly at getting "great" assistant coaches without have any knowledge of what actually went on.
Turning back for the ball seems to be a lost art on all levels of football. Most of what I see
these days are pulling of the jersey, arm fighting and some form of face guarding.
Theyre not being coached like the LSUs, Bamas, Clemsons...
Vaughn, Pride, Crawford, Griffith, Bracy, were all top notch DB recruits with offers from those guys. Guys with elite world class speed and guys with elite size...guys with elite feet and hips but only guy who seemed to know how to turn and find the ball was Crawford and 3* Julian Love. Mainly because it's just natural for those two. Hope Mickens has these guys pressing, turning, running and playing the ball not sitting there looking lost.
Upper deck shot?
Solid shot 10 rows back to left-center?
Just clearing the fence inside the foul pole?
Bouncing off the right fielder's glove?
Inside the parker?
Would really love to hear your deep thoughts on this home run.
A homerun hire is a coach with an excellent recruiting resume and a good coach. Notre Dame lost it's best recruiter in Chip Long. They have to replace his accomplishments in recruiting. McNulty doesn't show any recruiting chops in his resumé and I am not sure Mickens does either, although the latter has a lot of potential. So, although Don Miller's optimism is nice, I agree that it is a stretch to call it a homerune hire.
Mickens made HUGE strides with the Cincinnati CBs. Went from being ranked #113 to being ranked #13 within a couple of years.
