Donte Williams Recruiting Abilities

[TwinsRRUs]

Just read/skimmed over an article about Calibraska and found this part about our new CB coach interesting coming from a USC player's parent.

“Now there’s an opportunity for Nebraska to really explode in California, to really explode,” says Armond Hawkins, father of USC defensive back Chris Hawkins and one of the driving forces at GroundZero Football, one of the top 7-on-7 programs in Southern California.

“Because these kids coming up now aren’t so much USC-crazy as the group that just passed. It’s just the generation (changed). Once USC went into sanctions, they lost a bunch of fans. During those days, USC, they weren’t losing those kids.”

The younger Hawkins was a prep star in the Inland Empire region who was recruited by Riley at Oregon State before electing to cast his lot with the Trojans. Still, Dad digs the Huskers’ head whistle. And he raves about new Nebraska cornerbacks coach Donte Williams, whom he says is only scratching the surface of what the 909 area code — and the 805, the 661, the 442, the 760, the 747, the 818, the 626, the 310, the 424, the 562, the 657, the 714, the 949 and the 951 — have to offer Lincoln.

“And let me tell you something,” Hawkins says. “Donte Williams, hands down, is probably the greatest recruiter I’ve ever met. And I know every one of them at every college.

“He was the one kid that I know that, when he was at San Jose State, could make Pac-12 kids, with USC and Pac-12 offers, commit to San Jose State. I’ll go on record and say he was the best recruiter in the area.”​

 

[WHCSC]

Can't wait to see what he can do with a full cycle

 

[TwinsRRUs]

Can't wait to see what he can do with a full cycle

I couldn't agree more!

He has been here for less than 2 months, so we will start reaping the benefits over the next few years. Hopefully we can keep him on board for awhile if he does produce.

 

[cubsker]

 

[northeastNebraska]

He's an awesome recruiter. We will see that in the 2018 class.

 

[huskerfan1414]

 

[c3ntral08]

This is awesome. Hopefully we can keep for at least 4 years.

 

[dockentwo]

Just read/skimmed over an article about Calibraska and found this part about our new CB coach interesting coming from a USC player's parent.

“Now there’s an opportunity for Nebraska to really explode in California, to really explode,” says Armond Hawkins, father of USC defensive back Chris Hawkins and one of the driving forces at GroundZero Football, one of the top 7-on-7 programs in Southern California.

“Because these kids coming up now aren’t so much USC-crazy as the group that just passed. It’s just the generation (changed). Once USC went into sanctions, they lost a bunch of fans. During those days, USC, they weren’t losing those kids.”

The younger Hawkins was a prep star in the Inland Empire region who was recruited by Riley at Oregon State before electing to cast his lot with the Trojans. Still, Dad digs the Huskers’ head whistle. And he raves about new Nebraska cornerbacks coach Donte Williams, whom he says is only scratching the surface of what the 909 area code — and the 805, the 661, the 442, the 760, the 747, the 818, the 626, the 310, the 424, the 562, the 657, the 714, the 949 and the 951 — have to offer Lincoln.

“And let me tell you something,” Hawkins says. “Donte Williams, hands down, is probably the greatest recruiter I’ve ever met. And I know every one of them at every college.

“He was the one kid that I know that, when he was at San Jose State, could make Pac-12 kids, with USC and Pac-12 offers, commit to San Jose State. I’ll go on record and say he was the best recruiter in the area.”​

I wonder if we need to expand our walk on program. Especially speed and very big bodies?

 

[dockentwo]

Just read/skimmed over an article about Calibraska and found this part about our new CB coach interesting coming from a USC player's parent.

“Now there’s an opportunity for Nebraska to really explode in California, to really explode,” says Armond Hawkins, father of USC defensive back Chris Hawkins and one of the driving forces at GroundZero Football, one of the top 7-on-7 programs in Southern California.

“Because these kids coming up now aren’t so much USC-crazy as the group that just passed. It’s just the generation (changed). Once USC went into sanctions, they lost a bunch of fans. During those days, USC, they weren’t losing those kids.”

The younger Hawkins was a prep star in the Inland Empire region who was recruited by Riley at Oregon State before electing to cast his lot with the Trojans. Still, Dad digs the Huskers’ head whistle. And he raves about new Nebraska cornerbacks coach Donte Williams, whom he says is only scratching the surface of what the 909 area code — and the 805, the 661, the 442, the 760, the 747, the 818, the 626, the 310, the 424, the 562, the 657, the 714, the 949 and the 951 — have to offer Lincoln.

“And let me tell you something,” Hawkins says. “Donte Williams, hands down, is probably the greatest recruiter I’ve ever met. And I know every one of them at every college.

“He was the one kid that I know that, when he was at San Jose State, could make Pac-12 kids, with USC and Pac-12 offers, commit to San Jose State. I’ll go on record and say he was the best recruiter in the area.”​

 

[dockentwo]

These are very bright and well connected people. Look at all those zips; see it all as very positive.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes. Because his last two hires prove beyond any doubt that he can locate and hire some of the greatest assistant coaches on the market. He has an eye for great coaches. It shows too how much coaches respect Riley.

It also shows, I think, that even if the Nebraska brand has faded with current high school kids, that brand still means something to men of the age of Williams and Dianco. Dianco was at O'Hare ready to fly home when Riley said "get on a plane to Lincoln". The man had just interviewed at an SEC school and was probably offered a good deal. But he did not hesitate to fly to Lincoln. I think that says something good

 

[TwinsRRUs]

I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes.

Pretty sure Banker had worked with Hughes and recommended him to Riley, but I could be mistaken.

Edit: Yep, found it. I will post the article below as it is hilarious at how dumb it sounds now looking back.

Because his last two hires prove beyond any doubt that he can locate and hire some of the greatest assistant coaches on the market. He has an eye for great coaches. It shows too how much coaches respect Riley.

He knew years in advance that Diaco was not available yet and would be in a couple of years. He also wanted DW to gain some experience at another P5 program first in order to please Husker fans.

It also shows, I think, that even if the Nebraska brand has faded with current high school kids, that brand still means something to men of the age of Williams and Diaco. Diaco was at O'Hare ready to fly home when Riley said "get on a plane to Lincoln". The man had just interviewed at an SEC school and was probably offered a good deal. But he did not hesitate to fly to Lincoln. I think that says something good

Diaco is 43. He was actually alive to have seen and watched the Huskers in the 90's where these high school kids were not

Anyone alive and older than 10 in the 90s knew how awesome and amazing Nebraska was at the time and will never forgot it

 

[TwinsRRUs]

Pennsyhusker said: ↑
I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes.

Article by Sam McKewon

Here's part of it:

LINCOLN — Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark Banker is blunt as to why he wanted Hank Hughes as his defensive line coach.​

The second reason is Banker thinks Hughes can recruit.

The first reason Banker “loves” the guy?

“He’s got a toughness about him as a person and coach,” said Banker, who has personal, visceral experience. He was a fullback on Springfield (Massachusetts) College teams that also featured Hughes as a linebacker. They had more than a few collisions in practice that Hughes called “eye-opener drills.”

Hughes was pretty good at stopping the run then. And throughout his 36-year coaching career — which included a 13-year stint at Connecticut when the Huskies went from FBS upstart to BCS bowl participant in 2010 — he’s coached defensive lines to stuff the run.

“You’ve got to be relentless,” Hughes said. “And you’ve got to do it over and over. Relentless. Chase the ball. If you can do those things, it’s demoralizing to an offense when a group doesn’t stop and keeps coming after you.”

The numbers show that he was successful in establishing that relentlessness. At UConn, where he coached from 2001 to 2013, his units consistently stopped the run, even after the Huskies moved to the Big East and started playing tougher competition. UConn allowed 3.37 yards per carry in 2008 (21st nationally), 3.77 in 2009 (46th), 3.90 in 2010 (44th), 2.67 in 2011 (4th), 2.73 in 2012 (2nd) and 3.69 in 2013 (25th).

Hughes then took the defensive coordinator job at Cincinnati for the 2014 season. The landing was initially rough — the Bearcats gave up 50, 41 and 55 points in successive weeks to Ohio State, Memphis and Miami (Florida) — before the defense turned a significant corner during a seven-game winning streak. The Bearcats gave up averages of 358 total yards and 16.7 points during that stretch.

When new Nebraska coach Mike Riley hired Banker, he asked Banker to make a list with four or five names on it. Hughes was one of them. So was Oregon State’s Joe Seumalo, who joined UNLV’s staff as a defensive line coach. Banker reached out to Hughes and asked if he was interested. Discussions went back and forth — Hughes’ wife is from northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati — but Hughes was ultimately wooed by the chance to work with Banker and NU’s reputation.

Banker said Hughes is a strong recruiter. Hughes said a team can never have enough good players and focuses on relationships in recruiting.

“I want people to know: you can trust me, you can take it to the bank, you can count on me,” Hughes said.
​

The bad news? HH coached at UConn... hopefully we have better luck with Diaco

 

[aNUstart]

I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes. Because his last two hires prove beyond any doubt that he can locate and hire some of the greatest assistant coaches on the market. He has an eye for great coaches. It shows too how much coaches respect Riley.

It also shows, I think, that even if the Nebraska brand has faded with current high school kids, that brand still means something to men of the age of Williams and Dianco. Dianco was at O'Hare ready to fly home when Riley said "get on a plane to Lincoln". The man had just interviewed at an SEC school and was probably offered a good deal. But he did not hesitate to fly to Lincoln. I think that says something good

He clearly brought Banker and Read because he was familiar with them, they were his coaching buddies.

 

[CFBfan70]

I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes. Because his last two hires prove beyond any doubt that he can locate and hire some of the greatest assistant coaches on the market. He has an eye for great coaches.

My guess would be lack of available coaches at the time he was hired. Would he have been able to get higher quality coaches at that time?

 

[dockentwo]

My guess would be lack of available coaches at the time he was hired. Would he have been able to get higher quality coaches at that time?

Another thought: HCMR wanted to give his coaches a chance to show what their ceiling might be with N's resources. Our A D gave him that leeway; with the understanding there would be performance reviews and he would have to make the difficult choices to fire if results weren't good - and so it went.
There are always going to be coaches coming up or available IMO. Hughes I don't understand; seems there is a syndrome with some, who feel arrived and start the party, or get laid back with jumps to major programs.

 

[GeauxBigRed]

Does anybody have an idea how many DBs we plan on getting in the '18 cycle?

 

[CFBfan70]

There are always going to be coaches coming up or available IMO.

While i agree with this Riley was hired less than 2 months before signing day. While some coaches would have been available, were there some Riley could have got before signing day? Were there any available that he had research on or knew? Were there any available he thought he could bring in in time to put together a recruiting class? If so did he feel any of those that fit those requirements would be better than who he brought with him. Sure he probably could have found one instead of Read. But as far as Banker goes, He had his faults and was justifiably replaced. But you have to remember Banker's defense ranked above 98 other defensive cordinators this season in total defense. So to find someone on short notice that would perform better would likely prove very difficult. Especially at the pay rate Banker got.

 

[SPbObRT]

How many recruits did READ, BANKER AND HUGHES GET, , I THINK READ GOT A SNAPPER AND THAT IS ABOUT IT. WAY OVERPAID FOR WHAT THEY DID, ACTUALLY THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WORTHWILE UNLESS YOU COUNT WATCHING US GET OUR ASSES HANDED TO US BY TEAMS WE SHOULD HAVE BEAT.

 

[TFrazier]

How many recruits did READ, BANKER AND HUGHES GET, , I THINK READ GOT A SNAPPER AND THAT IS ABOUT IT. WAY OVERPAID FOR WHAT THEY DID, ACTUALLY THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WORTHWILE UNLESS YOU COUNT WATCHING US GET OUR ASSES HANDED TO US BY TEAMS WE SHOULD HAVE BEAT.

Now my ears hurt.

 

[donahues17]

I don't like these articles unless Nebraska wants to seriously open up the checkbook to pay this guy whatever it takes to keep him here. Everyone pimping him only makes him that much more of a hot commodity for other schools to make him a DC and pay him some cash to coach there.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

I don't like these articles unless Nebraska wants to seriously open up the checkbook to pay this guy whatever it takes to keep him here. Everyone pimping him only makes him that much more of a hot commodity for other schools to make him a DC and pay him some cash to coach there.

That is definitely an issue within many programs today. How do you keep your assistants?

Many assistant voaches aspire to move up in the coaching ranks. Not many will stay like Tom Osborne's staff did for X amount of years.

I too would rather our good assistants keep a low profile among the coaching ranks but in today's world, it just can't happen hardly.

Look at KW for instance; he has had the NFL come calling for him, yet some of his disciples have told him to stay put in college to teach and develope WRs at this level.

The best thing we have going for us (at least from the outside looking in) might be that the assistants love working for/with Riley that they may stay loyal and stay here longer than they may have someone else. We will have to wait to find out though.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

IMO, paying the big bucks will help keep an assistant here longer, but who knows how long depending on that particular assistant's coaching dreams/goals and another school will always be willing to pay more, no matter the current salary.

The current assistants are definitely paid better now verse any and all previous assistant coaches here.

 

[jflores]

Does anybody have an idea how many DBs we plan on getting in the '18 cycle?

We have three leaving, plus whatever happens with Boaz Joseph.

 

[dockentwo]

While i agree with this Riley was hired less than 2 months before signing day. While some coaches would have been available, were there some Riley could have got before signing day? Were there any available that he had research on or knew? Were there any available he thought he could bring in in time to put together a recruiting class? If so did he feel any of those that fit those requirements would be better than who he brought with him. Sure he probably could have found one instead of Read. But as far as Banker goes, He had his faults and was justifiably replaced. But you have to remember Banker's defense ranked above 98 other defensive cordinators this season in total defense. So to find someone on short notice that would perform better would likely prove very difficult. Especially at the pay rate Banker got.

Very nice post. I guess I should say; a couple main points 1) These were HCMR's friends and coaches and he no doubt believed in them and wanted them to have all the advantages N can bring. I speculate the A D agreed to that, especially with the factors you mention; but a condition would be a short time frame if one wasn't working out. 2) I have followed many comments and read articles about our A D. He believes it is imperative that he keeps lists of available coaches and assistants; so he may have been more resourceful than one might suspect. Also HCMR knows a lot of coaches. Also doubt dollars would have been an issue - they paid for maybe the worst S T guy 400k. GBR

 

[spartanhusker]

Now my ears hurt.

my first laugh of the day!

 

[TruHusker]

There is no way everyone gets their cake and gets to eat it too on this. Good assistants may get paid more by their schools as a reward or incentive to stay but schools that want them will also pay more especially as head coaching and assistant coaching salaries increase. These coaches run in tight circles and know who is doing what - they more about each other than the coaches know about themselves. Those coaches that stayed with Tom were a special group with a few who left over the years but stability was a key to their success. This is a totally different market and there is always going to be a school looking to attract the best coaches. There is just such a shortage of good coaches, that is what you have to do. Schools are also forced, to some extent, to pay more than they probably would really like to for an assistant.

It is really easy to say, open the checkbook, especially when it isn't yours and it affects your entire group of coaches across all sports. It is not an easy task. Also think you have to look at each school individually. What is the lure to go to a certain school? Having an AD you can work with and who supports you is key. How many times have you seen a coach get canned when the new AD comes on? Fan support but not over the top. Good facilities which most P5 schools now have and the ability to attract great players with the overall goods of the program/school. The difficulty recruiting to Nebraska, and this can be argued all day, is what will drive most coaches crazy. Every coach would love to be in the hotbed of a talent rich state or area.

 

[spartanhusker]

There is no way everyone gets their cake and gets to eat it too on this. Good assistants may get paid more by their schools as a reward or incentive to stay but schools that want them will also pay more especially as head coaching and assistant coaching salaries increase. These coaches run in tight circles and know who is doing what - they more about each other than the coaches know about themselves. Those coaches that stayed with Tom were a special group with a few who left over the years but stability was a key to their success. This is a totally different market and there is always going to be a school looking to attract the best coaches. There is just such a shortage of good coaches, that is what you have to do. Schools are also forced, to some extent, to pay more than they probably would really like to for an assistant.

It is really easy to say, open the checkbook, especially when it isn't yours and it affects your entire group of coaches across all sports. It is not an easy task. Also think you have to look at each school individually. What is the lure to go to a certain school? Having an AD you can work with and who supports you is key. How many times have you seen a coach get canned when the new AD comes on? Fan support but not over the top. Good facilities which most P5 schools now have and the ability to attract great players with the overall goods of the program/school. The difficulty recruiting to Nebraska, and this can be argued all day, is what will drive most coaches crazy. Every coach would love to be in the hotbed of a talent rich state or area.

As always, you make good sense! Good morning!!!

 

[brianm1202]

I have no idea why Riley brought Banker and Read with him, and hired Hank Hughes. Because his last two hires prove beyond any doubt that he can locate and hire some of the greatest assistant coaches on the market. He has an eye for great coaches. It shows too how much coaches respect Riley.

It also shows, I think, that even if the Nebraska brand has faded with current high school kids, that brand still means something to men of the age of Williams and Dianco. Dianco was at O'Hare ready to fly home when Riley said "get on a plane to Lincoln". The man had just interviewed at an SEC school and was probably offered a good deal. But he did not hesitate to fly to Lincoln. I think that says something good

I think it was as simple as comfort level. Riley knew he was coming into a toxic environment, and he wanted guys by his side who he knew he could trust and would build a healthy environment for our student athletes.

 

[brianm1202]

Donte and Keith are going to kill it over the next couple years as the ultimate recruiting duo. I hope we're ready to shell out the big bucks to keep them around! Lockdown U might actually start to mean something!

 

[Pennsyhusker]

Actually, I should not have said I have no idea why he brought those guys here, without further qualification. I agree with all the reasons people are listing here as to why he brought them. I have thought the same things for a while now.

My point, which I made badly, is that, given how astute he is at picking great coaches, I am surprised he allowed himself to bring inferior coaches here just for the sake of comfort level. He had to know that, unlike OSU, he would now have the financial resources to bring in better coaches. So why did he not do that from the get go? Just for comfort level??? Seems strange to me.

Maybe he thought they would be "good enough" or something. Who knows? It just seems odd to me that he would stick with his buddies when he knew much, much better coaches were out there

 

[inWV]

Hughes had a record of coaching good run D, but did not want to work the recruiting trail hard. Kaz's antics may have been a mitigating factor in terms of his relationships with the older DL guys.
Hughes and Banker are gone. JP and Diaco are upgrades.