Scott Booker

[TwinsRRUs]

He was brought up in the Elliott thread, but me thinks a new assistant coach deserves his own thread.

So far I have seen some positive (recruiting) and some negative (special teams) information on his resume.

From a 2012 article:

The most important tool that Booker brings to the table is his recruiting ability, which has been on display for the nation to see since the Kent State University graduate was hired.

Booker has become a household recruiting name in the southern region of the United States. His most significant commit to date is 4-Star defensive end Isaac Rochell out of McDonough, Georgia, deep in SEC country.

The first-year assistant also reeled in 3-Star defensive back Devin Butler, a Washington, D.C. native. Butler took part in "The Opening" camp over the weekend, considered to be one of the nation's elite camps.​

 

[TwinsRRUs]

 

[TwinsRRUs]

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1999-2002 Kent State Safety

COACHING CAREER
2003 Kent State Student Assistant
2004 Kent State Graduate Assistant
2005-08 Kent State Defensive Backs
2009 Western Kentucky Secondary
2010-11 Notre Dame Intern
2012-16 Notre Dame Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator


So is this a good hire?
Is this an improvement over Elliott in any way?
Was it a thought out decision or a quick solution since he was already on the staff and it would have been hard to find a coach this time of year?

 

[dinglefritz]

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1999-2002 Kent State Safety

COACHING CAREER
2003 Kent State Student Assistant
2004 Kent State Graduate Assistant
2005-08 Kent State Defensive Backs
2009 Western Kentucky Secondary
2010-11 Notre Dame Intern
2012-16 Notre Dame Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator


So is this a good hire?
Is this an improvement over Elliott in any way?
Was it a thought out decision or a quick solution since he was already on the staff and it would have been hard to find a coach this time of year?

This is a good hire given the situation. Seamless transition. Players already know Booker and it sounds like Elliot is going to be around the program still. Booker is not a more knowledgeable coach but undoubtedly will bring more energy to something that is very demanding. I would assume that Riley knew this was possible when they hired Booker as an "analyst".. Having Elliot here in the spring to help with the install of the new defense was extremely valuable. Now you have a young guy that can hit the road recruiting. I am confident that Booker has been around Diaco long enough to be able to teach what he wants taught. He will be an upgrade as special teams coordinator. It really shouldn't be that tough. If Diaco is confident enough to hire him, I'm good with it.

 

[tone1017]

This is a good hire given the situation. Seamless transition. Players already know Booker and it sounds like Elliot is going to be around the program still. Booker is not a more knowledgeable coach but undoubtedly will bring more energy to something that is very demanding. I would assume that Riley knew this was possible when they hired Booker as an "analyst".. Having Elliot here in the spring to help with the install of the new defense was extremely valuable. Now you have a young guy that can hit the road recruiting. I am confident that Booker has been around Diaco long enough to be able to teach what he wants taught. He will be an upgrade as special teams coordinator. It really shouldn't be that tough. If Diaco is confident enough to hire him, I'm good with it.

I think Booker can be a fine coach but saying he's an upgrade as special teams coordinator is a stretch. Notre Dames special teams last year were an atrocity and probably cost them at least a few wins. There's a reason he's not there anymore. Hopefully his recruiting acumen can overshadow any coaching deficiencies, plus he's young so I'm sure he's still improving and learning.

 

[dinglefritz]

I think Booker can be a fine coach but saying he's an upgrade as special teams coordinator is a stretch. Notre Dames special teams last year were an atrocity and probably cost them at least a few wins. There's a reason he's not there anymore. Hopefully his recruiting acumen can overshadow any coaching deficiencies, plus he's young so I'm sure he's still improving and learning.

Look at the numbers compared to ours last year. Notre Dame statistically was much better than us. In addition, I think it's pretty clear that Diaco is going to dictate special teams at least for kick and punt coverage. It isn't as complicated as Read made it. We won't really know until we work through the season but I believe Booker will do just fine.

 

[tone1017]

Look at the numbers compared to ours last year. Notre Dame statistically was much better than us. In addition, I think it's pretty clear that Diaco is going to dictate special teams at least for kick and punt coverage. It isn't as complicated as Read made it. We won't really know until we work through the season but I believe Booker will do just fine.

They were better at returns. Their kickoff and punt return defense ranked 95th and 123rd which were sadly only slightly worse than ours. I hope he's better but hopefully being better than a turd doesn't mean it's just a shiny turd.

 

[inWV]

Dude is in his mid-30s and has a good recruiting resume. Is he a good coach on the field? Below are the pass D rankings for the teams that he coached the Dbacks:
2005-08 Kent State Defensive Backs (ranks in order from 05-08) - 24, 12, 59, 75
two really good years, one OK, one not so good.
2009 Western Kentucky Secondary - 64, middle of the road. But note that in 09, WKU lost all of their games and had a rushing D of 104 a passing O of 112 and a rushing O of 48 (173 yds/game).

 

[Cornicator]

He's alright to work with safeties. But he is a step down from Bruce Read as a Special teams coach.

I still believe Diaco is going to turn around special teams though.

 

[hddude55]

I'll readily admit that I don't know which is more key, elite coaching ability or elite recruiting ability. It appears we may be swapping one for the other. But since we keep Elliott's voice, it may work out OK.

I am mostly concerned that Eliott may be having more health problems.

 

[HuskerNorm]

He's alright to work with safeties. But he is a step down from Bruce Read as a Special teams coach.

I still believe Diaco is going to turn around special teams though.

It will be hard to convince me that anyone is a step down from Bruce Read as a special teams coach.

 

[Cornicator]

It will be hard to convince me that anyone is a step down from Bruce Reid as a special teams coach.

Go watch Notre Dame in 2016. Then go compare their resumes. Read was overpaid, and seemed to illustrate little desire for improvement. But Booker isnt a step up.

 

[HuskerNorm]

Go watch Notre Dame in 2016. Then go compare their resumes. Read was overpaid, and seemed to illustrate little desire for improvement. But Booker isnt a step up.

I mean, I get where you are coming from and I'm positive Bruce Read has more knowledge about Special teams play in his left pinkie finger than I could acquire in my whole lifetime. No doubt Read has a better resume than Booker. However, I think a lot of coaching comes down to how much desire the coach has to do well and it was fairly clear to me that Bruce Read didn't really care very much about winning here. So much so that he got canned by a guy who he had worked for forever and by all accounts was a very good friend. So Read may have a much better resume than Booker, and Booker may not be a very good special teams coach, but if Booker just puts in the effort I think we will see improvement. I'm fairly confident that Riley and Diaco will make sure the effort is there.

Edit: Because I'm an idiot and didn't spell Read's name right.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Not to defend Booker or any special teams coach, but sometimes the success of special teams is tied to the head coach's tolerance to use starters or other contributors on those special teams.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

I'll readily admit that I don't know which is more key, elite coaching ability or elite recruiting ability.

Same here.

If the staff has a few good recruiters and can get talent at every position, you might rather have a better coach than recruiter, but if the staff lacks excellent recruiters, you can probably get away with the lack of coaching skills if said coach brings in the talent. Without talent, the coaching can be great but you likely will have a hard time winning against the much better talented teams.

If Donte Williams can bring in the recruits for both CB and safety, we need a good coach to coach the safeties. Booker may have been somewhat of a flop at Notre Dame (as a coach, not recruiter), but he didn't coach the secondary there, which is the position he played in college, so one would assume being young that that position might be his best area of expertise to coach.

With the current staff, we seem to have some decent recruiters already on board...
Good coach/good recruiter > good coach/bad recruiter > bad coach/good recruiter > bad coach/bad recruiter

If the STs are still split up amongst the assistants, I am not worried at all about Booker coaching a ST unit or two. Read may have been a good coach and recruiter, but it would be hard to convince me of that after seeing the results while he was here. Most Husker fans agreed that <for the most part> the STs sucked under Read.

 

[dockentwo]

Same here.

If the staff has a few good recruiters and can get talent at every position, you might rather have a better coach than recruiter, but if the staff lacks excellent recruiters, you can probably get away with the lack of coaching skills if said coach brings in the talent. Without talent, the coaching can be great but you likely will have a hard time winning against the much better talented teams.

If Donte Williams can bring in the recruits for both CB and safety, we need a good coach to coach the safeties. Booker may have been somewhat of a flop at Notre Dame (as a coach, not recruiter), but he didn't coach the secondary there, which is the position he played in college, so one would assume being young that that position might be his best area of expertise to coach.

With the current staff, we seem to have some decent recruiters already on board...
Good coach/good recruiter > good coach/bad recruiter > bad coach/good recruiter > bad coach/bad recruiter

If the STs are still split up amongst the assistants, I am not worried at all about Booker coaching a ST unit or two. Read may have been a good coach and recruiter, but it would be hard to convince me of that after seeing the results while he was here. Most Husker fans agreed that <for the most part> the STs sucked under Read.

I vote you at least win some type of diplomat of the month award; besides being smart. GBR

 

[dinglefritz]

He's alright to work with safeties. But he is a step down from Bruce Read as a Special teams coach.

I still believe Diaco is going to turn around special teams though.

I have a hard time believing anybody could be worse than Read, that said I agree that Diaco is going to improve our special teams kick and punt teams especially. He immediately expressed an interest in those units when he got to Lincoln and I suspect Booker will be little more than a figure head for Diaco on special teams.

 

[huskerssalts]

I'm still excited to see one of the top DC on Diaco here. Our defense should get instead jump with him and once he figures out his players he's got and where to put them. We should have our black shirts back again and the DBs coming in, good luck passing on us for several years.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

Booker's contract was just released and he is only signed through the end of January and is getting $100k.

So this could be a "let's see how you do in the role before we promote you to true full time assistant with a longer contract" or "thank you for helping us through with the transition of Elliott having health issues while we do a normal coaching search to fill the position for the future"...

 

[dinglefritz]

n

Booker's contract was just released and he is only signed through the end of January and is getting $100k.

So this could be a "let's see how you do in the role before we promote you to true full time assistant with a longer contract" or "thank you for helping us through with the transition of Elliott having health issues while we do a normal coaching search to fill the position for the future"...

Could have something to do with when he is being hired. Assistant contracts usually only run through the end of January. 100K would roughly equal an annualized salary of 171K. I would expect if he performs favorably that he will get a new contract. It could also be leaving the dorr open for Elliot to return.

 

[inWV]

n

Could have something to do with when he is being hired. Assistant contracts usually only run through the end of January. 100K would roughly equal an annualized salary of 171K. I would expect if he performs favorably that he will get a new contract. It could also be leaving the dorr open for Elliot to return.

It appears that Bob's health issues are intractable. Before moving to NU, he was involved in player personnel at ND, not on the field coaching. I would think that if Booker gets a favorable review at the end of the upcoming season, he will continue in the position.