There's really no way of knowing if this was a good or bad hire at this point. That likley won't be known for a couple years IMO. It at least looks much better on paper than the hiring of Mike Jinks, that's for sure. I'm guessing Loeffler's staff will be much better than Jinks' too as not only did Jinks have very little collegiate experience, most of his staff didn't either. it was a recipe for disaster - and it was one.

That said, (Jinks aside) the last several BG hires have all been very good with many of them generating little fanfare. When BG replaced Gary Blackney with an unheard of, first-time head coach who was the WR coach from Notre Dame, no one knew who he was. He took over a team that finished 2-9 the previous season, had all kinds of off-season attrition, and in his first game as coach took BG on the road and beat Missouri and the rest is history, So yeah, I'd say Urban Meyer worked out okay. They had some success under Gregg Brandon (replaced Meyer, was on his staff). Then when they hired Dave Clawson (coming off a poor year as Tennessee's OC) many questioned the hire and all he did was build and improve BG and they became MAC Champions. In 2012 Clawson came right out and said Ohio was the team BG was chasing and striving to beat. He said they wouldn't be MAC East champs until they started beating Ohio. Boy did those words prove true. Once BG started beating Ohio, BG started winning the East and started winning MAC Championships. Many people knew of Dino Babers and he sustained BG's success, but he really benefitted from the offensive skill players Clawson left him (many of them were underclassmen when they won the title under Clawson in 2013) but the defense that Clawson built went right out the window. BG won the MAC Championship again in 2015 under Babers but BG lost a massive amount of talented players after that season and Babers' weak recruiting classes, coupled with a guy like Jinks coming in way over his head, led to a huge fallout.

The biggest key for Loeffler at this point will be to hope no players transfer at this point. With the new early signing period just weeks away and all the decommits BG has already had with the coaching change, he's up against it right now. Ohio and Buffalo will be the teams to beat in the East again and BG won't challenge either, and they can't ever get past rival Toledo, plus they have another pair or Power Five games in the non-conference. It's going to take a few years to assess whether this was a good hire or not.

All valid points indeed. Urban definitely being a no-name coach and coming on like no other warped that in a hurry. As was mentioned in the previous post, the new coach has essentially put two coaching staffs on a hot seat in a hurry due to play-calling. We'll see what happens but the big thing is they need organizational discipline with guys who truly understand the day-to-day workings of a program versus just getting someone who was on an offensive staff.

Only one I would argue against on is Clawson, as he had success as coach at Richmond I believe prior to taking the Tennessee job. That guy could coach his tail off and am glad to see the success he is having now at Wake Forest.

Something that stood out for me was that he was the Lions' QB coach in 2008 when they went 0-16. I know he's gone on to do other things since then, but that still doesn't bode well for BG.

Well I also remember listening to a “talking head” say how Mike Jinks was the next Urban Meyer for BG when he was hired. Point being, no one knows how this is going to turn out at this point. It’s not likely going to even be examined properly for a couple years from now. That would’ve been the case with almost anyone they brought in. Ohio was in a very unique situation when it hired Solich.There are not many high-profile Power Five head coaches who are let go - when actually doing very well like he was - and go to a Group of Five school like he did. Yes, it wasn’t quite enough for “Nebraska standards” at the time, but they’ve been in a coaching whirlwind ever since. I honestly can’t think of a similar situation off the top of my head where that has happened elsewhere recently (successful P5 coach gets let go and he lands a G5 job). Can anyone else?

Exactly. He wasn't even looking into the BG coaching job when it became open, BG's former AD contacted him about it, mainly because of Texas Tech's offensive scheme. He only had a few years of collegiate experience as he coached at the high school ranks and he hired a staff as green as he was. It was a total disaster, which is why BG is in the midst of the worst stretch of football in school history. Talk about a train wreck.

Meanwhile...BG has hired Brian VanGorder as its DC.

They're, like, 2/3 of the way to having one of the most internet-reviled coaching staffs in college football history. Just add Brady Hoke and they've got the trifecta, I think.