OT - The Tony Gibson US Tour Continues
As I was perusing coverage of signing day, a story about an ex-UM assistant caught my eye. Tony Gibson, former secondary coach here during RR's tenure, has left RR's staff at Arizona to return to West Virginia - he'll serve as the Mountaineers' safeties coach (so at least cornerbacks may still be competent?!?). Recruiting seems to be his strength and he did flip two Arizona commits to WVU when he made the move.
Thought this was interesting on a number of fronts, but particularly because RRs loyalty to defensive staff seemed to be his downfall at UofM. He kept this guy around (and rehired him at UofA) despite his obvious lack of coaching ability.....only to be rewarded with Gibson escaping out the back door with two of his better defensive commits. Per 247, the two flips would have been the number 1 and number 3 prospects in the Arizona class. I'm not a Rich fan, but this makes me feel for him.
This hire actually happened a month ago but an exhaustive MGoSearch showed no mention of it.
Several links:
A fluff piece on Gibson: http://www.exponent-telegram.com/sports/article_964b6ef0-70e7-11e2-b464-001a4bcf887a.html
February 7th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
Tony Gibson: minus all of the points.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^
Whenever I read/hear Gibson's name three things come to mind:
1) The phrase "minus all the points."
2) The picture of TJ Floyd running away from a open receiver in the 2010 PSU game (the ball was on the way to said open reciever at the time), and then playing like a totally different guy the very next year after exposure to good coaching.
3) ANGAR!!!!!
February 7th, 2013 at 5:55 PM ^
Am I the only one that laughed when the OP said he took two of Arizona's best commits with him? How does that even happen? The guy absolutely sucks at coaching.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:26 PM ^
They were two 3* Juco players according to one of the articles. Not a huge loss if that's the case.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^
Per 247, one was a 4* (95) and the other was a 3* (89). Arizona's top commit is a 4* (91) and second ranked commit is a 3* (87).
So by Michigan standards, not a huge loss. But enormous for Arizona. It'd be like Green and Dymonte Thomas flipping.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:36 PM ^
Per Scout, they are a 2* and 3* players.
February 7th, 2013 at 5:56 PM ^
... let the man and his legacy here die in peace. Can't make fun of his quality without shining a light back on our collective struggles during that period. Win as a team, lose as a team. Wish him luck wherever he lands.
February 7th, 2013 at 5:58 PM ^
I was a bit hesitant to post this, but in the end I saw it as an opportunity for the collective MGoCommunity, even those of us who aren't big fans of his, to come together to support RR (by bashing Gibson).
February 7th, 2013 at 6:05 PM ^
Gibson was at Pitt for the year after RR was fired and moved to Arizona when RR was hired there last year or so. A whole other branch of that staff went to Arizona State to follow Todd "The Fraud" Graham and Gibson wasn't one of them. I still remember the point Scot Schafer made about Gibson after he was fired as well as the feelings Cam Saddler got about Gibson recruiting him to UM when forming my opinion of Gibson off the field. However, this bit from a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review piece about the recruitment of Tyler Boyd commented my feelings about his whole persona:
http://triblive.com/sports/kevingorman/3381973-74/boyd-recruiting-wpial#ixzz2KG17XOyt
“In the beginning, I didn't know what questions to ask,” said Payne (Tyler Boyd's mother), a single mother of two young men. “As time went on, it was like, ‘Don't ask anything, and let them present themselves.' That way, you can see what type of person they are and what their pitch is.”
When Payne finally was ready, she directed a two-part question to Tony Gibson, the West Virginia secondary coach attempting to convince Boyd to renege on his commitment to Pitt: Are you a man of your word? If so, is that something you're going to teach my son?
“His answer was, ‘Of course,' ” Payne said. “I said, ‘Well, that's not something you're teaching him. You're teaching him to go back on his word.' He said, ‘It's just the recruiting process.' ”
February 7th, 2013 at 6:12 PM ^
For those of us with bad memories, what did Shafer and Saddler say about Gibson? I've really tried to erase my memory of the Gibson-era and apparently my efforts have been met with some success.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
Shafer mess - http://mgoblog.com/content/preview-2011-secondary
"If you believe the message board chatter about Tony Gibson's coaching acumen, Curt Mallory is a huge upgrade. My favorite apocryphal story is that when Scot Shafer resigned he told Rodriguez he would take all the blame publicly if Rodriguez admitted to Shafer that Gibson was "the worst secondary coach in the country." Shortly after his resignation, Shafer did pop up in the News stating it was all his fault. Poppycock? Probably, but you can't rule it out."
Saddler stuff - http://www.pittblather.com/2008/02/05/4943/
Sometimes, recruiters’ claims are simply difficult to believe. That’s the way it was with Saddler in two separate conversations with then-West Virginia assistant coach Tony Gibson. He’s now at the University of Michigan.
“Coach Gibson told me, ‘We have no guys that can do the same things you do,’ which was just ridiculous. They have all types of players. I looked like clones with these guys. For him to say stuff like that, I kind of was like he’s not serious.
“A couple days after he was hired at Michigan, he said, ‘We truly have no guys that can do what you can do.’ Now you tell me the same thing and I’m supposed to believe it?”
February 7th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 6:08 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
He upgraded...Moved from #117 to #115! Can't make this stuff up!
February 7th, 2013 at 7:24 PM ^
Defenses in which Tony Gibson had a hand have averaged 91st overall in pass defense and 79th in pass efficiency defense over the last five seasons, and 75th in pass defense and 58th in pass efficiency defense over the last ten seasons.
As one West Virginia fan put it in response to a local article on the hire:
"Coming from a defense with rankings of 117th and 118th, he should fit right in. Another amazing hire. How does Holgorsen do it?"
February 7th, 2013 at 6:10 PM ^
Losing two recruits might be worth getting rid of Gibson.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^
I like his picture in the Tuscon Citizen article. He sure looks like a Rhodes Scholar to me.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:41 PM ^
February 8th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
this is good for him. Tony Gibson has to honestly be one of the worst coaches in division 1. He is kryptonite to defensive backs. Good for you Richrod
February 7th, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^
WVU has huge issues in the socondary, so they hire Tony Gibson to coach their safeties.
WVU is going to give up a record amount of big pass plays next year.
February 7th, 2013 at 9:04 PM ^
February 8th, 2013 at 5:05 AM ^
February 8th, 2013 at 8:13 AM ^
I can understand the RR hate even though I think it is annoying as hell when people say "Can't we just move on" and then post every negative thing they can find on the guy, but Gibson? Really?
I swear to god for as much as people claim to hate RR and his staff there is an incredible amount of attention still paid to him. As an example I couldn't even tell you who the defensive backs coach was in 2002, but everyone and their brother still remembers that Gibson was the defensive backs coach in the RR-era. To post this is really just pathetic in my opinion. These guys have families and lives so why continue to badger them about being "horrible?" I just don't get it.
February 8th, 2013 at 8:46 AM ^
When a position coach's players play somewhat poorly or well, most don't pay attention to who that guy is. When his players are out of position and with poor technique in play after play, game after game, sometimes to the point of looking like Keystone Cops, people notice.
February 8th, 2013 at 10:44 AM ^
I'm not saying you can't notice. What I am saying is what makes you hate a guy so much that not only would you notice but you would take time out of your day to post it on a blog of a school the guy coached at TWO YEARS ago and be all "ha ha he sucks!!" I mean, we all get it, Gibson sucks. Awesome.
February 8th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^
You can't talk about a coaches performance because he has a family? Mr. good guy "to post this is really pathetic" well "your pathetic!" Now do you get it?
February 8th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
People around here hate Maurice Clarett, Terrelle Pryor, Nick Saban, etc. There are/were posts about those guys all the time.
I would venture a guess that Rodriguez's and Gibson's effects on Michigan's program were significantly larger than those of Clarett, Pryor, Saban, etc. The next time a Nick Saban thread pops up, you should probably type up an equivalent rant, just to be consistent.
February 8th, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
Superbowl Champion Teryl Austin.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:02 PM ^
The only positive memory I have of Gibson is seeing his ultra hot wife in those get to know the coaches videos that were produced for "Countdown to Kickoff" in the first year of the RR era. Dude must have a silver tongue in more ways than just for recruting.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
Silver spotted with flakes of brown. You know, from the Skoal.
