Richie Hall for HC

This may be a obvious question, but I simply haven’t heard.

My gut tells me popular concensus is calling for RH to become the next Head Coach. The players love him, he currently holds 2 Grey Cup rings with the Riders, he is probably one of the sharpest knives in the drawer as a DC, and just one heck of a community minded individual.

My question, has he ever publicly stated he would be interested in the job if offered? I haven’t seen nor heard so much as a sniff of his interest, but knowing Richie, he likely wouldn’t have said anything out of respect for his former bosses tenures.

Anyone know?

SEE MY SIG!

Can i Join the campaign Jman? And Neil im pretty sure Ritchie has only stuck around this lone with hopes of one day becoming a head coach here. When Austin was first hired Ritchie had a hard time to make the desicion to stay . It was never said why but it might be because he thought Austin was here to stay and he wouldn't have a chance anytime soon. I guess only time will tell.

i dont believe a defensive minded coach would be a good head coach.richieis a great coach at what he does but we need a offensive minded coach who wants to score points

Look at Bill Belichick he started out as defense and special teams asistants and look at where he is today. Arguably the most sucessful coahc in the NFL today.

You can join!!!!!!!!

He offically stated his interest today.....

Looks good Jman!

Don Matthews and Wally Buono were defensive coordinators before becoming head coaches, and their records as head coaches are nothing to sniff at…

Yay! Jman needs more people joining the campaign!

For the love of god please tell me you did just not just try to mention Richie Hall in the same breath as Bill Belicheck. He is a one of a kind coach with accomplishmants that very little people will ever match. It isn’t even funny you tried to make that connection…grasping at straws. Richie Hall is just not head coach material, end of story.

ok will just see about that. I never said Richie was as good or could be as good as Bill i was just connecting the dots that someone with defenseive expierence COULD be a good head coach, Never once did i put Richie on the same pedestal as Bill, learn to read.

Learn to make sense..why would you even bring up Bill..different league, different situations..I know lots of you want Richie so you make every attempt to build him up and that fine but i find it down right ignorant when people think he is the answer and won't even consider any other aspect except Richie. All I can say is there are reasons Richie has never got a shot at a head coach. Some people are made for it and some just aren't and IMO Richie is not. You can put me down and take shots at me all you want, it won't bother me and if it makes you feel good about yourself then go for it but I'm confident enough in myself to say that if Richie takes over, we will not wint more than 6 games next season. Like I havw said before, I hope I am wrong and I would gladyl eat crow if Hall can duplicate any success.

Wow. That is about all that initially comes to mind.
Wow.
You know how we will know if Richie can be a head coach?
If somebody makes him one.
Most people I suspect thought Kent Austin was very suspect last year.
Now some are building statues…
I personally do not know how good a coach Austin is, based on one season.
Bilichick was brought up because some people seem to think (strangely) that only offensive coaches, and particularly ex-QBs are the only ones who can coach.
Very strange as, guys like Bilichick, Dungy, Matthews, Buono, Murphy, etc., etc., all prove that some how–obvious by sheer luck, not ability-- that defensive coaches can have success.
KK wasn’t trying to say Richie Hall will be the next Belichick. He was pointing out that defensive coaches have success. And those of you who don’t see or understand that are the ones who need to “learn to make sense”.
It might be intersesting to point out that Bilichick had a losing record as a head coach in Cleveland (36-44).

You say there are reasons Richie has not yet been a head coach? Well, don’t dance around: tell us.
I, and many others think he will be an oustanding head coach.
It may not be with the Riders. But he has far more experience than Austin had, and I think on paper, is actually a better coach.
Whether or not that translates into head coach material can only be ascertained in one way.
For you, or anyone else to speculate he will be a lousy head coach makes no sense.
6-12?
If Richie Hall is the head coach of the Riders in 2008, and ET does a half-way decent job, the Riders will again battle for first place.
Period.
Kent Austin will likely be coach of the year in the CFL this year.
But it was a Richie Hall defense that was dominant in the Grey Cup game and despite massive injuries and loss of key free agents on defence, held this team together all year.
The best move ET and Kent Austin made all year was retaining Richie Hall as defensive co-ordinator.

I’m not putting you down: I’m not taking any shots at you.
Because this has nothing to do wth you.
Richie is a good candidate. Despite your opinion.

'Nuff said!

Speed im not taking shots at you, you were taking em at me, and i responded, i got nothing against you. I was just trying to make a small point that Richie could potentially be a good head coach if he was given a shot. of course none of us no if he could be or not since he has never had a shot. Forget that i mentioned Bill or the NFL all i was saying is people with a defensive background have equal opertunity and potential ot be a good head coach. PS thanks Arius.

Easy Arius, I don't want to get into any kind of an argument here. I respect your opinion and KK's as well. I'm not saying you guys are dead wrong, I just gave my opinion on the matter and I know it is out there for me to make such a bold prediction (6-12) when none of us has ever witnessed Hall coaching. You want my reasoning so here it is(and this is just my opinion): I have personally had conversations with Richie Hall and to me I just feel as if I were talking to DB all over again. His ideas and views all seem to be oddly similar to what Danny preached and I just got that funny feeling. Hall is a class act, no doubt about that. He most definitely has respect in the locker room which is huge but I just don't believe he would be able to put it all together on the football field. I think it would be a team that would once again be run heavy and low scoring with the hopes of our D stealing games but IMO we don't have a real strong secondary with Kornegay, Justin etc.. Omarr Morgan, Ladouphyous McCalla and Davin Bush gave us a better chance of winning and if Hall goes to HC, his focus will have to shift to other parts of the team and we might end up with a Kavis Reed. I just think that Richie is a solid D Co and should remain as such. Yes, I agree he has paid his dues and waited in the wings but I think he is fine where he is and I personally don't like the risk of messing all that up.

I understood what KK was saying. I know defensive coaches have been successful but I just found it confusing for Bill's name to be mentioned. Of course D minds have equal chances, I never said they didn't. I think Rich will have a ton of success in TO.

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind and I'm not saying I'm right. I am just giving my 2 cents and I realize I am in the extreme minority with this issue. I respect you guys and your opinions as well. I'm just simply on here talking football with everyone and sometimes you agree and sometimes you disagree but if you respect everyone else then there should be no problems. I apologize if I offended anyone with my opinions or made someone feel I'm taking shots at them.

Im not sure who’s face to look for on the bench for the riders. Honestly, i’m not going to complain for another 17.5 years (knock on wood). Although it would be nice to build a regime and a bit of westward dominance.

Cortez?
Higgins?

who are our options? - I wish i knew.

ITs still nice to have the cup… savier it boys!

We should still have Ken Miller, Mike Gibson, and Paul LaPolice regardless of who Tillman hires. I'm very curious to see what type of influence that these guys had on the offence. No doubt Kent Austin was a big influence. Everyone always called our offence "Kent Austin's Offence". But what about Ken Miller?

As for Richie Hall being a Danny Barrett style "Nice Guy". I'm not too worried about that if Richie is hired. I remember Scott Shultz saying how demanding he is, yelling at him for being 295lbs instead of 290. Seeing how mediocre that Omar Morgan and Davin Bush were this year, I give Hall even more credit as being a good coach. This despite the struggles of our secondary this season.

The biggest worry for me is the development of our younger QB's. Austin I think had the most influence on the QB's development. Crandell and Joesph aren't exactly young by QB standards. But you never know how much more they have in them.

I don't think at this point anyone can really tell what type of head coach Richie Hall would make. I think it's a positive that we have so many guys on our staff that Tillman considers head coaching candidates, so regardless of who he picks, we should still have a solid team.

Just when I was about to say, "Another long winded post by our fellow Rider fan Arius", I saw speed_kills' post... :lol: :?

Easy Arius, I don't want to get into any kind of an argument here.
I might have went off on you a little bit, Killer. But I had had a few cocktails at that point, and if you don't want to argue, then maybe you could consider toning down your own rhetoric. Telling someone to "make sense", especially when they did, or that they are "ignorant" will generally get the cockles up.

Plus, a number of the local media “experts” have been on the same paqe as you.
“Richie is too nice.”
“We need an offensively minded guy to replace Kent or we are dead”.
“We need an ex QB or our young and old QBs won’t develop”.
It’s all nonsense, and I’m getting tired of it already.
You just left your soft under belly exposed…

Look, just as many, possibly more defensive coaches become quality head coaches as the other way around.
Very few ex-QBs actually become head coaches, yet suddenly if the Riders hire anything but, we are finished?
Some media guys all but ran Danny Barret out of town. But wasn’t he an “offensive expert” when we hired him?
And an ex-QB?
As for Hall being a nice guy like DB, that is a good thing, not a bad thing.
As a side note, when DB left the Riders, many pointed to his having to take a lowly OC job in college ball as proof that he really never was a good coach.
Now when Kent Austin takes the exact same position with another college team, it somehow vindicates what a terrific coach he is…weird, huh?

Back to hiring Richie.
I think Richie should have the inside track. Deservidly so.
But the last thing I want, is for ET to do zero due diligence like he did when he hired Kent.
Despite telling everyone that he interviewed several people, including Richie at the time, and that he had not made up his mind, the truth was, he never looked past Kent Austin. And he recently admitted that in an interview with the Leader Post.
Well that isn’t the way to do things.
Frankly, ET and Kent Austin were extremely fortunate.
The situation was right for nearly anyone to step in and be successful.
Kent was the right guy at the right time.
But he is no messiah.
So this time, ET needs to leave no stone unturned as he examines who is the best guy.
But the only way anyone will ever know if Richie Hall can be a good head coach is to give him the job.