Jim Bollman Officially Official at Michigan State
After a week of rumors, confirmations, and his former boss wishing him well, Michigan State made the Jim Bollman hire official today, welcoming him as a co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach:
Bollman, who has 36 years of coaching experience, both at the collegiate and professional levels, including 11 years as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at Ohio State (2001-11), will be the co-offensive coordinator, while also coaching the tight ends. He was hired as the offensive line coach at Purdue last month after spending the 2012 season as the offensive line coach/running game coordinator at Boston College.
"This is the fourth time in my career that I've had an opportunity to work with Jim Bollman, so there's definitely a comfort level there," said Dantonio. "He has a tremendous amount of football knowledge, especially on the offensive side of the ball. In addition to serving as co-offensive coordinator, Jim will coach the tight ends, and he spent three years coaching that position in the NFL. He also has long-standing recruiting ties in Ohio. We're excited about having Jim and his family back in the MSU community.
"Jim has been an offensive coordinator for 11 of the last 12 years. During his tenure in Columbus, Ohio State won six Big Ten Championships, a National Championship and played in two other BCS National Championship Games. He has performed under pressure at the highest level and on the biggest stage. With pressure comes experience, and Jim has been rock solid in those situations. He's respected for his development as well as treatment of his players. He's simply a ball coach."
The school further stated that Bollman will not be given playcalling duties in East Lansing, which proves we can't have everything we want.
Comments
Dantonio must be smarter than we think... shoot.
/Duff'd It
Bollman had a nosejob?
Those Sparty TEs better prepare to be featured in that offense .... all those catches thrown their way ...
I hope they dont expect their TE's to block
Anyone else see a resemblance between the young walrus and John C Reilly?!
Are we sure these two men aren't brothers?
After 3 attempts, DNA testing stalled at the 20 yard line and was forced to punt.
Sounds about right.
%&$% you beat me to it! You never see them at the same time....
Jim "DooDah" Day
It is hard to play dirty against a man who picks you up.
Dantonio went on to say:
Interesting . . . maybe Dantonio outsmarted all of us with his hiring of the Walrus. What other coach besides Bollman is better equipped to help MSU "simplify" and "subtract" things from their offense? Bollman can be in charge of the simpleton stuff, freeing up the other more creative offensive coaches to add the "diversification" stuff and to "create different opportunities for [their] playmakers." Brilliant!
We can refer to Bollman as the Minister of Subtraction.
The irony of the situation... The other co-offensive coordinator is Dave (Warner).
Nothing like dancing on the field in 02...
"Dave" gonna be busy......
The power of professional networking can never be underestimated.
Has Bollman ever had play-calling duties, other than 2011? Yet, how many times has he had offensive coordinator in his title? The guy is the epitome of the "good ole boy network." Forget his abysmal results and lack of creativity as a play caller. Just look at Ohio State's O-line play this past season under Warriner compared to the previous seasons under Bollman. The guy is a slouch of a coach, but must be one hell of a guy to hang out with, at least for the button-down type Mark Dantonios and Jim Tressels of the world.
I watched the past two years just like all of you and have similarly seen plenty of evidence that Bollman has some serious limitations (i.e., line improvement with Warriner; the disaster that was 2011-12's play calling). But to ignore the success that we had while this guy was a key member of the offensive staff is ignorant. And if there is an offensive system that's compatible with what Tressel and Bollman did spectacularly well together, it's MSUs. People don't get hired for D1 offensive coordinator positions without some serious qualifications and explicit, documented evidence of success.
We know he was a member of that staff. We don't know he was a key member.
I disagree that you don't get hired without serious qualifications. I've seen over and over in life that the higher and more prestigious the position, the more likely the person in it got there on relationships and outright nepotism.
Agreed completely CPlunk! I have witnessed this in life to the point of being jaded. Nepotism in particular. It eventually even played a part in my deciding to open my own business...If people think that hiring is done based solely on qualifications, the fact is many times, maybe even more often than not, it's about prior relationships & who you know...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Two thoughts, in two different directions:
1.) The power of networking absolutely cannot be understated, though I tend to think of it in terms of the positive connotation than the "good ol' boy" network sense. Case in point, I've always said I've never applied for any job I've had, and I've never gotten any job I applied for. What I mean by that is that in my career, the jobs I've wanted and enjoyed came looking for me, not the other way around. Networking had a lot to do with that, because people who knew me and knew my strengths sought me out when they had opportunities that matched those strengths.
2.) Bollman's deficiencies are many and apparent, but I guess I have too much respect for Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio to think they'd hire someone completely useless in such important positions. Dantonio, it seems, knows play-calling ain't the Walrus' calling card, so it's not in the job description. We'll see in a year or two if the hire was as bone-headed as we all think, or if The Vest and Coach Dantonio know something the rest of us don't.
Andy, there is definitely nothing in the world wrong with networking. Everything you said about the positives of it are spot on. On the other hand, don't you think it's odd that 2 key former Tressel assistants have hired Bollman in the past 3 months? After a disastrous 2011, and a pretty crap stint at Boston College, this has the feel of the negative side of networking or, 'the good ole boy' network...Your right, only time will tell, but if I was a betting man, I would not wager that we'll see a marked improvement of the offense or tight ends at MSU next season.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Yes, the coincidence is striking, but then again I'm a journalist in my day job, so I'm skeptical about everything :)
The Dantonio hire of Bollman is the one that puzzles me when it comes to the "you scratch my back" theory... When he went to Purdue, I thought on one hand it was a new coach reaching out to a guy he knew and respected, and went with a "safe" choice in one of his first hires...
Dantonio, on the other hand, is established and while fairly secure in his job, he's not Tom Izzo. In other words, he doesn't have the luxury to just hire his buddies, because he still has a lot to prove in East Lansing if he's going to be there for 30 years.
Plus, if Dantonio were hiring the Walrus to do him a favor under the buddy system, that doesn't quite make sense, either, because he already had the job at Purdue. The whole thing is a little odd.
Certainly valid points Andy...Truth be told, last time these 2 were together, they were winning a NC together, so MD might still see that guy in Bollman. I think the problem is the rest of us see Bollman from 2011 without Tressel: Dave, Dave, Toss, Fail.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Good points Andy, and regarding point #2, sometimes you gotta go with the known knowns, because the unknown knowns may not be available, and the unknown unknowns are too risky. So maybe this is a known known hire until something better comes along. Or maybe Dantonio just likes the Walrus because he tells good jokes, and he thinks "Dave" is the pinnacle of offensive innovation.....
I think comfort level is a big deal. Dantonio especially knows Bollman, his strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully for the both of them, Dantonio has created a role for the Walrus the capitalizes on the former and mitigates the latter.
To answer #2..... In a couple of years when they're back on the schedule: when Adolphus and Noah Spence and some other future D-line studs are routinely in the Sparty backfield making plays, I think we'll all be assured that this was, in fact, a bone-headed hire.
Ok, the offense was a weak point for the bucks most of the time Jim was here. I don't get this move...