What I kind of like about this hire is:
1) He's not coming from another FBS school where they are used to better talent and, therefore, won't use that as a crutch.
2) He's apparently recruited and developed young men that weren't, for some reason, playing at an FBS school and got them into the league.
3) He probably knows the local vicinity, where there appear to be SOME large, tough young men that CAN be O Linemen. Are there more of them in Ohio, sure. But, if I remember correctly, and this is, of course ages ago, but Nebby used to get their beef from Nebraska and the upper midwest and their speed from Florida and other parts of the South for the most part. Seems he might be a positive add in working our part of the midwest.
4) I appreciate every coaches contribution, because I am sure they were trying their best, but it just looked like our OL and its coach, were not ready for prime time. His resume alone looks much more appropriate for the challenges he faces and the salary he will be paid. This guy has done some good work with UNI, I am very interested to see what he can do here.
5) I say all this while remembering I was about as excited as I have been for any coach to come to ISU with the McDermott hire. I would have said very similar things about him to this new hire, but that didn't work out very well for some reason.
I am slightly optimistic that we won't be as unhappy with the upcoming season as the last. But, I'm not going to start prepping for a December trip to Arlington quite yet.