NEVADA HIRES JEFF CHOATE

first thing let's talk Jeff choke Nevada hires Jeff choke who is he former defensive coordinator co- defensive coordinator at Texas uh previously before that he was the head coach at Montana State he's been all across the West though he's actually been everywhere he was at Washington he was at Florida Washington State Boise State Utah State he's kind of been everywhere right but uh so what has he done so far since he's been in as a coach CD I'll let you talk about his staff actually brought in a little bit I know you're that that's your thing nice St well he's obviously had to hire a lot of things there was only one main stay from the previous staff and that was Virgil Green you might know that name if you are a tight end fan or an NFL fan he played years for the Broncos and small teams as well very very respected guy of course he's going to bring keep him there he's a Nevada guy himself through and through um obviously you know big time you know retainment for Jeff CH chit um Jeff Cho as well I did did that right in the pre video but yeah and then they got some guys Brian Armstrong on the old line and so a lot of Cho stuff it was all about keeping like guys he knows personally and and the guys he's worked with before whether he's coached them or whether he's coached with them at times in different overlaps um with that actually the exception is Virgil Green um but obviously he knows all about him as a Nevada guy himself uh Brian Armstrong the o line coach I love this he was at Montana state with Cho all five seasons for there and I in their offensive coordinator he was the old line coach at Fresno State this past year very good guy um obviously we got to sense our thoughts and prayers out to Matt Leck he was he's our offensive coordinator a hire he's guy battling lukemia right now hopefully everything works out well with them obviously you know prayers up to him and his family and he's going to do great he's going to battle it through it but um obviously very scary situation for there much bigger than football but um for for the time being it'll be Mike Lynch and David Gilbertson you know kind of doing offensive coordinator running back quarterback wide receiver kind of stuff there James price as well in that kind of mix on the offensive staff and it's for the defense you're gonna have Kane Kane iion right he's he was the DC for Cho in Montana State obviously cho cho himself is a defensive coordinator very much experience there um I only was just at boy state so he's got them Mountain last experience which is very important in the scenario and then uh to round it out Parker Henry another guy uh suchal teams coordinator that I do really like he played under CH at Washington State back when he was there under Mike Leech um is another guy I really do like I I do like his coaching staff I think he was able to build one and that stems from the people he was able to learn under right the coaches that he got through we going all the way back to Boise State with Chris Peterson right then it was Mike Leech in Washington state back with Chris Peterson again again at Washington went over to will muschamp in Florida and I know will muschamp was not the most successful guy in Florida but he's very very smart defensively as Kirby Smart there his defenses at Georgia and then also Steve sarkeesian obviously this past couple Seasons at Texas and so it's been I I think it's I really love the the higher because he's had success everywhere he's been defensively right and he's also had a lot of success as a head coach at a place like Montana state which I love there making the FCS playoffs and making a little run in 2019 uh with his final year there yeah and I mean if you followed uh that FCS football for the last couple years you would know that Montana state is really good but when Jeff Cho got there they they really worked they they improved every single year that he got there and when he left that program right BR Vision he comes in and all of a sudden it's it's booming and popping and so bre Jeff Cho I think left that program at 28 and 22 something like that and then uh his replacement is now 24 and5 because Joe left that program in such a good spot so I I I don't think that he still has had coaching experience I don't think that people look at that record maybe oh he was only 20 and 22 at Montana State it's like well he he kind of put that program in a way better spot he built it up had Talent there when he left he left to go take a promotion at Texas as a defensive coordinator like that was a promotion to him he was getting paid a lot more still is not getting paid a ton to to be at B I know you had some details on his contract a little bit that you wanted to share yeah so it's going to be 1 point so it's five fiveyear $5 5.7 million contract which for Nevada is a BigTime contract right uh in their history he is obviously the highest played coach of all time which is good for him good for troit and his family they're still ninth out of the 11 coaches that actually list their salaries Air Force this is Troy calun is the only unknown but we do assume that he's he's pretty well up there and he he does well for himself there um so 10 out of 12 is not where you want to be coaching salary-wise coaching uh coaching assistant coordinators coaching pool and all that other stuff that's not where you want to be to be able to compete in today's game but guess what I believe in Chon his ability to do that real quick you mentioned Montana State though he finished his last two seasons there 19 and N right that if that's like it's gonna take a couple years here at Nevada I mean they just went 4 and 20 the past two years it's going to take a couple years Ken Wilson didn't get that time right we we'll see did thought he would I mean when when Jay norell left that roster was decimated it was decimating I mean you had guys like Romeo dos off to the NFL you had guys like Kay Millan a quarterback he left you had guys like Dan Henley linebacker he left to go to Washington State guy like Tory hordon who's one of the best wide receivers in college football he left to go to Colorado State I mean it was just it was a mess a mess of a roster when J or when up and Wilson got there well and Wilson spent what almost 20 22 years there at Nevada himself before being a head coach I come back in 2022 so yeah if anyone was going to get the time to to wait there see if it actually works it would have been him but obviously the administration there didn't believe in him and they made a move and they felt they get CH then um yeah I will say that the recruiting classes like what is the expectation at Nevada right and why did Ken Wilson get fired okay this program has not been despite having actual talent in state right they have not and you're right there with California too you can you can scrape you can scrape up a pretty decent class as a G5 team if you if you are near California top 85 is kind of where they've been and with Ken Wilson they were they weren't even top 85 right so that that was that was an issue so I can understand like getting ahead of that if you don't believe in a guy if your Administration doesn't believe in a guy get rid rid of him and bring in someone that can maybe recruit a little bit better I don't know if Jeff Cho can can recruit at the at the FB FBS level nowadays really highly but you know what he's going to have to a little bit you know especially like if if Barry OD odm has UNLV cooking at the way it does right what are the expectations went with Nevada it's you know I guess a blll game it's kind of your expectation if you're a fan you can kind of probably expect a bow game from Nevada right competing the Mountain West which is not necessarily the best conference out out there win win some of those games against Bottom Feeders but the reality is like you yourself are a bottom feeder especially in the situation that the program is in right now you're bottom feeder right you you were paying your coach only $1.1 million which yeah sure that's a lot of money but not not in the grand scheme of things for college football coaches at all especially in the Mountain West so that's that's tough It's hard to compete when you don't have the resources that some of these other schools have and you would think Nevada is a state school in the state of Nevada where you have okay Talent yeah sure you're not going to land the five star from Bishop Gorman sure you're you're not going to do that but there are other talented players in the state of Nevada and California that you can snag well it's tough though because they are in Northern Nevada so a little bit less Talent up there obviously not as far not as close to Las Vegas where unov is right you look at their Rivals why was can Wilson fired the rivals UNLV barot went in there right away and won very well very successful boy State obviously doing their thing just won the Mountain West with an interm head coach San Jose State obviously playing pretty darn well we love how they're clicking um when that program is doing and then Fresno State as well I mean they're they're continuously a Powerhouse in Mountain West it's tough it's tough to compete with those things and to give your coach these unfair expectations when they just don't have the resources to right and I don't know what what it is I don't know what the problem there is that Nevada administratively talent wise coaching us maybe troit needs to go in there and click push all the right buttons and then maybe they get it done there but yeah it's frustrating to see because you you in this transporter era you have to be getting all the rejects from power from the Pack 12 or now that they're all going Big 12 but you you have to be getting guys that want to come back locally to them to the West Coast and you have to be like first ones at the door like hey we missed you in high school you overlooked us or keep those relationships you had guys that you know maybe you were the first one to offer and then all of a sudden UCLA comes in offers him well those relationships exactly get in early and and even if you know you have no chance to win this recruitment keep battling keep getting on know the kid keep getting for them to know you and what not and so so when he does enter the portal his first thing is hey n let let me call them let me call Choy and staff there and see what he can do but yeah you mentioned the recruiting there has not been what it is and unfortunately like the the program's not in a great spot talent wise I don't think I think they do have long ways to go to be competing in the Mountain West for a bowl game because I do think that is the standard there is to be at least making bowl games once you get clicking it's going to take a couple years hopefully they give him that time I don't know how short that leash is I I do assume the buyout he would he would have had a lot of guarantees in his contract and whatnot well it is guaranteed the all his entire contact's guaranteed or something like that which is or just a million dollars at least is guaranteed like I think a lot of it is guaranteed I think they want to believe in him right they want to believe in him so I'm all right with that in terms of grades what what kind of grade am I giving choke well we talk about can't give grades without expectations we talked about our expectations a little bit a Bull game and a top 85 recruiting class right can he meet those I'd give him a b like a B for if you can meet expectations a do you exceed expectations C if you can't meet those expectations I think Jeff Cho if you give him enough time to meet those expectations right I I think the resources are pretty limited I don't have a ton of knowledge about him as a recruiter I know he's been on the west coast so he knows the landscape ape a little bit you know those high schools I'll give it a b i I'll I'll give it a solid B and NADA you're not going to get a ton of high name high-profile coaches to come in there you know I think there's some other hires that you know we'll talk about one particularly in a little bit but there there were other hires that you could have made like if you want someone who's like an innovator on the offensive side of the ball you you kind of need to go younger but I think Nevada was like let me get someone who's experienced with head coaching uh someone who's a little bit older you not not too much older he's not he's not super old but someone that you can come in and you know that they're going to be well coached give him a chance so just my assumption though is if they're giving him the money they're going to give him the time so I think he can meet expectations I'll give it a solid B I do do believe so as well I'll stick with a B there I think in year three you really look him turn around make a bowl game start recruiting well utilizing the transfer portal and all that comes with it um it obviously but it shows the just the state of this program when Jay noral has a couple successful years and then leaves to Colorado State and that's because you're not paying your coaches in large part right or the resources aren't there and he knows it and Jan having some success to Colorado State at times and yeah if if CH Cho wins a couple games has a nice couple Seasons you gotta somehow retain him I don't know he pops off that much if he's going to get some power five interest then maybe that's hard to get him to keep him in the boat there but if if you're if you're getting lured Away From Another Mountain West Conference team that's alarming that's very frustrating for Nevada fans and and the players there for sure but I I believe in cha I think he's put together a good staff I think he'll get it done I love his experience he mentioned everything on the West Coast or in the west of the Mississippi he's done a great job and I think that matters so much when you're talking about you know relationships and just knowing the area knowing the culture and the style of football there with some Mountain West success there he saw Chris Peterson really take boy state to another level and I think he helps to do this same here with Nevada