Rumour: VU hiring Tim Horton, former Auburn RB coach and recruiting coordinator

[AuricGoldfinger]

Auburn football bio: https://auburntigers.com/staff.aspx?staff=1430

He was demoted last month and offered an off-the-field role, which he declined: https://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Fo ... 128799936/

[kay1092]

I'm sold.

[ANCHORDOWN01]

"Auburn is 100th out of 130 FBS teams in Rushing Marginal Efficiency. Most simply put, the Tigers are doing a bad job of staying on schedule with solid gainers.

Auburn is 76th in Rushing Marginal Explosiveness. Even when the Tigers’ runs are successful, they’re not home runs."

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... us-malzahn

[DivergentDore]

I like this hire. A RB coach can't control how a game is called by the OC.

[Versus75]

Could he coach our #5 to a 2,000-yard rushing season?

[roanoke]

SEC knowledge. Special teams knowledge. It works for me.

Insert doughnut joke here.

[Commodoredave]

Hey number 5- see if you can break a tackle and take it to the house....there, I'm a RB coach.

I guess he's running special teams now? That's where we need more emphasis.

[charlestonalum]

from almost everything I have seen on this board, "recruiting" has been our biggest problem - he should be able to pitch in there for sure.

[Doreknox]

"Auburn is 100th out of 130 FBS teams in Rushing Marginal Efficiency. Most simply put, the Tigers are doing a bad job of staying on schedule with solid gainers.

Auburn is 76th in Rushing Marginal Explosiveness. Even when the Tigers’ runs are successful, they’re not home runs."

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... us-malzahn

From his Auburn bio:

"Horton has coached nine all-SEC running backs, 10 different 1,000-yard rushers and two of the SEC’s all-time single season rushing leaders in Tre Mason (1,816) and Darren McFadden (1,830). His all-SEC players include: Cameron Artis-Payne, Knile Davis, Kerryon Johnson, Felix Jones, Mason, McFadden, Kamryn Pettway, Michael Smith and Jonathan Williams. In 2017, he became the first coach in SEC history to coach the SEC offensive (Kerryon Johnson) and special teams (Daniel Carlson) player of the year in the same season." This + his recruiting skills = great hire.

[shelbz75]

Talked to a good friend of mine that is an Auburn fan, he said Coach Horton is a great guy, solid coach, but his main issue with him was recruiting. I will say, rushing numbers are a lot more dependent on the offensive line play and also the ability to have some what of a passing game to keep defenses from stacking the box, unless you run an option style attack where you are constantly reading a defender for a give and another for a pitch key. I think its as good of a hire as we could get at this stage so I am fine with it myself.

[abvandy]

He may find the recruiting landscape at Vanderbilt a little different than that to which he he has been accustomed ......

CONQUER!!!..., and PREVAIL!!!

[Vandyfb1]

What I’m hearing is that he is a really great/quality person first & for most. By “Auburn” standards he was a middle of the road recruiter but an extremely good evaluater of talent which I think may make him the perfect fit for recruiting for Vandy. Apparently he was real good at identifying those players that may not have been ranked very high (5 star) but ended their career playing like a 5 star.

[historybill]

I will say this much... If you look at the list of players who have done well at Vanderbilt, the lion's share of them are from places like Birmingham, suburban Atlanta, suburban New Orleans, etc.

Contrary to what people believe, there ARE a lot of great high school athletes in the South who want to make a statement by going to Vanderbilt rather than Ole Miss or Auburn.

Kalija Lipscomb, for instance. Jordan Matthews. Zach Stacy. Zach Cunningham.

Our current coach was spending a whole lot of time recruiting as far west as Hawaii, and I'm not sure if much came of it.

I like the idea of having a recruiter who knows the southern terrain.

[Good2BGold]

I will say this much... If you look at the list of players who have done well at Vanderbilt, the lion's share of them are from places like Birmingham, suburban Atlanta, suburban New Orleans, etc.

Contrary to what people believe, there ARE a lot of great high school athletes in the South who want to make a statement by going to Vanderbilt rather than Ole Miss or Auburn.

Kalija Lipscomb, for instance. Jordan Matthews. Zach Stacy. Zach Cunningham.

Our current coach was spending a whole lot of time recruiting as far west as Hawaii, and I'm not sure if much came of it.

I like the idea of having a recruiter who knows the southern terrain.

I don't disagree about needing to recruit the South, and the Southeast was CDM's recruiting territory at Stanford, but just like in the other sports, I think Vanderbilt needs to recruit nationally. As far as recruits from out West go, Nifae Lealao, Charles Wright, and Ladarius Wiley all turned out to be stars for the team, so something definitely has come of CDM's recruiting out West. CDM has done well in Texas, too.