Rice finds a new coach

Good-bye, Todd Graham; hello, David Bailiff.

Texas State coach David Bailiff will be introduced as the Owls' 18th football coach at 11 a.m. today.

Bailiff, 48, compiled a 21-15 record over three seasons (2004-06) at his alma mater, and he led the Bobcats to the Division I-AA semifinals in '05.

He spent the previous three seasons at TCU, serving as the Horned Frogs' defensive coordinator in 2002-03. TCU ranked first nationally in total defense in '02.

In the wake of Graham's unexpected departure to Tulsa on Jan. 11, Rice officials sought a coach who could be all things to all people.

They desired someone with strong ties to the state, a stellar reputation as a recruiter and one with unquestioned character.

By all accounts, Bailiff, a San Antonio native, fits the mold.

There are reactions to this at MK Bower's blog and of course on the Rice fan forum. I missed out on a lot of what was happening since Todd Graham's abrupt departure while I was out of town, so I was unaware till I did a little catching up on the forum that former Miami Hurricane coach Larry Coker was also in the mix. Seems a lot of Owl fans were captivated by that possibility, and as such Bailiff may have some work to do in winning people over. He sounds fine to me, and I'm glad that this was done quickly and with an apparently higher quality applicant pool than last year. Welcome to Rice, David Bailiff. We look forward to seeing what you can do.

UPDATE: There's a whole lot more love for Coach Bailiff now on the fan board. See here, here, and here for examples. And consider this, from down at the end of this thread:

There is one thought that I can't totally dismiss. Consider the following:

1. One would reasonably expect that there were two jobs that, if they came open, [former coach Todd Graham] would probably be on the short list--West Virginia and Tulsa.
2. WV almost came open early, with Bama chasing Rodriguez.
3. Petrino to Atlanta was a well-circulated rumor before the NFL season ended.
4. It was pretty close to a given that if Petrino moved on, Kragthorpe was going to be the guy in Louisville.
5. [Rice Athletic Director Chris Del Conte] is an astute guy who had to be reading the above tea leaves, not to mention being close enough to pick up on any additional hints from scenes like PTH reported in New Orleans.
6. TG's act would reasonably be expected to wear thin in places, the AD office being one of them.
7. When TG reported the Tulsa offer, CDC declined to match on the spot, with little or no hesitation.
8. When TG left, CDC immediately proclaimed that this was a great day to be a Rice Owl.
9. The coach selection process has proceeded at near warp speed.
10. The coach applicant pool was definitely higher quality than we attracted over a much longer time frame last year.

What I'm angling at is that, given the whole body of work, does it make sense that maybe CDC wasn't taken by surprise, but in fact had already started getting some ducks lined up? I'd like to think he was thinking ahead enough to be doing that, and the available evidence suggests a fairly high probablilty that he was.

Makes a lot of sense to me, and definitely reflects well on the Rice AD if so.

Last but not least, but this is also nice to hear.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 19, 2007 to Other sports