Today's segment of WHY "Fill in the Blank" Coach is Tin Sunseri. The Indiana Co-Offensive Coordinator would also be brought in to coach QB's.
Why Tino Sunseri - He is young (35) but don't let that fool you as Tino has a ton of experience coaching not only at the FCS but G4 level. Tino has coached at FSU under Jimbo Fisher (2016-2017), Jeremy Pruitt (2018), Saban/Sark (2019/2020), Cignetti (2021-2024) both James Madison and Indiana. Sunseri has coached under the power brokers of college football. He has seen how big boy football is operated. He has coached at each program and has learned how both offensive and defensive team rooms are operated. Sunseri checks all the boxes. He has the potential to be a head coach (check), he has coached offense at the P4 level (check), he has recruited the state of Florida (check), and he understands what SEC/ACC talent looks like and has recruited it (yes). Before JuJu Lewis decided he was going to Colorado, Indiana was in the ball game for the five star QB. Just think about that Indiana was recruiting and had a chance to land a five star QB. The fact that he went after a kid of that stature tells me not only can he land a prospect like that but is not afraid to go after them in the first place. Part of the battle of going after elite talent is knowing you are most likely going to lose those types of kids more times than not. He has developed quarterbacks. His quarterback at Indiana Kurtis Rourke is ranked #24 in the country this year in passing yards. He also developed Jordan McCloud who was at James Madison and played at Texas State who is rated #29 in the country. That is two top 30 QB's in the country. Tino has had success recruiting in the state of Florida.
2024 Football season - Indiana has the number two scoring offense (41.3 PPG), 60th in rushing offense, 37th in passing offense and 36th in total offense. Watch Indiana and their QB's is very well coached. He understands the game of football and where to go with the ball. Indiana offense has four running backs avg over 5.0 yards per carry and their second leading rusher has 4.85 yards per carry. Their starting running back Justice Ellison has 748 yards on the season and 11 TD. His back up Tyon Lawton has 587 yards and 11 touchdowns. Sunseri QB (Kurtis Rourke) has completed 69.9 (%) of his passes this year. Rourke has 21 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and 2478 yards passing. His back up Tayven Jackson has 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Jackson is similar to Luke Kromenhoek.
Why not Sunseri - There are not many reasons why not to choose Sunseri. The only concern is that he has not run his own offense. He is basically Jeremy Pruitt coming from Alabama when Jimbo hired him. Sunseri has grown up in a coaching family. He has all the chops to be an elite OC in college. That being said until you actually run your own offense it comes with risk hiring a coach like Sunseri.
Final Thoughts: While there is concerns with his lack of play calling, there is risk at hiring any coach unless it is a named coach who has done it before. Some of the other coaches you are going after have never had top rated offenses. Sunseri checks every box. He has elite pedigree. At the end of the day it is not what we think it is what Coach Mike Norvell thinks. This coaching hire is the most important of his young coaching career. The guy being brought in must work. There are no guarantees with the other coaches on the list but they are proven. Sometimes things known are better than the unknown. I like Sunseri ability to relate to young players especially qbs. He has played the position before at Pitt. I think he understands the pitfalls with kids in college. He also has recruited the state of Florida which is huge. FSU needs someone who has recruited Florida and had success in the state. Sunseri is my top choice.
Why Tino Sunseri - He is young (35) but don't let that fool you as Tino has a ton of experience coaching not only at the FCS but G4 level. Tino has coached at FSU under Jimbo Fisher (2016-2017), Jeremy Pruitt (2018), Saban/Sark (2019/2020), Cignetti (2021-2024) both James Madison and Indiana. Sunseri has coached under the power brokers of college football. He has seen how big boy football is operated. He has coached at each program and has learned how both offensive and defensive team rooms are operated. Sunseri checks all the boxes. He has the potential to be a head coach (check), he has coached offense at the P4 level (check), he has recruited the state of Florida (check), and he understands what SEC/ACC talent looks like and has recruited it (yes). Before JuJu Lewis decided he was going to Colorado, Indiana was in the ball game for the five star QB. Just think about that Indiana was recruiting and had a chance to land a five star QB. The fact that he went after a kid of that stature tells me not only can he land a prospect like that but is not afraid to go after them in the first place. Part of the battle of going after elite talent is knowing you are most likely going to lose those types of kids more times than not. He has developed quarterbacks. His quarterback at Indiana Kurtis Rourke is ranked #24 in the country this year in passing yards. He also developed Jordan McCloud who was at James Madison and played at Texas State who is rated #29 in the country. That is two top 30 QB's in the country. Tino has had success recruiting in the state of Florida.
2024 Football season - Indiana has the number two scoring offense (41.3 PPG), 60th in rushing offense, 37th in passing offense and 36th in total offense. Watch Indiana and their QB's is very well coached. He understands the game of football and where to go with the ball. Indiana offense has four running backs avg over 5.0 yards per carry and their second leading rusher has 4.85 yards per carry. Their starting running back Justice Ellison has 748 yards on the season and 11 TD. His back up Tyon Lawton has 587 yards and 11 touchdowns. Sunseri QB (Kurtis Rourke) has completed 69.9 (%) of his passes this year. Rourke has 21 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and 2478 yards passing. His back up Tayven Jackson has 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Jackson is similar to Luke Kromenhoek.
Why not Sunseri - There are not many reasons why not to choose Sunseri. The only concern is that he has not run his own offense. He is basically Jeremy Pruitt coming from Alabama when Jimbo hired him. Sunseri has grown up in a coaching family. He has all the chops to be an elite OC in college. That being said until you actually run your own offense it comes with risk hiring a coach like Sunseri.
Final Thoughts: While there is concerns with his lack of play calling, there is risk at hiring any coach unless it is a named coach who has done it before. Some of the other coaches you are going after have never had top rated offenses. Sunseri checks every box. He has elite pedigree. At the end of the day it is not what we think it is what Coach Mike Norvell thinks. This coaching hire is the most important of his young coaching career. The guy being brought in must work. There are no guarantees with the other coaches on the list but they are proven. Sometimes things known are better than the unknown. I like Sunseri ability to relate to young players especially qbs. He has played the position before at Pitt. I think he understands the pitfalls with kids in college. He also has recruited the state of Florida which is huge. FSU needs someone who has recruited Florida and had success in the state. Sunseri is my top choice.
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