college football head coach hiring/firing thread, '08

[Poli]

The Callahan thing certainly has me worried. I hope he goes in another direction. If he comes in as the OC, maybe he doesn't feel the pressure he did as being the HC and will keep his trap shut. That's really all I could hope for.

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Just a few years ago OSU/Cincy had a home/home. If Dantonio had stayed it might have become a semi-regular feature.

Ohio St just paid UC a bunch of money last year to move the game they have together next season back up to Columbus. They had been planning on playing it at Paul Brown Stadium. Just like they are planning on doing when Oklahoma comes to town in 2010.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I'd guess they would have more trouble recruiting on the East Coast (at a school like WVU) than in their more familiar territories, so Kelly at Oregon and Peterson at Washington would probably be very good fits.

Just a little nitpick - Chip Kelly actually coached most of his career at New Hampshire. He's only been out at Oregon for 2 or 3 years.

[timmynausea]

There's a lot of smoke out there now about Tommy Tuberville being out at Auburn. Nothing official yet, though.

[Poli]

Just saw that myself. I read the assistants were told to clean out their offices.

[DeToxRox]

Weren't there rumors Tubs was going to be out during the year?

Seemed inevitable. You can't decide to go to a spread and become impatient and fire the OC halfway through the year and expect to be back. That entire thing made no sense.

[MJ4H]

It made no sense because the OC flipped out mid-season and started swearing out players and going crazy. Tubby basically fired him on the spot. From what I understand it wasn't anything to do with results or the process, it was that he wigged out and left Tubberville with no choice but to fire him.

Just what I heard, but at least it makes some sense.

[timmynausea]

The Birmingham News is now reporting that Tuberville has been fired.


Auburn football - Auburn Tigers Football NCAA News from al.com

[cartman]

Originally Posted by timmynausea

There's a lot of smoke out there now about Tommy Tuberville being out at Auburn. Nothing official yet, though.

Now it is official.

al.com - Everything Alabama

[MJ4H]

Already reports that Petrino was contacted about the Auburn job and turned them down. Now that doesn't seem right does it? Oh yeah, he has a non-compete clause so he can't go to another SEC-West team.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Already reports that Petrino was contacted about the Auburn job and turned them down. Now that doesn't seem right does it? Oh yeah, he has a non-compete clause so he can't go to another SEC-West team.

I hear he left them a really heartfelt note, though.

[MJ4H]

The original rumors I heard earlier today around noon included a reference to Tubberville reaching a deal with Mississippi State. I kind of doubt that will happen, but I think that would be a great deal for MSU. I'm very interested to see who fills these two jobs.

edit: I heard a lot want to try to lure Wil Muschamp away for the Auburn job.

[dawgfan]

Well, that may muddy the waters for Washington's coaching search. Word is Mike Leach has been contacted and has expressed interest in the Auburn job.

I'm hoping the Huskies flash $3M/5 years in front of Kyle Whittingham and dare him to say "no".

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

The original rumors I heard earlier today around noon included a reference to Tubberville reaching a deal with Mississippi State. I kind of doubt that will happen, but I think that would be a great deal for MSU. I'm very interested to see who fills these two jobs.

edit: I heard a lot want to try to lure Wil Muschamp away for the Auburn job.

I bet they do. I wonder what his contract is like and if he even has an out if he wanted to go.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Well, that may muddy the waters for Washington's coaching search. Word is Mike Leach has been contacted and has expressed interest in the Auburn job.

I'm hoping the Huskies flash $3M/5 years in front of Kyle Whittingham and dare him to say "no".

Trying to bring in a tricky offense is what got Tubby fired. Are they really think about Leach?

[timmynausea]

Rumors are that Leach and Petrino were the first contacted by Auburn.

I was thinking it was kind of weird that this announcement didn't come out until just after Clemson hired Swiney. There had been reports that Clemson would be interested in Tuberville if he became available.

[GrantDawg]

And as a follow up to that, of all the coaching openings right now, Auburn will be the toughest by far. They are going to expect the world, and they are still the step-child of the big state university up the road that has finally gotten a good coach and is not currently under probation.

[ISiddiqui]

Yep... the expectations there will be unreal.

[st.cronin]

I have a feeling Auburn and Tennessee are in for a nice stretch of 4-8/3-9 seasons.

[DeToxRox]

Auburn won't find anyone better to fill that vacancy as many have stated. It could be really ugly there in another year.

[ISiddiqui]

I hear Lou Holtz is available. And he's in tip top halftime speech shape .

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

I have a feeling Auburn and Tennessee are in for a nice stretch of 4-8/3-9 seasons.

Add Michigan in there too

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Add Michigan in there too

Already had ours out of the way. Color me shocked if it happens again.

[Warhammer]

When will SEC fans learn that not every team is going to win 9+ games every year.

[DeToxRox]

Rumor is Michigan will fire DC Scott Shafer. Not a shock. People close to the program said he got in over his head. Won't affect recruiting probably, since Shafer didn't recruit, so he could focus just on coaching this year.

Not sure who will be the new DC. RichRod has said a lot of times he won't run a 3-3-5 base here, but who knows.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Rumor is Michigan will fire DC Scott Shafer. Not a shock. People close to the program said he got in over his head. Won't affect recruiting probably, since Shafer didn't recruit, so he could focus just on coaching this year.

Not sure who will be the new DC. RichRod has said a lot of times he won't run a 3-3-5 base here, but who knows.

I wonder if any of the old Clemson staff will make their way to Ann Arbor now that Bowden is out. I'm not sure who, if anyone, Swinney is keeping, but I know Rod and his agent have a lot of connections with the Clemson folks. If I recall correctly, Rod tried to get Clemson's OL coach two years ago and he agreed to come to WVU, but backed out at the last minute b/c he didn't want to uproot his family. I'm sure he would be a big improvement over Coach Frey (current Michigan OL coach).

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I wonder if any of the old Clemson staff will make their way to Ann Arbor now that Bowden is out. I'm not sure who, if anyone, Swinney is keeping, but I know Rod and his agent have a lot of connections with the Clemson folks. If I recall correctly, Rod tried to get Clemson's OL coach two years ago and he agreed to come to WVU, but backed out at the last minute b/c he didn't want to uproot his family. I'm sure he would be a big improvement over Coach Frey (current Michigan OL coach).

I think right now if you asked any UM fan, the two coaches they want gone are Gibson (Which everyone said would happen, but hes his BFF) and Dews, the WR coach.

Rumor is DC Schafer is on the way out, so who knows what happens there.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

I think right now if you asked any UM fan, the two coaches they want gone are Gibson (Which everyone said would happen, but hes his BFF) and Dews, the WR coach.

Rumor is DC Schafer is on the way out, so who knows what happens there.

Gibson and Dews are the two worst on the staff by far. Frey would be next, though, followed maybe by Rod Smith. (The Clemson assistant Swaggs is talking about is Ron West, whom I think coaches LBs at this point. He was given the job before Frey, but backed out.)

Rumor has it that RR wasn't going to offer several of his WVU assistants, but got competitive about it and offered all of them once Stewart got hired and was going all out to try to keep as much of the WVU staff together as possible. You never know, but he's an extremely competitive guy so it'd make sense.

Whatever the reason, I think he made a huge mistake. I thought for sure that he'd take the opportunity to upgrade his staff and really step things up at U of M. I still think he's a really talented coach, but he has really dug a huge hole for himself, and I think the shortcomings on the staff are largely to blame.

[Tigercat]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

When will SEC fans learn that not every team is going to win 9+ games every year.

SEC fans? Name a SEC firing over the last 5 years that you felt wasn't justified given reasonable expectations? Tuberville should still be at Auburn, no doubt about that in my mind. A guy with his level of success winning football games, you give him a mulligan. Especially when it is centered around one mistake. (Even if that one mistake is a big one, like really screwing up a coordinator position.) But even so, Tubberville wasn't forced out by raging Auburn fans as much as those in power.

But besides Tuberville? The only one I can think of is Cuttcliffe. Then you would have to go way back to Terry Bowden in the 90s. (So the story is perhaps that Auburn boosters need to learn that not every team is going to win 9+ games every year.)

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Tigercat

SEC fans? Name a SEC firing over the last 5 years that you felt wasn't justified given reasonable expectations? Tuberville should still be at Auburn, no doubt about that in my mind. A guy with his level of success winning football games, you give him a mulligan. Especially when it is centered around one mistake. (Even if that one mistake is a big one, like really screwing up a coordinator position.) But even so, Tubberville wasn't forced out by raging Auburn fans as much as those in power.

But besides Tuberville? The only one I can think of is Cuttcliffe. Then you would have to go way back to Terry Bowden in the 90s. (So the story is perhaps that Auburn boosters need to learn that not every team is going to win 9+ games every year.)

Houston Nutt

[st.cronin]

also:

Ron Zook
Mike Shula
Jim Donnan

[Tigercat]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Houston Nutt

Just based on wins and losses I would agree with you. I also think that Nutt may still have a job at Arkansas if he didn't have a propensity to be totally unprofessional (for lack of a better word to encompass his erratic behavior).

[Tigercat]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

also:

Ron Zook
Mike Shula
Jim Donnan

Ron Zook is a decent coach, but Florida discovered that he was a decent coach. Should Microsoft just have a "decent" CEO? Pretty much the same with Shula. Shula didn't stink, but anyone could see that Alabama could do better than Shula and Shula didn't have the ability to compete with Auburn or LSU even in Shula's best years. Those were really two bad hires for schools with good resources.

Donnan? You might really have something there. He was basically fired because he couldn't beat Georgia Tech, which is highly ridiculous/unfair.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

also:
Ron Zook
Mike Shula
Jim Donnan

Donnan brought his departure upon himself, by alienating pretty much every donor, alumni, and even staff member he came in contact with.
Like it or not, representing the program with key donors is a part of the job for the head coach at most major programs, at least to the degree of managing not to drive the off en masse.

[Tigercat]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Donnan brought his departure upon himself, by alienating pretty much every donor, alumni, and even staff member he came in contact with.

Ah, I didn't realize there was some of that too. Nutt's behavior did a lot of the same.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Houston Nutt

lol if you only knew

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

lol if you only knew

Well, I know this much: ESPN - Ole Miss holds on to hand Nutt a win in his return to Arkansas - NCAA College Football Recap

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Tigercat

Just based on wins and losses I would agree with you. I also think that Nutt may still have a job at Arkansas if he didn't have a propensity to be totally unprofessional (for lack of a better word to encompass his erratic behavior).

42-40 conference record
2-6 in bowls
0 bcs appearances

he had plenty of chances

and unprofessional is the understatement of the century

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Well, I know this much: ESPN - Ole Miss holds on to hand Nutt a win in his return to Arkansas - NCAA College Football Recap

and that appears to be the extent of what you know. any idea whose recruiting prowess lead to the shocking lack of depth on display this year? any idea whose recruiting class is #58 right now and whose is #15? any idea what sort of recruiting reputation ed orgeron has and the qb thar was redshirting for him last year? any idea how badly he actually did behave while here?

Nah, probably nearly everyone in the state that actually pays attention is just suffering from some weird hallucination and the people that are out of state and just pay attention to single season records and single games have the best viewpoint on the situation.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

and that appears to be the extent of what you know. any idea whose recruiting prowess lead to the shocking lack of depth on display this year? any idea whose recruiting class is #58 right now and whose is #15? any idea what sort of recruiting reputation ed orgeron has and the qb thar was redshirting for him last year? any idea how badly he actually did behave while here?

Nah, probably nearly everyone in the state that actually pays attention is just suffering from some weird hallucination and the people that are out of state and just pay attention to single season records and single games have the best viewpoint on the situation.

*shurg* You have your point of view. To this outsider it really appears that Nutt was a good coach who got a raw deal from Arkansas.

[MJ4H]

Yes I know how it appears to outsiders. However that appearance is far from the truth. He will make the same mess at Ole Miss. Just watch and see.

[st.cronin]

By the way, what is the hot new offense in the NFL this season?

Wildcat ftw.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

By the way, what is the hot new offense in the NFL this season?

Wildcat ftw.

Any idea who brought that to the college game? Hint: it wasn't Houston Nutt. It was someone Nutt was forced to hire and then he ran off at first opportunity.

Edit- this is a good example of why it looks this way from the outside. It sure looks like this was something Houston Nutt might at least be partially responsible. Notice you never hear him deflect credit for it to where it actually belongs. There was actually one NFL show this year that went and found out the truth and did a phone interview with Gus Malzahn, the guy who actually is responsible for the Wildcat's resurgence. Gus, strangely was very humble and said he didn't invent it, he only used it. You just don't seem to hear those kinds of things from Houston Nutt, who absolutely LOVES the fact that people think he's responsible for it.

[st.cronin]

MJ4H:

You need to stop. You really have no idea how your posts about Houston Nutt come across. They make you sound really demented. I'm being totally serious - you need to stop talking about Houston Nutt.

[MJ4H]

You need to stop. You really have no idea how uninformed you are about the situation. I'm being totally serious. You need to stop talking about Houston Nutt. You have no idea what you are talking about.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Tigercat

Ah, I didn't realize there was some of that too. Nutt's behavior did a lot of the same.

Very much so. Most of the high school coaches in the state were actively steering their kids away from Arkansas because of Houston Nutt. That's why we were gettng 2 out of the top 10 players in our own state in Nutt's final years. Petrino's first year, by contrast, I believe we got either 14 or all 15 of the top 15 players in the state. Couple that with the mass of return-defections we are still getting from home state players that went elsewhere (Andrew Norman, Broderick Green, Ryan Mallett, several others) and you can see what a mess Nutt made of recruiting. Alienating the boosters, donors, and high school coaches is a major league mistake.

[cartman]

I know that Texas landed one of the top Arkansas players this year. Derek Johnson, out of Hoxie. One of the only, if not the only non-Texas player landed by the Horns.

[MJ4H]

Yeah, we were pretty disappointed by that, but I don't think we were going to change his mind no matter what.

[Galaxy]

Any chance of Terry Bowden getting back into the coaching scene?

[molson]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

MJ4H:

You need to stop. You really have no idea how your posts about Houston Nutt come across. They make you sound really demented. I'm being totally serious - you need to stop talking about Houston Nutt.

I feel, first and foremost, that "Houston Nutt" is a funny name.

Secondly, Houston Nutt is the greatest coach Arkansas could ever hope for, and he's another fantastic example of inflated expectations in college programs. Arkansas will NEVER see that level of success again. They're the B-team of the SEC, and like every other SEC team, they think they're entitled to better.