11/21/24
October 12, 2015
The Hot Seat: The college football head coach carousel is starting to claim victims, with Maryland's Randy Edsall getting the boot after a 2-4 start (and losing that fourth one after it was already an open secret that he was gone), North Texas's Dan McCarney getting the boot after the worst FBS loss to an FCS team in history, Rutgers' Kyle Flood's three-game suspension probably going permanent at some point, and USC's Steve Sarkisian very likely gone pending a temporary leave of absence to deal with alcohol issues.
Still a lot of Les Miles haters in bayou country and probably always will be, but who do they realistically think they could bring in there that can do better?
I will never get the hate for Miles by LSU fans. They had half a national championship in the modern era before he got there, and a full one since. Do they really think that he's the problem?
posted by Etrigan at 02:32 PM on October 12, 2015
I listened to that UNT game. Normally I'd give up on a blowout like that, but I had a feeling something was going to happen when the Mean Green didn't even put up token resistance on defense. This was as bad as football at my alma mater has ever gotten, which says a lot.
McCarney was fired within an hour of the final whistle. His players were still changing in the locker room. The AD Rick Villereal, who also should be fired, didn't handle that situation very well. He could've waited until Monday. I feel like his haste shows he fears for his own job.
posted by rcade at 02:41 PM on October 12, 2015
...and USC's Steve Sarkisian very likely gone pending a temporary leave of absence to deal with alcohol issues.
Well, never mind -- he's done. Somehow, Pat Haden has managed to do yet another thing the exact wrong way.
posted by Etrigan at 09:09 PM on October 12, 2015
I guess Haden didn't deserve the good fortune of having something as special as the Ed Orgeron interim coaching tenure unexpectedly land in his lap, and he screwed that one up too. Not hiring Orgeron on a permanent basis now looms as a bigger mistake than hiring either Kiffin or Sarkisian.
I can't tell that USC ever vetted Sarkisian properly before summoning him back to LA. They assumed they knew what they'd be getting. If they had been more diligent, they might not have offered him the job.
I'm glad to see Orgeron doing well back home - God forbid he or anyone else has thoughts about him looking at the USC job at this point.
posted by beaverboard at 09:42 PM on October 12, 2015
Forget what I said before about Sumlin. They already supersized his contract a year or two ago. He is magnificently compensated. One of the top deals in the country.
posted by beaverboard at 09:53 PM on October 12, 2015
I'm glad to see Orgeron doing well back home - God forbid he or anyone else has thoughts about him looking at the USC job at this point.
I hope he head-fakes LSU into cutting him a bigger check, at least.
posted by Etrigan at 10:08 PM on October 12, 2015
Holy shit, now it's Spurrier retiring.
posted by Etrigan at 10:17 PM on October 12, 2015
Geez, I wonder if Spurrier is ill because why else retire abruptly in mid-season? Hope that isn't the case for the Old Ball Coach.
posted by billsaysthis at 08:36 AM on October 13, 2015
There was a sense that Spurrier had run out of gas, but it's shocking that he's not finishing out the season at least. My guess is he didn't want to go out coaching a 6 win bowl eligible team and end up playing UTEP in the Idaho Potato Bowl.
Coach made SC relevant and now the school has to decide how ambitious a competitive standard they want to aim for. Do they want to try to maintain the level that Spurrier achieved when he peaked with his run of 2 loss teams? Did Spurrier make the place more of a coaching destination now than it was before he arrived?
Historically, UNC and Duke were lower tier football programs at basketball-first schools. Now they're a lot more relevant and Clemson is top 5. It's a lot harder to recruit and compete in that part of the country these days regardless of which conference you're in. Virginia can't do it. They're going nowhere and need to make a change. They waited a year too long to act, which has been a problem for them before. Va Tech is struggling. Georgia can't consistently field a 2 or 3 loss team - they've been all over the place in the Richt era.
As Etrigan has said previously, Lane Kiffin is likely going to get a good job at some point, as some folks are still convinced he is head man material. The question being how big a program will bite on the bait and bring him in?
The shortage is so bad that someone probably would have hired Charlie Weis by now, except not many schools can match his continual Notre Dame paycheck.
I hope that the Spurrier news means that we'll be hearing the coach behind a broadcast microphone before too long. Anyone in search of ratings would pair Spurrier in the studio with Archie Manning and then put emergency services on standby.
"I'm not done talking about your boy Peyton yet..."
posted by beaverboard at 10:26 AM on October 13, 2015
My first guess at the Spurrier news was that the abrupt retirement saves everyone from a firing. But I don't want to think there's a health issue.
posted by rcade at 10:40 AM on October 13, 2015
Kiffin might be a good head coach if he can learn from his mistakes and from being around Saban. Or he might be the next Norv Turner or Wade Wilson.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2015
Kiffin might be a good head coach if he can learn from his mistakes and from being around Saban.
I think we're still a season or two away from a top-tier team wanting to take on Kiffin and/or Kiffin wanting to work at a second-tier school. If Alabama ends up winning the Playoff with two straight 50-point games, sure, but anything else, he's still a touch radioactive.
I think he'd be a great fit in the "Head Coach as CEO" model that a few people (Stewart Mandel among them) have started to semi-advocate -- you install a guy who's good at wooing both recruits and donors as the Head Coach, but on Saturdays, that guy is just sitting in the booth and letting one of the Coordinators run the actual game (Joe Moglia does this at Coastal Carolina, I think). Kiffin would be a great Senior Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach With No Expectations Of Being The Head Coach Fucking Ever Don't Even Think About It under a good CEO-type.
posted by Etrigan at 11:58 AM on October 13, 2015
I like to visit that hot seat site once or twice a year - it's entertaining and what stamina those guys have. You can stay on there for a long time scrolling through the content they churn out. They are tireless. They seem to have no lives they could go get if someone told them to.
I was looking at some of the individual coaching crisis stories on Saturday and was reminded that there aren't nearly enough good head coaches to go around in college ball.
I was thinking that if the Eagles had lost to the Saints yesterday, Chip Kelly would be worth as much as or more than Saban to a USC level program and the money trucks would come a knocking on his door.
The good side of the shortage is that a place like Texas takes a good hard look around at the national picture, they beat Oklahoma, and suddenly, Charlie Strong doesn't look so bad to all those boosters who want to run him out of town. They need to give him more time.
Still a lot of Les Miles haters in bayou country and probably always will be, but who do they realistically think they could bring in there that can do better?
Kevin Sumlin could win 10 ballgames this year at TAMU and they might have to pay to keep him. If he beats Bama, the Brinks trucks will stop at his place before they head to Coach Kelly's.