Spurrier Walks - O'Leary Quits as AD - Sark is Canned

[Eric]

Yeah, the Jimbo-to-LSU thing reminds me of the Miles-to-Michigan thing. Makes some sense in theory, but when you have it as good as you do, there is no incentive to leave. I think Fisher is happy where he's at. Florida State and Clemson are the kings of the ACC right now and for the next couple of years, they're going to be fighting it out for playoff berths. There's no sense in trading that for life in the SEC West where you can get knocked off by any of the six other teams in your division, and possibly more depending on the draw you get from the East. I'm not saying that the SEC is out-of-this-world good (especially this year with mediocre QB all over the board [excluding Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Arkansas]), but there are plenty of landmines even from teams who are not having great years.

Something is telling me that LSU is going to have to "settle" for Bo Pelini or somebody along those lines. I don't think they're going to get who they ultimately want. I highly doubt they're going to find somebody better than Les Miles. Although for Pelini, I know his buyout is affected by how much he is currently getting paid, so I don't know if that puts him off the market. I think if he's making a ton of money at LSU then Nebraska doesn't have to pay the 7 million they owe him or something like that. So he can take the high profile gig at LSU and make millions now with all the added pressure, or he can take it easy at Youngstown and collect a paycheck from both YSU and Nebraska.

[billybud]

Add Scott Shafer to the list...fired from Syracuse....

A lot of coaching movement for sure.

[Eric]

Shafer was a bit of a head-scratcher to begin with. He didn't really have a calling card and Syracuse wasn't great at recruiting.

Possible landing spot for Chip Kelly?

[Eric]

This just goes to show you how cruel this sport can be sometimes. Randy Edsall has had horrible luck at QB with injuries constantly derailing their seasons and Syracuse probably would have had a much more competitive team if they weren't down to their 4th QB.

[Cane from the Bend]

Add Scott Shafer to the list...fired from Syracuse....

A lot of coaching movement for sure.

That's a nice catch there Billybud. This one completely escaped my view.

I really thought he'd get another two years at the very least, to really get the program running as "his". There were moments with spark that had this team looking interesting. Like they just needed a few key position components and they would be ready to progress forward. However, with that tricky knee jerk condition [so relatively contagious these days], and in light of all the changes around the country, I suppose Syracuse decided to get theirs, while the getting is good.

Shafer was a bit of a head-scratcher to begin with. He didn't really have a calling card and Syracuse wasn't great at recruiting.

They were hoping to find a diamond in the rough with Shafer. Syracuse thought they would get him before he established himself as a high profile name, which would be more desirable on the open market.

Possible landing spot for Chip Kelly?

I was going to say definitely not, but things are so crazy these days, that I'll just say, not very likely.

Kelly may be familiar with the territory, though, my guess is his name gets a calling from a more prestigious program.
[maybe Tennessee]

---

All of this coach shuffling, is giving college football a feel of NASCAR.

Changing a coach is similar to Pit Stops, where you are hoping to get aboard the next big thing, and becoming one of those schools whose momentum is carried by the swelling wave of success one prays for as new contenders arise; similar to the way pit crews hope to get their driver back out onto the track the fastest, hoping to gain a position or two, and crossing their fingers that they won't need another pit before the race ends. Meanwhile, the race leaders stay out on the track, Drafting along one another, attempting to pull further away from the crowd.

The major downside to being one of these programs searching for "the Guy", is that with so many positions available at so many Name schools, somebody is bound to get a dud, and find themselves in a worse position 3-4 years from now, than what they are today. By the law of averages, the sheer number of openings guarantees as much.

Getting the right fit is ideal. Yet, getting the right fit is difficult if that guy is being courted by somebody else; whom is also willing to offer more money to prevent him from signing with you.

This makes me wonder, how many of these schools will be so distracted by the promise of instant gratification, that they reflexively hire "the Wrong Guy" as a result of panic, to lock a candidate down before someone else gets to him first.

Something else we are likely to see an influx of --- current coaches getting raises to their salary, to keep the poachers off the doorstep.

.
.
.

[Eric]

I agree. There's going to be a bidding war for some coaches that may or may not pan out. I know Herman and Fuente are gone no matter how those schools try to restructure their contracts. Each school wants to make each coach the highest paid Group of 5 head coach, but that is still going to be peanuts compared to what a South Carolina or a Virginia Tech can throw at them. Herman and Fuente are far from sure things in my opinion, especially depending on what job they take. I'm really not a fan of the Missouri or South Carolina jobs at this point in time and I have a feeling that might be where they end up (although Dino Babers is probably a likely candidate at Missouri considering their recent issues).

[armchairqb]

http://amestrib.com/sports/football-georgia-southern-s-fritz-reportedly-interested-isu-opening

Sources close to Georgia Southern head coach Willie Fritz state that Fritz is interested in becoming Iowa State's head coach.

[armchairqb]

Head coaching job availability Power Poll (of availabilities that exist as of 11/24/15):

1. USC
2. South Carolina
3. Missouri
4. Virginia Tech
5. Maryland
6. Miami, FL
7. Syracuse
8. Iowa State
9. UCF
10. Illinois
11. Louisiana-Monroe
12. Hawaii
13. North Texas

[Spence]

I could see LSU moving into the number 2 spot pretty quick if Miles gets canned.

[Eric]

Here are my temporary predictions:

1. Kirby Smart -> South Carolina. It's probably time for him to take a head coaching job and having SEC experience will probably be important to South Carolina. They want someone who has won at a high level collegiately even if it's as a coordinator. People forget that USC was a mediocre job before Spurrier got there.

2. Chip Kelly -> Syracuse / Virginia Tech / Virginia. Kelly will be going to the ACC, it's just a matter of which job is more attractive to him. Virginia would be a bigger challenge, and being a stubborn guy, I think he'd be interested in a challenge. VT provides the best opportunity as far as recruiting goes and gives him the best chance to make an immediate impact on the national title race. Syracuse would also be a challenge, but his offense would play really great in a dome. He could become a rock star with the New York media environment and the Northeast is starved for a marquee football program.

3. Kendall Briles / Sonny Cumbie / Doug Meachem / Jake Spavital -> UL Monroe / Tulane / North Texas. Briles will be gone, again it's just a matter of fit at this point. Either one of the Louisiana schools could take off with Briles as head coach. Recruiting athletes there wouldn't be impossible, although UL Monroe notoriously has some of the worst FBS facilities in the country. UNT and Tulane are a lot more attractive of jobs, each being in a better conference than the Sun Belt. My guess is that Briles goes to Tulane and Spavital goes to UNT, Cumbie and Meachem might stay at TCU. I could see Monroe getting shut out of these future superstar coaches and settling for Ed Orgeron, who will more than likely fail there. They could also go after McNeese's head coach.

4. Dino Babers -> Missouri. Missouri will do this both for PR and on-field reasons. Babers will bring his offense to the SEC and it will probably see some success. This will also be an exercise in image-repair.

5. June Jones -> Hawaii. Sounds like it's his job if he wants it and I think he wants back in the game.

6. Justin Fuente -> LSU. I don't think LSU will be thrilled will their options, but they could do a lot worse. If LSU goes somewhere else, Fuente will probably end up at Virginia Tech.

7. Tom Herman -> Maryland. Herman might get in a stick situation with the available jobs each seeing a likely better fit. Somebody is going to offer him a ridiculous pay day though, so if it's not Maryland it'll be Missouri or one of the ACC schools. He'll get a chance to fight Meyer head-to-head also. The Big 10 East will be a major turn off for most people considering this job.

8. Mario Cristobal -> Miami. He's young and has a Miami background. It won't set the world on fire, but it has the potential to work out and it sounds like Miami is headed in this direction. Butch Davis is apparently interested too.

9. ??? -> USC. I think USC is going to go way out of left-field. They're going to be interested in someone who has NFL experience. I don't figure that they'll be interested in Kelly because he's not really what USC has in mind for their program. They want a pro-style, dropback type of offense and not a gadget spread offense.

[billybud]

I wonder why we never hear of Bo Pellini ? Lost in the wilds at Youngstown State?

At the waters of Babylon, he sat and wept, remembering Zion.

[Eric]

I wonder why we never hear of Bo Pellini ? Lost in the wilds at Youngstown State?

At the waters of Babylon, he sat and wept, remembering Zion.

He has a cushy payout going on right now with Nebraska. He is coaching at Youngstown State, so he is making a salary there in addition to checks from Nebraska. I think if he takes another head coaching job at the FBS level, his deal with Nebraska gets altered in some way. Not sure exactly.

[armchairqb]

Head coaching job availability Power Poll (of availabilities that exist as of 11/28/15):

1. USC
2. South Carolina
3. Missouri
4. Virginia Tech
5. Maryland
6. Miami, FL
7. Syracuse
8. Iowa State
9. UCF
10. Illinois: Removes the interim tag from Bill Cubit; two year deal.
11. Tulane: Curtis Johnson fired 11/28/15.
12. Louisiana-Monroe
13. Hawaii: Nick Rolovich hired 11/27/15; recently Nevada offensive coordinator.
14. North Texas


Cubit is a bit of a head scratcher of a hire, but this is not a good year to hire a top-fight guy if you're Illinois. It tells me how low in the pecking order that program is in any power conference.

Tulane used to be in the SEC with Georgia Tech four decades ago. In 2003, they were going to shut down the football program until a push at the 23rd hour. Tulane had to relocate their football squad in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina to Louisiana Tech. They are New Orleans' only FBS (no FCS squad there either) program. They have a new stadium on campus. Tommy Bowden was the last guy to have an impact there at head coach. It will take an up and comer hotshot to reinvigorate that program.

[Eric]

You have no idea how depressed I am that June Jones didn't get the job. I hope there was some extra concession that they would have to make for hiring him; I really hope they wouldn't be that dumb to actually select Rolovich over Jones. I know he basically stopped recruiting at SMU and left that program as the dumpster fire it is today, but if he was seriously interested in returning, I don't think he would burn Hawaii in that way. I want to see the run and shoot back in the college game

Rolovich did do some of the playcalling for Hawaii back in the day though and he played QB for June Jones. What worries me is that Nevada is still doing their pistol rushing attack. I want to see a team out there sling the ball around 70 times a game, successfully. Some of these "system" guys are slowing down it seems, sometimes not even against good defenses. Leach and Dykes have each had some games this year where they should be able to fling it all over the place and it's just not happening to the same extent that it used to. Goff went off today, but he's had some average games for Cal and then at Texas Tech you basically had a plug-and-play set-up at QB, but Peyton Bender was just miserable on Friday. Jones at SMU had some recruiting problems as I mentioned earlier, but he also never really had his "guy" at QB, which at Hawaii was never an issue. So maybe that style is falling out of favor for a more balanced approach, like Baylor's or Oregon's style. I still miss it. Let's just say I hope Rolovich goes old-school Hawaii and resurrects the program, because it's financial situation isn't good, to say the least. They need some life injected in there or else it won't be long for this world.

I think in the long run this hire might work out though. Rolovich is actually the guy I think they should have promoted when Jones left. Still, I really don't think that the offense is going to be as successful as it was when Jones was there. Plus, to be honest, playing in the WAC contributed to some of those gaudy offensive statistics. The old guard of the Mountain West has higher quality defenses, so that's a new factor to contend with. I think Hawaii was looking for a guy familiar with the program who had some youth on his side who also isn't looking to leave any time soon. It's still a bit of a pipe dream, but not knowing the situation intimately, I wonder if Jones has any interest in being the offensive coordinator. It sounds like a weird set up since he's probably more qualified to be the HC, but this way he can still do some coaching and he doesn't have to worry about that pesky recruiting. He's also had Jerry Glanville and Mouse Davis, his former head coaches, brought on as assistants under his watch, so maybe it's coming full circle . He lives in Hawaii if I recall also.

[billybud]

The Mad Hatter will continue on in his purple and gold....

Although I kind of like gaudy colors, that combination is right out of Dr. Zeuss...anyway, the Hatter is not on the lam from green eggs and ham.