Coaches Hot Seat Watcher

There are a good number of exceptions. Depending on where your line on "major program" is

Smart.
Pittman had never even been an OC.
Lanning doing well with his first year.
Ryan Day
Lincoln Riley at OK.
Cincinnati made it to the playoffs with a first time HC and had been successful before the playoff.

Other P5 programs with first time HC success.
South Carolina happy with Beamer for now.
Stoops is the best coach Kentucky has had in my life time.
Wasnt it TTech school that hired a HS HC?
Elko at Duke is doing a decent job.

Heck we are saying Auburn should hire back a guy who was a first time HC

It's all a crap shoot. I dont know if going the coordinator route is much worse than anything else. Plenty of guys with HC experience and success flame out at a different school. Even guys with National Titles cant keep their jobs.

If by TTech you mean Tennessee Tech, yes, the current head coach was once a HS head coach many moons ago. His first HC gig was at Jackson County HS. But, he has been in the college ranks for quite some time. TnTech being as high as he's been in college coaching. He's an alumni, was an assitant under Watson Brown, HC for a while at Cumberland Univ., OC at ETSU, and back to Tech as HC. Not a great coach by any means, but serviceable for what Tech wants.

If you are referring to Joey McGuire at Texas Tech, he too was a 14 year plus veteran HS HC and one of the top HS coaches in Texas. But he had time at Baylor as an assistant under Rhule prior to his first and only college HC position at TxTech.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LouderVol
Kirby Smart, Dabo, Mullen at Miss State... I don't disagree with you on the premise, but it's a crapshoot and it depends more upon the situation you are stepping into. Some coaches don't necesarily need HC experience to be successful. HC experience comes more into play if the program needs to be rebuilt. A program in decent shape can take a shot on a coordinator who can take them to the next level (Fulmer, Kirby Smart, even Dabo to a certain extent- Clemson wasn't good, but they weren't suffering terribly when he stepped in). A program that is suffering needs someone to steer the ship into safer waters.
True. Clemson was a perennial 8-3 give or take program, but no where near a dumpster fire. And they were quite stable at that. West, then Bowden both had them right on the edge of elite for some time, but could never take it the elite level. TBO, Clemson's lowest winning percentage coach back to hte late 70's, and the only one under .600 was Tommy West. And Tommy Bowden the only other one under .700. Charlie Pell was the highest at .804, but he only coached 2 seasons then went all Gator I guess. Clemson's total winning % since 1977 is a respectable .701 through 6 coaches. THey were in pretty darn good shape overall for Dabo. His rise up was far easier than what it would have took for him to screw it all up over there.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: perico
There are a good number of exceptions. Depending on where your line on "major program" is

Smart.
Pittman had never even been an OC.
Lanning doing well with his first year.
Ryan Day
Lincoln Riley at OK.
Cincinnati made it to the playoffs with a first time HC and had been successful before the playoff.

Other P5 programs with first time HC success.
South Carolina happy with Beamer for now.
Stoops is the best coach Kentucky has had in my life time.
Wasnt it TTech school that hired a HS HC?
Elko at Duke is doing a decent job.

Heck we are saying Auburn should hire back a guy who was a first time HC

It's all a crap shoot. I dont know if going the coordinator route is much worse than anything else. Plenty of guys with HC experience and success flame out at a different school. Even guys with National Titles cant keep their jobs.

Definitely a crap shoot anyway you cut it and analyze it. I think regionality of a coach is still relevant to how they fit culturally with a school. But, not as much as it used to be. BK may ultimately be successfull at LSU, but he has a way to go to justify his leaving ND for LSU. He has to drop the "fittin in" personna. For him it may have purely been a personal validation that he could coach down south with the big boys. Sure the academics came into play at ND. There are players that choose them for the academic degree that comes with it. But, that has never kept other coaches from winning championships there. BK just couldn't do it. THe biggest factor IMO, is the leadership in place at a school, and the mess that is in. It took a while to get those folks thru the system at UT so a decent AD an HC could come back in. Auburn is no where close to that crossroad, so the next HC after Harsin will be just as short lived. It has worked at Bama for Saban cause he had the moxy and the clout to say if you want this, this is how it's gonna be. He was as good as it was gonna get at MSU, started paving the way at LSU, and saw something at Bama he could high jack and control and made the move. Honestly he already had himself set up to be just as successful at LSU as he has been at Bama. But, something wasn't quite the way he wanted it apparently and he bolted. At the time he made the move, LSU was the better job because of him and he already held it. LSU is one of those rare locations that a championship team can be fielded nearly every year with in-state recruits. There's no excuse to ever be worse than a two loss team in a bad year.
 
Definitely a crap shoot anyway you cut it and analyze it. I think regionality of a coach is still relevant to how they fit culturally with a school. But, not as much as it used to be. BK may ultimately be successfull at LSU, but he has a way to go to justify his leaving ND for LSU. He has to drop the "fittin in" personna. For him it may have purely been a personal validation that he could coach down south with the big boys. Sure the academics came into play at ND. There are players that choose them for the academic degree that comes with it. But, that has never kept other coaches from winning championships there. BK just couldn't do it. THe biggest factor IMO, is the leadership in place at a school, and the mess that is in. It took a while to get those folks thru the system at UT so a decent AD an HC could come back in. Auburn is no where close to that crossroad, so the next HC after Harsin will be just as short lived. It has worked at Bama for Saban cause he had the moxy and the clout to say if you want this, this is how it's gonna be. He was as good as it was gonna get at MSU, started paving the way at LSU, and saw something at Bama he could high jack and control and made the move. Honestly he already had himself set up to be just as successful at LSU as he has been at Bama. But, something wasn't quite the way he wanted it apparently and he bolted. At the time he made the move, LSU was the better job because of him and he already held it. LSU is one of those rare locations that a championship team can be fielded nearly every year with in-state recruits. There's no excuse to ever be worse than a two loss team in a bad year.
Kelly is doing a very good job at LSU and may go 9-3 but he still sounds like Butch Jones to me
 
  • Like
Reactions: GVF
Kelly is doing a very good job at LSU and may go 9-3 but he still sounds like Butch Jones to me
Agreed. I still think he's an odd fit down there, but time will tell. Coach O shot himself in the foot. He had a hot wife. no need to get cheeky with the co-eds. But, he fired himself. No one loses a job two years removed from a natty w/o some sheet going on. I know there's reasons hea had to go. Not sure if BK is the long term answer for what is expected & capable there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Clark
Agreed. I still think he's an odd fit down there, but time will tell. Coach O shot himself in the foot. He had a hot wife. no need to get cheeky with the co-eds. But, he fired himself. No one loses a job two years removed from a natty w/o some sheet going on. I know there's reasons hea had to go. Not sure if BK is the long term answer for what is expected & capable there.
I sort of think a bigger school may come calling if he has LSU going great guns.
 
I sort of think a bigger school may come calling if he has LSU going great guns.
Where were those schools to pluck him from ND when he had good years. CBK will have to find a OC to bring him into the modern era for him to be relevant and superior. Otherwise he is merely a safe bet at a 9-3/10-2 run. He is not a natty coach.

I don't think you get much bigger than LSU. IMO, it is a very, very short list of better jobs. If you are a lazy coach, it's the best gig in the country. You truly do not have to leave the state to recruit much filler bodies. You can be 90% Louisiana roster and blow the entire country out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Clark
Where were those schools to pluck him from ND when he had good years. CBK will have to find a OC to bring him into the modern era for him to be relevant and superior. Otherwise he is merely a safe bet at a 9-3/10-2 run. He is not a natty coach.

I don't think you get much bigger than LSU. IMO, it is a very, very short list of better jobs. If you are a lazy coach, it's the best gig in the country. You truly do not have to leave the state to recruit much filler bodies. You can be 90% Louisiana roster and blow the entire country out.
I could see Penn State trying to get Kelly when they tire of James Franklin and his underachieving teams.
 
Where were those schools to pluck him from ND when he had good years. CBK will have to find a OC to bring him into the modern era for him to be relevant and superior. Otherwise he is merely a safe bet at a 9-3/10-2 run. He is not a natty coach.

I don't think you get much bigger than LSU. IMO, it is a very, very short list of better jobs. If you are a lazy coach, it's the best gig in the country. You truly do not have to leave the state to recruit much filler bodies. You can be 90% Louisiana roster and blow the entire country out.

Kelly never really made himself available while at ND. Not sure why this changed and he bolted to LSU, but he did. But that isn't to say he wasn't sought after over the years at other openings USC made a few runs at him among others.
 
I could see Penn State trying to get Kelly when they tire of James Franklin and his underachieving teams.

That would be trading one under achiever for another. BK should have won a title, maybe two, at ND. He choked more often than he swallowed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Clark
Kelly is doing a very good job at LSU and may go 9-3 but he still sounds like Butch Jones to me

LSU has only lost to us and FSU to start the year. I still say this was an even more impressive win that Bama. We were at home and didn’t dominate Bama, but we went on the road to a very hostile environment and had their fans heading for the exits in the 3rd quarter against LSU
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Clark
Kelly never really made himself available while at ND. Not sure why this changed and he bolted to LSU, but he did. But that isn't to say he wasn't sought after over the years at other openings USC made a few runs at him among others.
I still think it was personal achievement and bolting to the SEc to prove he can coach with resources. Only problem is he had equal or better resources and facilites at ND. Academics there is an excuse. ND has just not made good decisions since Lou Holtz era. He whipped quite a few in his day. They are alot like LSU...All the talent a coach could want and no QB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Clark
I just wonder if someone like Smart or Pittman could have rebuilt TN after the shape Pruitt left the program?
I dont know. Maybe Pittman. We needed an Xs and Os guy to have this immediate success. I think Smart could have gotten us consistent with good recruiting but I dont think he has the game day chops Heupel does.
 
If by TTech you mean Tennessee Tech, yes, the current head coach was once a HS head coach many moons ago. His first HC gig was at Jackson County HS. But, he has been in the college ranks for quite some time. TnTech being as high as he's been in college coaching. He's an alumni, was an assitant under Watson Brown, HC for a while at Cumberland Univ., OC at ETSU, and back to Tech as HC. Not a great coach by any means, but serviceable for what Tech wants.

If you are referring to Joey McGuire at Texas Tech, he too was a 14 year plus veteran HS HC and one of the top HS coaches in Texas. But he had time at Baylor as an assistant under Rhule prior to his first and only college HC position at TxTech.
Yeah I was thinking Texas Tech.
 
I just wonder if someone like Smart or Pittman could have rebuilt TN after the shape Pruitt left the program?

I think if we had Pittman and Briles combo, we would have definitely stabilized as a program. I feel like we would have had the same pro style offense but with better coaching / development.

Pittman will be as good as long as Briles stays on his staff.
 
I think if we had Pittman and Briles combo, we would have definitely stabilized as a program. I feel like we would have had the same pro style offense but with better coaching / development.

Pittman will be as good as long as Briles stays on his staff.

How good do you think Tennessee would be now if Todd Monken the Georgia OC was hired in December 2020?
 
I could see Penn State trying to get Kelly when they tire of James Franklin and his underachieving teams.
They just signed Franklin last year to a fully guaranteed 10 year contract worth $75 million. Canning him at the end of this season requires a $60 million buyout and it drops by $7.5 million each year.

 
This is who I would hire if I was running any of the current P5 schools with openings

Colorado- Tom Herman
Arizona State- Dan Mullen
Nebraska- Matt Rhule or Bill O'Brien
Auburn- Hugh Freeze or Kendall Briles
Georgia Tech- Jamey Chadwell
Wisconsin- Sherrone Moore or Jim Leonhard
 
This is who I would hire if I was running any of the current P5 schools with openings

Colorado- Tom Herman
Arizona State- Dan Mullen
Nebraska- Matt Rhule or Bill O'Brien
Auburn- Hugh Freeze or Kendall Briles
Georgia Tech- Jamey Chadwell
Wisconsin- Sherrone Moore or Jim Leonhard
Louisville-Todd Monken
Missouri-Lance Leipold
Georgia Tech-Alex Golesh
 
They just signed Franklin last year to a fully guaranteed 10 year contract worth $75 million. Canning him at the end of this season requires a $60 million buyout and it drops by $7.5 million each year.



Yeah during the Ole Miss/TAMU game they showed a graphic of coaches with gigantic boyouts and Franklin was like 3rd or 4th. The one that really shocked me was Mel Tucker for Michigan St.
 
They just signed Franklin last year to a fully guaranteed 10 year contract worth $75 million. Canning him at the end of this season requires a $60 million buyout and it drops by $7.5 million each year.



Ah yes, another raise which UT was responsible for

James Franklin and Mike Gundy better send our athletic department Christmas cards for the rest of their lives.
 
Louisville-Todd Monken
Missouri-Lance Leipold
Georgia Tech-Alex Golesh

Satty is 5-3 (5 points away from being 7-1) this year with fresh win over #10 Wake Forest. Not sure they are moving from him anytime soon. If they wind up beating UK to end regular season, he likely gets an extension. Which I don't think UK is foregone conclusion to win that game. They also have ranked game against NC State which is winnable given the QB issues with the Wolfpack.
 

VN Store



Back
Top