Holy Shit, Tennessee has backed out of it! A testament to the power of social media.
Man that’s a shitshow. There’s no way I can look at this and see it as a good outcome. Every scenario I can come up with leaves the AD at Tennessee looking like a clown. If Tennessee backed out because fans though Schiano was a bad football coach, that makes any other potential coach hesitate. A fanbase that rabid, and an administration that listens to them that much, can mean even a good coach having a rough patch could get abruptly canned. Not a good job for any up-and-coming coach.
If Tennessee backed out because of the very-unproven Penn State association (Schiano’s only involvement anywhere with that scandal is thirdhand hearsay), then why the hell didn’t they consider that before hiring him? If one accepts that Schiano may have bad PR reprecussions, okay, then don’t hire him at all. But they did. He signed their offer. So it’s a bit late to suddenly realize bad PR move.
If Schiano wants to lawyer up he can shake down Tennessee for a lot of money over this. I would guess he won’t, because then his future job prospects drop a ton, but he has the option. I wonder if Tennessee is going to give him a few million quietly to just go away and not comment on this ever again? If so, yet again a black eye for the administration at Tennessee.
Yeah, “unrealistic expectations” might as well be the motto at second-tier power-five programs. Firing a solid coach like Sumlin could backfire in a big way for A&M. He’s won at least eight games every season he’s been there. I think it’s the kind of move you should make only if you already have a better replacement lined up. For those very-good-but-not-quite-elite programs like A&M, Tennessee, and Nebraska, an average of eight wins or so with the occasional 10+ win season should be the expectation. Sumlin did that. A&M is probably the #4 program in its own division (behind Auburn, LSU, and Alabama), and that’s not counting Georgia and Florida in the SEC east. I checked and A&M hasn’t won a national title since WWII and, since 1998, has no conference titles or major bowl appearances and only one division title. They had a good run under Slocum, but even he had a losing record in bowl games (3-8). What’s that fanbase expecting? I’m not saying settle for mediocrity, but Sumlin was a lot better than mediocre. I mean, it’s not like A&M is Texas.
On to athletic programs behaving rationally, Florida getting Mullen is my favorite coaching hire so far.
Once again, sucks to be the players of a bowl eligible non-destination school whose coach gets hired into a bigger program (though being an SEC school losing their coach this time I can’t get too upset). Would really love to see the NCAA implement a hiring freeze on new coaches until bowl season was over.
I agree with this. I suspect the fanbase was unhappy that Schiano wasn’t ‘greatest coach alive’ Jon Gruden and are mostly using the Penn St. stuff as an excuse to force him out. Passing on Schiano is probably the right move (not offering him in the first place would have been better) considering his baggage. Even without the Penn State association (though his knowledge is anecdotal and debatable), I remember Tampa Bay Buccaneer players basically mutinying under his watch and he left a dicey player safety legacy at Rutgers. But man, that fan reaction. If I’m a coach and seeing that, I would be thinking twice about taking that job, regardless of the money Tennessee can give. A bad misread by the AD.
I wonder who they will turn to now. Brent Venables? Scott Frost is probably the hotter name, but I’d like to think that Nebraska will be able to land him.
It feels weird to say this about Frost as a Huskers fan, but I almost hope they don’t land him. Frost is a promising young coach and a Nebraska alum, but there are coaches with good track records and less hype available. Frost is also a Kelly disciple and the sort of offense he runs is all wrong for the existing personnel at NU. That would mean several very rough years where he would have to recruit like mad in order to get a good team together. While that was happening the fans would be screaming because the fanbase would be expecting 10 win seasons immediately.
I honestly think it would be better for the Nebraska program if they couldn’t get the hot young coach and had to take a bit of a reality check. I’d hate to see us go full-Tennessee wacko and churn through yet another coach in a few years and then be unable to land anyone good.
Two coaches whose names I’m not hearing much in the searches, which I’m a bit surprised about:
- Mark Helfrich (yes there was a drop off after a couple of years, but not so much that he should be completely forgotten, IMHO).
- Jim McIlwaine - yes, the end was super weird at UF with the death threat stuff, but back to back SEC West titles w/o a QB shouldn’t be overlooked, as well as the success at CSU - he was Scott Frost 2 years before Scott Frost was ;)
A third, who is getting some small amount of play, but would likely be a great hire: Jeff Tedford. Anyone who succeeds as long as he did at Cal, and turned around Fresno St in a heartbeat should be in a bigger job.
McElwain to Tenn would be fun, since that would be two former Florida head coaches in the SEC East.
The Schiano situation is embarrassing, but I don’t think it will be that bad in the end. Anyone that coaches college has to understand the influence of boosters.
Vols may have coaxed Mike Gundy out of Okie State. That’s a pretty sweet hire for them after the Schiano debacle.
Ummm
Wow. Another swing and a miss then. Vols seemed pretty confident they had him.
He turned down $7 million a year. Jesus. Chip Kelly has a far better resume and UCLA is only forking him $4 million a year, and LA is a helluva lot more expensive than Knoxville.
Mississippi State hired Penn State coordinator Joe Moorehead.
The best part is that the news was broken by a stripper.
This is such a crazy year.
hoping it’s not Doeren He’s been a bit snakebitten by bad luck but he’s building a good program in Raleigh which they haven’t had in ages.
I just don’t see much of an upside to Gundy leaving OSU for Tennessee, other than pure cash. I have no idea what he makes at OSU, but I’m guessing they counteroffered to at least get close, and going to the train-wreck that is Tennessee these days is a step down from the program he has built at OSU. So unless he was just jonesing for a change, or thinks he is a magical program builder, there’s just not much upside. Plus Tennessee is a snake pit and poisonous to coaches, whereas the guy is practically worshiped in Stillwater.
Pretty sure T. Boone will make sure that no one in the Gundy family ever needs to sell pencils on the street, so yeah. I honestly didn’t think the Vols had a chance, but last night Vol twitter sure did think they’d pulled it off.
It is better to be a big fish in a small pot than a medium sized fish in a school of piranahs.
OTOH, you do have to live in Stillwater.
Lovely Stoolwater. Beautiful pic.
;)
Vols apparently now focused on Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, which to be honest…that would be a hell of a hire. Under the radar, but Brohm is one hell of a coach.
He’s also a pretty no-nonsense guy (no agent), and may not want the craziness of being a Tennessee coach.