I don't know about you, but I love College Football Coaching searches (when it's not happening to Michigan). I just love how things unfold and how AD's pick their coaches. Couple of changes to keep an eye on if you don't follow these things as closely as I do:
ASU: Picks Todd Graham from Pitt. Graham was at Pitt less then a year after Pitt had hired a guy with recent domestic assault on his record. Todd Graham is a RR disciple and was a head coach for Rice for a year, Tulsa for 4 years and now Pitt for a year before taking the ASU job. Side note, Graham hired 3 RR's assistants when he got fired from Michigan, those assistants are now in state but working for RR down the road. Also the recent Michigan transfers who left for Pitt are now with out the coaches that they transferred for. So the question is now where does Pitt go for a head coach (don't forget they are moving to the ACC)?
Kansas: Picked Charlie Wies for some reason. Charlie got fired from ND for not under preforming and spent a year as Kansas City's OC and Florida's OC. This is a clear case where Charlie is a better OC then head coach. This hire makes zero sense to me, I understand big names are not knocking down the door to coach Kansas but the only positive thing Charlie did at ND was recruit.
Texas AM: Went from Mike Sherman to Houston's Kevin Sumlin who was the hottest candidate this year. I think this is a good hire even though Kevin's team got blown out at home in the USA Championship game and a BCS Bowl on the line. Not sure on a guy with Conference USA experience leading a team into the SEC.
UCLA: A few years ago, UCLA tried to resurrect Rick Neuheisel career and it didn't work. Now they go after another resurrection project with Jim Mora, Jr. It seems UCLA is a job that most people don't want and there are rumors they are not committed to football financially. They had a chance to make up some ground on USC and didn't.
Penn State: Is the biggest job still available. This job right now is scary at best. Their recruiting class is falling apart and who know what the future might bring. I have no idea where they want to go with this one. This seems like a no win situation at the moment. I have heard they might be looking at Havard's head coach.
Ohio State: got the most successful coach on the board. The OSU brass sold him on that the NCAA wouldn't do anymore harm and now he is selling it to recruits. I know coaches say a lot things including this: "But what I didn't want to have happen, and I made this clear to Jeremy [Foley], if I am able to go coach, I want to coach at one place, the University of Florida. It would be a travesty, it would be ridiculous to all of a sudden come back and get the feeling back, get the health back, feel good again and then all of a sudden go throw some other colors on my shirt and go coach. I don't want to do that. I have too much love for this University and these players and for what we've built."
Illinois: Let it ride with Zook as long as they could. I don't think Illinois really draws top coaching talent and they picked a good young coach from Toledo Tim Beckman. Good hire.
Washington State: made the best hire out there in Mike Leach. Mike is a different guy and doesn't need to be in the big city with a ton of media watching is every more. This is a perfect place for him in a league where he could do some damage if he has similar success to his Texas Tech days. Mike was able to get solid players at Tech to run his system when he had to recruit against Texas and A&M. Hopefully he has learned a few things after being out of football and that concussions are a serious injury.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Michigan Thursday: Loves Coaching Changes
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To think that you shouldn't fear Urban Meyer I think ignores the history of Urban Meyer. Pretty much every place he has coached he has won and is considered a superb recruiter.
Recently in an interview with Urban Meyer's biographer it was revealed that Urban Meyer's second retirement with the Gators was due his inability to regain control of the football team after his first retirement which created a situation where he felt like he had to do everything in the department. At Ohio State, Urban will not have that problem.
However, Michigan has four major problems as far as I see:
1) Urban Meyer will end Ohio State's self-inflicted offensive problems. Ohio States two last coaches were hardly known for innovative offensives or for development of offensive linemen. Michigan has been able to feed off frustrations of people at how vanilla the Ohio State offense has been for quite some time. Ohio State has relied on a few super studs to keep itself in games.
2) Urban Meyer is going to bring the whole Friday Night Lights to Ohio from Florida. Anybody who knows recruiting, knows how effective that has been.
3) Michigan's main poaching area (Northern Ohio) against Ohio State is declining in population while Ohio States strongest recruiting area (around Columbus) is the fast growing area in Ohio.
4) Michigan has to start beating Michigan State. This is far more important than worrying about Ohio State. For the most part, recruiting in Ohio is tough for Michigan (except on the border) because the average football kid falls asleep with an Ohio State football while he sleeps. There are a few states like this: Wisconsin and Nebraska come to mind immediately, but Ohio State has to be one of the largest in population. Michigan State had lost so many years in a row to Michigan that it was just assumed that Michigan was automatically better. With four consecutive years of losses to Michigan State, how Michigan argue that it is a better program than Michigan, let alone equal to it. With Michigan State undergoing a quarterback change this is the year that Michigan has to win that rivalry. With Cousins gone AND if Michigan starts winning that battle then they can start feeling assured that a living in Michigan will most likely fall asleep with a UM football.
5) Weakness at Penn State will most likely benefit Ohio State rather than Michigan until it is solved. It's just an issue of geography. However, a strong coach at Penn State could hurt Ohio State in the long run. You could argue that Joe Paterno had outstayed his effectiveness in the program before the scandal even started.
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