Pete
Fiutak
Q:
The three best new coaching hires and the three most questionable ones
were …
A:
Best hires ...
3. Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois - Among the least visible of all the
coaching changes, Kill comes in from his highly successful stint as the
head man for Southern Illinois, a FCS power. Don't be shocked if he does
what Joe Novak couldn't and gets the program over the hump. This could
be a rent-a-coach situation like Brian Kelly's move from Central
Michigan to Cincinnati last year.
2. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech - Lost on the public is just how little
D-I talent there is at Army and Navy. Hampered by the strictest of
recruiting limitations, Johnson averaged 7.5 wins a year in Annapolis
and was a regular in the bowl season. His offense is about to show the
spread world that there's still a place for the triple-option at a high
level.
1. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas - Whether or not you think he's a pud for
bailing out on the sinking ship called the Atlanta Falcons that NO ONE
in the coaching world wants any part of, the dude can actually coach.
Remember, he was this close to being the Auburn head man before
Tommy Tuberville started to turn things around, and now the Hogs got one
of the best all-around college coaches with a great offense to follow.
For a place like Arkansas, which hasn't been any sort of a BCS player,
this could turn out to be a Nick-Saban-to-LSU like move.
Questionable hires ...
3. Bill Stewart, West Virginia - Off the field, the Mountaineer
situation is a total and complete mess with a daily soap opera of
bizarre things happening. On the field, the team is still good enough to
win the Big East title and be on the short list of 2008 BCS title
contenders. Was it just a knee-jerk reaction to the win over Oklahoma
and did the upset force the hire? Would Sherman have been the new head
man if the Mountaineers lost the Fiesta Bowl?
2. Mike Sherman, Texas A&M - There's something very Dave Wannstedt about
this move. Texas and Oklahoma aren't going to fold up shop with the hire
of the former Green Bay head man. Is he the wow hire Aggie fans were
looking for? Of course, the proof will be in the record, but Dennis
Franchione beat Texas the last two years, and if Sherman can't do that,
and get the program to a Big 12 title level in the next three years, the
Big 12 big boys might get that much stronger while A&M is starting from
scratch.
1. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan - Remember, as good as Rich Rod was at West
Virginia, he failed to get the program over the hump and into the
national title despite playing in the weakest of the BCS leagues and
continually having one of the conference's strongest teams. Just winning
the Big Ten isn't going to be enough, and no, just beating Ohio State
isn't going to do the trick alone (although that will certainly help).
Rodriguez has to put Michigan in the national championship on a
semi-regular basis with anything less considered a failure. No pressure
there. Considering the way things ended with West Virginia, the
microscope will be on if anything goes slightly wrong, and he's going to
need to fight through a potentially tough transition period before his
new offense gets rolling at an elite level. He'll get one year to put
the pieces in place, but that's it. This is Michigan. The supposed
Leaders and the Best. It's not supposed to rebuild.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q:
The three best new coaching hires and the three most questionable ones
were …
A: Best hires…
1. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – Neuheisel may make you hold your breath from
time to time, but he made too much sense to not take a chance. If he
can avoid the tabloid stuff, what’s not to like about this hire? He’s a
UCLA guy that’s won in the Pac-10 before and loves to recruit, the
perfect answer to Pete Carroll across town. Neuheisel’s first two big
catches? DeWayne Walker to run the defense and Norm Chow to coordinate
the offense, two quality coaches he beat out for the top job. That
alone says a ton about Neuheisel’s power of persuasion.
2. June Jones, SMU – When you’re trying to climb a mountain at a place
like SMU, you’ve got to have a coach with a hook. Jones is one of those
guys. He’s got a national name, a proven track record as a program
builder, and an offense that’s going to attract more talent than he was
able to get at Hawaii. In a couple of years, Jones will have some
undersized, Chase Daniel clone that Texas didn’t want throwing for 5,000
yards a year. The Mustangs are closer to a bowl game than last year’s
record indicates, and Jones is the guy to get them over the hump.
3. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas – Set aside your personal feelings about
Petrino. The fact is that he can coach, and has a history of success at
this level, something the Hogs had to have after cutting ties with
Houston Nutt. If quarterback guru Petrino isn’t in Fayetteville, does
one-time mega-recruit Ryan Mallett choose Arkansas after leaving
Michigan? Maybe not.
Questionable hires…
1. Bill Stewart, West Virginia – Is it just me, or did this look like a
major knee-jerk reaction to the Fiesta Bowl win from an administration
that did nothing right after Rich Rodriguez resigned? What exactly has
Stewart accomplished to warrant a head coaching job of this caliber?
The fact that the players overwhelmingly endorsed Stewart should have
been cause for concern, rather than a reason to offer a contract.
There’s too much returning talent for him to get exposed in 2008, but
look out in 2009. I’m thinking Larry Coker at Miami or Bill Doba at
Washington State, coaches that did well with someone else’s players, yet
couldn’t maintain that success for very long.
2. Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – Sherman might get the last laugh, but I
just don’t get it. The Aggies wasted no time searching for other
candidates, tapping a coach that was fired by the Green Bay Packers
after six decent seasons, and hasn’t been on a college sideline in
almost 12 years. Okay, so he does have a history in College Station,
but that was a long time ago, and hardly something that can be pointed
to as an asset. Understanding what Texas A&M is hoping to accomplish in
the Big 12 South, it needed a home run with this hire. Mike Sherman
just doesn’t look like a four-bagger.
3. Bo Pelini, Nebraska – I accept that I’m alone on this one, but
considering what the Huskers endured during the Bill Callahan years,
they needed the closest thing possible to a slam dunk, someone that’s
proven himself as a head coach. Pelini is not that guy. Yes, he’s a
terrific defensive coordinator who’ll help bring the pride back to the
Blackshirts, but we’ve seen a million times before that top coordinators
don’t always equate into top head coaches. Pelini may wind up being the
answer, but at such a crossroads moment for the Nebraska program, it
needed more of a sure thing than someone with no head coaching
experience.
John
Harris
Q:
The three best new coaching hires and the three most questionable ones
were …
A: Three Best Hires
1. Duke – David
Cutcliffe. The Blue Devil program can only go up and the former Ole
Miss head man had the Rebels in the Cotton Bowl, the last bowl the
Rebels have seen. I don’t know that Duke could’ve done any better than
Cutcliffe.
2. Michigan – Rich
Rodriguez. Sorry, West Virginia fans, but it’s obvious how good a coach
he is with the backlash that transpired when Coach Rod departed for Ann
Arbor. Just keep Pitt off the schedule and Michigan football will be
fine.
3. UCLA – Rick
Neuheisel. I can’t believe that I’m saying this and I wouldn’t have
hired him, but I think this was the only place that he could’ve landed.
The fact that he left two programs in ruins concerns me, but this is his
alma mater, so hopefully he can keep his nose clean. And, if he does,
this hire might be the best.
Three questionable
Hires
1. West Virginia –
Bill Stewart. This might appear to be piling on (after putting Michigan
in my list above), but I just have a problem making a decision after one
game. Recall the Michigan State hire of Bobby Williams and how that
program performed after his hiring. MSU is still trying to recover.
Hopefully what WVU got with Stewart in Glendale will translate over a
complete season.
2. Arkansas – Bobby
Petrino. One year, maybe two tops in Fayetteville before he starts
looking again. Arkansas got its splashy hire and will be looking again
shortly. It’d be irresponsible for any of us to think that Petrino is
here for the long haul.
3. Nebraska – Bo
Pelini. Not so much because of Pelini, but this program and Jim Grobe
would’ve been a match made in red and white heaven. I think what Pelini
will do for the defense, Grobe could’ve done for the entire program. I
understand why Pelini was hired, but going after a guy like Grobe
would’ve been worth the slight risk of the unknown.
Matthew
Zemek