2013 College Football coaching carousel

That explains ESPN getting 0.0 ratings all the time.

 

Now it looks like Butch Jones is the top candidate at Tennessee. He might be a great coach, but he's taken over a roster recruited by Brian Kelly at both Central Michigan and Cincinnati. The Vols need a guy who can recruit with the dearth of high school talent in Tennessee.

 

Still for the life of me don't understand why Jim Mora Jr's not getting Dave Hart's love for UT.

 

Ratings and credibility are not the same thing. Fans love to chase rumors. But they don't have any responsibility.

 

Mora's agent is Bob Lamonte, who is also Gruden's agent. I hope that guy is tithing to the UT athletic department for all the leverage they're providing him. Sheesh, has he found an easy mark.

 

Agreed. I'm not entirely sure why Jones is such a hot commodity being chased by everybody. Yeah, he's done well at Cincy, but no better than his predecessor. Brian Kelly left him that program in mighty fine shape, they went 12-0 regular season and to the Sugar Bowl the year before Jones started.

I'm more impressed by what a guy like Mike Mcintyre has done resurrecting a program that was in the trash heap. Yet his name's gotten hardly any buzz at all.

 

Tremendous find by USA Today's Steve Berkowitz:

Steve Berkowitz ‏@ByBerkowitz
New California coach Sonny Dykes, according to his contract with La Tech, owes La Tech a $500K buyout. But it could have been $300K more.

Steve Berkowitz ‏@ByBerkowitz
Dykes' LT deal says that if he terminated w/o cause prior to LT's final game (including a bowl game), his buyout would have been $800K.

 

This dust-up could be fun.

 

What I cannot understand if why Jeff Long would sell out Bielema, saying the coach wrote a letter in September, asking for consideration for the job.

If Alvarez feels stung from Long not asking for permission, I would think Bielema should be even MORE offended by this. That correspondence should be private between Bielema and Long and NEVER mentioned in public.

Just say: "Bret has been on our radar for some time and I've known about all of his assets and what he can bring."

Saying that Bielema was, essentially, shopping for the Arkansas job in September - as his team nearly lost to Northern Iowa and did lose to Oregon State, makes his new coach look like Petrino Lite.

I can understand why Bielema made the move, though. Get out from Barry's shadow and really try for a shot in the NC. Although, Alvarez was all over national media, talking about UW being a couple of plays from the NC in 2011. What he didn't say was the Bielema's late-game coaching was a major influence in those losses.

 

I think Bevell would be the best "outside" choice, largely because Ole' #11 understands that Alvarez signs off on everything. He's 41 or 42 (we were in school at the same time), is a grown up but also high-energy and was, essentially, a coach on the field during Barry's 1993 Rose Bowl run.

I doubt Alvarez inks anyone over 45.

As for whether Wisconsin or Arkansas is a better job -- they're tough to compare. Wisconsin has decent linemen in-state but few skill players. Yet Chicago is just 2 hours from Madison. I've always believed if Minnesota and Illinois got their act together at the game time, Wisconsin would be in trouble but that hasn't happened yet. Also, Iowa is no longer the threat to the Badgers they were a few years ago and I don't see that changing.

Arkansas may have the facilities but their location is dreadful for recruiting. Sure, they'll get the in-state kids but Fayetteville remains 400-800 miles from the rest of the conference. They might have an edge on the Oklahoma kids over other SEC schools but not if they're anything less than 10-3 every year.

 

Wisconsin has shown it can contend for a division/conference championship most years. Arkansas is a long way from that. With Texas A&M in the SEC, I'd rank Arkansas no higher than No. 4 in its own division. If Auburn and Mississippi State are good, maybe not even that high.

 

I think Bielema also looked around, saw Urban Meyer and also that he didn't win the NC when he had Russell Freakin' Wilson fall into his lap and figure he had peaked.

My thoughts on Bielema's time at Wisconsin: he was the Dennis Green of the conference. Good recruiter, solid win loss record, got very shaky at the end of games.