2013 College Football coaching carousel

Guess here is the Bobby Petrino is not getting a FBS head coaching job this year. Maybe somewhere down the road, not now. The baggage is just too large, too soon. He might get an offer at a smaller school if he really wants to coach again immediately.

 

Cal or Colorado?

Whoever goes to Colorado --- and my guess is they wait one more year before making a change --- better get a long-term contract and some degree ot control over the program. That is a rebuilding job that will take a few years, not an overnighter.

Even if you get some guy who is a recruiting genius, it's going to take time. Most high school seniors are not ready to step in and play major roles at an FBS school immediately. If they are thrown into that, chances are they wil get hammered and take their lumps for a year or two. So, you have to envision how you want the program to look 3-4 years down the road when you take on that kind of a rebuilding job. And the players you bring in have to understand that, too.

 

Colorado, although both schools have similar issues. I agree that CU is a pretty big rebuilding project, but no Pac-12 school or any school in a BCS conference should be losing to teams like Sacramento State. I know the place has issues, but if you can win in Manhattan, Kansas, you should be able to win in Boulder. I think you could argue that the Buffs may be the worst team in a BCS conference. Hard to imagine for a school that has won a national title and was in a BCS bowl within the last 10 years or so.

I could see Bellotti going to Cal. I just don't know if I see Cal eating the rest of Tedford's contract and I think he has three years left.

 

Cal is paying for its stadium by selling 50-year seat commitments -- "commitments" that are totally non-binding. When they played Washington on a Friday night two weeks ago, they had 42,000 people in the stands, two-thirds full for a newly rebuilt stadium that carries hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

They owe Tedford $6 million. Afford to fire him? I don't know if they can afford to keep him.

 

If they fire him, they need to bring in a big-name coach. Bellotti would qualify, but I don't think too many big-name coaches are dying to come to Berkeley. Maybe they grab someone from Harbaugh's staff?

 

I would think Cal is a better job and quicker fix than Colorado. Huge base of potential recruits in state. I can't pick a specific name... lots of good coaches in America (how many people had ever heard of Chip Kelly 5 years ago?). But I think Cal can be competitive in 2-3 years.

Colorado is a bigger rebuilding job, IMO. Yes, you can win there in the long run. But you probably want a five-year, rollover contract and a true commitment from the AD and president because you're going to have to slog it out through a couple of 3-9 seasons at the beginning

 

There is one move that UK could make that would be absolutely brilliant. Not sure if he'd do it but it's worth asking.

Charlie Strong.

You get an experienced head coach potentially coming off of his best season and you fuck your greatest rival in the process.

UK fans would love it.

 

Cal is a better job, simply because of the recruiting base. The only time Colorado has been a national player (in the last 50 years anyway) was in the late 80s/early 90s when McCartney hit it big on a bunch of out-of-state players from places like Southern California (Darian Hagan, Charles Johnson), Louisiana (Eric Bieniemy, Kordell Stewart) and Texas (Alfred Williams, Michael Westbrook).

Why would he do that? He's got a better chance to win and play in a BCS bowl at Louisville.

And supposedly, they're going to throw a bunch of money at him, so I don't know if he'll leave at this point.

 

If Auburn follows through with their plan to hire Watson & Arkansas decides they want Tuberville that leaves Tennessee & UK open in the SEC - for the moment. UT's the better job but who knows what they're going to do.

And your chances of getting to the BCS championship game aren't much better at Tennessee than they are at UK.

I didn't realize it until I looked it up but Bama, UF & LSU have won all but six of the 20 SEC championship games all-time.

 

Louisville is a better job than Kentucky. At Kentucky, you have to play Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee EVERY year. At Louisville, you have to play Connecticut, South Florida, Rutgers, etc. Much better chance to win at Louisville.

 

I'm sorry, but comparing LSU's situation in the 90s to Kentucky's today is way off the mark. Apples to Oranges.

At LSU, they still had the history and they still had the home recruiting base to expect much better. At UK they have neither. LSU still considered itself a football school, whereas UK has come to epitomize the stereotypical basketball school.

And when LSU was losing in the 90s, their fans were still packing their stadium with raucous crowds, who were irate and screaming out demanding something better. But do you know how most UK fans have reacted to this? With utter apathy, essentially pretending the football program doesn't exist. Have you not seen the ridiculously empty photos of UK's stadium this year? Reports are that little over 20K passed through the turnstiles for the Vandy game last week, the place was like a morgue, literally about three-fourths empty. UK basketball season--the traditional opiate of Kentucky masses--has begun, meaning they can feel free to look away from their wretched football program until next year.

If a coach could return UK to the Brooks level where they're no longer embarrassing, and reaching the 6 win bowl elgibilty mark, they'd be quite happy with that. Not many are harboring delusions about SEC championships or BCS Bowls, they're too busy planning the next final four trip.

 

It is really, really, really hard to have elite level programs in both football and men's basketball consistently. A couple of schools have done it short-term, but I can't think of one long-term. Ohio State might be the closest in the last 20 years.

Inevitably, the two programs wind up butting heads over resources, money, etc. The AD is caught in a hopeless situation. And, to make matters worse, the AD can't ignore women's sports or the Title IX crowd will get in a huffy. So it usually comes down to one or the other.