2024-25 CFB coaching carousel

East Carolina decides to stick with what's been working.

Chris Vannini: "SOURCE: East Carolina is planning to promote interim coach Blake Harrell to the full-time job, pending board approval, @theathletic.bsky.social has learned. Harrell is 4-0 as interim head coach after taking over for Mike Houston. Players this weekend began calling for him to get the job." — Bluesky

 

That should say “permanent” instead of “fulltime.” If he’s interim head coach, that’s a fulltime though not permanent job.

 

It's not exactly permanent, either.
He'll be the official head coach, then?

 

Sometimes, these battlefield promotions work out. Georgia Tech seems to be getting back to relevance, for example. But this probably wasn't the original plan.

 

Very true. And it's hard to tell how this one will go, but I think the thought process is correct. He was asked to lead the program in a tough spot and proved he could do it, why not give him a chance if the players are responding to him?

 

Dabo Swinney was expected to play out the string after Tommy Bowden escaped one step ahead of the posse at Clemson.

 

Yeah. But East Carolina hasn't really played anyone of note since Jon Gilbert fired Houston.

Also, how much money will Gilbert and the athletic department – which has to fork over $3M to send Houston on his way ... and this isn't a Power 4 program – save by promoting Harrell vs. going through a more traditional hiring process?

Having said all that, it's a popular move in the eyes of the players.

 

He's probably the best modern example of the battlefield promotion made good. On his way out the door, Bowden encouraged the AD, Terry Don Phillips, to look at Swinney as a legitimate candidate. He did and it has more than worked out.

 

Didn't WVU do something like this when RichRod left? The guy succeeded early but then got fired within two or three years, IIRC. Stewart?

 

Yep. Bill Stewart. Not exactly like this ECU thing because Rodriguez left between the regular-season finale and the bowl game. But when Stewart as interim HC won a big bowl game, the administration begrudgingly made him the full-on head coach.

 

Stefon from Saturday Night Live should narrate that era at WVU, because it had everything. Bill Stewart interim coached them to a Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma and they decided after the game to promote him, supposedly with an intoxicated Joe Manchin in the mix of decision makers.

He went 9-4 every year, but that wasn’t RichRod leading them very nearly to the mountaintop and fans grumbled. He had Dana Holgorsen imposed upon him as a coordinator and coach in waiting. He was desperate not to be pushed out that he started leaking damaging info on Holgo to a former SJ.com member (no really!) hoping he would publish it and sabotage his career. Instead he was found out and had to resign over the summer instead of coaching for his scheduled fourth and final season.

The following May he dropped dead of a heart attack on the golf course.

 

No they did not beat Ohio State, that is correct, but they did beat the group of shitty conference opponents they willl presumably play again next year and for the foreseeable future.