College FB coaching openings

This smells of UVa not having enough money to buy Al Groh out, or especially combined with what it will take to get a hot hire to walk in the door in Charlottesville.

Craig Littlepage should be feeling some heat. They shipped Pete Gillen out, Al Groh's not doing so hot and while it's still too early to predict what will happen with Dave Leitao, so far his recruiting hasn't been stellar and the men's basketball program isn't exactly on the upswing.

 

Sarkesian isn't a bad hire, but not a lead pipe lock to succeed either.

 

What did their band do? And how long ago did it happen?

 

The pep band made fun of West Virginians during their halftime show at the bowl game in Charlotte (UVA-WVU) a couple of years ago.

http://www.student.virginia.edu/~pepband/tirebowl.html

 

More than a decade before then, the "band" pieced together a show much more insulting than the one 2MCM linked. And it was either that show or another one that featured a band member urinating on the 50-yard line as part of the performance.

UVa did that to themselves. Administration did away with them to minimize embarrassment.

 

THAT got them in trouble?

 

Apparently it was somewhat more offensive than the script indicates. Probably a video somewhere, if you want to look. I don't.

 

I've been in the "there's no way you can run off a coach after two seasons" camp regarding the Louisville situation, but at some point, you have to at least consider it. Steve Kragthorpe's team completely bailed on him.

Jeff Brohm has been a colossal failure as an offensive coordinator. Hunter Cantwell, the "top back-up in the nation" for two years, has done nothing but get worse for two seasons now. A team that got blown out by Kentucky (a 6-6 team with ZERO quality wins) began improving in the middle of the season then stagnated and eventually fell straight backward.

Cantwell isn't any good. The receivers, other than Beaumont, aren't any good. And at 5-8, Beaumont isn't suited to be a number one WR on the outside. The defense is awful, saved only by the fact that Ron English isn't Mike Cassity.

I still don't think Kragthorpe is going anywhere this year, and I'm not even sure he should. But for Louisville to slip from Orange Bowl champion to Big East laughingstock in two seasons is an unbelievable fall from grace.

 

Auburn is nothing like the others you mention; it has won national titles. Being No. 2 in that state (and it's been No. 1 more often than not the past two decades) is better than being No. 1 in a lot of states

 

Anybody think Saban is going to stay at Alabama for more than three more years? He's never stayed at the same place for more than five seasons.
And you've got to think if Bama wins the national title or gets blown out by Florida - people are going to start thinking he wouldn't be a bad fit for Cleveland.

 

Auburn hasn't won national title(s), it's won one-half of one national title ... in 1957. Michigan State has won several, though it hasn't really been a national powerhouse since the 1960s.

And I don't think Texas Tech really belongs on that list, given that it's had only two head coaches in the last 23 years.

And I'll never say never, but I'd be shocked if Saban goes anywhere. He hated his time in the NFL (more importantly, his wife hated her time in the NFL) and there aren't many college set-ups where he'd have it better than at Alabama. He can compete for the national title, recruit the best players in the country and his arch-rivals are crumbling around him. Notre Dame would be about the only one that might reasonably have an opening in the coming years, and I don't know that Saban thinks he could recruit there.

Either way, if he leaves after three years or five or 10, Alabama will be so stockpiled with talent that if it hires even a reasonably competent coach (read: someone better than Les Miles), it will be a powerhouse for years to come.

 

How many years is years to come? LSU was 11-2, 11-2 and 12-2 with three impressive bowl victories and a national championship in the first three years post-Saban, with Miles' 7-5 hiccup this year on the heels of that. A lot of people assume LSU will now go in the toilet and stay there. I disagree. There is still a ton of talent there, and I expect LSU to contend again the next few years.

As for Saban, I'll make you this promise: If he coaches any game in a sixth season for Alabama (2012), I'll buy you your favorite meal at your favorite restaurant. I understand all the reasons you gave for saying he won't go anywhere, but I saw what that fifth season was like at LSU. I saw the signs of what Spurrier talks about: They've heard all your sermons ... it's time to move on. I saw the cannibalistic nature of expectations out of control (and that was at LSU, child's play compared to Alabama in terms of expectations). I saw the backlash behind the scenes in the athletic department. I saw the inevitable coming. So did others, including one of our columnists, who wrote it and got roasted by readers and some at the paper itself.

A lot of people in Alabama see it as a marriage for a lifetime, the perfect recipe, but I say when it goes bad, it will go very bad. If he coaches a regular-season game there in 2012, you can collect on my promise.

As long as your favorite restaurant is in the continental U.S. ;D