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2020-21 Corches Trebuchet

Renegade

Charge on!
Media is all reporting Malzahn has an offer but hasn’t accepted. Hopefully it’s an exploding offer and explodes in his face.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
Well, Gus is official. I'm not a fan of this hire. It's not that he's not a good coach, though I think his reputation far exceeds his accomplishment as HC, but he's not the right fit for our program and fan base. Maybe he'll prove me wrong and bring in someone innovative on offense (say Brennan Marion and the Go Go offense), but if he hires Chad Morris, we're just fucked.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
Gotta admit he's winning the press conference. I'll jump on the wagon when I see a staff that meets the criteria he's laid out about being top notch recruiters, developing talent, and developing players as people.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
sounds like a winner. usually they talk about bad recruiting, stunted development, and poor citizenship.

Well, on recruiting, he was talking about actually recruiting Florida, which Heupel basically didn’t do.

And a top player complaint is that Heupel was a robot who just saw them as instruments to get his next job....didn’t give AF about them as people. So if Gus can actually get the player buy-in, that will be big.

But I’m still skeptical. I’ll believe it when I see it.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
My grades for this cycle...

  1. Arizona - B - A Fisch in the desert? Doesn't make sense. Don't know much about the guy, but seems like an odd hire. But then again, we shat all over Herm, so WTF do we know? Salmon fishing in the Santa Cruz.
  2. Arkansas State - B - Butch was alright at CMU and Cincy, and he also had Tennessee's two best seasons in over a decade. Maybe a few years as Nick's fluffer was good for him. Given the salary limitations, I think A-State did alright here. With the way P5 coordinator salaries are ballooning, it's getting a lot tougher for smaller G5 budgets to hire them even as HC.
  3. Auburn - B - Not really sold on Harsin. It wasn't possible to maintain Boise where Pete had them, but Harsin has been meh. Give the AD credit for going outside of the SEC comfort zone, but this feels more like he was telling the boosters to fuck off than it was about hiring the absolute best coach he could get. Still, better than Kevin Steele.
  4. Boise - B+ - Sticking with their system and bringing back the old DC. They were never getting Kellen Moore...no one goes from NFL OC to G5 HC. So this is a good hire to do what Boise does and stick with a Boise guy.
  5. Illinois - C - Bert is back. I think this is an improvement on Lovie, but Bert got lazy as shit at Arkansas. If he is back to recruiting hard, he could make Illinois respectable. But I also understand he's going with a spread and not his power offense...not sure that is wise, as it doesn't differentiate Illinois on anything.
  6. Marshall - A - Got a position coach known for recruiting. Given the salary, probably about the best they could do. The lifeblood for Marshall is recruiting FL/GA, so probably a good hire here. Plus CUSA East sucks hard, so if the pipeline keeps bringing decent talent, Marshall should be fine.
  7. South Alabama - A - Wommack was here, so he knew what he was in for. Young coach on an upward trajectory. Mobile has good talent around it; USA should be better than they have been.
  8. South Carolina - C - Seems like South Carolina set out to do their best to find a Dabo clone...the recruiter coach that can be surrounded with good coordinators. I doubt South Carolina can significantly improve their recruiting results, so I feel like getting an offensive coach in here who could score points would have been a better move.
  9. Southern Miss - A - Southern Miss has probably been hit harder by conference realignment coupled by bad coaching hires (Ellis Johnson anyone?) than anywhere else. They are a shadow of the giant killer they were under Jeff Bower. Hall has been a successful D2 HC in the area, and Tulane improved with him as OC under Fritz. USM already tried the hiring a local FCS coach thing with Jay Hopson, but maybe it'll work out this time with Hall. I'd like to see USM get back to being a top dog in CUSA.
  10. Tennessee - C - If this were a normal year, this would deserve a D or F. But Tennessee decided to slit their own wrists and invite NCAA sanctions rather than paying Pruitt a buyout. So no one legit was going to take this job with sanctions looming and the unrealistic expectations. Heupel will score points...against bad teams. But at least it'll be entertaining while he loses, and he'll leave the offensive talent in a good place when he gets fired as sanctions end and a new coach is hired. In that context, you could argue this deserves an even higher grade to get a guy who is 28-8 as head coach to take this job.
  11. Texas - A - Despite all of Sark's past issues, I feel like the guy has turned a corner. I hope so for his sake. Obviously he showed his talent with what he did with Alabama's offense. I've been down on him because of how garbage he was with the Falcons, but I think there's reason to like this hire. The Texas boosters just need to fucking chill though while he gets things in order.
  12. UCF - Malzahn. Not going to grade this one because I'm a homer and I want to be optimistic about it. Retreads have a poor record in the AAC, but Gus isn't Charlie Strong. He was fired for not winning enough in the toughest division in football, not for losing to fucking Kansas while running Texas. I sure as fuck hope Chad Morris stays far away. The good news is UCF upgraded the assistant pool again for him to bring in proven recruiters. Heupel couldn't recruit shit in Florida, so we've been signing guys from all over the place including two Germans. Time to get back to feasting on talent within a few hours of home. If Gus can do that, we'll be fine in the AAC.
  13. ULM - F - What in the name of the everlasting fuck is this hire? Terry Fucking Bowden? And he brought Rich Rod with him? The only way this makes sense is that ULM is planning to live on the transfer portal, which is what Terry did when he was winning at North Alabama (took every last guy dismissed from a P5 team for disciplinary issues). There's no way he's going to improve ULM's HS recruiting. So this is either a very strategic hire or a very moronic hire. And even if it's the first, it's probably still the latter. He's over the hill, his name doesn't carry any weight at this point, and ULM should be hiring some upstart assistant who is going to work his ass off. I've been to Monroe (we almost moved there when I was in 7th grade)...it's shitty as hell. Is there even a good golf course there for Terry to hit the links?
  14. Utah State - C - Anderson didn't win as much at Arkansas State as his predecessors, though he was decent. Not really sure what Utah State's strategy is here. Anderson is a good not great G5 coach, and I doubt he's going to win MWC titles at USU.
  15. Vanderbilt - A - Clark Lea. This has the makings of being Vandy's Pat Fitzgerald hire. I think they knocked it out of the park by committing to upgrades and investment in the FB program to land a top DC that is also an alumnus.
Updated this based on feedback and reflection. Beamer from D to C, Anderson from D to C.
 
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BasinBictory

OUT with the GOUT
I find it interesting how Sark must have some serious hypnotic charm to make everyone think he's this budding genius coach. He was an accomplished OC under Carroll and Saban, but he's been decidedly mediocre as a HC. I remember when he was hired at USC, the media was slobbering all about how he was going to be fantastic, etc. - even despite his lackluster record at Washington.

Maybe we only got the drunk version of Steve Sarkisian, and the sober version will prove to be genius, but I'll believe it when I see it.
 

Craig7835

Well-Known Member
I find it interesting how Sark must have some serious hypnotic charm to make everyone think he's this budding genius coach. He was an accomplished OC under Carroll and Saban, but he's been decidedly mediocre as a HC. I remember when he was hired at USC, the media(ESPN) was slobbering all about how he was going to be fantastic, etc. - even despite his lackluster record at Washington.

Maybe we only got the drunk version of Steve Sarkisian, and the sober version will prove to be genius, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Bolded the drunk word &added ESPN to your original post. Y'all basically did. Sark was going through so much with his personal life he brought it with him to work, which is a NO-NO. I give him props as an OC but you are given so many chances as a coach & I think Sark will do ok
 

Craig7835

Well-Known Member
My grades for this cycle...

  1. Arizona - B - A Fisch in the desert? Doesn't make sense. Don't know much about the guy, but seems like an odd hire. But then again, we shat all over Herm, so WTF do we know? Salmon fishing in the Santa Cruz.
  2. Arkansas State - B - Butch was alright at CMU and Cincy, and he also had Tennessee's two best seasons in over a decade. Maybe a few years as Nick's fluffer was good for him. Given the salary limitations, I think A-State did alright here. With the way P5 coordinator salaries are ballooning, it's getting a lot tougher for smaller G5 budgets to hire them even as HC.
  3. Auburn - C - Not really sold on Harsin. It wasn't possible to maintain Boise where Pete had them, but Harsin has been meh. Give the AD credit for going outside of the SEC comfort zone, but this feels more like he was telling the boosters to fuck off than it was about hiring the absolute best coach he could get. Still, better than Kevin Steele.
  4. Boise - B+ - Sticking with their system and bringing back the old DC. They were never getting Kellen Moore...no one goes from NFL OC to G5 HC. So this is a good hire to do what Boise does and stick with a Boise guy.
  5. Illinois - C - Bert is back. I think this is an improvement on Lovie, but Bert got lazy as shit at Arkansas. If he is back to recruiting hard, he could make Illinois respectable. But I also understand he's going with a spread and not his power offense...not sure that is wise, as it doesn't differentiate Illinois on anything.
  6. Marshall - A - Got a position coach known for recruiting. Given the salary, probably about the best they could do. The lifeblood for Marshall is recruiting FL/GA, so probably a good hire here. Plus CUSA East sucks hard, so if the pipeline keeps bringing decent talent, Marshall should be fine.
  7. South Alabama - A - Wommack was here, so he knew what he was in for. Young coach on an upward trajectory. Mobile has good talent around it; USA should be better than they have been.
  8. South Carolina - D - Seems like South Carolina set out to do their best to find a Dabo clone...the recruiter coach that can be surrounded with good coordinators. I doubt South Carolina can significantly improve their recruiting results, so I feel like getting an offensive coach in here who could score points would have been a better move.
  9. Southern Miss - A - Southern Miss has probably been hit harder by conference realignment coupled by bad coaching hires (Ellis Johnson anyone?) than anywhere else. They are a shadow of the giant killer they were under Jeff Bower. Hall has been a successful D2 HC in the area, and Tulane improved with him as OC under Fritz. USM already tried the hiring a local FCS coach thing with Jay Hopson, but maybe it'll work out this time with Hall. I'd like to see USM get back to being a top dog in CUSA.
  10. Tennessee - C - If this were a normal year, this would deserve a D or F. But Tennessee decided to slit their own wrists and invite NCAA sanctions rather than paying Pruitt a buyout. So no one legit was going to take this job with sanctions looming and the unrealistic expectations. Heupel will score points...against bad teams. But at least it'll be entertaining while he loses, and he'll leave the offensive talent in a good place when he gets fired as sanctions end and a new coach is hired.
  11. Texas - A - Despite all of Sark's past issues, I feel like the guy has turned a corner. I hope so for his sake. Obviously he showed his talent with what he did with Alabama's offense. I've been down on him because of how garbage he was with the Falcons, but I think there's reason to like this hire. The Texas boosters just need to fucking chill though while he gets things in order.
  12. UCF - Malzahn. Not going to grade this one because I'm a homer and I want to be optimistic about it. Retreads have a poor record in the AAC, but Gus isn't Charlie Strong. He was fired for not winning enough in the toughest division in football, not for losing to fucking Kansas while running Texas. I sure as fuck hope Chad Morris stays far away. The good news is UCF upgraded the assistant pool again for him to bring in proven recruiters. Heupel couldn't recruit shit in Florida, so we've been signing guys from all over the place including two Germans. Time to get back to feasting on talent within a few hours of home. If Gus can do that, we'll be fine in the AAC.
  13. ULM - F - What in the name of the everlasting fuck is this hire? Terry Fucking Bowden? And he brought Rich Rod with him? The only way this makes sense is that ULM is planning to live on the transfer portal, which is what Terry did when he was winning at North Alabama (took every last guy dismissed from a P5 team for disciplinary issues). There's no way he's going to improve ULM's HS recruiting. So this is either a very strategic hire or a very moronic hire. And even if it's the first, it's probably still the latter. He's over the hill, his name doesn't carry any weight at this point, and ULM should be hiring some upstart assistant who is going to work his ass off. I've been to Monroe (we almost moved there when I was in 7th grade)...it's shitty as hell. Is there even a good golf course there for Terry to hit the links?
  14. Utah State - D - Anderson didn't win as much at Arkansas State as his predecessors, though he was decent. Not really sure what Utah State's strategy is here. Anderson is a good not great G5 coach, and I doubt he's going to win MWC titles at USU.
  15. Vanderbilt - A - Clark Lea. This has the makings of being Vandy's Pat Fitzgerald hire. I think they knocked it out of the park by committing to upgrades and investment in the FB program to land a top DC that is also an alumnus.

The Ellis Johnson hire was a DISASTER for Southern Miss. How the f__ you take over a team that went 12-1 the previous season with 13 starters & go 0-12 with the SAME talent? This is also the same guy that lied to everybody including his wife about retiring from coaching & low & behold he was back on the sideline as Auburn's DC, which the defense that year was pretty good, got himself into some shit, Auburn fired him & took a break afterwards,then lied again by saying he wasn't going to be coaching & he went back to South Carolina under Muschump, another coordinator who doesn't need to be coaching
 
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BasinBictory

OUT with the GOUT
Bolded the drunk word &added ESPN to your original post. Y'all basically did. Sark was going through so much with his personal life he brought it with him to work, which is a NO-NO. I give him props as an OC but you are given so many chances as a coach & I think Sark will do ok

Tbf, I think Sark does have a good deal of football acumen, and perhaps his personal troubles and experience in overcoming them will allow that coaching ability to finally shine through.

On the SC boards, there's a fair amount of people rooting for Sark to fail at Texas, only because his drunkenness directly led to the stupid worthless fucker who currently occupies the office of USC head coach.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
Sark makes sense to me as a hire because Texas sees OU's formula: winning with a big-time offense. So they had to find someone they think can go toe to toe with Riley on offense and in recruiting. Is Sark that guy? His record at UW/USC doesn't suggest so. His record with the Falcons doesn't suggest so. But his years with Saban, especially with the transition he has made on offense suggest he might be. Charlie Strong was a shit hire from the beginning as a defensive coach who was winning because he had a stud QB and nothing else; Herman looked like a solid hire but had culture problems.

Part of what Texas wanted was to bring in a legit elite P5 staff, not a G5 guy who wants to bring half his staff with him. So that narrows down the field already...not that there are many proven G5 coaches right now. Napier is probably the best one, and he still hasn't even won his conference outright. So that basically narrows down to what P5 HCs or OCs could you hire that can put an elite offense on the field and go toe to toe with OU in recruiting.

The list is honestly pretty small...Mike Gundy, Matt Campbell. Who else is there? So then you have Sark who has transitioned Bama into the modern age with an explosive offense and spent several years learning from the master. That's good experience, especially if you can write off some of his previous issues to the drinking problem.
 

fried rice

Who wants to sex Mutombo?
Sark makes sense to me as a hire because Texas sees OU's formula: winning with a big-time offense. So they had to find someone they think can go toe to toe with Riley on offense and in recruiting. Is Sark that guy? His record at UW/USC doesn't suggest so. His record with the Falcons doesn't suggest so. But his years with Saban, especially with the transition he has made on offense suggest he might be. Charlie Strong was a shit hire from the beginning as a defensive coach who was winning because he had a stud QB and nothing else; Herman looked like a solid hire but had culture problems.

Part of what Texas wanted was to bring in a legit elite P5 staff, not a G5 guy who wants to bring half his staff with him. So that narrows down the field already...not that there are many proven G5 coaches right now. Napier is probably the best one, and he still hasn't even won his conference outright. So that basically narrows down to what P5 HCs or OCs could you hire that can put an elite offense on the field and go toe to toe with OU in recruiting.

The list is honestly pretty small...Mike Gundy, Matt Campbell. Who else is there? So then you have Sark who has transitioned Bama into the modern age with an explosive offense and spent several years learning from the master. That's good experience, especially if you can write off some of his previous issues to the drinking problem.

What is interesting to me about the Sark hire is that his career arc is kind of similar to Lane Kiffin's, with potentially bigger red flags. Kiffin's exit opportunity was...Florida Atlantic, and then only with success he became the coach at bottom tier SEC West Ole Miss. Sark's first exit opportunity resulted in a failed stint as Falcons OC, and now his next transition from Alabama is head coach for one of the most prestigious programs in the country.
 

silverwheels

PLAY LA BAMBA BABY
Sark won't have Bama-level talent at Texas, but he'll have a ton of the top talent in the state. But that doesn't guarantee success.
 

BasinBictory

OUT with the GOUT
Sark won't have Bama-level talent at Texas, but he'll have a ton of the top talent in the state. But that doesn't guarantee success.

I thought Texas was the most fertile recruiting ground in America? Sark is, if nothing else, an excellent recruiter. He'll get Texas' cupboards full.
 

Craig7835

Well-Known Member
I thought Texas was the most fertile recruiting ground in America? Sark is, if nothing else, an excellent recruiter. He'll get Texas' cupboards full.
Back in the 80's & 90's it used to be because you had some talented guys in their skill positions
 

bruin228

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
Your reasoning doesn’t exactly line up with “A hire” lol

A B for JEDD? Hiring that fat clown BERT merits a C when you could’ve had Leipold?

b0RKFhI.gif
 

Renegade

Charge on!
Your reasoning doesn’t exactly line up with “A hire” lol

A B for JEDD? Hiring that fat clown BERT merits a C when you could’ve had Leipold?

Then explain what you'd have given the Sark hire and why.

I know the board hates Jedd. I don't really know much about him, but I've read several articles that were supportive of him. Arizona's not a destination job. Who should they have hired in the alternative? I'm telling you, when you start looking at the G5 ranks, there's not much there in terms of proven HCs, and there's not much in the way of proven P5 OCs. Now, if Arizona passed on DCs such as Alex Grinch or someone like that, then that was dumb. But did they? So yeah, based on my overall lack of knowledge about what Fisch did previously in college, I'm open to criticism on this one. But I'd like to hear why instead of just getting meme'd at.

As to Bert, I gave it a C. Leipold would have been an A. That they didn't hire the A doesn't make any other hire an F. I know the board has a hard on for hating Bert, but he did win at Wisconsin. He got lazy as shit on recruiting at Arkansas, which is what I said above. Other than Leipold, there's no G5 coach that seems like a good fit for the job. Unless you're ready to jump on the Sean Lewis train with a 12-17 record or the Mike Neu train at 22-34, there's no one else in the MAC that looks like a solid hire for a Big Ten team. Jason Candle gets talked about for these jobs, but Toledo has declined under his leadership. So Illinois went with the hire of someone who has won in the Big Ten. Leipold would have been a better hire IMO, but given the record of MAC coaches coming into lower tier Big Ten jobs and failing, I can see where they were skeptical that he would do any better than most of the previous MAC guys. If I had been Illinois, I might have gone for a Big Ten assistant, say Joe Rudolph or Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin over Bert. But I can see Illinois interviewing Bert, he wins the interview and seems re-energized from getting his ass kicked in the SEC, and them valuing someone who has won in their conference. So is it an A hire? No. Is it an F hire? No. It's an so-so hire that makes some sort of logical sense; it might work well, or he might be fired in three years. Could have been a D I suppose given what I gave Beamer and Anderson, but I save the F's for stuff that just makes no fucking sense whatsoever like Terry Bowden.
 
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bruin228

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
Then explain what you'd have given the Sark hire and why.

I know the board hates Jedd. I don't really know much about him, but I've read several articles that were supportive of him. Arizona's not a destination job. Who should they have hired in the alternative? I'm telling you, when you start looking at the G5 ranks, there's not much there in terms of proven HCs, and there's not much in the way of proven P5 OCs. Now, if Arizona passed on DCs such as Alex Grinch or someone like that, then that was dumb. But did they? So yeah, based on my overall lack of knowledge about what Fisch did previously in college, I'm open to criticism on this one. But I'd like to hear why instead of just getting meme'd at.

As to Bert, I gave it a C. Leipold would have been an A. That they didn't hire the A doesn't make any other hire an F. I know the board has a hard on for hating Bert, but he did win at Wisconsin. He got lazy as shit on recruiting at Arkansas, which is what I said above. Other than Leipold, there's no G5 coach that seems like a good fit for the job. Unless you're ready to jump on the Sean Lewis train with a 12-17 record or the Mike Neu train at 22-34, there's no one else in the MAC that looks like a solid hire for a Big Ten team. Jason Candle gets talked about for these jobs, but Toledo has declined under his leadership. So Illinois went with the hire of someone who has won in the Big Ten. Leipold would have been a better hire IMO, but given the record of MAC coaches coming into lower tier Big Ten jobs and failing, I can see where they were skeptical that he would do any better than most of the previous MAC guys. If I had been Illinois, I might have gone for a Big Ten assistant, say Joe Rudolph or Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin over Bert. But I can see Illinois interviewing Bert, he wins the interview and seems re-energized from getting his ass kicked in the SEC, and them valuing someone who has won in their conference. So is it an A hire? No. Is it an F hire? No. It's an so-so hire that makes some sort of logical sense; it might work well, or he might be fired in three years. Could have been a D I suppose given what I gave Beamer and Anderson, but I save the F's for stuff that just makes no fucking sense whatsoever like Terry Bowden.

Sark is a B, B-. If he has turned it around personally and can navigate the boosters that nobody since Mack over a decade ago has been able to do, he can be a success at Texas. But there's way too many what ifs to call him an A hire. Like you said, Leipold to Illinois would be a perfect example of an A hire. The other problem is that Sark's best coaching job was rebuilding Washington (whoever said he did a shit job at UDub doesn't remember he took over an 0-12 team; they had way more talent than your typical 0-12 team, but still). Once he built them back up, though, they pretty much stagnated. They won 9 games his last year and he recruited some really good players there, but look at what a great coach with Petersen did with his guys in comparison. Petersen didn't have to corch against CHIP to be fair, but Sark didn't seem capable to pushing them to the next level. And if you look at his coaching career over the last decade or so, he's pretty bad at maintaining success or improving teams beyond that 7-9 win mark - he flamed out at SC after Kiffin dealt with all the sanctions and he was mediocre with a Super Bowl level Falcons offense. Now that's what he's being asked to do at Texas since they were already winning 8-10 games a year with Herman. He slightly improved Bama's offense, but how much stock do you want to put in performance by a unit so talented it got LOX LOX LOX another HC job? Basically everyone over the last 4-5 years there has been riding Kiffin's coattails for the most part, which is another point. To me, Sark is essentially a poor man's LANE. Lane is a better offensive mind, better corch overall, better program builder, and, amazingly, has fewer personal problems than Sark. If Sark has his alcoholism under control and has picked up some things from Saban, it could be a great hire, but how many Saban guys from Bama have worked out? Kirby Smart. Maybe CORCH CROOT for managing not to fuck up Nike U entirely. This is pretty much ignoring all the Texas booster nonsense, too. I mean, to put that in perspective, at any normal program, paying $25 million or whatever it was to get rid of Tom Herman for only winning 8-10 games a year to hire a guy whose never won more than 9 games as a HC would be a ludicrous move, but that's Texas for you. I guess it's fewer donations to Dan Patrick or whatever.

I don't actually hate JEDD. I thought he did a great job as UCLA's OC. And as you said, there have been plenty of weird moves that have worked out (though I don't count HERM as one unless you consider winning at a lower rate than your predecessor a success - people only think he's doing some great job because he hasn't been a complete embarrassment like they expected). But hiring a guy with his overall track record is eh. I mean, he's only 44 and has had 16 different jobs. Why aren't people more intent on keeping him around? I don't know who Zona looked at, but Avalos, GRINCH, Jay Norvell, etc. seem like better picks. I'd give Zona a C for JEDD.

Yeah, BERT won at Wisconsin. So has everybody over the last 20-25 years. I mean, Gary Andersen nuked Oregon State's program, has been mediocre to terrible every year he's been a HC outside of one year at USU that got him hired at Wisconsin, and even he managed to win 10 games and a division title at Wisconsin. Go actually look at BERT's record there. His winningest season was the year after Alvarez retired. He never won any meaningful bowl game. And big surprise that they started to fall off once Chryst left. Another big surprise that Chryst is recruiting better and winning meaningful games as HC at Wisconsin. The problems with hiring BERT are the opposite of hiring Sark. All he's ever done is maintain a program. When he had to actually do some work at Arkansas, his coaching ranged from mediocre to shit. I know the SEC West is hard place to win, he wasted an absurd amount of talent there. His best season, 2015, is like a masterclass in shit coaching. That team was absurdly talented, probably easily Arkansas's most talented team since 2011, and they lost to Toledo at home, a 7-6 Texas Tech team at home by 11, the typical post-Manziel A&M Sumlin team. They also lost to a Dan Mullen and Dak Prescott Mississippi State, which, fair enough, but I'd be willing to bet that Arkansas team was a lot more talented across the board. That doesn't even get into how lucky they were to win 8 games given that insanely stupid Ole Miss win and the fact they got taken into four overtimes by a crummy Auburn team. And yeah, the SEC West is tougher than the Big Ten West, but Arkansas is also a lot easier place to get talent to than Illinois. He's going to be working with the least talented team in the division and given that there are some solid to great coaches in that division (for fuck's sake, Fitzgerald is 20x the corch BERT is)...

tenor.gif


Is he really running the spread? Lol I just remember they hired the App State OC they were ecstatic to get rid of. That'll be like LE SMILES running the spread at Kansas. Hilarious. BERT and Illinois get a big fat F. We live in the worst sim, though, so BERT will probably win the Big Ten at Illinois.

Giving ULM an F for Terry Bowden makes way less sense than a C for BERT to me, by the way. Illinois could've had somebody like Leipold for sure. Who the hell wants to take the ULM job? It's probably the worst job in FBS. At least Bowden did okay in a similar position at Akron. Something like a C for USU makes sense to me because Anderson seems like a decent enough corch that did well maintaining some level of success at Arky State after they lost corches nonstop. I'd probably give it a B, because if he can win 6-8 games at Utah State while never leaving, that seems like a solid move for them. It's an A+ for him personally because I believe he couldn't handle living in Jonesboro anymore after his wife died from cancer.
 
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Renegade

Charge on!
Sark is a B, B-. If he has turned it around personally and can navigate the boosters that nobody since Mack over a decade ago has been able to do, he can be a success at Texas. But there's way too many what ifs to call him an A hire. Like you said, Leipold to Illinois would be a perfect example of an A hire. The other problem is that Sark's best coaching job was rebuilding Washington (whoever said he did a shit job at UDub doesn't remember he took over an 0-12 team; they had way more talent than your typical 0-12 team, but still). Once he built them back up, though, they pretty much stagnated. They won 9 games his last year and he recruited some really good players there, but look at what a great coach with Petersen did with his guys in comparison. Petersen didn't have to corch against CHIP to be fair, but Sark didn't seem capable to pushing them to the next level. And if you look at his coaching career over the last decade or so, he's pretty bad at maintaining success or improving teams beyond that 7-9 win mark - he flamed out at SC after Kiffin dealt with all the sanctions and he was mediocre with a Super Bowl level Falcons offense. Now that's what he's being asked to do at Texas since they were already winning 8-10 games a year with Herman. He slightly improved Bama's offense, but how much stock do you want to put in performance by a unit so talented it got LOX LOX LOX another HC job? Basically everyone over the last 4-5 years there has been riding Kiffin's coattails for the most part, which is another point. To me, Sark is essentially a poor man's LANE. Lane is a better offensive mind, better corch overall, better program builder, and, amazingly, has fewer personal problems than Sark. If Sark has his alcoholism under control and has picked up some things from Saban, it could be a great hire, but how many Saban guys from Bama have worked out? Kirby Smart. Maybe CORCH CROOT for managing not to fuck up Nike U entirely. This is pretty much ignoring all the Texas booster nonsense, too. I mean, to put that in perspective, at any normal program, paying $25 million or whatever it was to get rid of Tom Herman for only winning 8-10 games a year to hire a guy whose never won more than 9 games as a HC would be a ludicrous move, but that's Texas for you. I guess it's fewer donations to Dan Patrick or whatever.

I don't actually hate JEDD. I thought he did a great job as UCLA's OC. And as you said, there have been plenty of weird moves that have worked out (though I don't count HERM as one unless you consider winning at a lower rate than your predecessor a success - people only think he's doing some great job because he hasn't been a complete embarrassment like they expected). But hiring a guy with his overall track record is eh. I mean, he's only 44 and has had 16 different jobs. Why aren't people more intent on keeping him around? I don't know who Zona looked at, but Avalos, GRINCH, Jay Norvell, etc. seem like better picks. I'd give Zona a C for JEDD.

Yeah, BERT won at Wisconsin. So has everybody over the last 20-25 years. I mean, Gary Andersen nuked Oregon State's program, has been mediocre to terrible every year he's been a HC outside of one year at USU that got him hired at Wisconsin, and even he managed to win 10 games and a division title at Wisconsin. Go actually look at BERT's record there. His winningest season was the year after Alvarez retired. He never won any meaningful bowl game. And big surprise that they started to fall off once Chryst left. Another big surprise that Chryst is recruiting better and winning meaningful games as HC at Wisconsin. The problems with hiring BERT are the opposite of hiring Sark. All he's ever done is maintain a program. When he had to actually do some work at Arkansas, his coaching ranged from mediocre to shit. I know the SEC West is hard place to win, he wasted an absurd amount of talent there. His best season, 2015, is like a masterclass in shit coaching. That team was absurdly talented, probably easily Arkansas's most talented team since 2011, and they lost to Toledo at home, a 7-6 Texas Tech team at home by 11, the typical post-Manziel A&M Sumlin team. They also lost to a Dan Mullen and Dak Prescott Mississippi State, which, fair enough, but I'd be willing to bet that Arkansas team was a lot more talented across the board. That doesn't even get into how lucky they were to win 8 games given that insanely stupid Ole Miss win and the fact they got taken into four overtimes by a crummy Auburn team. And yeah, the SEC West is tougher than the Big Ten West, but Arkansas is also a lot easier place to get talent to than Illinois. He's going to be working with the least talented team in the division and given that there are some solid to great coaches in that division (for fuck's sake, Fitzgerald is 20x the corch BERT is)...

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Is he really running the spread? Lol I just remember they hired the App State OC they were ecstatic to get rid of. That'll be like LE SMILES running the spread at Kansas. Hilarious. BERT and Illinois get a big fat F. We live in the worst sim, though, so BERT will probably win the Big Ten at Illinois.

Giving ULM an F for Terry Bowden makes way less sense than a C for BERT to me, by the way. Illinois could've had somebody like Leipold for sure. Who the hell wants to take the ULM job? It's probably the worst job in FBS. At least Bowden did okay in a similar position at Akron. Something like a C for USU makes sense to me because Anderson seems like a decent enough corch that did well maintaining some level of success at Arky State after they lost corches nonstop. I'd probably give it a B, because if he can win 6-8 games at Utah State while never leaving, that seems like a solid move for them. It's an A+ for him personally because I believe he couldn't handle living in Jonesboro anymore after his wife died from cancer.

All super reasonable. I might go A- for Sark, but probably not lower because I don't see how Texas could have done any better. Again, who could they get that would definitely be better? Campbell and Gundy are pretty much my list, assuming either of them were even interested. Maybe they could have gotten an NFL guy? But what NFL guy wants to put up with the booster shit? I think they didn't want to go coordinator, because you're talking about handing over the most difficult program in the country from a management perspective to a guy who's never been the boss. And like I discussed previously, the top coordinators available are on the DC side (other than Todd Monken, I suppose, who was a HC), and it seems as if Texas' strategy is to go offense-first like OU. If you pretty much hire the best candidate available to you, that's worth a pretty high grade. But, I'll grant you that Kiffin would have been entertaining at UT at least.

Not knowing much about Jedd, I'll agree with your take.

Bert. I don't agree with an F, but you've made a strong case for a D, especially if he is running a spread as rumored. Illinois needs to differentiate themselves somehow. If they are going to play Wisconsin-style, that helps them do that. If they're just going to run a pistol-based spread like half of college football now, I don't know where the differentiation is. Doing the same thing as everyone else is not going to get them any better results. They need to either just flatly outcoach/outdevelop people (Leipold) or go to a true system like the triple option or the Run 'N Shoot. Something that differentiates them for recruiting and that causes other people headaches to prep for the Illinois game.

As to Terry Bowden, he was mediocre at Akron. Won his division once in seven years. Yeah Akron sucks historically, but so does every other program in the MAC. He got destroyed by Frank Solich repeatedly (1-6), though he did split 2-2 with Leipold. ULM is another program that needs differentiation. They've got nothing to sell recruits other than they're in FBS and not FCS where they belong. Is Terry going to be a strong recruiter? The only thing he's good for is that his name might help with getting more booster support and working the transfer portal. If ULM's strategy is just to load up on transfers every year, then Terry may be the guy with his connections in the coaching world and that he made transfers work at North Alabama. But I just don't see that being a winning strategy. ULM is a program that should either hire some winning HS coach in Louisiana or find some young coach who has some sort of innovative system (at least to be OC and not DickRod). Hire someone to run the GoGo if you don't want to go flexbone. I just don't see where bringing in an old, over the hill/never was that great coach and DickRod as his OC is going to make a difference for ULM. I was watching a YouTube the other day on HS coach running what he's calling the Carolina Shoot, which is a Run 'N Shoot with veer running principles. There's a lot of guys out there innovating and not just running the same old shit at this point.

I do hope that ULM's plan is to live on the transfer portal. Looks like Texas State is planning the same thing (which is ridiculous for them). I'm interested to see how that works out, but the history of programs living on JUCOs doesn't give much reason for optimism.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
Also for @Southpaw, I found out something I didn't know about Heupel's S&C guy. He doesn't believe in heavy lifting and is focused on max reps at lower weights as part of conditioning players for the extreme hurry up. That explains the declining performance on the OL and DL we had, so get ready for shit play on the lines. But at least they can sprint down the field to snap the ball again in under 10 seconds.
 

Renegade

Charge on!
After the Taggart fail train. Not a fan of snapping the ball every 10 seconds. 3 and out in 43 seconds destroys your defense.

It's beautiful when it works and the defense is barely on-side before you're snapping again. I don't know how many TDs or chunk plays we had where the defense wasn't set or was trying to sub. But it sure sucks ass when it goes 3 and out repeatedly.
 

Brick

Well-Known Member
THE OREGON ANGLE

but seriously, sounds bad

Turns out former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva sent Alexander an email in 2013, pushing for the university to fire football coach Les Miles with cause. Alexander was fresh on the job and LSU had conducted a now-public investigation into whether the football coach had been inappropriate with female students.

“I specifically told him not to text, call or be alone with any student workers and he obviously didn’t listen,” wrote Alleva to Alexander in an email. “I know there are many possible outcomes and much risk either way, but I believe it is in the best interest in the long run to make a break. The court of public opinion would favor us. The court room? On July 2nd, we will know more but the facts will remain the same.”

According to an investigative report from USA Today earlier this week, Miles was accused of “texting female students, taking them to his condo alone, making them feel uncomfortable and, on at least one occasion, kissing a student and suggesting they go to a hotel after telling her he could help her career.”
brother that person is a piece of shit
 
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