Speaking as a college football fan with no strong feelings about USC or Tennessee or Lane Kiffin (he strikes me as a decent coach, even if he IS a bit of a phony)…
I suppose Kiffin isn’t a TERRIBLE choice, but it strikes me that USC is one of the college football programs, even if they have a few sanctions awaiting them. This is one of the few jobs (up there with Texas, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State and a few others) that almost ANY coach would salivate over.
So, even though it’s prime recruiting season and the A.D. may have felt a need to act quickly, I can’t help thinking, “THAT’S the best you could do???”
While Tennessee isn’t quite as attractive a job as USC, they could STILL get a great coach if they open their pocketbooks wide enough. As an Austinite, I hate to say this, but… even though Will Muschamp has been promised the Texas job when Mack Brown retires, nobody here thinks Mack is going anywhere for 10 years or so. Why not throw a pile of money at Will and see if he bites?
It sounds like USC only went to Kiffin after Riley, Del Rio, and Sarkisian turned them down. That’s pretty striking to me: they wanted someone with a connection to their program, but their top three choices shot them down because they’re either happy where they are or didn’t find the USC situation too appealing. (The fact that this job was not expected to be open at this point may have been a factor.) I’m sure some of the appeal was bringing back not just Kiffin but his whole package, even though it sounds like Chow will not come back. But this seems like a rebound hire. If his results at USC aren’t close to Carroll’s level, the whole maverick thing isn’t going to help Kiffin.
Yeah, and speaking as a Bama fan, if the Albert Means scandal earned the Tide crippling sanctions, it will be a travesty if SC doesn’t get hammered for Reggie Bush being paid while he was playing.
From this thread, and other message boards, that Norm Chow is an excellent offensive coordinator. that may be true, I don’t know.
Why has never been the Captain of the Ship? Wiki’s bio says he has been an offensive coordinator since 1973. Almost 40 yrs, 26 yrs at BYU and no head coaching experience?
What is it about this guy that makes him so good, but not good enough to be head football coach?
Not for lack of trying - I think he’s interviewed for every HC opening in the last 10 years. I think the rap on him (all 3rd hand speculation, of course) is that he just isn’t the gung ho fiery kinda guy you expect a HC to be. And now, he’s getting old…and don’t discount the racial aspect. Maybe nobody thinks an Asian can coach football.
The rumor on the street is that he’s a brilliant Xs and Os guy, but not much of a people person. I have no clue whether or not that’s true, but that’s the explanation that comes up almost every time someone asks why he isn’t a HC yet.
Not to mention all the guys he churned out at BYU - Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Ty Detmer, to name a few. By all accounts he stayed at BYU all those years cause he loved it there and believed the job would be his when LaVell Edwards retired. When that didn’t happen, he found himself pigeon-holed as nothing but an OC. And while it’s true that he’s interviewed a ton of places, none of those places was particularly low on the totem pole. I imagine he believes it’s too late and he’s done too much to be the head coach at Montana State or Eastern Michigan.
It’s well known Chow does not like to recruit which is not good for a head coach - that’s a big knock on him. When he was at NCSU he only recruited QBs and a few other local kids.
The GT @ Duke game was on ESPN this past season. I think there were about 8000 people in the stands on a beautiful fall day. The box score said there was about 35K there, but there was 75% empty seats.
Coaching at Alabama will always be tough, as the Bear casts a tall shadow.
Still, there are only a few programs in America with the history or success of Alabama. Whoever takes the head coaching job knows that
He’ll make a LOT of money
He’ll have among the most passionate fans in the nation
He’ll have the best athletes in the nation at his doorstep, eager to come play for him
If he does his job well, he has a chance to contend for the nationa lchampionship almost every year
The wrong coach will find it hell to work there. But the fact remains, there are only a few DREAM jobs for a college football coach. I think Alabama and USC are definitely on that short list.
Well, I heard that UT assumed it was a done deal, and Cutcliffe had a meeting with some players yesterday afternoon in which he told them he was probably gone.
So glad he’s staying…it would have been excruciating to start yet another rebuilding job after actually having some hope for the future for once.