OT CC: What are some of the least heralded coaching hires at a major program in recent history?

Submitted by taistreetsmyhero on

Outside of Hoke (who was obviously unheralded, especially in hindsight), who are some of the least heralded hires at a major program? More specifically, a coaching hire that had fans/media extremely underwhelmed from the get go. Also, how did they wind up doing?

I say this only because hiring Schiano or Addazio would definitely add one to that list.

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OccaM

December 7th, 2014 at 10:20 PM ^

You know what's funny about Cooper? He beat Harbaugh's Michigan in the Rose Bowl in 87 as ASU's head coach... I'm sure that had to have been factored into why he was eventually hired at OSU... little did they know LOL. 

Bo and his bowl record... sigh... 

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Former_DC_Buck

December 7th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^

There were a lot of folks that wanted a bigger name. Others wanted a coach with OSU ties and Division I experience, Glen Mason for example. Tressel won some folks over with his guarantee, and many more when he delivered. But he was seen as a bit of an underwhelming choice.

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Wolverine Devotee

December 7th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^

How the hell Gerry Faust got the ND job is beyond me. Must have been on some heavy drugs back then. 

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Wolverine Devotee

December 7th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^

That's not even in the same conversation as Hoke.

Hoke was a college assistant coach in the 80s, 90s and 2000s before he got his first head coaching job.

Faust when straight from being a HS head coach to a college head coach. And we aren't talking the head coach of New Mexico State. One of the top programs of all-time hired a HS coach.

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M Fanfare

December 7th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^

Because he was the coach at Moeller High School in Cincinnati. Moeller is a Catholic school, and anyone who knows Ohio football knows that the Cincinnati schools (especially the Catholic ones--Moeller, Elder, St. X) are hotbeds of high school football talent and have been for many years. Moeller was a major talent pipeline for Notre Dame in the 1960s and 1970s, and Faust's teams went 178-23-2 (including 7 undefeated seasons and 5 state championships) during his time there. So ND thought "well, this guy is sending us all of these awesome players and is dominating at the high school level, so let's take a chance on him."

Obviously it didn't work out, but it's not like he was some random high school coach who no one had never heard of.

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M-Dog

December 7th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^

He was not unpopular.  They went for "flash" in Cooper and got burned.  They were ready for a change.  Tressel was viewed as a sound if not spectacular choice at the time.  He was killing it a Youngstown State w/ multiple NC's.  Once he gave the "You'll be proud of us in XXX days in Ann Arbor speech, they loved him.

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M-Dog

December 7th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^

He said all the right Michigan-centric things we wanted to hear at the time.  He was the anti-RichRod and we loved him for it.

RichRod was not a "Michigan Man", and we fired him.

Hoke was a "Michigan Man", and . . . we fired him too.

We showed our true colors.  We are no different than anywhere else.  We just want to win.

Win your games and don't do anything embarrassing, and we'll love you.  Nothing else really matters.

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mi93

December 7th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^

I don't think Barry Alvarez was a HC before going to Wisc (though a very good DC at ND before).  He is officially the modern definition of 'building a program' - the two guys after him have continued his success.  But then you probably wouldn't have considered Wisconsin a major program before his arrival.

Some guy named Glenn was just a MAC HC before taking over in Ann Arbor.

Faust at ND is a great call.  He was a high school coach before it.

Alabama had a string of doozies - Shula, Stallings, Mike DuBose - some successes, some not.

Penn State's hire of O'Brien?

That's the challenge in finding a great (the right) coach / leader - talent is everywhere, but unless you have clarity of what it takes to be successful and a full sense of the skills needed, it's easy to misfire on talent acquisition.  All that said, I do have faith in the guy running the process this time.

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PeteM

December 7th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^

I was going to mention Tressel but was beaten to it. Here are a few more:

1. Bob Stoops

2. Mike Dubose

3. Randy Shannon

4. Bo Schembechler.

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Blue Noise

December 7th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^

Paul Pasqualoni at UConn? He had a very good record at Syracuse, but they were under .500 the last few years of his tenure. At the time UConn hired him in 2011, he was over 60 years old and had not been a head coach in seven years. This was also the hire that followed the departure of Edsall, the program architect...definitely underwhelming at the time and played out terribly.

Plus, you probably shouldn't hire someone who perpetually looks like he's just seen the memory stick from Men in Black.

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BursleyHall82

December 7th, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^

I don't think they were doing cartwheels over that one.

Also:

- Charlie Strong at Texas

- Everybody at Alabama between Bear Bryant and Nick Saban

- Gerry Faust at ND (from high school)

- Muddy Waters at MSU (from Hillsdale)

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Hair Raid Offense

December 7th, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^

Ron Turner to FIU has been a very unpopular hire. Especially since they fired a beloved Miami native who turned the program around in Mario Cristobal (current Alabama OL coach).

 

Also:

-Tommy Tubberville to Texas Tech

-Houston Nutt to Ole Miss

-Tim Brewster to Minnesota

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