CFB "coaching hotseat" poll (Fox Sports)
Fox Sports CFB main page has a simple poll:
http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb
Which coach will be under the most pressure to win in 2010? With over 48,000 responses as of right now:
RR - 75%
Dan Hawkins - 10%
Steve Spurrier - 6%
Ron Zook - 4%
Mike Sherman - 4%
That RR tops this list will come as no surprise to anyone, and I suppose an argument could be made that the poll is stacked with Michigan followers/fans. Still, I must say I'm a bit surprised that Hawkins didn't garner more of the vote than he did.
Absent any way of determining who voted, I'm choosing to look at it this way: The next time a Spartan, Buckeye, or other Michigan hater tries to tell you we are no longer relevant, show them this poll. Nearly 50,000 disagree and cared enough to say so.
Was none other than Houston Nutt. He coached there for one year in 1997.
Again, an Illinois is arguably irrelevant program, I suppose due to him though. However, with all the hype after their Rose Bowl and the expectation that Juice was going to break out, he fell flat on his face.
As far as A&M goes, they have to do something. Texas has basically lapped them and nothing has really gone right since RC Slocum left. There is no reason that school should not be at least a regional power.
Are you serious? Mike Debord left the program in a shambles, winning as many as 4 games only once in 4 years. Kelly took a once proud Chippewa program that had been put into the dumps by Debord and coached them to 4-7, 6-5, and 9-3 seasons, winning the MAC title his last year. Most normal people would call that improvement.
As for "losing to the likes of Louisville" while at Cincinnati, Kelly was 2-1 against them, losing only in 2007 to a Cardinal team that was 12-1 the year before. As for no signature wins, Kelly's Cinci teams beat the snot out of Oregon State twice, beat WVU twice, beat Pitt twice, and beat Rutgers three in a row. Yes, they did get beaten badly by Oklahoma. Regardless, anybody who goes 10-3, 11-3, and 12-0 in a BCS conference is doing something right.
After the gigantic disappointment of Charlie Weis, it's completely ridiculous to think for even one second that Kelly is on any kind of hot seat going into 2010. If he goes 3-9, then he will be, but if he gets ND to a bowl game and beats one of their main rivals like USC or Michigan, they'll be erecting statues of him in South Bend.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:13 PM ^
The question wasn't "who is on the hotseat" it was "who has the most pressure to win." ND hasn't done a whole lot of winning with the last few coaches, save a handful of years where they had a cake schedule and beat 10 bad teams while losing to 3 good ones. Just like when Weis came in, the ND faithful are not hoping, but expecting Brian Kelly to come in and win right away. I'm not hating on Brian Kelly, but I agree that he hasn't really beaten anyone of note. Sure, he has a winning record against the Big East, but at ND that won't be good enough. He got smoked by Oklahoma and VT (to a lesser extent) and although he wasn't the coach, his team this past fall got destroyed by Florida, somewhat discrediting their solid regular season.
Brian Kelly was a great pick-up for Cincinnati, and would still be a very good get for most BCS teams, but I'm not yet convinced he'll be successful with an elite team.
I agree Kelly is sort of a question mark. His record is very good, but Central has been the best team in the MAC during an era where the MAC has been truly awful. The MAC enjoyed its heyday back in the Byron Leftwich/Urban Meyer/Ben Roethlisberger era where they scored one or two big victories over the Big Ten every year. Now the conference sucks and hasn't scored a big upset in a long time.
I think Dantonio could be on the list. All the trouble he's had with players after giving second chances and then underperforming. Another poor season and/or any more problems with players and his job would definitely be on the line.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:28 PM ^
Should he be canned he can always become the sports editor at the Freep
March 30th, 2010 at 11:11 PM ^
Little brother might keep him around forever based solely off winning two straight against us. As for the off-the-field trouble, what's a little fight between a football team and potluck dinner guests? C'mon, that happens everywhere that casserole is involved....