Grantland / Hinton / Ranking the Hires
I know various people on here enjoy Matt Hinton and here's his latest:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/college-football-coaching-carousel-new-hire-rankings/
The Harbaugh section will provide a few chuckles and I particularly enjoyed the Riley hire section as well.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^
I am still not sure why they went in that direction. This will be a test for Mike Riley.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
equally strange was how receptive Mike Riley was to the job offer. He's up there in years and a staple in Corvallis. Sink Nebraska Sink?
January 6th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
Agreed. I agree with them firing Bo, but Riley seems to be low floor low ceiling. Almost a knee-jerk reaction to hire anti-Bo.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
I give Nebraska an A+ on the Schadenfreude scale. I just don't see Riley outperforming Pelini.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
Nebraska wants Dr Tom back why not hire the AF coach? Modern Triple Option in Nebraska with the Black Shirts.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
why not go hard after Paul Johnson?
January 6th, 2015 at 6:05 PM ^
Johnson probably has it better at GT.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
I don't know who this Harbaugh character is, but if Matt Hinton likes him, then so do I!
January 6th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
The graphic at the top is pretty great.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
head scratcher, but maybe he bulids/maintains a solid winning program there...Would be good for the conference. Harbaugh is the hire of the year.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^
considering he's pulling a reverse RichRod in a far less hospitable recruiting environment and that the last guy who tried to run a pro style offense at Nebraska was nearly crucified... I wouldn't bank on success
January 6th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
That is what Pelini had. Nebraska was going 9-4 on average during his tenure with multiple division titles (although no conference titles). Unless the Huskers are just looking for someone to do the same thing but with a better personality, I'd guess they are hoping for someone that can take them to the next level - consistent double digit win seasons with some conference titles.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
Troy, Buffalo, Kansas, and UNLV.
Can Nebraska be kicked out of the B1G for this move? I mean, football was what they brought to the table.
Not good for the conference.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
Clearly Jim is number one.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^
I enjoyed the Harbaugh photo.
On another note, McElwain's headshot isn't too flattering:
January 6th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
That is a lot of head.
January 6th, 2015 at 6:13 PM ^
Spray-on tan?
January 6th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
January 6th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
"Restoring Michigan to a status worthy of the winged helmet will be the easiest job Jim Harbaugh has ever had."
And we all hope so!
January 6th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
While I think it will be easier for him compared to RR and Brady, it won't be that easy. With OSU and MSU where they are now, Jim has a lot of work to do. I think he will be able to, but it won't be easy.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^
January 6th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
Jim will make it look like it's easy.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^
Oh Nebraska. I still don't understand.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
His assessment of McElwain at Florida was pretty chuckleworthy, mainly because the seeming lack of strong reaction from many Florida fans fits this perfectly.
He says, in reference to him:
"....who is qualified for the job in the same way that a new pair of pants are qualified to be a Christmas gift. They’re nice enough, they’re functional, and, if they fit, you can look forward to having them around for a long time with minimal maintenance."
That seems to capture the prevailing attitude in the Gator fanbase right now.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
Exactly. I have a friend who's a big Gator fan. I asked him about McElwain. He said, "Yeah, he's okay." Nothing more. He waxed poetic about Muschamp when that was announced. I guess the last four years have tempered his expectations about Florida football.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
Muschamp was a gamble because he had no head coaching experience. Florida is not the kind of place that should be a training ground for first-time head coaches. McElwain cut his teeth at CSU and built that program up from 3 wins to 10 wins. I'd be happy if I was a Florida fan.
January 6th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
Yep ... agree.
I think Muschamp's "coach in waiting" at Texas was thought, by some, to be a proxy HC experience ticket. Didn't quite work out that way.
I'm not exactly clear on what Muschamp's issue was. My Florida buddy had the same complaint we had about Hoke -- good recruits, poor development.
Oh, and a trainwreck at QB.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
January 6th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
should have been #0. Maybe #0.5 on a ranking. Maybe he should have gotten spots 1,2& 3. No offense to anyone else on the list, but he's so far more proven as a head coach than everyone else put together.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
I don't understand why the reaction to the McElwain hire has been lukewarm. He inherited a dumpster fire at CSU, improved their win total every year, and won ten games this past season. He won two national championships as Nick Saban's OC at 'Bama and he knows the SEC. Very solid hire for Florida, IMHO.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
A lot of his success at CSU is attributed to transfers, giving him a significant talent advantage over his competition.
January 6th, 2015 at 2:35 PM ^
who are all the transfers?
January 6th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
"guy who had one really good season at a G5 school with a ton of Alabama oversigning castoffs" is not an inspiring hire. It looks worse when, a month after the fact, Michigan has pulled a coach from the NFL and you find out that the fanbase's collective dream candidate, Chip Kelly, might have been there for the taking too.
January 6th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
CSU was a train wreck when he got there. They had one winning winning season in the previous eight years. Their last 10-win season was in 2002.
Harbaugh would not have left the NFL for any college job other than Michigan. Everyone on both sides of the fence knew that.
I don't think Chip Kelly was actually there for the taking. He just won a power struggle with his GM and was handed complete control over football operations. Any illusion that he was considering going back to college was just created by his camp for leverage.
January 6th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh=Chuck Norris.
January 6th, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^
Never Question Bruce Dickinson!
January 6th, 2015 at 2:18 PM ^
I give Hinton credit here for putting Harbaugh up as the obvious #1. A lot of writers would feel compelled to do a hot take on why Harbaugh was not the best hire of this cycle, to generate clicks and faux controversey.
Hinton is pretty clear out of the gate that Michigan's hire of Harbaugh was head and shoulders above the other hires. One of the best CFB writers out there, by my lights.