OT CC: What are some of the least heralded coaching hires at a major program in recent history?
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.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:04 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
mcelwain and addazio is huge. mcelwain is not proven, but he has upside. addazio has shown pretty much exactly what he's about, and that's hoke-
edit: but granted, that's why addazio hopefully isn't going to seriously considered for the job.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:21 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
zook landing at illinois after florida would be equivalent to hoke landing at illinois next season (rather than say colorado state)
December 7th, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
That doesn't sound weird at all outside of being in the same conference.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:06 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
before then?
December 7th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^
Not just under .500. He was 5-19 at Iowa State.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:26 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:21 PM ^
was he hired?
December 7th, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
Because he was game to pay players
December 7th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
Chizik was considered an elite defensive guy. Chizik was the DC at Auburn under Tommy Tuberville when they had the #1 rated defense in the country, and then became the DC and assistant head coach at Texas the year they won the National Championship.
Chizik had no business coaching offense, but was smart enough to grab Malzahn from Tulsa 15 days after taking the job. Obviously it turned out that Chizik need Malzahn more than Malzahn needed Chizik, but I'm kind of surprised Gus hasn't tried to bring him back as DC.
December 8th, 2014 at 1:58 AM ^
Any man with an ego would never voluntarily go back to work FOR the guy who he hired himself in the first place.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:20 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^
as soon as they left, Auburn was terrible so they fired Chizik, brought back Malzahn and voila Auburn is great again
December 7th, 2014 at 10:25 PM ^
before he came back to auburn?
December 7th, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
I *think* Malzahn spent a year as the HC at Arkansas State...
December 8th, 2014 at 2:00 AM ^
Who's Arkansas St.'s coach right now? We should hire him. It seems like Arkansas St. always has the next up and coming coach...
Malzahn, Harsin... who's the new guy?
Lets get him!
December 7th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
No, Cam Newton won despite him.
December 7th, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
Poor Gene Chizik: his plane was met by hecklers. Don't do the embedding thing, but here's a link:''
http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-Gene-Chizik-Booed-By-Auburn-Fans-Upon-A…
One of the hecklers said, "Hell, I'll take Brady Hoke." If he only knew...
December 7th, 2014 at 10:07 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
And before him, they REALLY screwed the pooch with Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
Riley @ NEB
McElwain @ FL
What do I win?
December 7th, 2014 at 10:10 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
December 7th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
and said he runs a 'loose ship', ala, oakland raiders of the 70's, anything goes, no discipline.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
His conference record is under .500 though, 58-63, including 2-7 this year, which is worse than Hoke's record this season. He seems like an underwhelming pick to me.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 11:07 PM ^
Part of me still thinks that Mike Riley was the answer to an "OH GOD WHAT HAVE WE DONE" reaction to Bielema turning them down, but if we're going to spin it, Mike Riley is an interesting "experimental" hire for Nebraska. By that, I mean it will be interesting to see Riley coach at a program that doesn't usually get shorted on high-end talent. On the surface, it definitely doesn't fulfill my initial "the Nebraska coaching search should be fun" expectation.
December 7th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
If Oregon isn't rich with talent then how would you describe Nebraska/Kansas/Iowa/South Dakota? UN doesn't draw Texas guys like they used to, and they won't given there are three recently perennial top 25 teams in that state, none of which call Austin home. Nebraska needs a super talented, proven guy if they are going to draw anyone there.
December 8th, 2014 at 1:09 AM ^
Bill Snyder is a great coach. Mike Riley is not. You think Kansas has a depth of college talent? With Oklahoma next door and Texas 2 states away?
Mike Riley is solid I am sure but adjectives like great are tossed around too easily. What Spurrier did at Duke was great. What Snyder has done at KSU is great. What Patterson is doing at TCU is great.
And no it has nothing to do with winning 10-11 games. Maximizing talent is a sign of a great coach. If you can coach Div 2 talent to 6 wins I'd actually consider you great. KSU recruits in the 60s and KSU has had them at 1-3 losses most of his reign. In fact 2 reigns. That's great.
As for the OP even a guy like Malzahn was not heralded - he was a Chad Morris type OC who had 1 whole year of HC experience. When people revisit it they think that was a slam dunk but it sure wasn't. Almost any coordinator in my book with 0 HC experience could be categorized this way - you have no track record and generally successful coordinators are successful due to a good HC, so you just never know what you are getting. Some get more hype - deserved or not.
December 9th, 2014 at 4:04 AM ^
Kansas is basically the national capital of juco football and KSU is a school that is amiable to accepting a lot of them. Many of the best players in KSU history, including their all time QB Michael Bishop, have been at Kansas jucos.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^
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December 7th, 2014 at 11:44 PM ^
UC-Boulder should be aiming a lot higher. That school is beyond wealthy and only growing richer.
December 7th, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^
Even worse was Colorado's previous coach Jon Embree. He had only ever been a TE coach and got the job basically because he was an alum. Pretty much everyone at the time said "HUH?!?" when he was hired. He ended up lasting just 2 years, and winning 4 games.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^
interesting how these unheralded coaching hires never seem to work out in the end. Hoke, Chizik, Zook etc. I guess Tressel did but he was also wining about 90 percent of his games at Youngstown. Chizik and Hoke were under .500 at lower tier programs.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
People at USC weren't too happy when he was first hired, and then bam, suddenly they're the best team in the land.
December 7th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
December 8th, 2014 at 6:13 AM ^
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