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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turtleboy

December 7th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^

Zook at Florida Edit: even though Meyer basically admitted he won his NC with zooks seniors, he wasn't very well received when hired. Was basically their 3rd choice

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trustBlue

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.

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Nobody

December 7th, 2014 at 10:20 PM ^

He was only there two seasons I think. The problem was that while the Cyclones went up about 50 spots as a defense year one, they were a bottom 10 defense and 2-10 his last year. He really had no business being hired by Auburn.



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LSAClassOf2000

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. 

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AnthonyThomas

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. 

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alum96

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.

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Brodie

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.

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ThadMattasagoblin

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.

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