OT: Spurrier retiring...immediately????

Submitted by julesh on

Per @WesMitchellGC and I, we have confirmed that Steve Spurrier plans to retire. No timeline immediately known. He informed team tonight.

— Chris Clark (@GCChrisClark) October 13, 2015

I'm worried that there are way too many openings and people are going to be sniffing around all the assistants, but especially Durkin.

Edit: I'm not sure how we are feeling about Football Scoop around here, but...

FootballScoop has learned that South Carolina will name their interim head coach tomorrow morning http://t.co/sD4KPc0THi

— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) October 13, 2015

BlueCube

October 12th, 2015 at 10:16 PM ^

and grabbed it regardless of how long. I think it's far more likely the people in the background like Partridge were told they may have chances to move onto the staff quickly. That being said, they will have to earn the spot versus very good competition from outside Michigan because nothing is given. It's earned.

Tater

October 12th, 2015 at 11:47 PM ^

Spurrier won an NC and 6 SEC Championships at Florida.  He won one division championship at SC.  SC is a difficult job.  If Spurrier can't win championships there, nobody currently working as an assistant is going to be very successful there.  Besides, SEC recruiters have been successfully using Spurrier's age against him for a few years and the cupboard isn't nearly as full as it needs to be.

Everyone on Harbaugh's staff deserves a great job, but HC at SC isn't better than the ones they have at Michigan.  

ijohnb

October 13th, 2015 at 6:12 AM ^

the Eagles have a remarkable turnaround I think Chip Kelly will accept the blank check that USC writes him. SC is in the position we were pre-Harbaugh. They need this to be THE hire.

Yo_Blue

October 13th, 2015 at 7:42 AM ^

...and if people thought Michigan was unhappy with a switch to a spead offense, wait until Tailback U starts recruiting 2-3 star slot ninjas.  Although, Chip Kelly could be enough of a draw to allow people to buy in.

Leaders And Best

October 12th, 2015 at 9:55 PM ^

Harbaugh has shown a knack for hiring talented up-and-coming assistants.

Besides, I highly doubt a good Power 5 conference school is going to hire a coordinator with no head coaching experience. There are cases, but usually they involve the schools at the bottom like Indiana, Rutgers, BC, Wake Forest, or Iowa State. I doubt Durkin would take one of those jobs unless the opportunity was right. Might as well wait it out for a rare mid-level Power 5 job like Pittsburgh (Narduzzi) or one of the prime Group of Five schools like Houston (Tom Herman).

FauxMo

October 13th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^

Dantonio's presser is on BTN right now. First question asked was about Spurrier's retirement. Dantonio chuckled and said, "haha, first question, eh?" Then responded by being a total ass and saying something like, "respect Spurrier, that's my alma mater, but we're here to talk about Michigan, OK?" The tone in his voice was pure dickhole Dantonio...

Leaders And Best

October 12th, 2015 at 10:07 PM ^

And people really need to take a closer look at Franklin's record at Vanderbilt. It is nowhere near as impressive as it looks just based on wins and losses. He benefited greatly from a historically weak SEC East and ducking any kind of competitive non-conference games. Granted Vanderbilt has a terrible football history, but it is not like he built it into Stanford, Baylor, or even Duke.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/penn-states-james-franklin-can-recruit-but-can-he-coach

For all this talk of program building, Franklin never really took Vanderbilt to the heights he's often credited with reaching. He recruited well, and Vanderbilt was fine, but its record was almost always overinflated. In his two 8-4 seasons with the Commodores, Franklin only beat one ranked team, and he mostly took advantage of a down SEC East and incredibly weak non-conference schedules. And for all the talk of fearlessness, he cancelled non-conference games against Ohio State and Northwestern at the last minute in favor of easier games in the 2013 season. That likely made the difference between 8-4 and 6-6.

Derek Mason got off to a bad start, but that defense is playing well and looks competitive in games. I think he needs more time before you can judge his tenure.

doggdetroit

October 12th, 2015 at 11:44 PM ^

People trot this argument out all the time to bash Franklin. At the end of the day, Vanderbilt never did anything before Franklin and they haven't done anything since he's left (yet). In three seasons, Franklin went 11-13 against SEC teams. Here are the records of his predecessors:



Bobby Johnson went 12-52 from 02-09

Woody Widenhofer went 4-36 from 97-01

Rod Dowhower went 1-15 from 95-96

BTN's Gerry DiNardo went 9-22 from 91-94

Watson Brown (older brother of Mack Brown) went 4-29 from 86-90



I didn't bother going further back but I think you get the point. Franklin was easily the best coach Vanderbilt has had since 1986, only DiNardo comes close.  Derek Mason is 0-10 right now through one and a half seasons. He'd have to go 12-2 the rest of the way this year and next to exceed Franklin's record.



It's important to note that the SEC split into divsions in 1992. The East for much of this time was basically Tennessee and Florida. The two combined for 10 straight East titles from 92-01 before Georgia got in the mix with back to back titles in 02 and 03 under Mark Richt (hard to believe he's been there that long). Prior to that, Georgia was a .500 team from 93-96 with two losing seasons.  South Carolina was awful and didn't start to get competitive until 2000. Kentucky was more or less awful aside from the Tim Couch era during which they were average.  I'd argue that the SEC East and the SEC overall during this time was not as good as it was when Franklin was at Vanderbilt. Remember Ole Miss was a joke back then. Mississippi State won the West one year but was also largely a joke. Arkansas was decent, Auburn and LSU had some good teams but were nowhere near the powers they have become in recent years. And still, Vanderbilt couldn't win much.

 

Leaders And Best

October 13th, 2015 at 2:24 AM ^

The implementation of the 85-scholarship limit in 1992 and more cable television coverage started to level the playing field in the 1990s for more college programs. These are major reasons why there is more parity in college football now. Comparing Vanderbilt now to Vanderbilt in the early 90s is really hard to do as it is easier to compete there now than it was back then. Same with places like South Carolina and Kentucky that were terrible back then. Football traditional powerhouses dominated the sport as they had better players on their third and fourth strings and were the only teams on TV. Then add in the shift to the 12-game regular season in 2006 which added one more creampuff to their schedule. As long as he beat Wake Forest and Kentucky, he was guaranteed at least a 4 or 5-win season.

I get it: he is the best coach they had recently, but what does that mean?  He's better than Bobby Johnson, Woody Widenhofer, and Robbie Caldwell.  He had some nice seasons record-wise but was never a factor in the SEC and wasn't there long enough to see what kind of program builder he really is. For all we know, he could have tanked the next 3 years and had a career arc like Jim Grobe at Wake Forest. You should be comparing Franklin to coaches who revived similar moribund programs like Art Briles (Baylor), Jim Harbaugh (Stanford), or David Cutcliffe (Duke) and built something that looks more sustainable.

Mr. Yost

October 12th, 2015 at 9:23 PM ^

I thought he was transferring...what's he doing reporting this stuff.

In all seriousness. Spurrier, O'Leary and Beamer are all friends...I think they all retire after this year.

michiganman001

October 12th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^

I do think that Durking will leave after this year. Maybe Mattison will become DC again. However, about Spurrier, he had a really good run but just seemed to lose his touch these past couple years. 

Danwillhor

October 12th, 2015 at 9:59 PM ^

but he's still very young. He's only 4-5 years older than I am, IIRC (I've failed at life lol). I think he'll stay about 3 years and then leave if his defenses keep playing this well. There is always room to be wrong but I think it'd take a really big offer. I dint think he'd bolt after a year for a team with little prospects (Purdue types). I think he'd really like to stay under Harbaugh for at least a couple years but at this rate it's only a matter of time before he goes and he'll be offered jobs as soon as the osu game is over. I'd guess about a 25% chance he leaves after this year and is add 25% for each year he's here at this rate. So, I know he'll leave eventually but I think he sticks around for another. Then again, he could be the "I don't want to a HC type". Some guys just know what they're good at and know what they might not be good at. Plenty of great coordinators out there with zero interest of being a HC. I don't think he's one of them but I don't know him. I just think it'd take an offer he couldn't pass up to leave after one year. I base they on the fact that he waited to coach with Harbaugh knowing full well that things might take a few years to very going. That and his age make me think he was assuming he'd be here a few years. I do think Fisch leaves for the NFL after this year. Nothing to do with his contract, btw. I know why he has a one year deal. I just think he's a guy who knows he's an NFL assistant type. He's said he loves it here but I think if an NFL team offered anything close to OC he'd go. Same with Durkin, just a feeling. Yet, if Durkin did go I wonder who he'd go after? Try to pry Vic from the Bears? Another young, modern CFB understanding defensive mind? Hmm....