January 3rd, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:26 PM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 12:27 AM ^
Well there was literally no way he wasn't leaving after his bowl performance.
January 4th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
You could say Strong is pretty smart to move up at the same time Bridgewater is leaving.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:15 PM ^
Good hire for Texas. The state of Texas has a lot of talented football teams right now. I wish the Big XII didn't have to separate like it did a few years ago. I miss the old days.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
I can only read your comments in Bob's voice...I'll shake it eventually.
Probably not.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^
I imagine Linda's voice even more . . . Aw, Bobbbbbyyyyyyy.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:06 AM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
Plus, Louisville is probably looking for a Strong-type to replace him. Narddog is just that.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:20 PM ^
I could totally see them going after Narduzzi, would be a great hire and a great fit on paper. Nice call!
I'll be interested to see who takes the Miami job if/when Golden goes to PSU.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:26 PM ^
I've mentioned before that I'm skeptical Narduzzi really wants to be a HC since he seems awfully reluctant to actually be a head coach, but Louisville would make a lot of sense for him. Major school job in a decent conference, good foundation to build on from Charlie Strong, in the recruiting footprint he's probably familiar with, etc. Could be a great fit for him.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:32 PM ^
He just wants the right opportunity.(e;g: not EMU or similarly poor schools)
January 4th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
want to be a head coach? There's absolutely no basis in fact for that idea.
This article at the Freep is archived behind a paywall, but I read the print version and it gives a great in-depth look at his background as a coach.
http://www.freep.com/article/20131031/SPORTS07/310310050/
I agree with you that he simply doesn't want to take a dead-end job like EMU, and there's no reason he should. It doesn't mean he can expect a major program in his first HC stint, but he'll get some mid-major or MAC sort of position before long.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^
Narduzzi has only been a hot name for a couple of years. From 2007-10 their defenses weren't all that great. This winter he's already interviewed at UConn.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:38 PM ^
Louisville will look for someone who can recruit Florida (They have a strong recruiting base there). Clemson's OC is thought to be the front-runner.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^
It is a bit out of his home base so you are probably correct. But he has to at least get a look.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
Has Tom Jurich said this?
That is just where Strong's ties were...but I have never heard him say that they want to recruit Florida.
Narduzzi would be an ideal fit for UL. That said, Morris at Clemson would be too.
January 4th, 2014 at 2:07 AM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
3? 4? Behind Saban, Mora...who else?
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
Saban, Harbaugh, Sumlin, Briles, Mora, Fisher, Malzahn
...ALL of those guys were contacted and all gave at least an informal no and took their contract extension.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^
It may seem like they struck out on quite a few names, but let's be a bit realistic.
Saban is at a prestigious school already and has something pretty good built.
Harbaugh is in the NFL where he wants to be.
Sumlin is at pretty good place in A&M plus he would be switching to a in-state rival.
Briles is in the same conference. How often does that happen? At least Saban went to the NFL before coming to Alabama from LSU.
Mora is doing a pretty good job at UCLA which is a pretty good school to be at.
Fisher is coaching FSU in the title game.
Malzahn is coaching Auburn in the title game.
To say that Texas struck out is kinda silly (although you seem to simply be stating facts here). This list is a list of longshots. Schools are going to call the longshots because maybe there is a chance. The bottom line is that these were pretty much all lateral moves at best with the exception of Briles, but that woudl be an intra-conference move.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^
They honestly thought they could get all of those guys. Which is why all of them had to publically say no.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:06 AM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 12:34 AM ^
That just goes to show that it's hard to land a big-name coach. Even Texas, which everyone has called the best job in the country, floundered for awhile.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:28 PM ^
What an ass like comment, but I'm going to entertain it.
We didn't have NEAR the options Texas even thought they had. They landed on their like 8th choice and it was a good hire. But we went hard after Harbaugh, Miles was always a question and then who else?
We didn't have near the options. It was just a bad year to fire your coach. There wasn't anyone out there.
Even when we got Rich Rod, there wasn't anyone really out there for Michigan.
In hindsight, sure, we would've loved to have had Strong, but he wasn't who he is today at that time. David Shaw wasn't David Shaw when we hired Rich Rod or Hoke.
So who? Kirk Ferentz? Dan Mullen?
The same thing happened to Tennessee, they fired their coach in a bad year and ended up with Butch Jones.
OSU lucked up and Meyer was available when they needed a coach.
It was bad luck that we just picked a bad year and there weren't many options to begin with.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^
I'm not sure if he was truly the 8th choice. It would not surprise me to see coaches uses this search to secure new contracts. It also could have been that Texas approached many people to judge interest even if they had a single target. Mora could have removed his name because he could tell there wasn't much interest and he wanted it to look like his choice.
I agree with your assessment of the Michigan search although I think it's far too early to call Hoke a bust. As the depth is replenished, I expect improvement over the next couple of years and beyound.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^
No confidentiality and too many big egos...it was a joke.
They asked every single one of those guys and thought they had a shot...because they're Texas.
What they didn't realize is they MAY have gotten one if they didn't force his hand with the media.
They became everything we knew they were...arrogant and media crazy. If you can't run a coaching search properly, what's the media going to be like when the coach is actually there?
I think eventually they ended up with a candidate that didn't care about the circus because it was such a big step up for him.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:50 AM ^
WHAT???
What an enlightening lecture about how bad Texas screwed up with a search that ended up with such a successful result.
I'm sorry, but a Michigan fan lecturing freaking Texas over a search that ends with Charlie Strong? I only wish we screwed up coaching searches this ably.
January 4th, 2014 at 2:51 AM ^
Exactly my thought. They got a guy who was at least as hot as RR was in '07 and ran the search a million times smoother than that catastrophe we saw here back then (even if they had some bumps).
The Hoke hiring process was relatively smooth but ended in what I think most of us would say was peculiar choice at the time, even if it wasn't surprising. It also was capped by some embarrassing comments by Brandon (saying he never offered Harbaugh the job and "all that glitters is not gold").
So we haven't been good at this.
January 4th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^
this is not directed only at you - I've heard this mess from many people.
You land Charlie Strong on January 3rd-4th, it's a successful f'n search.
What, are there freaking style points in play here?
You wouldn't want Charlie Strong coaching your team?
Who cares what happened before landing a guy if you land a great coach?
Who gives a damn?
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 12:40 AM ^
OSU (and Meyer) knew all about Tatgate back then, and secretly planned to submarine Tressel and risk major sanctions for the new coach they were methodically putting in place three years prior. Meanwhile in Gainseville, Urbs is playing his part with the precision of a Namibian bush surgeon. He cunningly gambles his family life in a beautiful con spanning three years, ending at God's Toilet Seat (the Shoe).
You will surely have undying fame for uncovering this diabolical plot. Get Giraldo on this shit, STAT.
January 4th, 2014 at 1:12 AM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^
Before Hoke was offered the job there were reports that Schiano turned us down.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:17 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
Why? Great pedigree at a big time school. Success as a head coach. Almost no hire is a slam dunk, but this is about as good as you'd normally get.
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
referring to winterblue75's comment
January 4th, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
point 1 - probably good to ignore donors during hiring search
point 2 - fans (as we know) are silly about their expectations, also should be ignored
point 3 - seems oddly racist
point 4 - of course he has to put Texas into the national championship picture; why else would he go there? also, it's a little easier now, you just have to be in the top 4 (not 2)
point 5 - well, i guess we'll see; winning solves a lot of "personality" problems
January 4th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^
just not a consistent 11+ wins a year head coach when Sumlin is doing what he is doing at A&M.
Sorry to get hung up on this point, but I really don't think it helps your argument. Yes, A&M won 11 games in 2012. However, Sumlin has zero conference title appearances and his only noteworthy victories are at Alabama and OK-State in the Cotton Bowl. He is about to lose a once-in-a-decade type player in Manziel and one of the best WRs in the country in Mike Evans. Also, his teams play zero defense.
A&M is about to regress. Actually they already did this season -- 8-4 is probably going to be their baseline for the foreseeable future.
January 4th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^
January 4th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
Why not?? the guy can recruit, develop talent, and win big with Louisville. Imagine what he can do at Texas
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
Intriguing but not a very scary hire. Any of the names mentioned before (Harbaugh, Saban, etc.) would have been really scary with the in state talent
January 3rd, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
Now for every open college position I can't bring up Strong. Oh well Gruden to PSU.