[College] Coaching Carousel 2012

The last thing Auburn needs to do is try to be Alabama-lite. As A&M demonstrated this year, the way to win is to do your own thing - and do it better than Alabama and LSU do what they do. Gus Malzhan may or may not be successful - but at least he won't just be a worse version of Alabama.

Both A&M and Auburn have shown that you can be successful in the SEC as an offensive-minded team. They should build on that idea.

 

I think Arkansas can win its share in the SEC. I was impressed with the Hire. If the new coach can recruit Texas, then they will do fine. Arkansas gets almost all the best recruits from Arkansas, so they do get some talent. They can be a consistent top 25 team and be competitive in the SEC. That SEC is one tough conference.

 

I hope Smart never leaves Saban. I think he's waiting for the Georgia job.

 

If anything, the success of so many different teams in the SEC recently (Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia, A&M) says that anyone can win in the SEC. You just have to have great coaching unlike the Big12 (Texas, OU) or Pac12 (USC) or Big10 (Michigan, Ohio State), no one team has overall recruiting dominance so it's possible to bubble up and compete. Arkansas was top 10 just last year.

 

FIU firing Cristobal is dumb. He built that program from the ground up. They had a disappointing year this year, sure, but you're freaking FIU. You're going to have down years.

Strong turning down Tennessee is interesting and noteworthy, but I don't know that it's shocking. Strong feels loyal to Louisville for finally giving him a shot at being a head coach and he's only going to leave for one of a handful of jobs. I guess we're so used to coaches talking out of both sides of their mouth that it's surprising when someone like Strong comes along and shoots straight. I thought Tennessee might be one of the elite jobs he would leave for, because it can be an elite program again, but I guess it's not on his list.

 

ESPN is reporting that Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones is leaving for Tennessee. What a dumpster fire that coaching search ended up being.

Now, I don't think Jones is a terrible hire by any means. Unlike Dooley and Kiffin before him, he has won at every stop as a head coach before this. It's just that the Vols ended up having to go with their fifth or sixth option just to get a coach hired. This coaching search started with talk of Jon Gruden and ended up with a solid, but unspectacular coach that no one thought was even in the mix to begin with.

 

The amount of public rejections during the past two coaching changes was an absolute disaster.

 

Tubberville out of Texas Tech. Thank God!

http://lubbockonline.com/filed-onli...lle-leaves-texas-tech-cincinnati#.UMODIoP7KDI

 

Tubberville saw the writing on the wall. Gotta think Kliff Kingsbury gets this job if he is interested.

 

Tech really made life hard on themselves by not just outright canning Tubbs. With Briles and Dykes signing new contracts, their top two replacements are now much more difficult hires than they would have been a few weeks ago. Kingsbury is only 33, so you have to think that's not an option. I wouldn't be shocked if they tried to throw money at Holgerson, or even Petrino.

 

I'm calling Kingsbury.

 

That's what Tubberville is saying. He couldn't wait to leave and jumped ship at the first opportunity. For him, the Tech job was only a temporary life raft.

Donny, wouldn't surprise me if this is Bobby Petrino time. But if Kingsbury wants it, probably a done deal.

 

Petrino seems to sketchy for a school that's had to deal with what Tech has in recent memory.

 

After the Billy Gillispie fiasco I seriously doubt they'd call up Petrino. They want a clean hire.

Kliff is the popular choice amongst fans. They might not have a chance again if they wait a few years. He could be Tech's Gundy.

Rumor is they've already reached out to Briles. I'd be okay with either one.

The worst would be if they promoted Neal Brown to HC which is also a rumor...

 

I'm with most of you. You gotta figure Kliff Kingsbury is going to be one of the first to get a call. Sure, there are still question marks with him because he is so young and (relatively) inexperienced, but it's only a matter of time before someone gives him a shot. Tech might have to hire him now before he ends up elsewhere.

 

If I were Kliff, I would want to ride it out at A&M at least until Johnny Football leaves. With the team that is being built in College Station, Kliff could be the OC for a multiple time Heisman winner and maybe an SEC or national champion.

That kind of resume could get him big money for an HC job.