The College Pipe Dream
The Professional Pipe Dream
Random College Coaches Who Aren't Coming to ND
Realistic College Coaches
Water-Cooler Candidate
Summary
The College Pipedream — Urban Meyer
Some Notre Dame faithful think every coach in the country will drop what he’s built and come to South Bend. That’s not the case. If you ask the delusional fans they would throw Stoops and Saban into the mix, but Meyer is the most realistic candidate.
Meyer’s connection starts from his birth, being named after a pope. He was an assistant under Lou Holtz and reportedly still talks to him. Former Notre Dame AD Kevin White had his very public trip to Utah the Thursday night after Willingham’s firing on Tuesday. Since White wasn’t prepared for Willingham’s dismissal, Jeremy Foley beat him to Meyer. The Florida AD had been laying the groundwork for Meyer since firing Ron Zook weeks earlier.
Meyer has an affinity for Notre Dame. I don’t know if it’s in this contract, but in his Utah contract, the three dream jobs were Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State. His buyout is only $500,000. Stories are being leaked that he’s bored at Florida. His family wasn’t ready for the move in 2004 and now with the children older, they aren’t opposed to South Bend. One Internet rumor is that he wasn’t sure if he could handle the job, so he wanted to gain top-flight experience at Florida before coming to Notre Dame. See, it’s easy to convince yourself that Meyer is realistic.
A major drawback would be that Meyer “gets bored” at places, since Notre Dame would be his fourth job in eight years. If he did come to Notre Dame, his ego gives Meyer two options – stay 10 years and become a legend synonymous with Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz, or win a national title and go to the NFL.
The real question with Meyer – does ND want to hire a coach who made them look bad (at least publically) in 2004. Back to Top
The Professional Pipedream — Jon Gruden
There’s always a connection from ND to the professional ranks and in each of the last two coaching searches, an ND coach has been involved. In 2001, Gruden was that coach and in 2004 it was Mike Shanahan, who is still a darkhorse candidate. This is pure sausage, but maybe Tom Coughlin would be that candidate this time, but I don’t think ND could wait that long. Some people have even said Bill Cowher. I don’t know if these people think.
I didn’t follow the Internet rumors that much in 2001, but it appears that Gruden was all but the choice to replace Bob Davie. I’ve read that former Notre Dame president Edward Malloy wasn’t a fan of Gruden and Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis wasn’t too keen on losing his star coach for no compensation.
Gruden grew up in South Bend as his dad was an assistant under Dan Devine. His alarm was the Notre Dame Victory March. I have a quote from him in my Facebook profile, talking about the goosebumps he gets when seeing ND on television.
Hiring Gruden would be following down a similar path to the Weis hiring – a professional coach who hasn’t coached in college. However, Gruden has been a successful head coach at the highest level. His enthusiasm should translate over to the college game. But once again, a pipe dream, especially since he had no interest in the Tennessee job, where he had a number of connections (former coach there, wife’s alma mater). Back to Top
College Coaches Who Will Hang Up and Laugh When We Call or Coaches I Don’t Want But Will See Their Names Thrown Into the Mix:
Mark Richt – Has one of the top jobs in the SEC, gets paid very well. However, his team this year was preseason number one and lost every single toss-up game.
Jeff Tedford — This might be the most realistic name in this grouping. Cal is never going to be a consistent top-10 power. He made a run in 2004, getting as high as number four in the country. Never gets thrown into coaching searches.
Kirk Ferentz — He turned around Iowa’s season and had a signature win, defeating Penn State. The legal troubles for the Hawkeyes aren’t going to help him.
Tom O’Brien — Seriously?
Gary Pinkel — Ever wonder why his teams can’t beat Texas or Oklahoma? Bad offensive line play.
Mike Bellotti – See Jeff Tedford (except for the academic restrictions).
Mike Leach – Gimmick offense that can’t run the ball
Paul Johnson – It might be a gimmick offense, but he runs the ball. GT outrushed UGA 201-1 in the third quarter. ND has rushed for more than 201 yards in a game twice this season — Navy and Washington. If this article was to replace a successful Charlie Weis in 2015, Johnson would be a good name. Back to Top
Realistic College Coaches Not Named Brian Kelly:
Butch Davis — I was really sold on him 24 hours ago. He completely turned around the Miami program when it actually was on probation. He never won a national title (did get screwed in 2000), but laid the groundwork for the 2001 title run and late PI-call that prevented a repeat title in 2002. Davis has turned around North Carolina quickly.
Then I did some more thinking. He did win in a crappy Big East. He’s had questionable losses, including this season. I do realize all coaches have bad losses (look at Holtz and Stanford). This year, his team lost by THIRTY-ONE points to NC State, a school that could be considered a rival. Oh yeah, he was the coach of the Cleveland Browns and quit on his team with about a half-dozen games left in the 2004 season.
This might be the best “big-name,” realistic candidate out there. What scares me a little is we don’t know of any connection to Notre Dame. There are comparisons to Holtz (failed in the NFL, successful at couple of BCS colleges), but Holtz had the Notre Dame clause in his contract.
Mark D’Antonio – He’s turning around Michigan State. However, the program continues to collapse late in the season, although not to the degree that we saw under John L. Smith. He’s assembling talent and turned Javon Ringer into one of the top five running backs in the country.
It’s not a homerun hire and the fanbase wouldn’t be excited at all. Although some of the more knowledgeable fans might be optimistic. Ironically, the hottest name on the list replaced this candidate after D’Antonio left Cincinnati for Michigan State.
Chris Petersen – I include Petersen in this list because I wouldn’t be disappointed if he became ND’s coach. He has been incredibly successful at Boise State. He won a BCS bowl against one of the top coaches in the country. The only problem is there really isn’t any connection, other than Chuck Anthony. I actually think he’s a great fit at Washington. Back to Top
The Water Cooler Candidate — Brian Kelly
I gave Kelly this term because casual fans who like Notre Dame, people who hate Notre Dame or people who will see the story on ESPN (because ND is irrelevant), will hear this name. I guarantee someone in our athletic department will specifically ask me about this name.
He won at a lower level — two Division II national titles at Grand Valley State, which makes a slight connection to Jim Tressel’s success at Youngstown State. Kelly stayed in state and made improvements at Central Michigan (4-7, 6-5, 9-4) and the Chippewas are a solid program in the MAC right now. He’s also winning at Cincinnati, at a much higher success rate than D’Antonio. He’s 2-0 in bowl games and is going to the BCS this year, with a chance to defeat the ACC champion in the Orange Bowl.
I’m a little scared about his ability to hire a big-time coaching staff. His offensive coordinator has been with him for 17 seasons, mainly as an offensive line coach. We’ve seen the importance of assistant coaches in developing fundamentals with college players.
However, he’s won at every level. He could be a home run or he could be three to five years of the same thing Notre Dame has experienced since Holtz left in 1996. Back to Top
Summary
Notre Dame has three options:
- Keep Charlie Weis — I'm not totally opposed to this as he's the face of the program and we would be making our third coaching change in eight years. The talent is there. Obviously, changes to the assistants would be imperative, but we'll cross that bridge later.
- Hire a Big-Time Name — That's where you get Meyer or Gruden. Granted we don't know if Gruden will succeed at the college level, but his head coaching track record is better than Weis. If Meyer doesn't succeed at ND, then we might as well become an Ivy League program. Davis isn't in the same category as Meyer, but he did build a program that won 34 consecutive games and was a national-title contender in three consecutive years.
- Find the next Urban Meyer — Florida hit the jackpot in 2004 and couldn't have asked for better results from Meyer. If ND is able to find that next big-name coach (Stoops, Tressel, Meyer), who can return the program to its level from 1988-93, then the faithful will be happy. This is where Kelly, Petersen and D'Antonio would fit.
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10 comments:
Blozar - this is a robust posting, very commendable. If Chuck Anthony gets a homer pick, then I want Mike Shanahan. He would actually give a proven tactical advantage on offense, we would be guaranteed to have one of the best running games in college football and he's won Super Bowls as a head coach (not assistant). The biggest downside is that the fake tan will look a lot worse in South Bend than on the sidelines in Denver (at least there's sun in Colorado most of the year).
Very thorough analysis. If a change will be made, I really hope that there is a lot of behind the scenes work being done now to gauge interest and narrow the list of candidates this week.
There cannot be another shitstorm like the last 3 coaching searches.
I know Ferentz has some issues at Iowa right, but wouldn't he be a pretty huge get?
I know he turned us down in 2004, but given the tumult at Iowa now, he may have reached his peak there.
I know one thing with Ferentz, our O-Line would learn how to block.
Duve - I don't think I could have this man be our coach:
http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=357&contentID=415
Because of his self-serving, ego-pumping official bio, one ESPN.com writer only refers to him as "The Ultimate Leader."
If you are bored and want to laugh, read the whole thing. If you don't want to read it all, here are a couple of my favorite paragraphs that pretty much sum up the bio:
"One of the most brilliant minds in football, Shanahan is the lightning rod for the Denver Broncos’ championship history, and few coaches in NFL annals have spearheaded as much dramatic achievement. Shanahan, who completely revitalized the Broncos’ organization and made the club a model of how to deal successfully with the current personnel and financial dynamics of professional football, is the focal point from which the entire organization takes its energy and direction. He is universally regarded at the highest level by the football community, and there is no proof of merit like the record itself."
"Despite the almost unparalleled level of success attained in the last 13 years, complacency and satisfaction are qualities completely foreign to Mike Shanahan, a brilliant coach and leader who is perpetually driven by the goal of taking his team back to the Super Bowl."
"The Broncos had posted the biggest win by a sports team in Colorado history and one of the most significant in NFL history against the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII, all with Shanahan pointing the way. The Broncos had entered the playoffs as a wild card, but their head coach never let the team’s compass waver even slightly from the only goal he had ever set."
Who do you think our "Rooney Rule" minority candidate would be? I don't see one on your list. I could see us interviewing Corwin Brown.
Questioning Coach Pete's "ND connection" is fair, but if he's anything like his buddy Coach Hawkins, he's all about ND. Coach Hawk is so about ND that when my family and I ran into him at the Boise airport my freshman year (when he was still a relatively unknown TE/Special Teams coach), I had to answer 10 minutes of questions about how I got into ND and what Cody could do to improve his chances. (For those not in the know, Coach Hawk befriended the coaches from my high school at his first BSU football camp and my dad is a coach, thus how Coach Hawk knew my family).
Now to Coach Pete. I know from news stories in Boise that he is very religious, but I do not know what religion. If I remember right, Coach Hawk's main reason for wanting his kid to go to ND was his being Catholic, and if Hawk and Pete were friends at Davis, maybe it is because they were both Catholic. Obviously, I have no evidence or firsthand knowledge - this is just me saying. At the very least, were he to come up as a potential ND coach, Coach Hawk would likely tell him to go.
Here's the Outside the Lines human interest story:
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/11135069
There is no official Rooney Rule in the NCAA. However, I agree with your suggestion of Corwin.
Turner Gill would be a true "token" interview, but he's a really good coach who is at least one, if not two moves away from one of the top jobs in the country.
If you aren't going to hire Meyer, Charlie Strong would be a good candidate. DeWayne Walker works as well.
As a someone who works in media relations, I would use the message that ND is going to hire a proven head coach and there are only three current black coaches in Division I-A. Randy Shannon isn't a good choice. Turner Gill isn't ready and Houston's coach, Kevin Sumlin, has been there one year
Former Raiders and Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan might be interested.
Or perhaps the former head coach of both of my collegiate alma maters and my high school, Gary Barnett.
Maybe ND could lure Honest George O'Leary from UCF.
If not former BC head coach Tom O'Brien then perhaps current BC head coach Jeff Jagodzinski.
Or just land a 747 filled with cash at Nick Saban's house and he'd surely leave Alabama.
Tyrone Willingham is available, and that would fulfill the Rooney Rule.
And I'm surprised no one has suggested Pete Carroll.
Blo, you beat me to the Turner Gill comment. I am disappointed that I agree that he is 1 move away (not 2). I'm still taking him as my homer pick.
Pro, great post.
Just to throw a few more names out there to cause a ruckus...
1. In mid-September, Skip Holtz was a good-looking candidate. Shaky ND connection though.
2. I'd also like to nominate Lou Perry. He has a penchant for taking teams wearing green jerseys to the championship, although his ability to win a big game is in question.
...and 3 names for the Rooney rule:
1. Romeo Crennel. Because he and Mark Mangino are the only coaches who could "fill the shoes" of Charlie. And to piss Blozar off.
2. Robert Downey, Jr. Because I just saw Iron Man and it was sweet. And he played a black guy in Tropic Thunder.
3. Barack. The "O" would be easy for the 1812 overture. And he won't have anything better to do come next year.
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