COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

We have been fighting the H1N1 flu here at Coaches Hot Seat over the past week or so and we can report to everyone that H1N1 is a flu you do not want to get and you really don’t want your children to get it.  The problem here in California, as is probably the case across the country as well, is that the vaccine is not available yet to the mass of the population, nor really even available for the “at risk” groups.  All of us here at CHS fall into the low risk groups, but our doctors and most of our health departments do not even have adequate supplies of the H1N1 vaccine and that has led to a very tough past week here at CHS.  Yes, we would have loved to have gotten the vaccine for our children, but the US government, which knew about H1N1 back in the spring was not able to deliver the vaccinations they promised to the American people and then liberals wonder why we get very skittish about the government getting even more involved in health care!  One thing for sure, you can royally mess up in government and still get good reviews for your work and the folks that were not able to deliver the H1N1 vaccinations to the American people will no doubt be patted on the back and thanked for their good work and not a word will be said about them failing the American people.  Yes, that is how government work works… You can fall on your ass and you are still the best!  And these bastards want to get their hands on 1/6 of the American economy with health care reform?  Now that is scary! 

The H1N1 virus is very powerful and we can see why it poses such a threat to people and we would certainly encourage folks to get the vaccine if they can get it.  The H1N1 seems to start deep in the lungs and then it kicks your ass with everything from fever to chills with headaches, runny nose, soar throat, bad cough and fatigue thrown in.  Yes, it is mighty dangerous disease and the American people need competent folks both making sure vaccinations are created and delivered on time and making sure the Republic knows just what the Hell is going on.  The problem is that most people in “government work” couldn’t manage the swing-shift at the local 7-Eleven and that is exactly why they have failed so miserably to protect the American people from this dangerous virus.  Be assured, if we were in charge of the folks that are supposed to be handling the H1N1 virus and vaccinations for the government we would have their asses in a sling, but we have no doubt these idiots will get raises!  Such is always the case with government workers with countries in decline, because once accountability and responsibility no longer exists with the folks that are driving the train then you know the entire damn railroad is in trouble.  Does anyone really doubt that if we didn’t have these printing presses running around the clocking printing US currency and the government borrowing billions of dollars and spending money like drunken sailors on a two-day pass after 3 months at sea that we would be in a hellava mess now?  Please, let us know if those printing presses stop running or the Chinese stop buying all that debt because that is when we stop working and head for our second homes in the Sierra-Nevada!    

Before we get to the Post Week 11 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings, first let us comment on the two head coaches that have already been fired: Tommy West, Memphis and David Elson, Western Kentucky.

Tommy West, Memphis – No one here at Coaches Hot Seat was surprised that Tommy West was fired at Memphis because the Tigers’ football program has been little more than average for years now both before and during West’s tenure and his inability to change that reality is what got him fired.  In his press conference yesterday Tommy West talked about the difficulty of winning at Memphis and how there was a “negativity” around the football program.  We would agree with Tommy that Memphis a very hard place to win at and we have spent enough time in Memphis to understand the “negativity” that West is talking about, but we always remind ourselves of the dozens of times in college football history and in other walks of life when people have come over much more than the challenges that face Memphis today.  Tommy West did a decent job at Memphis.  Not a great job, but a decent job and in today’s world of college football and college athletics doing a decent job is just not good enough anymore.

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal lists the following potential candidates to replace Tommy West:

Gunter Brewer, Oklahoma State OC

Derek Dooley, La. Tech Head Coach

Gus Malzahn, Auburn OC

Larry Porter, LSU RBs Coach

Charlie Strong, Florida DC

We here at Coaches Hot Seat would add to that list:

Head Coaches

Terry Bowden, North Alabama

Bobby Hauck, Montana

Mike London, Richmond

Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee

Assistant Coaches

John Chavis, LSU DC

Gary Crowton, LSU OC

Bud Foster, Virginia Tech DC

Ellis Johnson, South Carolina DC

Dan McCarney, Florida DL

Tyrone Nix, Mississippi DC

Kirby Smart, Alabama DC

Kevin Steele, Clemson DC

Brent Venables, Oklahoma DC

Kevin Wilson, Oklahoma OC

There are several more coaching names that come to mind and we will work to put together a master list of names for the Memphis job in the next day or so.  As for the type of coach we would hire at Memphis, we would look for the following:

1.  Great recruiter

2.  Great enthusiasm

3.  A coach that had an innate ability to sell ice to Eskimos or in this case a football program to the city of Memphis

4.  A coach that would stress academics and accountability

5.  A coach that in hungry to win

6.  A coach that would fit Memphis, which everyone that knows Memphis knows that it is a very unique city

7.  A coach that could move between the BBQ of Beale Street, the rich and wealthy establishment and light a fire under a football team.

You know who all of that sounds like:  Kind of like John Calipari, and Calipari did a pretty good job during his tenure at Memphis….  OK, better than a pretty good job….

Yes, a coach can win at Memphis and if Memphis hire the right coach we would expect .500+ records every year and a team that would compete for and win C-USA Conference titles.  On the other hand if they hire the wrong guy, he will be giving the “Tommy West speech” in five years and everyone will be back at square one.

David Elson, Western Kentucky – David Elson had the difficult task of taking a team from I-AA to I-A at Western Kentucky and over the past two seasons that transition has been very difficult as shown by the Hilltoppers overall 2 – 19 record.  We really don’t know a whole lot about the situation at WKU outside of watching them play on TV a few times, but we can imagine that it would take a really good football coach to win consistently at a school that is just coming into I-A.  We will have to watch the media that covers Western Kentucky closely in the coming days to see what names start to pop-up to replace Elson and we will pass along anything that we hear.  Overall David Elson is 39 – 41 at Western Kentucky and he was 30 – 17 before the move to I-A.  No, the Western Kentucky job would not be an easy place to win if they had Lombardi coaching the Hilltoppers, but the WKU football program should be able to compete in the Sun Belt conference with the right coach.  Now, who is the right coach?  We haven’t a clue…..right now… 

Hit it Johnny!

 

Post Week 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Top 10 Coaches on Post Week 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

1.  Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – In August of this year Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick sat down with the Chicago Tribune and said this about the Notre Dame football program:

“Football at Notre Dame has to succeed,” Swarbrick said. “All of us engaged feel an equal obligation to get us back there, to where people view us as one of the better teams in the country.”

“At the end of the day, our goal for the program, stated by Charlie, stated by me, is we expect annually to be in [Bowl Championship Series] contention,” Swarbrick said. “You may get just decimated by injuries and you don’t get there, or something else may happen, but you know whether your team is in contention.”

Now, those comments by AD Swarbrick are pretty clear to us here at Coaches Hot Seat and we bet they are clear to Charlie Weis.  After another unexplainable and indefensible loss to Navy on Saturday, Charlie Weis has to know that if he looks at someone the wrong way over the next three weeks he will be out and he is probably out at Notre Dame anyway.

In his fifth season at Notre Dame Charlie Weis is 35 – 24 (.593), but in Weis’ last 36 games as the head coach at Notre Dame he is 16 – 20 (.444).  Now, if winning 16 of your last 36 games can be construed by Notre Dame AD Swarbrick, or anyone else with a working brain for that matter as the record of a coach that is leading “one of the better teams in the country” then there is at least one fool in the world.  What really makes the BCS and the people around the Notre Dame football program look absurd is all the talk about playing in a BCS game last week when the Irish have had to come back and win in the last minute against some very average teams in ’09.  How average?  The 6 teams that Notre Dame has beaten in 2009 have posted an overall record of 25 – 31.  No, the Irish have not been coming back to beat world beaters but in fact have often been struggling against the St. Mary’s of the Blind types that are having a tough time themselves winning football games. 

Now at 6-3 and with at Pitt, UConn and at Stanford left, IF the Irish won all three of those games would Charlie Weis return for the 2010 season?  Not a chance in Hell, unless of course Jack Swarbrick is a BIG FAT LIAR AND A HYPOCRITE……and which judging by some of the coaching decisions made in South Bend in recent years (not made by Swarbrick by the way), Weis might have a slim chance to saddle Jimmy Clausen up in 2010!  Oh, the joy!  We certainly hope so because we never get tired of writing about Notre Dame losing and we will be out with our bells on in Palo Alto in three weeks to watch the Cardinal whip a little Irish ass!

Yes, Virginia, Notre Dame will have a new head football coach in 2010, the Navy loss ensured that, which means that Charlie Weis will be a rich man and will more than likely be back in the NFL next season.  Now, we know Weis can be a very good offensive coordinator in the NFL, but he also might be like Bill Parcells in that Parcells was an average head coach in college (1 year at Air Force – 1978:  3 – but a very good head coach in the NFL.  Yes, if were an NFL owner looking for a head coach, we would take a hard look at Charlie Weis and if Weis and his agent play their cards right, he could be a head coach in the NFL in 2010.

2.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – After the loss to an average NC State team on Saturday Friedgen and the Terps are 2 – 7 on the ’09 season, but much more troubling, Ralph Friedgen is now 35 – 35 in his last 70 games at Maryland and there is just no way in the world that someone can call that successful.  We have always like Ralph Friedgen here at Coaches Hot Seat.  We have believed that he was a good coach, good guy, etc.., but Ralph just seems to have lost it in recent years and we include losing the drive that we used to see in Friedgen that we just don’t see in him today.  Whatever the problems really are with the Maryland football program, one must ask the question of if Ralph Friedgen is the man to fix the problems.  It would hard for us, no, impossible for us to answer that question with a yes.

3.  Al Groh, Virginia – With Virginia’s blowout loss to Miami over the weekend we are betting that even Al Groh knows what is coming and that is that sometime in the next few weeks Groh will be fired and Virginia will have a new head football coach in 2010.  Al Groh is 59 – 50 in 9 seasons at Virginia, but he is 29 – 31 in his last 60 games at UVA and there is no chance in Hell that kind of record is acceptable to the folks in Charlottesville.  Yes, Virginia will have a new head football coach in 2010 and that is a fact jack, or rather…

“You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
and get yourself free”

 

Yes, Al Groh you are about to be free, rich and the Virginia Cavaliers will be looking for a new head football coach very soon….

4.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – After losing to West Virginia over the weekend, Steve Kragthorpe’s overall record at UofL 14 – 19 (.424) and that kind of record has to be terribly distressing to the folks that have to put fannies at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.  The reality is that Steve Kragthorpe took over a very successful football program from Bobby Petrino and he has turned into a below average football program and 99,999 out of 100,000 when you do something like you end up getting run.  Now at 3-6 on the season, Louisville can still make a bowl game which would probably give Kragthorpe at least an argument to return in 2010, but with Syracuse, at South Florida and Rutgers left to finish the season a .500 record doesn’t seem to be in the cards for the Cardinals.  The tea leaves and the big money folks in Louisville seem to be saying that the UofL will make a change in their head football coach at the end of this season, which means that a very good job in a BCS conference will be opening up and we expect a lot of very good coaches to look at Louisville as a place where they know they can win at because Petrino proved a coach can win there.  Yes, it looks like coaches will be a changin’ in grand city of Louisville come December and this time the folks running UofL athletics will not have any margin for error, because Louisville football must start winning and start winning quick or the Big East will leave them behind.

5.  Mike Sanford, UNLV – Sitting on the edge of boiling cauldron Mike Sanford was able to pull himself and his football team back a bit, maybe a foot or so, with a nice win over Colorado State at home.  Now at 4 – 6 on the ’09 season, but more importantly 15 – 42 (.263) in four seasons with the Rebels, Sanford really MUST WIN the last two games over Air Force and San Diego State to have any chance to keep his job for the 2010 season.  The UNLV athletic department is not rolling in money and if Sanford could put a .500 record up on the board and get the Rebels to a bowl game the folks in Vegas would probably rather not be out looking for a new head coach come December.  Yes, beating Air Force in Colorado Springs looks impossible, but if they could pull of that win then beating San Diego State seems downright doable, which means it is BEAT AIR FORCE OR BUST FOR MIKE SANFORD!

6.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – For the third time in 2009, Greg McMackin and his Warriors did something strange…..they beat a team in Utah State that they should have beaten.  With 3 wins on the season now over Central Arkansas, Washington State and Utah State it’s not as if Hawaii has actually beaten anyone, but then let’s not confuse people with the facts.  Now at 3 – 6 on the season, Hawaii has another game this Saturday at home against New Mexico State, which is also a game that McMackin and Hawaii should…..AND MUST WIN.  The Hawaii athletic department is very stressed financially right now and they really cannot afford to have their football team not winning and filling up Aloha Stadium and that means that McMackin needs to prove he can beat teams like New Mexico State, and beat them easily.  After NMSU, Hawaii has a trip to play at San Jose State, then Navy and Wisconsin at home and judging by how Hawaii has played this year we give them little to no chance to beat the Midshipman or the Badgers and only a 50-50 chance to beat San Jose State.  Ok, best case scenario, Hawaii beats New Mexico State and San Jose State and then loses to Navy and Wisconsin.  That would add up to 5 -8 record for McMackin and Hawaii in 2009 and McMackin’s overall record at Hawaii would then be 12 – 15.  Is that a good enough of a record, after taking over for a man in June Jones that won 23 of his last 27 games at Hawaii, for McMackin to return in 2010?  If it is then Hawaii football is dead.

7.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – Paul Wulff is now 3 – 19 (.136) in his second season at Washington State and if that kind of record is acceptable to the folks in Pullman, Washington for their I-A FOOTBALL PROGRAM then the folks running WSU athletics need to get a clue.  Wulff and the Cougs are 1 – 8 in 2009 and they have UCLA, Oregon State and at Washington left we cannot imagine in the our wildest dreams that WSU wins another game in 2009.  We don’t know what the folks in Pullman are thinking, but if we were an AD at a school where our football program was getting trounced by even average teams we would be out looking for a new football coach, but then we like most Americans are not in the business of accepting losing.

8.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – We weren’t all that surprised that Colorado got a close win over Texas A&M over the weekend because the Buffs and Hawkins were due to win a game sooner or later and also the fact that the Aggies are a very average football program under Mike Sherman.  From the rumblings out of Boulder it doesn’t look like Dan Hawkins is going anywhere no matter what happens the rest of this season, mainly because CU and the CU athletics department are stretched for money, which means this is all now about trying to get some momentum for the 2010 season when Hawkins will be on the Hot Seat + That Includes A Possible Firing if not for a solid season.  Now at 3 – 6 record on the season, the Buffs have at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State and Nebraska left on the schedule and all three of those games look difficult for CU to win.  Well, let’s see what the Buffs can do and they do win all three of those games we will send a couple of folks to run in the Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day in 2010 and they will wear hats that say:  Dan Hawkins is the MAN!

9.  Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – The Sun Devils played decent against USC but we want to let everyone that didn’t get to see Erickson’s teams at Washington State, Miami and Oregon State in on a little secret:  THIS IS NOT DENNIS ERICKSON FOOTBALL being played at ASU.  We don’t know where Erickson and his staff went wrong after that big first season at ASU, but Erickson and his Sun Devils are 10 – 14 in his last 24 games and there is no chance in Tempe that is acceptable to the folks running ASU athletics.  No, Erickson will not be fired after the 2009 season, but now at 4 – 5 on the season with at Oregon, at UCLA and Arizona left we see a good chance that the Sun Devils have seen their last win this year.  No, Dennis Erickson will not be fired after the 2009 season (at least we don’t think so), but his ass will be on fire throughout the ’09-’10 offseason and when this whole thing kicks off in September 2010.

10.  Dick Tomey, San Jose State – Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News is out with a story today saying:  “Don’t expect Dick Tomey back at San Jose State in 2010” and Jon knows the San Jose State situation as well as anyone and thus we expect Coach Tomey to retire at the end of this year.  San Jose State is not an easy place to win at and after a successful run as the head coach at Arizona, Tomey has struggled at SJSU with 24 – 32 (.429) record which is probably better than most coaches have done there in recent years.  We do believe though that the right coach, a good recruiter, someone very offensively minded, and someone that is not afraid to take on the Pac-10 schools in the area could do well at SJSU and when we say “do well” we mean turn the program into a .500 or better program each year and get to bowl games.  Yes, it looks like the San Jose State job will come open in a few weeks as well.

Lots more to come as we get healthy and get back our strength!

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