COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

 

We have had a lot of Coaches Hot Seat members moving around due to the nature of business in the world 2009 and we didn’t get all the Post-Week 3 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings in until earlier today and now have finally gotten the latest Coaches Hot Seat Ranking put together.

 

Before we get to the Post-Week 3 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings, we thought the results of an internal Coaches Hot Seat poll would be very interesting to the folks out in the country. 

 

The poll’s question was:

 

If a magical genie that could foresee the future appeared before Pete Carroll at the halftime of the Washington game and told Carroll that if he played QB Aaron Corp in the second half that USC would lose the game, but if he played backup QB Mitch Mustain USC would win the game over Washington, what would have been Pete Carroll’s response/decision in the second half against the Huskies? 

 

Multiple Choice Answers to above question:

 

A.  The Hell with that, I’m playing Aaron Corp, even if we are guaranteed to lose.

 

B. If I play Mitch Mustain and he leads USC to a win, then he will overshadow both Corp and Barkley and I sure the Hell can’t have that.  I will play Corp and hope for the best.

 

C.  I am the Man and if I say it is Corp, Barkley, or the Man on the Moon then that is the right answer.  Get the Hell out of here Genie and don’t come back here again if you are going to tell me I could be wrong about something!

 

D.  OK, let’s give Mustain a go and see what he can do.

 

 

Of the 64 responses we got back from Coaches Hot Seat members, we believe that Pete Carroll would have done:

 

A.  16

B.  22

C.  26

D.  0

 

That’s right, in our opinion, even if Pete Carroll knew for sure that playing Mitch Mustain in the second half against Washington would have been the only way that USC would have beat the Huskies, Pete Carroll would not have played Mustain.

 

The reason that we here at Coaches Hot Seat believe that is that we are of the opinion that Pete Carroll will always choose a USC loss over him being wrong, especially on something as high-profile as the starting QB at USC.  We even believe that Pete Carroll might put someone else in at the QB position right now if both Barkley and Corp went down in a game just so Mustain would not come in and do an incredible job and make Carroll’s decision to start Barkley look like the wrong decision.

 

It may sound crazy, but we believe that Pete Carroll will always take a loss over him having to admit that he was wrong.  Yes, Pete Carroll’s ego is that big, and that is also Carroll’s greatest weakness. 

 

Have you ever wondered why Carroll was so mad that Mark Sanchez went out early into the NFL draft last year?  Because Pete Carroll didn’t like the choices he had at QB coming back for 2009 and he knew that the Trojans could be in deep trouble if they didn’t get very good play at that position, and after a loss to Washington, is there any doubt that Carroll’s concerns were well founded?  No.

 

As for being to admit that you are wrong about something is one of the most important attributes of a leader, because it shows that your ego will not overtake common sense and block out the clear difference between and wrong.  From where we sit, sticking with Aaron Corp against Washington when the guy was clearly struggling was a wrong decision, but don’t count on Pete Carroll admitting that!

 

A great example of being able to admit you were wrong was in the aftermath of the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. President Kennedy was meeting in the White House with Democratic and Republican leaders about the Bay of Pigs and a Democratic Senator launched into a speech into how stupid the decision to go ahead with the Bay of Pigs was and how they didn’t do it right…and then all of the sudden President Kennedy cut the Senator off by saying (paraphrased):

 

“You’re right.  I was wrong.  Now let’s move on to what to what US policy will be on Cuba and the Soviet Union going forward.”

 

Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was sitting in the meeting said later that he had never seen someone criticizing someone else shut up so quickly, as when Kennedy admitted his mistake and moved onto to what they were going to do next.

 

The Lesson:  Admit it when you were wrong and move on to getting the problem fixed.  Since anyone above the age of 5 could tell that Aaron Corp couldn’t start for your local 70 lb. Pee Wee league the way he was playing against Washington, Pete Carroll should have given Mitch Mustain a chance, but…

 

If Mustain had performed really well and led USC to a victory, Pete Carroll would have had to admit he was wrong about the QB position at USC, and never forget, Pete Carroll CANNOT BE WRONG!

 

Maybe one of these days Pete Carroll will learn that lesson, but with him being surrounded by sycophants that blow smoke up his pretty much 24 hours a day, don’t count on that happening anytime soon!  Pete Carroll’s greatest weakness is his arrogance, but he also has way too many “YES” men surrounding him these days, and that is because Carroll himself has cleared out anyone that dare challenge his authority.  Big mistake Pete, very big mistake.

 

 

Now let’s get to the Post-Week 3 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

 

Link:  Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

 

Top 10 Coaches on the Post-Week 3 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

 

1.  Al Groh, Virginia – When you give up a 17-point lead and lose to a Conference USA team and you are already on the Hot Seat you might assume that you are now flying towards the face of the Sun, and yes indeed, Al Groh just passed Venus heading toward the big fireball in the sky!  Now at 0-3 and headed to North Carolina this week, this doesn’t like it is going to get any better and a loss this week to the Tar Heels will mean that Al Groh can go ahead and pick up that form at the Post Office that you fill out when you are changing addresses.  Al Groh is 56-47 in his ninth season at Virginia and that kind of record should get you fired at school like UVA.

 

 

2.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – Kragthorpe’s Louisville team played pretty good against Kentucky but with another loss to the Wildcats comes of course, a Much Hotter rear-end.  Some say around the Louisville athletic department that Kragthorpe could lose out the rest of the games in ’09 and still keep his job, but the people saying that don’t seem to understand that entire Louisville athletic department is going to be cleaned out if things don’t start heading upwards with the football program and elsewhere around that place.  This is very simple, when your overall record in three seasons at Louisville is 12-14 and you took over a program that won 41 games the four previous years before you arrived, then you should be on the Hot Seat, and that is exactly where Steve Kragthorpe finds himself right now.

 

 

3.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – Ralph Friedgen doesn’t have a terrible overall record at 65 -38 (.631) at UM, but his record since the 2006 season is now 15 – 14 and that kind of record is just not acceptable with the amount of money that Maryland is spending on their football program.  Now at 1-2 and the entire ACC schedule still ahead, Rutgers comes to College Park this Saturday and this may be the most important game in Friedgen’s tenure at Maryland.  After Rutgers, it is Clemson at home, at Wake Forest, Virginia at home and at Duke, so if the Terps can beat Rutgers they will have a chance to get things right again, but a loss to the Scarlet Knights and the ’09 Maryland season may descend into chaos.

 

 

4.  Bill Snyder, Kansas State – After the loss to UCLA, Bill Snyder is now 10-13 in his last 23 games as the head coach at Kansas State and we have to wonder just what the Hell is really going on in Manhattan.  Tennessee Tech is up next, a sure win, but the Big 12 schedule gets underway in October with a trip to play Iowa State and then a trip to Lubbock to play Leach and the Red Raiders.  If Kansas State enters their home games against Texas A&M and Colorado with only 2 wins then those two games will be MUST WINS if Snyder wants to prove he can still lead a I-A football program.  What if Kansas State puts up a 3-9 record at KSU this year, will Snyder be back for 2010?  Yes, because Bill Snyder gets a free pass, unlike the rest of college football where you still have to earn your keep to hold onto your job.  No, 10-13 in your last 23 games is not earning your keep.

 

 

5.  Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – Charlie Weis’ entire career at Notre Dame must have passed before his eyes when he saw that Michigan State WR come open at the end of the game, but alas, the MSU QB overthrew his wide open receiver and Weis and the Irish live to fight another day.  A loss to Michigan State and Weis would have probably been on the way out, with the Notre Dame administration cranking up the head coaching job search early this year, but a close win and Weis still has a chance to return in 2010.  Now with a struggling 1-2 Purdue team on the road up next, Charlie Weis faces a game that not only he MUST WIN this is a game that he CANNOT LOSE, because a loss to Purdue would confirm the worst fears of many Irish fans that Weis just cannot hack the head coaching job at Notre Dame.  Purdue HC Danny Hope has his Boilers playing very hard this season, but they took a step back with a loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday, but NIU is a very good football team that would give the Irish a lot of trouble, so……Yes, Purdue is a MUST WIN Game for Charlie Weis.  In fact, Weis can only lose 1 more game in ‘09, because 3 losses by the Irish in ’09 and we can go ahead and get Dandy Don Meredith on the phone, because the party will be over for Weis in South Bend.

 

 

6.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Dan Hawkins finally got his Colorado football team to start playing, but it took until the third week of the season to get the Buff ball rolling and those 2 lost weeks may be crucial to Hawkins future come December.  Now with an overall record of 14-26 (.350) in his fourth season at Colorado, Hawkins is going to need to get to at least 6 wins and a bowl game in ’09 for him to have a good argument to return in 2010.  With a road game at West Virginia up next Dan Hawkins really needs to get a win in this spot because the Big 12 schedule looms and we really don’t see any guaranteed win left on the Buff schedule.  1 win on the board and at least 5 more needed for Hawkins.  We shall see….

 

 

7.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – Mike Sherman and the Aggies have been feasting on some very mediocre teams and they have another below mediocre team coming into College Station with UAB on Saturday.  The Coaches Hot Seat Flag Football Team would be 3-0 after playing New Mexico, Utah State and UAB, so that makes the October 3 game against Arkansas in Dallas as a key game for Mike Sherman’s future at A&M.  With three gimme wins, if Sherman cannot get to 6 total wins in ’09 he should be fired, and we have no doubt he will be.  Check back after Week 5, and we will know a lot more about Sherman and his future with the Aggies.

 

 

8.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – After pulling out a come from behind win over woeful SMU, Wulff and the Cougs have their first win of the ’09 season, but the bad news is that they have a trip to play USC coming up this Saturday.  No doubt, USC will want to take their anger out on someone and Washington State will be the victim at the scene of this crime.  With a trip to Oregon after USC, the Washington State season may get very ugly in a hurry and it looks like Paul Wulff is going to take up a regular sport near the top of the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings.  Could Paul Wulff be fired at the end of the ’09 season?  If WSU doesn’t win a another game, he might be.

 

 

9.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – After a tough loss on the road at UNLV, Greg McMackin’s overall record at Hawaii drops to 9-8 (.529) and that kind of record is just not going to be good enough for Greg to keep his job with the Warriors.  With 10 games left in the ’09 season and now sitting at 2-1, McMackin is probably going to need 7 wins to hold onto his job and that means he needs to win half of his remaining games.  If McMackin cannot go .500 for the rest of the ’09 season, that means that the Hawaii program will have almost dropped off the Earth since June Jones left, and that will mean that McMackin will find himself under tremendous pressure come December.  A road trip against La. Tech is up next and that is a MUST WIN for Greg McMackin and his Hawaii football team and beating La. Tech on the road is not going to be an easy thing to do.  7 wins will be tough to get to….

 

 

10.  Lane Kiffin, Tennessee – The season is so young that we really don’t know if Tennessee played over their heads of if Florida didn’t play well, but we do know that if Florida is No. 1 in the country after their performance on Saturday against the Vols, then PoDunk U should be able to get ranked in the Top 25.  As we said after Week 1, it looks to us that Tennessee is in better shape than they were in the Fulmer years and they are playing very well on defense, but there is still something not right about the UT football program and we don’t know if that has something to do with Lane Kiffin or if it is something else.  Ohio at home is up next for the Vols and they should be able to easily win that game (If they can’t, Kiffin will be in some real trouble), and that means the October 3 game against Auburn at home will be BIG determining factor for the rest of the ’09 Vol season.  After Ohio, Tennessee has Auburn at home, Georgia at home, at Alabama, South Carolina at home, Memphis at home, at Mississippi, Vanderbilt, and at Kentucky.  Kiffin really needs 6 wins a bowl game to call the ’09 season a success and that is not going to be an easy thing to do with that schedule.  We shall see….

 

 

Tomorrow, the first Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll of the ’09 season and the brackets for a 16-team College Football Playoff if the season ended tomorrow.  It should be interesting to see where these teams end up on our Power Playoff Poll and what kind of great games we would have if we had a legitimate ending to the college football season.

 

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