24 Head Coaching Changes in 2011 – 18 Head Coaches Hired – 6 Head Coaching Positions Still Open
There have been 24 Head Coaching Changes in 2011 and as of today there are only 6 coaching jobs still left open….
Akron
Arizona State
Hawaii
Houston
Penn State
Southern Miss
….and of the 18 head coaching jobs that have been filled we would classify them as:
Great Hires
Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
Mike Leach, Washington State
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Very Good Hires
Tim Beckman, Illinois
Larry Fedora, North Carolina
Hugh Freeze, Mississippi
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State
Solid Hires
Jim McElwain, Colorado State
Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State
Justin Fuente, Memphis
Bob Davie, New Mexico
We Shall See Hires
Carl Pelini, Florida Atlantic
Matt Campbell, Toledo
Curtis Johnson, Tulane
Garrick McGee, UAB
What the Hell? Hires
Charlie Weis, Kansas
Jim Mora, UCLA
When all of the head coaching jobs have been filled we will have some more comments on all of the new head coaches and our prediction if the coach will be with the school 3 and 5 years from now.
Kevin Sumlin Hired by Texas A&M
Kevin Sumlin to Texas A&M falls into our “Very Good Hire” Category and that is mainly because Sumlin has the three qualities that we look for in new head coaches:
He’s A Very Good Football Coach
He’s Ambitious
He Has a Fire in His Belly
Often when people hire football coaches on the college level they forget the very simple things that go into making a potential very good or great coach and the Very First Thing that a potential head coach must have is he must be competent at his job but even more importantly he must be a…
Very Good Football Coach
What makes someone a Very Good Football Coach?
Lots of things go into making a Very Good Football Coach but seeing and identifying a Very Good Football Coach falls into what former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about identifying pornography:
“I know it when I see it.”
If there is one critical trait for people hiring football coaches it is the ability to see and identify a Very Good Football coach and very often being a Very Good Football Coach has NOTHING to do with understanding football, being able to call good plays, being able to recruit well, being able to motivate a football team, being able to hire good coaches or any of the other things people talk about when they are talking up a coaching hire because there is only one thing that can truly determine whether someone is a…
Very Good Football Coach
…or not.
“I know it when I see it.”
Check out the bottom of the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings List right now otherwise known as the…
Cool Seat
…and one will find lots of Very Good Football Coaches
Current Coaches Cool Seat Rankings
120. Les Miles, LSU
119. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
118. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
117. Gary Patterson, TCU
116. Nick Saban, Alabama
115. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
114. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
113. Chris Petersen, Boise State
112. Hugh Freeze, Mississippi
111. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
110. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
109. Tim Beckman, Illinois
108. David Shaw, Stanford
107. Chip Kelly, Oregon
106. Brady Hoke, Michigan
105. Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois
104. Sonny Dykes, La. Tech
103. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
102. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
101. Larry Fedora, North Carolina
All of the above coaches are…..Very Good Football Coaches
Once a coach meets the Very Good Football Coach requirement then the next question we ask about the coach is….
Is the coach ambitious?
This question is not asking whether a coach is interested in winning lots of football games and championships since that is like asking if people would like to be wealthy and own lots of homes in nice places.
Both are true.
When we ask the question of a coach…
Is the coach ambitious?
…we mean is the coach hungry to make his mark on the game of college football and more importantly is he determined to prove his abilities and worth that will stand the test of time long after the coach is retired and no longer in the coaching business.
Look at the greatest college football coaches of all time and one will find tremendous ambition but one will also find the secret ingredient as well which is our third requirement when hiring a football coach:
Does the coach have a fire in his belly?
What does “having a fire in his belly” mean?
It basically means that the coach Fight Like Hell and do all he can to find the players that can make the football team a winner.
All of the great head coaches in the history of college football have a tremendous fire to either prove to other people what they can do or to prove to themselves what they can do and without that “fire in the belly” or sometimes what we call….
“I’m going to show those SOBs”
….a coach will have a tough time overcoming difficult situations when his football team and program runs into trouble or in handling games against very tough opponents that have Very Good Coaches on the other sideline.
Is the coach you hired or about to hire the right coach? Well, ask yourself the following three simple questions:
Is He A Very Good Football Coach?
Is He Ambitious?
Does He Have a Fire in His Belly?
Getting back to the Kevin Sumlin hiring at Texas A&M there is one thing that he MUST improve on and that is the level of defense that his Houston football team played and Coaches by the Numbers fleshed out this potential problem for Sumlin in their analysis of his hire by the Aggies:
“Sumlin’s defenses at Houston gave up 30 or more points 48.08% of the time and 40 or points more 21.15% of the time. Additionally, Sumlin’s defense ranked 90th or lower in scoring defense in three of his four years as a head coach.”
If Kevin Sumlin’s A&M football teams give up 30 or more points almost 50 percent of the time Kevin Sumlin will not make it to Year 3 with the Aggies because if there is ONE thing Texas A&M fans will not tolerate it is a defense that is getting blasted by opposing teams. If SEC teams start scoring 30 plus points on A&M in the next couple of years then Kevin Sumlin’s head coaching career will be over before he can say “Wrecking Crew” because there is not a chance in Hell that any offense that Sumlin can come up will be able to go into the SEC and hang 30 plus points on these SEC defenses.
Our recommendation to Kevin Sumlin: You better hire one Damn good defensive coordinator who better Damn coach up some tough and physical defense because without a strong Aggie defense Kevin Sumlin will get run out of College Station faster than Mike Sherman was run out of town who also seemed to think that his offensive “genius” could overcome shortcomings on defense. It didn’t. If Kevin Sumlin puts the same defense on the field that Southern Miss ran all over in the C-USA Championship Game in the SEC then the Aggies will be back looking for a new head coach before the start of the 2014 season.
Texas A&M football is very serious Damn business and the Aggie alums and fans we talk to on a regular basis are fired up as A&M head to the SEC but they are even more determined that the Aggies start playing winning football again because the last decade has been an almost complete waste of time and resources and if Kevin Sumlin cannot get it done then A&M is going to keep looking for a head coach until they find one that can get it done.
Coach hard Kevin Sumlin because literally your future coaching career is on the line starting with Game 1 of the 2012 college football season.
Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
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