Before we get to the Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings Analysis after watching several college football teams go through….
Total and Complete Meltdowns on Saturday
….we thought this might be good spot for some…
College Head Football Coaching 101
…with the subject of this posting titled:
Remember Well Your Position Head Coaches for the World…and More Importantly….Your Team is Watching
A few decades ago now which seems like a Helluva lot time ago….because it is….a few Coaches Hot Seat members were watching the tape of football game with a legendary football coach and in this game one of the head coaches was acting like what charitably would be called a Complete Freaking Idiot on the sidelines which the legendary football coach after watching for awhile reacted to by saying:
“Doesn’t that F-ing Jackass know his football team is watching him act like that?”
What the Hell does above have to do what we here at Coaches Hot Seat saw over the weekend in college football and what does it have to do with a few college football teams and often their coaches going into a…
Total and Complete Meltdown on Saturday?
First…let’s get Reality #1 on the table which it seems that some head coaches….even in 2015….still don’t understand even though these coaches must see themselves on TV all the time:
Reality #1 – Head Football Coaches are being watched by the television cameras and thus millions of viewers, by the fans in the stands, and by lots of other people in modern day football BUT nothing has changed in the last 100-plus years of football in America in that head coaches are also watched by two other groups ALL THE TIME during appearances, practices and especially during games and those two other groups are:
Their Assistant Coaches
Their Players
It should be self-evident why it is vital for head football coaches to know…especially on the college level…that their own personal behavior, demeanor, and attitude is vitally important in the overall success of their football team because it’s the head coach that the assistant coaches and players on the team look to and look at when things get tight in games and just as sure as day follows night….
A Loose Coach will have a Loose Football Team
A Tight Coach will have a Tight Football Team
A Confident Coach will have a Confident Football Team
A Nervous Coach will have a Nervous Football Team
An Anxious Coach will have an Anxious Football Team
….and we could go on but we believe you get the drift and hopefully already what we are driving at in this blog post.
Case in Point and what a Damn Case in Point it is: Butch Jones in two BIG games in 2015 coaching the Tennessee Vols against Oklahoma and Florida has appeared to be…
Very Nervous and Very Uptight on the sidelines
….to both Coaches Hot Seat members sitting in the stands and watching on TV and in both of those games as it got to crunch time guess what happened?
The Tennessee Players Played Very Nervous and Uptight
Does Butch Jones not understand in his NINTH season as a head coach that his…
Nervous and Uptight Behavior on the sidelines
….is directly impacting his Tennessee football team and has in our opinion led to the Vols playing uptight in 2015 as well in 2014 in some tight and critical football games?
Evidently not and we are guessing that Butch Jones needs a little lesson on life here that he somehow missed along the way and what better way to teach that lesson than do what that legendary coach did a few decades ago now by leaving the room where we were watching the tape of that football game and then coming back a few minutes later with a Xerox copy (Yes, from a Xerox copy machine!) of a speech by Ralph Waldo Emerson with the below passage marked-up with his comments in the margin. Below is a portion of what Ralph Waldo Emerson said in the speech not the legendary coach’s comments written in the margin which were fascinating as well! (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lecture on Courage, November 1859, Boston, MA):
“The general must stimulate the mind of his soldiers to the perception that they are men, and the enemy is no more. Knowledge, yes; for the danger of dangers is illusion. The eye is easily daunted; and the drums, flags, shining helmets, beard and moustache of the soldier have conquered you long before his sword or bayonet reaches you.”
Tennessee fans surely understand how the above quote from a speech by Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered in 1859 applies to the Vols losses to both Oklahoma and Florida this season which were both games that Tennessee COULD HAVE and SHOULD HAVE WON and it is our opinion here at Coaches Hot Seat that it was Butch Jones’ negative behavior and to some extent Tennessee’s very conservative offensive play-calling that led to both of those losses which has put the Vols behind the 8-ball and Butch Jones’ ass on the Hot Seat!
We would laugh at anyone that watched Butch Jones especially in the second-halves of the Oklahoma and Tennessee games to challenge our assertion that Butch Jones’ behavior, demeanor and attitude didn’t have a dramatic negative effect on his football team and directly led to the Vols tossing away two football games in 2015.
For some reason a quote from the Late Great Coach Bill Walsh seems important in this spot:
“Providing confidence to your team is perhaps the most powerful lever you can pull to help them optimize their performance.”
Is there anyone with a working brain on the Earth that was either at or watched the Tennessee vs. Florida and/or Oklahoma vs. Tennessee games that watched Butch Jones closely that believes that Jones came anywhere close to doing the below for his coaches and players when both of those games got tight in the second half?
“Providing confidence to your team is perhaps the most powerful lever you can pull to help them optimize their performance.”
The answer to the above question is not only…
NO…BUT HELL NO!
The Bottom-Line on Butch Jones and lots of other head coaches in college football that we will not call out in this spot but may very well in the future:
Butch Jones got nervous, got tight, acted out-of-control at times on the sideline during the Oklahoma and Florida games and there is not a doubt in our minds that Jones’ behavior, demeanor and attitude on the sideline had a negative effect on his football team which helped to lead to both of those losses.
We will also say in this spot that a head coach acting like a Total Ass on the sideline which is usually caused by an underlying nervousness and fear….
“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” Yoda – George Lucas, The Phantom Menace, Episode 1
….of what could be a negative outcome of a football game is by far the worst emotion that a head coach can send to his football team in a tight football game and we will also say that coaching from “fear” in a head football coach is usually a “learned trait” picked-up by other coaches that the head coach worked for and/or with in the past. Just check Butch Jones’ Wikipedia page to see who he worked for in the past and it should be easy to put the “Learned Fear = Learned Fear = Lots of Fear” equation together which leads to acting like a Total Ass on the sidelines during football games especially in tight situations when the head coach should be….
“Providing confidence to your team is perhaps the most powerful lever you can pull to help them optimize their performance.”
We could go on for a quite awhile on this subject of the proper behavior of head football coaches on the sideline to get the most out of their assistant coaches, players and thus football team including a story about a change of command on an US Navy ship during Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf in 1991 that would be Helluva example of how one man can change things towards a positive direction overnight with different behavior and a more confident approach but alas we write way the Hell too much here at Coaches Hot Seat already!
Let’s hope the above insight was imparted to Butch Jones in the “Bark On” manner it was delivered and move onto the….
Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – 1 – 10 Hot Seat Head Coaches Analysis
No Head Coach Likes To Imagine His Precious Ass Getting Fired…But Give These Head Coaches on the Hot Seat Anyway Johnny Cash!
Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
1. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State – In a season when Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads really needs to get the Cyclones to a .500-plus record and bowl game opening with a record of…
1 – 2
…which includes a loss to Toledo of the MAC Conference really puts Rhoads behind the 8-ball because if you can’t beat Toledo can anyone find 5 more wins out of the remaining 9 games on the ISU schedule?
Kansas
At Texas Tech
TCU
At Baylor
Texas
At Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
At Kansas State
At West Virginia
Geez…the Big 12 Conference has become a very tough place to hang out these days especially with TCU, Baylor and now Texas Tech scoring points like crazy and being very tough games to win which leaves Oklahoma, Texas and Oklahoma state as pretty much always tough games to win and the two Kansas schools with only Kansas being a true doormat team in the conference.
Our guess….Iowa State wins something like 3….maybe 4 games in 2015 and there is NO way in Hell Paul Rhoads returns to coach the Cyclones in 2016 without winning 6 games or coming very Damn close to winning 6 games.
It really is too bad that Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl is no longer at North Dakota State still winning FCS championships but instead coaching the Cowboys and on the Hot Seat because Iowa State is the EXACT kind of FBS program he could win big at…..but Craig Bohl was either getting some bad advice or acted without talking to someone who had a clue because Wyoming is a graveyard for very good coaches and if you don’t believe that just ask former Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn who also saw his head coaching career flame out in Laramie! Oh, Joe Glenn who won a FCS National Championship at Montana is now the head coach at South Dakota? Yes, that’s right and his record at South Dakota in four seasons at the school is 9 – 29! More on Craig Bohl’s Hot Seat status in a bit….
2. Darrell Hazell, Purdue – With Purdue’s loss to Bowling Green on Saturday we don’t know where the Boilermakers’ season and football program is going now with Purdue’s record dropping to….
1 – 3
…on the season and head coach Darrell Hazell’s win/loss records at Purdue now standing at….
Overall: 5 – 23
Big Ten: 1 – 15
…but we do know that the right coach whoever that “right coach” actually is can win at Purdue and to prove that we only have to write the name….Joe Tiller….who in 12 seasons coaching the Boilermakers posted records of…
Overall: 87 – 62
Big Ten: 53 – 43
Ten .500 or better seasons and thus Ten bowl game trips
…so please don’t cry us a river that Darrell Hazell hasn’t had a chance to win at Purdue because Joe Tiller took over a Boilermakers team coming off SIX straight losing seasons and won NINE games in season one and NINE games in season two! By the way Joe Tiller is one coach that did make it out of Wyoming alive taking the Purdue job after FOUR straight .500 or better records with the Cowboys!
Getting back to Darrell Hazell’s whose Purdue football team is 1 – 3 on the season the Boilermakers still have to play….
At Michigan State
Minnesota
At Wisconsin
Nebraska
Illinois
At Northwestern
At Iowa
Indiana
Frankly, we would be stunned if Purdue won 3 more games in 2015 and Hazell has to win more than 4 games in 2015 to return to coach the Boilermakers in 2016?
One would think so.
3. Mike London, Virginia – Mike London’s Virginia football team got destroyed on Friday night by Boise State by the score of 56 – 14 and that drops the Cavs record to 1 – 3 with still eight ACC Conference games to play which you can see is no bed or roses for UVA:
At Pitt
Syracuse
At North Carolina
Georgia Tech
At Miami
At Louisville
Duke
Virginia Tech
If Virginia plays like they did against Boise State they will not win another game this season….PERIOD.
If Virginia plays like they did against Notre Dame…they might win four or five more games this season and save Mike London’s job…but then that’s up to Mike London coaching HIS football team up…right?
RIGHT!
Coach Like Hell Mike!
4. Bret Bielema, Arkansas – As one of our Arkansas buddies put it early on Sunday morning from his hotel room in Dallas after attending the Texas A&M – Arkansas game at the Jerry Dome in Arlington on Saturday:
“Arkansas had no Damn business losing to the Aggies that did almost everything possible to lose that football game except not making any stupid decisions on the field or sideline at the end of the game.”
Amen….and Case In Damn Point!
Below is the play-by-play of the Arkansas drive in overtime which started with a 5 year penalty and thus 1 st and fifteen at the A&M 30-yard line with Texas A&M already on the board in overtime with a touchdown:
1st and 15 at Texas A&M 30
Alex Collins run for 6 yds to the Texas A&M 24
2nd and 9 at Texas A&M 24
Brandon Allen pass complete to JoJo Robinson for 5 yds to the Texas A&M 19
3rd and 4 at Texas A&M 19
Brandon Allen pass incomplete to Jeremy Sprinkle
4th and 4 at Texas A&M 19
Brandon Allen pass incomplete to Drew Morgan
So let’s get this straight:
Supposed Tough Guy Bret Bielema who got tough growing up on a Hog Farm needs his football team to score a touchdown to get into a second overtime and thus has four downs to use with his team averaging 5.5 yards per rush and has the following situation…
3rd and 4 at Texas A&M 19
….has his quarterback throw two passes…both incomplete….to lose a game that Arkansas had no Damn business losing to the Aggies?
Sorry…but if you give us the ball in the situation of….
3rd and 4 at Texas A&M 19
….we are going to give the football to running back Alex Collins….averaged 5.8 yards per rush against A&M…and we are going to stuff the Damn football down the throats of the Aggies!
No doubt Brandon Allen threw the ball well against Texas A&M completing 20 of 25 passes but there is NO DAMN REASON for Brandon Allen to be throwing the football 25 times and our Arkansas buddy summed up the current situation at Arkansas with another quote from his somber hotel room in Dallas on Sunday morning:
“Hell, if Arkansas hadn’t thrown one pass in 2015 we would be 4 – 0 right now.”
Amen to that Arkansas brother but instead the Razorbacks with their new “balanced” offensive approach which would probably work well at many schools but has been nothing short of a…
Complete Freaking Disaster in Hog-Land
….are now sitting at…
1 – 3
…with their only win over UTEP which struggled like Hell for awhile to put away Incarnate Word on Saturday!
Put yourself in Bret Bielema’s shoes right now….in your third season at Arkansas you are sitting on win/loss records of…
Overall: 11 – 18
SEC: 2 – 15
…and you are 1 – 3 this season with these games still left to be played:
At Tennessee
At Alabama
Auburn
UT Martin
At Ole Miss
At LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
How many more games will Arkansas wins in 2015?
3…maybe 4 more games tops?
Our Arkansas buddy also said something else from his hotel room early on Sunday morning which should scare the Hell out of Bret Bielema and the man that brought Bielema to Fayetteville Arkansas AD Jeff Long:
“Hell, in Bobby Petrino’s third season at Arkansas he won 10 games and took us to the Sugar Bowl and in his fourth season Petrino won 11 games and we went to the Cotton Bowl and Big Mouth (Bielema) is going to post a losing record in his third season and think he is going to keep his job? F _ _ _ that! What the Hell are they doing with all our Damn money up there in Fayetteville anyway? Paying coaches millions of dollars so they can live like Roman emperors who can’t even post .500 or better seasons? That Shit for Damn sure cannot be tolerated!”
Next up for Big Mouth Bielema is a Pissed-Off Tennessee team in Knoxville and then potentially a Very Damn Pissed-Off Alabama team the next week which could be coming off a loss to Georgia!
Good Luck to you Big Mouth who evidently is living like a Roman Emperor in Fayetteville (Guessing Bielema must have moved into a new and BIG house but we don’t know that for a fact) only with a .379 winning percentage! Hell, Roman Emperors with something akin to a .379 winning percentage often found themselves stabbed in the back so watch out for all those Brutuses up there in Fayetteville Big Mouth!
5. Gus Malzahn, Auburn – At halftime of the Mississippi State – Auburn game a Coaches Hot Seat member on the way to the kitchen to get another Fat Tire beer said what many of us were thinking…
“What in the Hell has happened to Auburn? This looks nothing like the Auburn team that went to the National Title game two seasons ago and not even like the Auburn team that almost beat Alabama and Wisconsin at the end of last season!”
Geez…we don’t know what the Hell has happened to Auburn but for Damn sure something beyond not having a sterling QB and a shaky defense is the problem or set of problems here but then this Auburn football team looks so…
Off The Rails
So Different Than Malzahn’s Teams in the Past
….that we can only conclude that “something” has fundamentally changed at Auburn and we don’t have a Freaking Clue what that “something” is and believe us…we have tried to find out by talking to some folks we know around Auburn…who report nothing has changed…or they are flat-out lying to us which may be a possibility.
Hell, in 2012 when Gene Chizik was posting a record of 3 – 9 and 0 – 8 in SEC play only two seasons removed from going undefeated and winning the Bogus BCS National Championship Game the same folks in Auburn were telling us there were no problems on The Plains and we later learned there were lots of internal issues going on with Chizik’s Auburn football program…in our humble opinion…that led to Chizik’s ass getting run out of town…and those same folks may be lying to us again and this time we are calling them out on it in this blog and let’s see if they change their tune in the coming days because in our opinion…
Something is NOT right at Auburn
….because watching Auburn play this season it’s obvious to anyone with a working brain that…
Something is NOT right at Auburn
We have a guess on what is NOT right at Auburn right now but an attorney friend says we cannot write what we believe in this blog without proof so we will just leave our opinion out there that….
Something is NOT right at Auburn
Up next for Auburn a home game against San Jose State who also has a coach on the Hot Seat in Ron Caragher and whose football team just scored 49 points on Fresno State.
Hell, if San Jose State scores 28 points on Auburn it will beat the Tigers!
Oh, after San Jose State the Tigers still have to play….
At Kentucky
At Arkansas
Ole Miss
At Texas A&M
Georgia
Idaho
Alabama
Geez…there is a REAL chance that the two season records that Gene Chizik posted at Auburn after winning the national title…
8 – 5
3 – 9 – No SEC Wins
…will be the two identical records that Gus Malzahn posts at Auburn after taking his team to the national title game:
8 – 5
2 – 2 – 0 – 2 in SEC play
Will Gus Malzahn be fired if he goes 3 – 9 and 0 – 8 in SEC play in 2015?
YES Gus Malzahn will be fired…but give some thought to the above two similarities and why history may be repeating itself in Auburn….YES…give that some Damn thought.
6. Charlie Strong, Texas – Consider this for a moment to understand how far the Texas football program has fallen since Mack Brown took the Horns to the Bogus BCS National Championship Game in the 2009 – 2010 season:
Texas Big 12 Conference record 2011 to Current
23 – 22!
At Texas!
For all the talk about bad penalty calls, missed extra points, bobbled snaps on punts, etc. the TRUTH is that we are talking about the football program at the…
University of Texas
….and with the amount of football talent in state of Texas there is just No Damn Excuse for football games to come down to…
Bad Penalty Calls
Missed Extra Points
Bobbled Snaps on Punts
Etc.
…..but arguing over the above is where the Texas football program is right now which we shy away from calling…
Mediocre
…because to call Texas Football Mediocre right now would be an insult to all the Mediocre folks in the state of Texas and around the world!
Where does Texas football go from here after dropping to 1 – 3 after the loss to Oklahoma State which drops Charlie Strong’s records at Texas to this…
Overall: 7 – 10
Big 12: 5 – 5
…in Strong’s second season at the school?
We don’t have a clue but with these games still to be played….
At TCU
Oklahoma
Kansas State
At Iowa State
Kansas
At West Virginia
Texas Tech
At Baylor
….in our opinion there is a better than 50 – 50 chance that Texas DOES NOT WIN 6 games in 2015 and the last three Texas head coaches that posted a losing season without a National Title trophy in the UT athletic building…
Fred Akers, David McWilliams and John Mackovic
….were ALL three fired at the end of that losing season and no matter what “people in the know” in Austin say if Texas gets boat-raced by West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor to end the 2015 season which ends up being a losing season all bets are off on the future of Charlie Strong and Texas football come December.
We here at Coaches Hot Seat still believe in Charlie Strong and will believe in the man even if he gets fired at Texas but what we believe here at Coaches Hot Seat means about as much as a fly on the ass of a cow in a West Texas pasture!
How about a song about a town about 70 miles west of Austin, Texas sung by the Great Waylon Jennings to cheer up the good folks in the Lone Star State which is a song that a LOT of these Million Dollar College Football Head Coaches could learn a Helluva lot from! Listen closely to the lyrics of Luckenbach, Texas Hot Seat Head Coaches!
Luckenbach, Texas
7. George O’Leary, UCF – With the loss to a very average South Carolina team on Saturday which dropped UCF’s record in 2015 to…
0 – 4
…there is a Very Damn Good Chance that the Knights finish the 2015 season without a win because what George “When the Hell are they going to make that announcement about me being the permanent UCF AD?” O’Leary and his UCF football team still have on the schedule is NOT easy!
At Tulane
UConn
At Temple
Houston
At Cincinnati
At Tulsa
East Carolina
USF
YES….it REALLY was in 2013 that UCF went 12 – 1 and won the Fiesta Bowl and YES UCF has already this season lost to FIU and Furman!
Here’s a thought for George O’Leary: How about this week you show up at practice and…
Coach Up Your Damn Football Team
…because if UCF loses to a pitiful Tulane team in New Orleans….George O’Leary in our opinion should be fired before the plane returns to Orlando!
8. Butch Jones, Tennessee – See the above post…
Remember Well Your Position Head Coaches for the World…and More Importantly Your Team is Watching
….for a summary of what we believe has gone wrong for Tennessee in their two losses this season and with the loss to Florida the Vols are now sitting at..
2 – 2
…on the year and still have to play the below games and things don’t get any easier in Knoxville in the coming weeks:
Arkansas
Georgia
At Alabama
At Kentucky
South Carolina
North Texas
At Missouri
Vanderbilt
How many games can Tennessee win in 2015?
Well, Tennessee should be 4 – 0 right now BUT at 2 – 2 and with the above games still to be played the Vols have plenty of talent to win…
8 Games in 2015
….and anything less than 8 Wins in 2015 and Butch Jones’ ass will be on the Hot Seat for the duration!
9. Mark Helfrich, Oregon – A few Coaches Hot Seat members stayed at the house they rented north of Eugene for this past weekend so they could attend the Utah – Oregon game on Saturday evening and let’s just go ahead and say it after the Utes destroyed the Ducks by the score of…
62 – 20
…if the losing continues especially the way Oregon has played this season giving up a Helluva lot of points in EVERY game then head coach Mark Helfrich is going to be in a Helluva hot spot come December.
In our opinion at Coaches Hot Seat Oregon football is an unique program in major college football today because unlike any other program in the country the Ducks are dominated by one person and one company that overshadow the entire football operation in Eugene and that one person and one company is…
Phil Knight and Nike
…and in case anyone hasn’t checked lately Phil Knight is 77 years old and has poured Millions and Millions of Dollars of money into the Oregon football program and how many National Championships have the Ducks won?
That would be….ZERO!
Are we saying that it’s our opinion here at Coaches Hot Seat that because Phil Knight is not exactly a young man at 77 years old and that Oregon winning a National Championship SOON is thus important may have a factor in Mark Helfrich getting his ass run out of Eugene if the Ducks football program falls to pieces in 2015?
Yes…that is our opinion.
How much influence does Phil Knight and Nike have over the Oregon football program?
In our opinion it is ABSOLUTE influence now which for the most part is a GOOD thing when the Ducks are winning but if the Ducks start falling to pieces which we may have seen the first act of on Saturday against Utah then that ABSOLUTE influence will in our opinion be an ABSOLUTE nightmare for Mark Helfrich and others in Eugene.
Mark Helfrich and Oregon are now at 2 – 2 on the season and still have these games to play:
At Colorado
Washington State
At Washington
At Arizona State
California
At Stanford
USC
Oregon State
Could the mighty Oregon Ducks possibly lose 6 or more games in 2015?
YES…if they played like they did against Utah and if Oregon loses more than 6 games…and maybe even 6 games…then there is NO doubt in our minds that Mark Helfrich will be fired in December and that firing will be loud and clear kind of like a…
10. Randy Edsall, Maryland – Randy Edsall got his ass off the Hot Seat in 2014 by posting a second straight 7 – 5 regular season record BUT we would like to welcome Maryland head coach Randy Edsall’s ass back to the Hot Seat after a…
2 – 2
…start to the 2015 season and a season that doesn’t get any easier for Edsall and his Terps with these games still on the slate:
Michigan
At Ohio State
Penn State
At Iowa
Wisconsin
At Michigan State
Indiana
At Rutgers
Geez….could Maryland finish with a sub-.500 record in 2015?
YES…and that would put Randy Edsall’s coaching future in jeopardy in College Park in case anyone was wondering!
Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – 11 – 30 Head Coaches Analysis Coming Soon!