Central Florida hired Scott Frost
Georgia hired Kirby Smart
Hawaii hired Nick Rolovich
Iowa State hired Matt Campbell
Illinois hired Bill Cubit
Maryland hired D.J. Durkin
Memphis hired Mike Norvell
Missouri hired Barry Odom
North Texas hired Seth Littrell
Miami hired Mark Richt
South Carolina hired Will Muschamp
USC hired Clay Helton
Syracuse hired Dino Babers
Toledo hired Jason Candle
Virginia hired Bronco Mendenhall
Virginia Tech hired Justin Fuente
What are your thoughts?
The ones that jump out to me as really good hires that are upgrades would be few. Bronco Mendenhall is an upgrade over Mike London (although the dynamics of recruiting LDS student-athletes for two year missions then games from a defined pool of players at BYU is very different than UVA). Justin Fuente sure seems like a nice hire for a Virginia Tech program in need of some new blood. I've been skeptical of the 'fit' for Richt at Miami but on the surface you have to say he has the potential, at least, to do very well there.
My reaction is that the ACC made the best hires and I've been pretty unimpressed, skeptical or "wait and see" with regard to the SEC hires. One thing that jumps out at me about the SEC hires is a defensive league is doubling down on defense in hiring defensive coordinators. That's in spite of the fact that college football is increasingly coming to be dominated by offensive trends and production more than anything on the defensive side of the football; defenses are playing catch up. I don't have the numbers but defensive coordinators seem to be successful a little less frequently than offensive coordinators.
USC's hire is anticlimactic and a bit of a buzz kill for Trojan fans wanting a blockbuster hire but he did get them playing better and sometimes solid/smart is better than spectacular. Will Muschamp can make me eat my words but I think that's a very questionable hire. Had a mess to clean up after Urban Meyer at Florida's off-field train wreck but he was also just average, it fell apart, and he's not only unproven but he's unproven and not far removed from his failure.
Immediate results: ACC gets better. SEC East becomes Tennessee's (and maybe Florida's) to lose in the coming years. Recruiting in the mid-Atlantic becomes more difficult with Maryland, UVA and VT new coaches putting a renewed emphasis there.
Part of me thinks the SEC did a poor job overall. But we'll have to wait and see. This is more true in the West than the East but I do think the SEC's teams have a "Nick Saban" problem. At several places in the SEC jobs are less attractive because Nick Saban is standing between them and conference championships and sterling records, which is key for job security.
Georgia hired Kirby Smart
Hawaii hired Nick Rolovich
Iowa State hired Matt Campbell
Illinois hired Bill Cubit
Maryland hired D.J. Durkin
Memphis hired Mike Norvell
Missouri hired Barry Odom
North Texas hired Seth Littrell
Miami hired Mark Richt
South Carolina hired Will Muschamp
USC hired Clay Helton
Syracuse hired Dino Babers
Toledo hired Jason Candle
Virginia hired Bronco Mendenhall
Virginia Tech hired Justin Fuente
What are your thoughts?
The ones that jump out to me as really good hires that are upgrades would be few. Bronco Mendenhall is an upgrade over Mike London (although the dynamics of recruiting LDS student-athletes for two year missions then games from a defined pool of players at BYU is very different than UVA). Justin Fuente sure seems like a nice hire for a Virginia Tech program in need of some new blood. I've been skeptical of the 'fit' for Richt at Miami but on the surface you have to say he has the potential, at least, to do very well there.
My reaction is that the ACC made the best hires and I've been pretty unimpressed, skeptical or "wait and see" with regard to the SEC hires. One thing that jumps out at me about the SEC hires is a defensive league is doubling down on defense in hiring defensive coordinators. That's in spite of the fact that college football is increasingly coming to be dominated by offensive trends and production more than anything on the defensive side of the football; defenses are playing catch up. I don't have the numbers but defensive coordinators seem to be successful a little less frequently than offensive coordinators.
USC's hire is anticlimactic and a bit of a buzz kill for Trojan fans wanting a blockbuster hire but he did get them playing better and sometimes solid/smart is better than spectacular. Will Muschamp can make me eat my words but I think that's a very questionable hire. Had a mess to clean up after Urban Meyer at Florida's off-field train wreck but he was also just average, it fell apart, and he's not only unproven but he's unproven and not far removed from his failure.
Immediate results: ACC gets better. SEC East becomes Tennessee's (and maybe Florida's) to lose in the coming years. Recruiting in the mid-Atlantic becomes more difficult with Maryland, UVA and VT new coaches putting a renewed emphasis there.
Part of me thinks the SEC did a poor job overall. But we'll have to wait and see. This is more true in the West than the East but I do think the SEC's teams have a "Nick Saban" problem. At several places in the SEC jobs are less attractive because Nick Saban is standing between them and conference championships and sterling records, which is key for job security.
