Hey All,
It's now under 85 days to kickoff of the 2012 season, so here's another installment of info to get you ready for the upcoming season. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Let's take a ride on the ol' Coaching Carousel
27 new head coaches will grace the sidelines during the 2012 season. Here's a snapshot of all the hires.
Akron Zips
OUT: Rob Ianello/ IN: Terry Bowden
Bobby Bowden's other son jumped back into coaching after 10 years off, when in 2009 he took the North Alabama job. He led his squad to three straight D-II playoff appearances. He then threw his hat into the ring for the Akron job and to everyone's surprise got hired. He'll try to revive a program that has gone 2-22 over the last two seasons. Remember, he did have an undefeated season as the HC at Auburn back in 1993 when they were on probation and serving a two year bowl ban.
Arizona Wildcats
OUT: Mike Stoops/ IN: Rich Rodriguez
Oh, Pac 12 fans, we will all miss Mike Stoops' red-faced rages on the sidelines, but we will have Rich Rodriguez to entertain us. He'll bring in a flashy offense. RichRod also managed to grab his old defensive coordinator from West Virginia, Jeff Casteel, to install a new 3-3-5 defense in Tucson. Rodriguez may do a lot better at UofA than Michigan because he won't have someone always telling him, "That's not the way we do it here at Michigan."
Arizona State Sun Devils
OUT: Dennis Erickson/ IN: Todd Graham
Dennis Erickson is gone, but his roster of future felons and head cases remains. Into the mix comes Todd Graham, who didn't even have a face-to-face meeting with his Pittsburgh squad to tell them he was leaving for the desert. They were notified via text message. Stay classy, Todd Graham. I'm sure Graham will just be renting a home in Tempe. This is his fourth HC gig in the last seven seasons.
Arkansas Razorbacks
OUT: Bob Petrino/ IN: John L. Smith
I always knew motorcycles could be dangerous. So how much did Petrino lose after one little accident? His Job, his wife, his hot little girlfriend on the side and several million dollars. What did he gain? A nasty case of road rash and the status of being a national joke. Hopefully, John L. Smith will stay out of the headlines and rack up a bunch of W's to make the Razorback faithful forget about the Hell's Angel wannabe.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
OUT: Hugh Freeze/ IN: Gus Malzahn
Freeze got the Red Wolves to 10 wins last year and bolted for The Ole Miss job replacing Houston Nutt. So, who comes in for Freeze? Gus Malzahn. Malzahn was the HC from Springdale High in Arkansas who ended up as an assistant at the University of Arkansas under HC Houston Nutt when he delivered Mitch Mustain and few other prized recruits to Fayetteville. Now, Nutt is unemployed and Malzahn is still standing. Oh irony, you cruel comedian!
Colorado State Rams
OUT: Steve Fairchild/ IN: Jim McElwain
Steve Fairchild's tenure at CSU is forgettable with his teams racking up a 9-27 record over the last three seasons. Jim McElwain comes in after being Nick Saban's offensive coordinator the last three seasons at Alabama. It seems weird for McElwain to leave the SEC to come west, but not really. He grew up in Missoula, MT, played at Eastern Washington, and coached at both EWU and Montana State.
Florida Atlantic Owls
OUT: Howard Schnellenberger/ In Carl Pelini
Gone is the man who took FAU into the FBS and was their only HC at this level. Schnellenberger's career is a storied one that goes from coaching for Bear Bryant at Alabama to winning a national title as the HC at Miami. Carl Pelini comes in from Nebraska where he was the defensive coordinator under his brother Bo Pelini.
Fresno State Bulldogs
OUT: Pat Hill/ IN: Tim DeRuyter
Even though his firing came as a shock to those around the FSU program, Hill's mantra of "Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere" may have been losing its' meaning to his team. The Bulldogs were only 40-41 overall in Hill's last seven seasons including last year's 4-9 mark. Tim DeRuyter takes over after spending the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator for Texas A&M. He's a graduate of the Air Force Academy which means he will try to put some discipline back into a program that hasn't shown much of that on the field lately.
Hawaii Warriors
OUT: Greg McMackin/ IN: Norm Chow
Yes, Trojan fans, Norm Chow finally has a job as a head coach. He follows Greg McMackin who retired/was forced out at the end of the 2011 campaign. He's native Hawaiian who will make this his last gig in a long career according to Warrior "insiders." Norm's first game will come at the Coliseum against USC. I wonder if Norm still knows the words to Fight On! He'll be hearing it a lot on 9/1.
Houston Cougars
OUT: Kevin Sumlin/ IN: Tony Levine
When Sumlin left for Texas A&M, Levine stepped in to be the interim coach of the Cougars. He guided his squad to a 30-14 win over Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl and the UH Administration rewarded him by removing the interim tag. We'll see how he does this season without Case Keenum under center.
Illinois Fighting Illini
OUT: Ron Zook/ IN: Tim Beckman
See what happens when you start out 6-0, then lose the next 6? Even a win over a pathetic UCLA squad in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl couldn't save The Zooker. Tim Beckman comes in as a rising star. He took over a Toledo team that was reeling from a point shaving scandal and guided the program to two bowl games in the last three seasons. The last one was a thrilling 42-41 win over Air Force in the Military Bowl. That game dropped an L on almost everyone in my bowl pick 'em contest last year. Gee, thanks Tim.
Kansas Jayhawks
OUT: Turner Gill/ IN: Charlie Weis
The man with the schematic advantage is back. After his Notre Dame tenure and a couple years with the Chiefs as their OC, Weis is back in the college ranks. He replaces Turner Gill who showed a lot of promise when he left the University of Buffalo. Gill went a miserable 10-26 at the helm which included an embarrassing loss to North Dakota State in 2010. Weis talked his way into the job and managed to talk ND transfer Dayne Crist and BYU transfer Jake Heaps into coming along to bolster the QB situation. Charlie will soon learn how hard it is to be a football coach at a basketball school.
Memphis Tigers
OUT: Larry Porter/ IN: Justin Fuente
Porter learned that going 3-21 will get you fired. Now, he'll coach the running backs at ASU under Todd Graham. In his stead now is Justin Fuente. He was TCU's offensive coordinator last year and was the QB coach for six seasons at Illinois State. He spent his college career playing for Oklahoma and Murray State as a QB where he set a ton of passing records for the Racers. Being the tutor for Andy Dalton at TCU will enable him to find a big arm for Memphis offense.
New Mexico
OUT: Mike Locksley/ IN: Bob Davie
Mike Locksley was and absolute train wreck of a head coach. I thought nobody could be worse than Fred Von Appen when he was at Hawaii in the late 1990s. Locksley managed just a 2-26 record while racking up bad off field incidents. He was sued for sexual harassment, punched one of his assistant coaches, and one of his players was caught for a DUI while driving one of Locksley's vehicles. So, the program is looking to do a 180 degree turn with Bob Davie taking over. Davie hasn't walked the sidelines since he was fired at Notre Dame. This is a tough rebuild job since no head coach has complied a winning record at the school since Marv Levy went 14-6 during his two year stint that covered the 1958 and 1959 seasons.
North Carolina Tar Heels
OUT: Butch Davis/Everett Winters /IN: Larry Fedora
Larry Fedora's job is to lead the Tar heels out of their upheaval from scandal and make the Tar Heels respectable winners. The previous regime had agents being lined up for players by coaches, illegal benefits and grade fixing, yet the Tar Heels didn't get hammered by the NCAA. Hmmmmm. In fact, Larry Winters who ran the team in Butch Davis' absence during the 2011 campaign is now Urban Meyer's co-defensive coordinator. Fedroa is a good coach and should do well at UNC. He led Southern Mississippi to a 34-19 reword at USM with 12-2 record and a win over Houston in the C-USA title game.
Ohio State Buckeyes
OUT: Luke Fickell/ IN: Urban Meyer
Well, well, well. Mr. Meyer has miraculously recovered from his heart problems and his need to spend more time with his family. He takes over an OSU squad still reeling from the Jim Tressel scandal of 2010 where Theeeee OSU committed many major violations, but didn't really get punished. Hmmmmmm. Meyer is up to his old tricks as several Buckeyes have already been arrested. I'm sure he'll crack down on them. I'm sure they'll miss at least a play or two in OSU's season opener.
Mississippi Rebels
OUT: Houston Nutt/ IN: Hugh Freeze
So, as alluded to earlier, Freeze is the new HC at Ole Miss. To say Houston Nutt's years in Oxford were a disappointment is an understatement. Nutt took former HC Ed Orgeron's recruits and turned in two straight 9-4 seasons with a pair of Cotton Bowl wins. Then the wheels came off. a 4-8 season followed by a 2-10 season in 2011 and three straight Egg Bowl losses to Mississippi State lead to Nutt's firing. Freeze comes to Ole Miss off doing the near impossible. He turned Arkansas State into a 10 win team with a bowl bid in just one season. The Rebs hope Freeze isn't just a flash in the pan.
Penn State Nittany Lions
OUT: Joe Paterno/ IN: Bill O'Brien
Well, where do we begin? Do I start with Jerry Sandusky's heinous behavior or how Joe Paterno paid the price for being a good man who did nothing when he needed to act? One of College football's longest running shows has closed and now Bill O'Brien starts his act in Happy Valley. He comes from the NFL where he was the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. He's an ivy leaguer who went to Brown just like Paterno. This decision could go either way. Penn State's last HC from Brown won 409 games. However, Notre Dame hired a former Patriot OC and didn't do so well with that hire. Oh, and one more thing, Paterno's exit leaves Va Tech HC Frank Beamer as the winningest active HC in the FBS with 251 wins.
Pittsburgh Panthers
OUT: Todd Graham/ IN: Paul Chryst
The king of texting is out at Pitt and Paul Chryst now stands at the helm. Chryst is a Wisconsin guy. He was a state champion QB at Platteville High and played QB for the Badgers all while his father was the HC at UW-Platteville. His latest job was OC for the Badgers under Brent Bielma. Pitt just hopes he stays there awhile. the Panthers have gone through four HCs in the last 13 months.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
OUT: Greg Schiano/ IN: Kyle Flood
Greg Schiano toiled for years at the state college of New Jersey. He built a good program then, like a lot of New Jersey folks, moved to Florida. He's now the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flood was Schiano's O-line coach for the last seven seasons. His hiring is believed to be one that will maintain stability for the program. However, we've all seen how the hiring of the longtime assistant ends up being a disaster. West Virginia in the aftermath of Rich Rodriguez's departure comes to mind.
Southern Mississippi
OUT: Larry Fedora/ IN: Ellis Johnson
If at first you don't succeed... Johnson was after this job before. He lost out to Larry Fedora in 2008. Now, the job is his. Johnson has deep southern ties. He played for, then coached for Bobby Ross at The Citadel in the mid 1970s. He was the LB coach on Alabama's 1992 title team and recently spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at South Carolina working for Steve Spurrier.
Texas A&M Aggies
OUT: Mike Sherman/ IN: Kevin Sumlin
Mike Sherman couldn't march his Aggies through the Big XII, going just 26-25 from 2008-11. So, he was relived of his duties and Kevin Sumlin is the new/old Aggie. Sumlin served under RC Slocum during the 2001 season. Sumlin had offers on the table from Arizona State and Illinois before deciding to lead the 12th Man into the SEC.
Toledo Rockets
OUT: Tim Beckman/ IN: Matt Campbell
After Tim Beckman bolted for Champaign-Urbana, Matt Campbell was promoted from within. He's just 32 years old, but he was Tim Beckman's offensive coordinator for a team that racked up 42 points per game in 2011. He's no stranger to success as he played his college ball at D-III powerhouse Mount Union. He was a defensive standout on teams that won there straight D-III national titles.
Tulane Green Wave
OUT: Bob Toledo/ IN: Curtis Johnson
Buffet Bob has left the field and is hanging out on Bourbon Street. Toledo's teams went just 15-46 over the last five seasons. Toledo was bad, Curtis Johnson could be worse. He's never coached anything but wide receivers for the last 24 seasons. This hire just doesn't make sense.
University of Alabama- Birmingham Blazers
OUT: Neil Callaway/ IN: Garrick McGee
The Blazers don't draw big crowds and with good reason. UAB has gone just 43-76 over the last decade. Garrick McGee comes into his first HC gig after leaving Arkansas before Petrino-gate hit the front pages.
UCLA bRuins
OUT: Rick Neuheisel/ Jim Mora, Jr.
Slick Rick is gone. Skippy's teams at UCLA were worse than those during the Karl Dorrell era. That is hard to believe, isn't it? Karl Dullard went 35-28 in five seasons as the HC. Neuweasel went just 21-30 in four seasons at the helm. Jim Mora, Jr. now comes in to pick up the pieces of a program that was humiliated out of the LA Coliseum when USC crushed the bRuins, 50-0 last November. Mora will find that Skippy did leave some talent behind for him. UCLA needs Mora to build the program now. If he doesn't and USC keeps dominating the rivalry with limited scholies, things could hit rock bottom in Westwood.
Washington State Cougars
OUT: Paul Wulff/ IN: Mike Leach
The Cougs have had some tough stretches in their history and the Bill Doba/Paul Wulff era has been one. Wullf's teams went an awful 9-40 during his four years in Pullman. That includes the infamous 2008 season where the Wazzu defense gave up over 60 points four times. How bad the defense is may not matter with Mike Leach as the new HC in the Palouse. Wazzu may not win much, but they will be fun to watch and Leach will be a great source of quotes for the scribes. Oh, and Paul Wulff didn't spend much time on the unemployment line. He's now on Jim Harbaugh's staff with the San Francisco 49ers.
Wow, it took a long time to get to the end of this column. Until next time, remember that the coaching carousel is always turning.
-The Commissioner
