Early rumors saying PSU goes hard after James Franklin.
Also...
Gus Malzahn (Auburn) very much a top candidate for CLE. Vandy's James Franklin in the mix. One of them or McDaniels expected to get that job
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 1, 2014
Here's to this douche failing just like all of the Belicheat prodigies before him.Originally Posted by cdj
Dude never really wanted to be here so not real sad he's gone
Yeah, that was definitely the vibe I got from him, though it's also sort of hard to blame him for leaving.
Dude never really wanted to be here so not real sad he's gone
Between having to deal with the sanctions from the NCAA, players being able to leave, and like he said, being constantly in the shadow of Paterno and having everything he did criticized and compared to what Paterno did by fans, whether one agrees with that view or not. That is a real hard way to coach and recruit and would take its toll on any coach after long enough. At least he gave Penn State two good years, despite all the adversity the school was facing, and didn't bolt with a one and done.
He'll go to Houston, probably fail because Houston right now is a disaster, and either find someplace else in the NFL (failed head coaches usually land coordinator jobs at decent or good teams) or he'll come back to the college ranks and get a head coaching position at some place like a C-USA team or someone currently bottom of the barrel in the BCS like a Cal, Utah, etc.
Saw some tweets with reports that PSU may go after Greg Schiano, but there were no links to articles, so take that FWIW.
Not saying I agree or disagree, but a lot of the talking heads think that with BOB & drafting Teddy Bridgewater, Houston could be primed to take off right away given the rest of their roster. Those same experts have predicted great things for Houston for several years now, so I wouldn't put much stock into their thoughts.
True, they could quickly turn it around with the right coach and a couple personnel changes. Hell, Houston did just come off back to back South Division titles, 10 and 12 win seasons and two straight trips to the divisional round. Definitely make this season's collapse all that more shocking.
Teddy Bridgewater is a hell of a QB and probably could step in day one in the NFL, I think he's talented enough to do it. Question is, will he show that he's talented enough to do it, and will BOB have the right talent in place to run his system?
Right now, I'm not sure just how much I'm going to expect out of Houston next season. It'll take BOB at least a year to get the talent in place for the kind of system he wants to run, and while Bridgewater certainly could come out and have an Andrew Luck or Andy Dalton type rookie season, I think it'll take him at least until his second season to really settle into a starting NFL QB role.
I personally don't think BOB is head coach material....yet. I think he can be but he needs to step back and be the head coach. He gets too caught up in the offense and is too emotional, needs to mature as a coach.
As for "his" system, I haven't really seen it flourish yet. I don't judge him on NE because they did it before him and have done it after him, with less talent. The past year at PSU he had top ranked guys in passing, receiving and rushing yet out offense averaged maybe 25 points a game. His playcalling isn't consistent. If he can assume the head coach role I think he can be a good head coach, the question is if.
Teddy Bridgewater is going to be terrible in the pros. You heard it here first.
Texas interested in Art Briles & Jim Mora per latest reports.
Given that Texas tried to upstage the Heisman Ceremony by announcing Mack's retirement that night, I'm guessing they will announce their new coach on Monday before the National Championship....unless it is Jimbo, then it will be shortly thereafter.
Hmm.
I thought the Downtown Athletic Club was trying to upstage the Mack Brown retirement banquet.
Great column IMO on O'Brien and why he's not quite an NFL coach yet http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/stor...es-gary-kubiak
Texans short-sighted in hiring Bill O'Brien so quickly
What's the rush?
The Houston Texans fired successful and well-liked (at least among his players) head coach Gary Kubiak during the season and pushed hard to make the first move of the 2014 NFL hiring cycle. It worked, as they agreed to terms with former Penn State coach Bill O'Brien shortly before the ball dropped on 2013.
The move has been roundly praised. In fact, it is pretty much unanimous. The Texans were aggressive and got their man. Both the fans and media like that type of decisive and definitive action. O'Brien was a hot commodity (supposedly) because of the amazing job he did at Penn State in the midst of insurmountable sanctions.
To quote a well-known college talking head, "not so fast", both literally and figuratively.
As a former Penn State season-ticket holder and lifelong Pennsylvania resident, I follow the Penn State program pretty closely and think it may be time for someone to pump the brakes a little bit on the Texans' celebration and separate fact from fiction.
Let's start with what O'Brien is: he's a good football coach. He did a nice job as the Patriots' offensive coordinator and really excelled in two areas as the head man for the Nittany Lions -- public relations and quarterback tutoring.
Penn State was in a very bad place after the Jerry Sandusky saga and legendary head coach Joe Paterno's passing. O'Brien met the challenge head on. He was an incredible ambassador for the program and the university when the Penn State community, and really the entire state for that matter, truly needed it. He gave the fans someone and something to believe in. He was awesome in that role and they loved him for it.
As for quarterbacks, all he did was take a former walk-on named Matt McGloin, who had been inconsistent at best up until that point, and turn him into a record-breaking passer that ended up starting some games as an undrafted rookie free agent this season, including a win over the Texans. Think maybe that game video showed up on a TV screen at some point during the interview process?
This year he helped a freshman quarterback named Christian Hackenberg set a bunch of records. Critics would mention that Hackenberg was the No. 1-ranked high school passer in the country the year before and what he did should be expected in an era in which freshman signal callers have won back-to-back Heisman trophies. But this was a true freshman pocket passer operating a complex offense at a pretty high level.
Both of those skills, being the leader of an organization and maximizing quarterback performance can and should translate well to the next level.
That still doesn't mean the Texans needed to move at warp speed in order to secure his services or make O'Brien a slam dunk hire.
O'Brien benefitted greatly from extremely low expectations as a result of the Sandusky scandal and the NCAA sanctions that followed, but the reality is it's the next two years when the Nittany Lions will truly feel the brunt of those restrictions, when the scholarship limits affect the upper classes. He went 8-4 and lost to the likes of the Ohio Bobcats at home with a 2012 team that wasn't really impacted by the limits at all and had a pro quarterback at the helm, not to mention several NFL draft picks on defense. This year, O'Brien went 7-5, including a blowout loss to Indiana, the first time the Hoosiers had taken down the Nittany Lions in school history. No matter how many scholarships they lost or defections they incurred, Penn State has more talent than the Bobcats and Hoosiers. A lot more.
Those weren't terrible seasons. In fact, they were solid outcomes given everything that happened. People are acting like they were amazing accomplishments. They weren't.
That's not even the issue. In fact, O'Brien isn't the issue. The Texans' process is.
I'm a process-oriented guy because I believe that's the only part of the equation that is truly in an organization's control. To be fair, I don't know (does anyone?) all of the due diligence the Texans did, which I'm sure was significant. That's not the point either.
The point is the Texans declined to wait a week to interview a proven NFL head coach like Ken Whisenhunt because they were in a hurry to get O'Brien locked up.
So let's recap: the Texans declined to interview a coach that took the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl (or any of the other coaches whose teams are in the postseason) in order to pay a buyout of close to $6.5 million for the right to give a guy who led Penn State to two decent seasons a five-year guaranteed deal?
I wouldn't like it if I were a Texans fan. Where did this huge sense of urgency come from? If there had been significant other interest in O'Brien it would've been reported. After all, the reports of O'Brien being the "front-runner" and a deal being "close" had been going on for days. Where exactly do you think reports like those come from and what do you think the goal of those leaks is?
So the Texans created an artificial deadline in order to pay extra money for a largely unproven commodity without interviewing any of the elite candidates on teams that actually made the postseason?
I hope it works out for them and O'Brien. Otherwise, the Texans will go through a much longer and more extensive process a few years from now when hiring the next coach.
- Rumors today that Al Golden was (and wasn't) offered Penn State job.
- Latest Texas rumors include: James Franklin, Charlie Strong, and Jimbo Fisher.
Horns247 reporting Texas will hire Charlie Strong.
Reports: Charlie Strong will accept Texas job, announcement to come Sunday http://t.co/T87sxhyNEq
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 5, 2014
I honestly don't think it's all that great of a hire.
Sure, Charlie Strong is a hot coaching name right now, but he has nowhere near the level of resume that I would expect one to have for a job on the level of Texas. He has a whole four years of head coaching experience, all at Louisville. The first two years were by FAR less than stellar, ending 7-6 both seasons and going 1-1 in low-tier bowl games. Yes, these last two years Louisville has been nuts, going 11-2 and 12-1, knocking off Florida in the Sugar Bowl last year and spanking Miami in the Russel Athletic Bowl this year (mainly due to having Teddy Bridgewater at QB), but I am far from convinced that he is ready for the "big time" of coaching Texas.
I think Texas might be overreaching on this one. I like Charlie Strong, I do hope I'm wrong, but I think in 3 years time, Texas fans are going to be calling for his head and wanting a new coach. I just do not at all see him performing the "miracles" expected yearly by Texas fans.
The one thing I look at though is that Mack Brown wasn't that big of a deal either. He did get UNC on track but, really, wasn't a huge success until he came to Texas.
Just something to think about.
Well, alright, you have a very good point there. Like I said, I like Charlie Strong and I do hope he does well down there. Only issue will be those expecting miracles right off the bat. A new coach, a new system, new coordinators, etc, and at least some Texas fans will no doubt be expecting, at a minimum, a 9 or 10 win season next year. Will he survive the pressure of the job that will be laid upon his shoulders the moment he signs the dotted line? We'll find out. As I said, I hope he does well.
He will do just fine at Texas (Just threw up). He is very accomplished as a DC and has experience under Holtz and Spurrier (don't care about Urban Cryer). He is a very good recruiter as well. Will this be "good enough" for the Longhorns? Kind of like the point Matt made, just take a look at the last seven years..............I certainly think Texas will improve on D and will be much tougher. Still, hope they lose but not because of coach Strong.
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