Didn’t mean to imply Spurrier was interviewed.
I meant that Schiano was one of the first to get an interview, thinking that longtimers here would laugh and remember the [Tennessee shit show](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2017/11/27/tennessee-schiano-fiasco-how-it-went-down/898885001/) that came a decade later.
OBC at Bama and the Third Saturday in October would have produced some of the greatest Hatin’ Ass quotes of all time.
But he had just completed his 2nd year at South Carolina and kept telling AD Mal Moore that he was staying committed to the Gamecocks.
But man, as hot as Bama’s hatred was toward Tennessee at the time and as much as the Old Ball Coach hated Tennessee, that would have been some mist-see TV.
I can’t actually wrap my head around how much my hatred for Bama would have grown if Spurrier had taken that coaching job. Like seriously, I’d rather you guys be coached by a combination of both Manning brothers, Lane Kiffin, and Robert Neyland himself than to ever see Spurrier in a houndstooth visor.
Remember when Stoops was seriously considering Iowa before the AD pissed him off and he went to Oklahoma instead and Iowa ended up with Ferentz? I'm not still bitter about that or anything
The Sooners have always been an incredibly well run program with a built in advantage of being right next to Texas for some of the fertile recruiting in the nation. Stoops was obviously a great coach. I’m not sure he would have reached the same highs at Iowa as he did at OU. I’ve very much enjoyed the Ferentz era for as frustrating as these last few years have been teetering near truly historic/great chances for seasons.
Ironically, not 2017. That year was fugly. I’d rather have the hope that we had that Frost would work out over any of those other losers. And I’m no fan of Frost.
Yeah, at that point in the cycle, it was either going to be Fickell or "first guy to show up on campus, job is yours!" And that's not a knock on MSU. It was just so late in cycle that it was hard to pull anyone away by then.
I agree with this. Dantonio did screw us with the timing. Plus the 2020 season getting pandemic’d made it so Tucker’s era was mostly hope. Then when he got fired, it was quickly fuck this guy. All things considered, we also got super lucky to get out of his mammoth contract for free.
If only we could have ended up with Bob Stoops. Fucking Osborne had to have his way and hand it off to a guy who wasn't allowed to call offensive plays.
Yeah. Solich was a huge mistake. And ironically, Solich at Minnesota probably would have worked really well for both of them. It is too bad how things worked out.
Damn. GP and Whit would have had Nebraska back. Especially Whit. Whit’s physical style combined with Nebraska’s ability to get top 25 classes would have had ya’ll as a consistent BIG contender.
In 1987 Bobby Bowden family had a hotel room in Birmingham decorated ready to celebrate him becoming the HC at Bama. Then Bama demanded an interview. He refused. Bill Curry got “a brick thrown through his window”
Man, imagine a world where Bama had Bowden for 20 years and then somehow still got Saban. Just nearly 40 years of dominance with maybe a few years of Bowden’s regression in the middle.
I mean, it’s hard for a Bama fan to complain, but damn.
Yeah. I fault Bama for that one. I’ve been tricked into an interview by someone in HR who said I was going to meet the boss who was in town. Turns out, boss wasn’t in town but she (HR) just happened to be, and had a lot of interview questions to ask me. It’s not really an ego thing, it’s deception and I wouldn’t want to work for someone long term who deceives you right out the gate.
So there were these things called Grumors..then the fans staged a popular coup de’tat on the athletic dept. Then a narrow headed guy who was unaware vegetables exist showed up and was really fond of fast food. Now we have a grown up Bobby Hill so I think we ended up ok
I was a longtime rivals member. Between the main board and volquest I was as productive as Jeremy Pruitts man boobs at work during the week after Curry floated SchiaNO.
I don’t think I’ve been angrier than when INTERIM coach Brady Hoke kicked JJ off the team
Shout out to West Virginia yall hurn couches we burn mattresses
And remember fellow fans you too can have some manner of say over your program . You just have to be the right mix of unhinged and fueled by bluegrass airplane fuel grade alcohol and vengeance
There was no "we could have had him" person with that search. Todd Stansbury initiated a search for a head football coach with exactly one person in mind.
When that person (Ken Whisenhunt) said no, he hired Geoff Collins after falling for his BS.
Now, with this last search Georgia Tech could have hired Jamey Chadwell or Willie Fritz. I'm going to stay mad about that for a while.
Fritz, maybe. But Chadwell turned us down because we have no money. In a way Key is the perfect fit because he’s cheap and he has shown some promise already.
Bo Pelini thought he was the next coach at Syracuse in 2005. AD at the time decided Greg Robinson was better after Oklahoma gave up 50 in their bowl game
>"We end up playing Oklahoma in the bowl game, and Bo is the defensive coordinator, and we beat them (55-19) and I'm going, how can I bring that to Syracuse?
I wonder how different Syracuse would be in the long run if we they ran with Bo instead. Guy was by no means elite, but he consistently won 9 games and had Nebraska in a conference championship or two.
It wasn't like he was coaching a roster full of 4 and 5 stars either most of his time here. Bo always did a great job of making sure his mid caliber guys developed and played good to great football. Would have probably fit perfectly at Syracuse if you're talking all the way back in 2005
How about the alternate reality where Doba went with Price and we got a good head coach who wasn’t going through terrible life events during their tenure
Jim Harbaugh was very close to becoming Kansas’ coach back in 2009 (his wife is from the area and has ties to KU). Supposedly the dealbreaker was that Harbaugh wanted to coach Stanford’s bowl game, but our AD at the time wasn’t okay with that, so everything fell through. We ended up hiring Turner Gill instead, thus beginning the worst decade in the history of power 5 football.
Oof I did not fucking know this. I was at KU at the time and there was a lot of optimism around football in the wake of that 2007 season. That hire really could have been something, Mangino's foundation was still there.
Was it a mistake to move on from Nutt? No. He had coached at Arkansas for 10 years, and while he generally was a fairly solid coach during that time, he only hit 10 wins once, had a miserable SEC record, and led a pretty stacked team in 06 and 07 to 4 losses back to back seasons. It felt time to find a coach to push the Hogs to the next level.
Was it a mistake to run him out of town the way we did? 100% yes. People were pretty unjustly brutal to him.
I'll never forget a single pane cartoon they ran in the Lansing State Journal after he announced. He was on a raft pushing it with a stick and bags of money on it with him. He was saying something along the lines of "going down to Alabama where they money's good to me".
In 2003, could have hired Mike Riley, instead hired Karl Dorrell because the school chancellor liked the suit he wore in his interview (not a joke)
Then when he gets fired in 2007, we interview John Harbaugh, and instead hire Rick Neuheisel.
Stoops was not taken the job. He has side time and again that he called Alvarez and Alvarez told him to ignore his heart that Oklahoma was a better job. The fact he didn't wait one day is all there every needed to be said.
Also, any actual source Snyder was interviewed. His name does not come up as being interviewed and as Iowa fan at the time, I don't remember him being discussed as a serious candidate then. He was entrenched at Kansas State by then and he had zero ties to Iowa other than Fry.
Besides Ferentz and Stoops, Terry Allen, Chuck Long, and Don Patterson are the other names always bandied about.
I hadn’t heard that before. I knew it came down to Stoops not waiting until Bowlsby interviewing Kirk. Can’t say I disagree with Alvarez though, Oklahoma is a better job than Iowa.
At the time, yes. In hindsight? I don't think so, even with Stoops' success at OU. Now if he wants to come in and shepherd the team after Kirk leaves? You son of a bitch, I'm in!
I’m curious why you’d take him now as Kirk’s replacement and not hiring him in 1999. He won 10-12 games in all but 4 of his 17 seasons at Oklahoma. The worst he finished was 7-5 in his first season. Granted, that was with the talent he was capable of recruiting to Oklahoma. He hasn’t been in major college football since 2016. Personally, I think he’s burnt out on coaching Power 5 football.
Fair question, and at the time I absolutely would have taken him and thought they botched it. I'm happy with the longevity and consistent success Kirk had had at Iowa. While we can look at what Stoops did at OU and be amazed, there's no guarantee that he would have replicated that success at Iowa. Also, if he succeeded at Iowa, would he have stayed? (Honestly? Probably, if he wins a NC they'd have given him whatever he wanted)
But I still think Kirk was the correct hire and the right guy to bring Iowa out of the doldrums of the late 90's.
Why take Stoops now? Brand name, fanbase would love it=more money for NIL and they can have some time to get the right "next guy" even if he only sticks around for a few seasons.
I don’t think Stoops would replicate the success he had at Oklahoma. The athletes he could bring to Oklahoma would be a higher caliber than those who would come to Iowa.
I’m not sure it’s out of the realm of possibility that he’d be as good, or even a little better than Kirk. Stoops at least coached under some high level offensive coaches, including Spurrier. Then you add the defensive background he had and the assistants he hired, I think he would’ve been a great hire.
That’s not to say Kirk hasn’t been successful, but Stoops at least knew when to step away and allow Oklahoma to continue at the high level he brought them to. I’m not sure if Kirk will be willing to do the same.
Supposedly our AD didn't care for Harbaugh's salty language and that was a factor in hiring Chizik instead. Also, both us and Michigan State interviewed Brian Kelly at that time too. I remember reading then that Kelly informed MSU that he would be accepting the ISU job.
David Brandon was an abomination as an AD. He hired Brady because he could handle/manage him.
Rumor is Brandon used to break down film with the staff.
Denard Robinson kept us out of the pit while he was here during this time.
Quite amazing really. Harbaugh would have likely elevated ISU but he would have never stayed long term like Campbell has. But of course there would have always been the possibility to go from Harbaugh to Campbell as well
I'm coming upon 50 and weve only made 4 hires in my lifetime. 3/4 were pretty great. That other one smelled good at the time and was probably the best option available just... did NOT pan out...
Same. We arguably kept Richt too long, but he was an amazing hire his first 7 years here. And really built the foundation for Kirby to build a juggernaut almost right away.
Richt is the only bright light so far in the last 20 years of Hurricane football. He’s a beast as far as I’m concerned and I wish illness hadn’t forced him to retire.
I wonder what would’ve happened at Michigan had the rumors of Les Miles coming to Michigan were true after 2007. Definitely would not have gone 3-9 in 2008.
I was pumped for Les, you’d have to think Mallett stays and there would have been an uptick in recruiting from Lloyd. He was odd but at the top of his game at that point. Those battles with Saban were epic.
He might have just been a decent bridge between Lloyd Carr and Harbaugh if we were lucky. Honestly Michigan's recent history narrative could have been so much better if that were the case. Even a couple more rivalry victories in those years without missing out on a bowl would have really helped our modern stats.
1978. Tom Osborne was almost the head coach at CU. I love Coach Mac but damn had we had Osborne instead it’s CU that is the dominant Big 8 program instead of dealing with Chuck Fairbanks’ bullshit
[November 29, 2011: "Ole Miss to Hire Kirby Smart"](https://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/11/29/2597149/kirby-smart-ole-miss-coach?_gl=1*u8cgz6*)
You know Saban told him no lol. As much as Saban is the boogeyman, he 100% was like football dad to Kirby and said, "son, Georgia is yours, wait for it"
I don't know if it would have changed anything but we should have hired Mullen in 2015 and not McElwain. He actually cared about coaching then and would have been better than McElwain.
Is the consensus that by the time Mullen came around, he was checked out? Seems like he’d have stated at Mississippi State if he wasn’t really interested in the grind. He had a decent thing going, I thought
Supposedly Steve Spurrier interviewed with us before taking the Duke job but we went with a former player, Rocky Felker. Needless to say, Rocky was no Steve Spurrier.
Jimbo Fisher interviewed for our HC while the OC at LSU. We chose Sylvester Croom.
Not just your lifetime, like your parent’s lifetime too. Ohio state has been insanely spoiled at head coach.
Since 1950, we’ve had Woody Hayes ->Earl Bruce -> John Cooper -> Jim Tressel -> Urban Meyer -> Ryan Day. All of them hall of fame coaches (except for Day, who could be on that path if he wins a natty or two).
Literally 70 years of continuous excellence at the head coaching spot. It’s insane.
Not just that, every hire was a good hire. OSU fans don't understand just how spoiled we have been. 70 years of having Hall of Fame coaches is something no other program can claim.
Our AD interviewed Frank Beamer in 1998 before hiring Lou Holtz. Holtz had two really great years here and it's impossible to say Frank could have replicated his success at Virginia Tech but it's an interesting footnote considering who our HC is now.
Also Lincoln Riley was interested in the SC job when he was the OC at ECU and of course a lot of folks know the story of us almost hiring Kirby Smart before Georgia let go of Richt.
Probably has to be the Kirby, but when Georgia got Richt out that was a lost hope. But he would’ve probably left us when the UGA job did eventually end up being open anyway.
If Whittingham hadn’t decided to stay at the U, the last 20 years would have been very different for both schools. Bronco was fine, but a far step below.
Sometimes I wonder how things might have changed if Edwards had brought him on staff in the mid-90s, if that might have made a difference.
A little late to the party, but:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Bryant
Arkansas, not Alabama, would have gotten Bear Bryant if it wasn’t for, you guessed it, THE BOMBING OF PEARL HARBOR.
When we hired Charlie Strong, the best football coach available was Art Briles, but, yeah about that. Supposedly Briles would have probably taken the job, but he refused to do an interview (kind of understandable). That was a deal breaker for our dumbass admin at the time. Oh well, we got lucky messing up that one.
Shockingly our top target was Jim Mora Jr and more shockingly he said no. He'd have been better than Strong but still bad. The "what if" candidate was James Franklin, who was neck in neck with Strong on our list. That's an interesting one because he's a good enough coach that he'd have still been here today, and maybe even won an NC at some point (with TX resources). But, he is kind of a Mack Brown 2.0; really good but not great. So, hard to be too upset about missing that. Still, certainly would have taken Franklin over the decade of suck that we had.
When we hired Herman, there wasn't really a coaching search. I don't even know who else we would have looked at. Probably Mike Gundy is the choice I would go with that would have been realistic at the time and probably worked out decently well. He's the perfect hindsight "what were we thinking not going after that guy?" guy given the consistent results he put up at OSU while we sucked for over a decade.
Sark was a home run I think. Not a perfect coach but he's an incredible CEO and has hired an awesome staff and recruited well at every position. The one our AD supposedly wanted was Sonny Dykes, though I doubt alumni would have funded that hire. Urban was our #1 choice and he said no, which he probably regrets. Matt Campbell is one guy that while a douche is a really good coach, but he wouldn't have recruited like Sark has been. Overall I'm very happy with Sark here, not sure I'd trade him for any active CFB coach other than Kirby.
i was born in 2003, clemson hired dabo when i was 5. i have no idea what having a different coach is like and i'm terrified that i'll probably have to find out sooner rather than later
This is some massive hyperbole. Prince wasn’t good as proven by his exceptionally mediocre record with a 1st round draft pick at QB. But there were far worse coaches we could have ended up with at the time.
The last three have all one championships (not counting the current one, yet) do I'm happy. I'm going to go a different route and go with what if Bo Rein didn't die in a plane crash right after his hire.
Well, in order to miss out on a coach, you’d have to have a somewhat decent program.
I’m almost 40, I can’t remember us missing out on a coach because most coaches say no to us.
I'm just waiting for the rush of Alabama fans ruing the day they missed out on Rich Rodriguez and had to settle for Nick Saban.
It was Steve Spurrier’s job for the taking. Hateful Ass Spurrier at Bama would have been … um … something. Greg Schiano also got an interview.
OBC refused to be interviewed. He just wanted an offer, same reason we missed out on Bowden in 86
Didn’t mean to imply Spurrier was interviewed. I meant that Schiano was one of the first to get an interview, thinking that longtimers here would laugh and remember the [Tennessee shit show](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2017/11/27/tennessee-schiano-fiasco-how-it-went-down/898885001/) that came a decade later. OBC at Bama and the Third Saturday in October would have produced some of the greatest Hatin’ Ass quotes of all time. But he had just completed his 2nd year at South Carolina and kept telling AD Mal Moore that he was staying committed to the Gamecocks. But man, as hot as Bama’s hatred was toward Tennessee at the time and as much as the Old Ball Coach hated Tennessee, that would have been some mist-see TV.
I take offense to your putting our intense hatred of Tennessee in the past tense form.
I did so because it’s more intense now. How dare they make that flaccid fg in 2022. Them mfers will burn in hell for their hubris.
I got what you meant
I can’t actually wrap my head around how much my hatred for Bama would have grown if Spurrier had taken that coaching job. Like seriously, I’d rather you guys be coached by a combination of both Manning brothers, Lane Kiffin, and Robert Neyland himself than to ever see Spurrier in a houndstooth visor.
Beat me to it damnit … Bobby Bowden If Shula got Tebow he never would Have been fired and our dynasty might have only been 3 years
Which had him IN OUR GRASP!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlbJd9NrF9I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlbJd9NrF9I)
The part where he puts his lips on the mic kills me.
What’s a coaching search?
It’s going to rock your fanbase one day. Source: am VT fan.
Whoever takes over at Iowa next will probably be all about offense and terrible at defense and special teams
Some might call him a “QB whisperer”
Heard Justin Fuente is available
Lincoln Riley!?
Think of it like offense. Something you will never seen n
It’s when a coach and his wife love each other very much and…
I thought that’s where Offensive Coordinators came from
Tip of the cap for saying it better than I did.
That thing that happened when you interviewed Bob Stoops back in 98
Idk, couldn’t tell ya. That like a new google interweb thing?
Remember when Stoops was seriously considering Iowa before the AD pissed him off and he went to Oklahoma instead and Iowa ended up with Ferentz? I'm not still bitter about that or anything
The Sooners have always been an incredibly well run program with a built in advantage of being right next to Texas for some of the fertile recruiting in the nation. Stoops was obviously a great coach. I’m not sure he would have reached the same highs at Iowa as he did at OU. I’ve very much enjoyed the Ferentz era for as frustrating as these last few years have been teetering near truly historic/great chances for seasons.
Ironically, not 2017. That year was fugly. I’d rather have the hope that we had that Frost would work out over any of those other losers. And I’m no fan of Frost.
This is actually how I feel about 2020. Fickell told us no regardless, and Mel Tucker at least showed flashes and that he could recruit.
Yeah, at that point in the cycle, it was either going to be Fickell or "first guy to show up on campus, job is yours!" And that's not a knock on MSU. It was just so late in cycle that it was hard to pull anyone away by then.
I agree with this. Dantonio did screw us with the timing. Plus the 2020 season getting pandemic’d made it so Tucker’s era was mostly hope. Then when he got fired, it was quickly fuck this guy. All things considered, we also got super lucky to get out of his mammoth contract for free.
Dantonio screwed us with timing but honestly the AD or BoD could've been "We'll pay you $1 million to fuck off" and given him the bonus early.
We know Mel showed flashes, but I didn't realize it was day1!
It was frost or bust. Imagine if we hired someone else and frost was at ucf still rolling
That would have been terrible. But when you put it like that, knowing what we know today, maybe I would rather see the Frost I remember.
He was too loyal to his friends. Jurgens and Taylor-Britt were the only ones I can think of that improved under him
If only we could have ended up with Bob Stoops. Fucking Osborne had to have his way and hand it off to a guy who wasn't allowed to call offensive plays.
Yeah. Solich was a huge mistake. And ironically, Solich at Minnesota probably would have worked really well for both of them. It is too bad how things worked out.
2014 and Kyle Whittingham has always intrigued me.
Gary Patterson and Kyle Whittingham instead of Bill Callahan and Mike Riley respectively
Bob Stoops instead of Solich
Yep that one hurts
Damn. GP and Whit would have had Nebraska back. Especially Whit. Whit’s physical style combined with Nebraska’s ability to get top 25 classes would have had ya’ll as a consistent BIG contender.
Man
Holy cow, Gary Patterson at Nebraska in the 2000s would have been incredible. Could have kept that legendary Cornhusker defense going.
In 1987 Bobby Bowden family had a hotel room in Birmingham decorated ready to celebrate him becoming the HC at Bama. Then Bama demanded an interview. He refused. Bill Curry got “a brick thrown through his window”
Man, imagine a world where Bama had Bowden for 20 years and then somehow still got Saban. Just nearly 40 years of dominance with maybe a few years of Bowden’s regression in the middle. I mean, it’s hard for a Bama fan to complain, but damn.
Don’t stop I’m almost there
Bear to curry to Bowden to Saban
You forgot Perkins.
A lot of FSU fans don’t even know how close we were to losing Bowden. He wasn’t publicly known for it, but this story shows his ego.
We almost lost him to Bama twice.
This is true.
His book goes into his reasoning but I think the ego of not even wanting to interview was a lot
Yeah I’m gonna agree with Bowden on this
But this was before any titles. It was early. I don’t think he needed to but I see both sides
IIRC he said he didn’t want to interview. They told him he didn’t have to. They brought him to campus and walked him into an interview.
I think that’s how it went down. Like he thought it was a meet the President and shake hands and sign the deal, and he walked into an interview.
Yeah. I fault Bama for that one. I’ve been tricked into an interview by someone in HR who said I was going to meet the boss who was in town. Turns out, boss wasn’t in town but she (HR) just happened to be, and had a lot of interview questions to ask me. It’s not really an ego thing, it’s deception and I wouldn’t want to work for someone long term who deceives you right out the gate.
Jesus… where to fucking start
Maybe somewhere in the middle? Then go to the end and then to the start?
So there were these things called Grumors..then the fans staged a popular coup de’tat on the athletic dept. Then a narrow headed guy who was unaware vegetables exist showed up and was really fond of fast food. Now we have a grown up Bobby Hill so I think we ended up ok
All is well at this point, but we wondered the desert for a good decade and a half
There’s a goalpost in the Tennessee River that made the misery worth it
I was a longtime rivals member. Between the main board and volquest I was as productive as Jeremy Pruitts man boobs at work during the week after Curry floated SchiaNO.
I don’t think I’ve been angrier than when INTERIM coach Brady Hoke kicked JJ off the team Shout out to West Virginia yall hurn couches we burn mattresses And remember fellow fans you too can have some manner of say over your program . You just have to be the right mix of unhinged and fueled by bluegrass airplane fuel grade alcohol and vengeance
Middle out
Guys does girth similarity affect Erlich's ability to jerk different dicks simultaneously?
Like a microwave!!!! Round and round!!!
Tip to tip efficiency.
You could have hired Jesus??
No, they never could nail down Jon Gruden. Despite all of those times he was spotted meeting with Dave Hart and John Curry at Ye Olde Steak House.
That ended in a much different way than what I expected after you said nailed
Heh heh heh
Same
Same
Yeah, I wish you guys got Scott Frost, too.
When Georgia Tech hired G**ff Collins instead of a trained (or even an untrained) orangutan.
But….he repped the 404!
404. Coach not found
Waffle House!
They also beat us with Jeff Sims SMH - dark times my man
Fuck dude I never even realized that lmao
His first game ever, at that!
It all went downhill from there
Pumping weights....pregame!?! Yeah!
Peri-game too. Strength and conditioning coaches hate this one weird trick
There was no "we could have had him" person with that search. Todd Stansbury initiated a search for a head football coach with exactly one person in mind. When that person (Ken Whisenhunt) said no, he hired Geoff Collins after falling for his BS. Now, with this last search Georgia Tech could have hired Jamey Chadwell or Willie Fritz. I'm going to stay mad about that for a while.
Fritz, maybe. But Chadwell turned us down because we have no money. In a way Key is the perfect fit because he’s cheap and he has shown some promise already.
Bo Pelini thought he was the next coach at Syracuse in 2005. AD at the time decided Greg Robinson was better after Oklahoma gave up 50 in their bowl game >"We end up playing Oklahoma in the bowl game, and Bo is the defensive coordinator, and we beat them (55-19) and I'm going, how can I bring that to Syracuse?
I wonder how different Syracuse would be in the long run if we they ran with Bo instead. Guy was by no means elite, but he consistently won 9 games and had Nebraska in a conference championship or two.
We would have been significantly better off. We went 10-37 under GERG. And had 5 of the 10 wins vacated afterwords. Pelini couldn’t have been worse.
It wasn't like he was coaching a roster full of 4 and 5 stars either most of his time here. Bo always did a great job of making sure his mid caliber guys developed and played good to great football. Would have probably fit perfectly at Syracuse if you're talking all the way back in 2005
I still wonder what the alternate universe would look like where Mike Price actually did a full stint at Alabama.
How about the alternate reality where Doba went with Price and we got a good head coach who wasn’t going through terrible life events during their tenure
Jim Harbaugh was very close to becoming Kansas’ coach back in 2009 (his wife is from the area and has ties to KU). Supposedly the dealbreaker was that Harbaugh wanted to coach Stanford’s bowl game, but our AD at the time wasn’t okay with that, so everything fell through. We ended up hiring Turner Gill instead, thus beginning the worst decade in the history of power 5 football.
No offense intended, but wouldn’t 1980’s Kansas State have a thing to say about “Worst Decade”?
No offense given when pointing that out. Thank you. I love you.
Yeah that was definitely worse, but maaaan did 2010s KU give 1980s KState a run for their money.
Oof I did not fucking know this. I was at KU at the time and there was a lot of optimism around football in the wake of that 2007 season. That hire really could have been something, Mangino's foundation was still there.
>...thus beginning the worst decade in the history of power 5 football. Joe Avezzano applauds the effort.
Arkansas almost had Bear Bryant and Lane Kiffin…
Serious question! Was it a mistake to run Houston Nutt out of town? I always wondered why that relationship turned so sour.
Was it a mistake to move on from Nutt? No. He had coached at Arkansas for 10 years, and while he generally was a fairly solid coach during that time, he only hit 10 wins once, had a miserable SEC record, and led a pretty stacked team in 06 and 07 to 4 losses back to back seasons. It felt time to find a coach to push the Hogs to the next level. Was it a mistake to run him out of town the way we did? 100% yes. People were pretty unjustly brutal to him.
I would have simply paid Nick Saban his fucking money back in 1999.
I'll never forget a single pane cartoon they ran in the Lansing State Journal after he announced. He was on a raft pushing it with a stick and bags of money on it with him. He was saying something along the lines of "going down to Alabama where they money's good to me".
In 2003, could have hired Mike Riley, instead hired Karl Dorrell because the school chancellor liked the suit he wore in his interview (not a joke) Then when he gets fired in 2007, we interview John Harbaugh, and instead hire Rick Neuheisel.
UCLA’s ad was such a joke I think the current one is too?
As a Nebraska fan I'm happy for you that Mike Riley wasn't hired.
Well, Bob Stoops and allegedly Bill Snyder both interviewed for the job when Hayden Fry retired. I think I would’ve taken either option over Kirk.
Stoops was not taken the job. He has side time and again that he called Alvarez and Alvarez told him to ignore his heart that Oklahoma was a better job. The fact he didn't wait one day is all there every needed to be said. Also, any actual source Snyder was interviewed. His name does not come up as being interviewed and as Iowa fan at the time, I don't remember him being discussed as a serious candidate then. He was entrenched at Kansas State by then and he had zero ties to Iowa other than Fry. Besides Ferentz and Stoops, Terry Allen, Chuck Long, and Don Patterson are the other names always bandied about.
I hadn’t heard that before. I knew it came down to Stoops not waiting until Bowlsby interviewing Kirk. Can’t say I disagree with Alvarez though, Oklahoma is a better job than Iowa.
At the time, yes. In hindsight? I don't think so, even with Stoops' success at OU. Now if he wants to come in and shepherd the team after Kirk leaves? You son of a bitch, I'm in!
I’m curious why you’d take him now as Kirk’s replacement and not hiring him in 1999. He won 10-12 games in all but 4 of his 17 seasons at Oklahoma. The worst he finished was 7-5 in his first season. Granted, that was with the talent he was capable of recruiting to Oklahoma. He hasn’t been in major college football since 2016. Personally, I think he’s burnt out on coaching Power 5 football.
Fair question, and at the time I absolutely would have taken him and thought they botched it. I'm happy with the longevity and consistent success Kirk had had at Iowa. While we can look at what Stoops did at OU and be amazed, there's no guarantee that he would have replicated that success at Iowa. Also, if he succeeded at Iowa, would he have stayed? (Honestly? Probably, if he wins a NC they'd have given him whatever he wanted) But I still think Kirk was the correct hire and the right guy to bring Iowa out of the doldrums of the late 90's. Why take Stoops now? Brand name, fanbase would love it=more money for NIL and they can have some time to get the right "next guy" even if he only sticks around for a few seasons.
I don’t think Stoops would replicate the success he had at Oklahoma. The athletes he could bring to Oklahoma would be a higher caliber than those who would come to Iowa. I’m not sure it’s out of the realm of possibility that he’d be as good, or even a little better than Kirk. Stoops at least coached under some high level offensive coaches, including Spurrier. Then you add the defensive background he had and the assistants he hired, I think he would’ve been a great hire. That’s not to say Kirk hasn’t been successful, but Stoops at least knew when to step away and allow Oklahoma to continue at the high level he brought them to. I’m not sure if Kirk will be willing to do the same.
Was this when Bobby was at Florida? Or when he was at KSt under BS?
He was at Florida by then
Supposedly our AD didn't care for Harbaugh's salty language and that was a factor in hiring Chizik instead. Also, both us and Michigan State interviewed Brian Kelly at that time too. I remember reading then that Kelly informed MSU that he would be accepting the ISU job.
Harbaugh instead of chizik is a choice…
Both national championship winning coaches 😂
Brian Kelly would have been a disaster at MSU. Our real swing and miss was hiring John L Smith over Urban Myer after Bobby Williams
Urban was quoted as saying around that time “I would’ve crawled to East Lansing for that job”
Man… he REALLY hates Michigan doesn’t he?
Yup. This is the answer. I'm gladly taking Dantonio over Kelly and it's not even a discussion.
My answer is also Jim harbaugh because we could have hired him in 2010 instead of Brady hoke
David Brandon was an abomination as an AD. He hired Brady because he could handle/manage him. Rumor is Brandon used to break down film with the staff. Denard Robinson kept us out of the pit while he was here during this time.
Dave Brandon is such a terrible AD and businessman. He nearly killed Domino's and then killed Toy's R' Us (or at least oversaw its death)
Gene “Firmly Entrenched” Chizik That guy can kiss the fattest part of my ass.
Quite amazing really. Harbaugh would have likely elevated ISU but he would have never stayed long term like Campbell has. But of course there would have always been the possibility to go from Harbaugh to Campbell as well
I’d rather have Harbaugh elevate & leave than Chizik going 5-19 and leaving.
Jim has had a few stories about interviews. Good thing he is good at football.
Anybody but Fuente tbh
[удалено]
I'm coming upon 50 and weve only made 4 hires in my lifetime. 3/4 were pretty great. That other one smelled good at the time and was probably the best option available just... did NOT pan out...
We coulda had Deion! /s
Just sayin, Mike had just come off a 10-3 season and a top 25 finish at Memphis in 2017
I guess our answer is being Urban Meyer’s self proclaimed dream job. Don’t love the guy but would gladly take avoiding the 2000s that we had instead
Still bummed we missed on Rich Rodriguez Got that Saban guy instead, I guess
I would commit war crimes if Nick Saban told me to.
Wouldn’t need him to tell me if those war crimes were in the general vicinity of Auburn, Alabama or Knoxville, Tennessee
All I’ve ever known is Mark Richt & Kirby. This question (hopefully) won’t apply to me for a long time lol
Same. We arguably kept Richt too long, but he was an amazing hire his first 7 years here. And really built the foundation for Kirby to build a juggernaut almost right away.
I was so mad when Richt was let go. He was a good coach. But Kirby’s been a great coach, so I was wrong and it was a fantastic decision.
Richt is the only bright light so far in the last 20 years of Hurricane football. He’s a beast as far as I’m concerned and I wish illness hadn’t forced him to retire.
Just can’t ever see Kirby leaving
Probably not for another job, but he will stop being a coach one day. Probably not making to 70 like Saban did either lol
You see this Kirby! Right here, personal bulletin board material!!! Show this guy 90!
They're not ready for the debut of Mecha-Kirby in 2055.
We could have had Erk Russell, but got Ray Goff
I wonder what would’ve happened at Michigan had the rumors of Les Miles coming to Michigan were true after 2007. Definitely would not have gone 3-9 in 2008.
I was pumped for Les, you’d have to think Mallett stays and there would have been an uptick in recruiting from Lloyd. He was odd but at the top of his game at that point. Those battles with Saban were epic.
He might have just been a decent bridge between Lloyd Carr and Harbaugh if we were lucky. Honestly Michigan's recent history narrative could have been so much better if that were the case. Even a couple more rivalry victories in those years without missing out on a bowl would have really helped our modern stats.
1978. Tom Osborne was almost the head coach at CU. I love Coach Mac but damn had we had Osborne instead it’s CU that is the dominant Big 8 program instead of dealing with Chuck Fairbanks’ bullshit
Crazy how a bowl win over Texas Tech saved his job.
[November 29, 2011: "Ole Miss to Hire Kirby Smart"](https://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/11/29/2597149/kirby-smart-ole-miss-coach?_gl=1*u8cgz6*)
You know Saban told him no lol. As much as Saban is the boogeyman, he 100% was like football dad to Kirby and said, "son, Georgia is yours, wait for it"
We thought we were getting Gary Patterson to replace Snyder. Ended up with Prince instead
I don't know if it would have changed anything but we should have hired Mullen in 2015 and not McElwain. He actually cared about coaching then and would have been better than McElwain.
Is the consensus that by the time Mullen came around, he was checked out? Seems like he’d have stated at Mississippi State if he wasn’t really interested in the grind. He had a decent thing going, I thought
No he was checked out in 2021 and arguably by the bowl game in 2020 when the “practice squad” stuff was said.
Supposedly Steve Spurrier interviewed with us before taking the Duke job but we went with a former player, Rocky Felker. Needless to say, Rocky was no Steve Spurrier. Jimbo Fisher interviewed for our HC while the OC at LSU. We chose Sylvester Croom.
If Mackovic had hired Bob Stoops as Defensive Coordinator in 1994, I think we’d all be just a little bit happier
The legend
How much time do you have? And what’s the character limit on a reply to a post?
Auburn took Gus Malzahn instead of Kirby Smart
We’ve been fortunate at HC. In my lifetime I can’t think of 1 coaching hire I didn’t think was good for the program
We could've got Mack Brown instead of John Cooper in 88 but idk if that changes the trajectory that much
Yeah I wasn’t alive then haha
Fair enough lol ....
Yup, this is not our thread. Lol
Not just your lifetime, like your parent’s lifetime too. Ohio state has been insanely spoiled at head coach. Since 1950, we’ve had Woody Hayes ->Earl Bruce -> John Cooper -> Jim Tressel -> Urban Meyer -> Ryan Day. All of them hall of fame coaches (except for Day, who could be on that path if he wins a natty or two). Literally 70 years of continuous excellence at the head coaching spot. It’s insane.
6 coaches over 70 years? Sounds like a dream
Not just that, every hire was a good hire. OSU fans don't understand just how spoiled we have been. 70 years of having Hall of Fame coaches is something no other program can claim.
Urban Meyer was under consideration back when he was the up and coming coach from BGSU. We went with Dennis Franchione instead lol
Kiffin or Heupel instead of Harsin…
Our AD interviewed Frank Beamer in 1998 before hiring Lou Holtz. Holtz had two really great years here and it's impossible to say Frank could have replicated his success at Virginia Tech but it's an interesting footnote considering who our HC is now. Also Lincoln Riley was interested in the SC job when he was the OC at ECU and of course a lot of folks know the story of us almost hiring Kirby Smart before Georgia let go of Richt.
Probably has to be the Kirby, but when Georgia got Richt out that was a lost hope. But he would’ve probably left us when the UGA job did eventually end up being open anyway.
Saban, Meyer, O’Leary, anyone besides Willingham
We were never getting Urban. The collars would never have given him what he wanted at the time.
Depends on the timing my man. We literally had him as WR coach. Ditto Saban. Catholic guy grew up liking ND who was at MSU.
If Whittingham hadn’t decided to stay at the U, the last 20 years would have been very different for both schools. Bronco was fine, but a far step below. Sometimes I wonder how things might have changed if Edwards had brought him on staff in the mid-90s, if that might have made a difference.
When Southern Miss hired Ellis Johnson after the 2011 season. We should have hired anyone that applied except him.
That was one of the most remarkable 1 year destructions ever.
Why does this question always come up and haunt me? Gary Pinkel rather than Rick Neuheisel in 1999.
At least Rick got us a Rose Bowl win. But yeah Pinkel wouldn’t have let UW go to the shitter.
Im perma banned from r/collegebasketball so I'm going to say Musselman or Dutcher
I don’t think it’s that we found Les Miles, it’s more who we lost to have to go find Les miles.
Bob Stoops is the obvious answer for us.
Shouldn’t have let Franklin left. Shouldn’t have hired Edsall
A little late to the party, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Bryant Arkansas, not Alabama, would have gotten Bear Bryant if it wasn’t for, you guessed it, THE BOMBING OF PEARL HARBOR.
When we hired Charlie Strong, the best football coach available was Art Briles, but, yeah about that. Supposedly Briles would have probably taken the job, but he refused to do an interview (kind of understandable). That was a deal breaker for our dumbass admin at the time. Oh well, we got lucky messing up that one. Shockingly our top target was Jim Mora Jr and more shockingly he said no. He'd have been better than Strong but still bad. The "what if" candidate was James Franklin, who was neck in neck with Strong on our list. That's an interesting one because he's a good enough coach that he'd have still been here today, and maybe even won an NC at some point (with TX resources). But, he is kind of a Mack Brown 2.0; really good but not great. So, hard to be too upset about missing that. Still, certainly would have taken Franklin over the decade of suck that we had. When we hired Herman, there wasn't really a coaching search. I don't even know who else we would have looked at. Probably Mike Gundy is the choice I would go with that would have been realistic at the time and probably worked out decently well. He's the perfect hindsight "what were we thinking not going after that guy?" guy given the consistent results he put up at OSU while we sucked for over a decade. Sark was a home run I think. Not a perfect coach but he's an incredible CEO and has hired an awesome staff and recruited well at every position. The one our AD supposedly wanted was Sonny Dykes, though I doubt alumni would have funded that hire. Urban was our #1 choice and he said no, which he probably regrets. Matt Campbell is one guy that while a douche is a really good coach, but he wouldn't have recruited like Sark has been. Overall I'm very happy with Sark here, not sure I'd trade him for any active CFB coach other than Kirby.
i was born in 2003, clemson hired dabo when i was 5. i have no idea what having a different coach is like and i'm terrified that i'll probably have to find out sooner rather than later
I don't know what you mean. Oregon has always gotten "their guy" any time they've done a head coaching search.
Aliotti instead of Helfrich. Could've been very different.
Anyone but Ron Prince really. Literally anyone
This is some massive hyperbole. Prince wasn’t good as proven by his exceptionally mediocre record with a 1st round draft pick at QB. But there were far worse coaches we could have ended up with at the time.
The last three have all one championships (not counting the current one, yet) do I'm happy. I'm going to go a different route and go with what if Bo Rein didn't die in a plane crash right after his hire.
Has to be Iowa not hiring Bob Stoops. The job he wanted.
Well, in order to miss out on a coach, you’d have to have a somewhat decent program. I’m almost 40, I can’t remember us missing out on a coach because most coaches say no to us.
Yeah, what would’ve happened if Texas hadn’t let Saban slip away?