Can it get any tougher?
Arkansas hit the jackpot by landing Bobby Petrino. They were rejected 3x by mediocre ACC coaches and then rode the "Michael Vick Fiasco" wave from Atlanta to Little Rock. What seemed to be a potential disasster and looked like they might promote some local junior high defensive coordinator turned into another successful college coach coming to the SEC.
OK, seriously, has there ever been a conference that had as many good coaches at one time as the SEC will have next year? There are no more "Barney Fife's" roaming the sidelines on saturday's in the south. Maybe the weakest link in the SEC West is.....Sylvestor Croom??.....nope......Les Miles???....potential national champion........Houston Nutt??.....doubtful. You tell me? The east is stacked as well, Bobby Johnson has talentless Vanderbilt as tough as they are ever going to be, Rich Brooks has turned Kentucky around. Who's next? Is Bill Parcells going to come out of retirement and succeed Spurrier when he gets bored at South Carolina?
If LSU wins the national title, you will then have 5 different coaches who have won national titles (should be 6 with Tubberville and Auburn, so we will call it 5.5 coaches who have won titles). Mark Richt has been to 3 BCS bowls in 7 years, Petrino had people picking Louisville to be the National Title game for several years - he had to settle for an Orange Bowl victory at a basketball school.
So who is the "weak link" of the SEC now? The great thing about this off-season coaching carousel is that Michigan is looking more and more like the biggest loser. I'm loving seeing coaches left and right turn down that job. I hope they get stuck with someone fatter than Charlie Weiss and more scared than Lloyd Carr. Did anyone see the AP All-American team that had 3 Michigan players on it (a team that didn't have enough talent to beat 1-AA Appalachain State). Hail to the media's-valiant!!
posted by Alex @ 9:52 AM
19 comments
19 Comments:
I was just having this conversation with someone last night. The SEC is unbelievable. I do think the way Petrino left the Falcons was pretty sleazy. We definitely have our fair share of sleaze ball coaches. But seriously, it is unbelievable.
The Michigan coaching search is so entertaining. I hope they hire Ed Orgeron....wait, he might even turn them down
I resent that Brian.
I love the SEC. Remember in years past when there was a debate on which conference was the strongest? For some reason they still ask the question every night on ESPN and all the commentators have to begrudgingly say that the SEC is "by far" "hands down" "no contest" the best league. And then they quickly talk about the PAC-10 or the Big-10. They don't like it because the SEC schools have some of the smallest Television markets and they can't make as much advertising money off of us as they can a USC or a Michigan or even Ohio State. The reality is though that the times they are a changin'. CBS is starting to realize that they can make a butt load more money if they show SEC football from 2:30 to 10:00 on saturday. Coaches want to stay in the SEC because they know that you have to work harder to win but your 7-5 team in the SEC will beat most 10-2 teams in the rest of the country. Not to mention as a coach you are still under less media scrutiny (unless you coach at Arkansas). In the SEC coaches get to do what they love: coach. In the big markets you have to do the media thing. I love the SEC.
when i said (unless you coach at Arkansas) I meant to say "Alabama". I guess i am still excited that i know how to spell Arkansas correctly with all those silent and quiescent letters.
I'm not sure why everyone is on Petrino's back. It's not like Vick is injured. He's done. In my opinion, he'll never put on an NFL uniform again (too much rust mentally, not to mention physically). That's who he was brought into to build around. Now that's over. He's got a classless jerk in Dante Hall who won't quit throwing his coach under the bus. His WR is wearing a FREE MIKE VICK T-Shirt under his jersey. Who wouldn't leave?
Also, as far as SEC coaches go. I think Croom might be the worst one in the West (We'll see how Petrinoe handles a real schedule). However, he's the only one I'd take at his word (besides maybe Nutt). Miles, Petrino, Tuberville, and Saban have major skeletons in their closet.
Also, I'd like to get this on the record before the Mitchell Report comes out. Prediction: Albert Pujols is named as a user.
Kurt, why does Miles have skeletons in his closet? What has he done?
PS: I love the SEC. But if Miles leaves I hope LSU goes after Petrino. I bet we could get him.
I don't think anybody would have wanted to be the Falcons coach this year, but Petrino is being scrutinized b/c he has never been faithfully loyal wherever he has been. Each year at Louisville he tried to go somewhere else, and let's face it - when he found out about Vick he was looking to get out of Atlanta before the season started. The bright side for him, is that he is in good company. The SEC west is full of prostitutes. Maybe in 3 years they will all be somewhere else moments after promising to be "buried" in their respective schools hometown.
Didn't Miles just meet with Michigan this week to "give advice on their coaching search?" That's a little shady.
I don't see how this is a good hire for Arkansas...I would want a guy who gives a damn about my program, not some jerk who has lost the respect of basically every player he's ever coached, pro or college. Long-term that is never good for a team.
By the way,
people are mad a Petrino b/c he signed a huge contract for $5 million a year, treated his players like S**t and then couldn't even live up to his end of the deal for 1 season.
Coaches get away with this crap all the time, but when a player does it we hate him for it.
It is official, the SEC West is the biggest bunch of jerk coaches in football, with the lone exception of Croom.
Can't argue with that Luke. But the best NFL coach is the biggest Jerk in the history of sports (maybe outside of Ty Cobb). Maybe there is something to being good and being an asshole.
This whole Petrino crap really makes me have all the more respect for Les Miles sticking with LSU.
Have you guys seen the video's of the falcons players on Petrino? You should see Sean Salsbury's comments on him. They are the harshest I have ever heard on somebody's character.
my point Luke about Arkansas hitting the "jackpot" with Petrino is that things looked gloomy for them. They were getting rejections all over the place and it looked like they might have to pull an Ole Miss and go hire someone's defensive-line coach. The fact that they got someone with head coaching experience and success with that is almost astonishing. Still, I'll laugh he leaves in like a year or two.
Kurt, Miles did talk to the Michigan people. But he came out and again said, "I am not going to be the coach of Michigan. I am not a Candidate, I will be the coach at LSU next year." Now, if he leaves we can then say he is worse than Saban and Petrino. But surely not before.
Kurt,
You should apply:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/BLOG14/71127029/1054/SPORTS06
I'm not sure coaching Michigan would be an upgrade over just playing NCAA Football on the Xbox...
Michigan is easily the most over-rated program in the country. And they are the media 'darling', even more than Notre Dame.
I love the SEC.
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