NCAA Football Coaching Carousel...
- Thread starter Hungry Jack
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I said from the beginning Lovie was a bad hire. Can't understand how Illinois did not see this coming. Impossible task for a guy his age who has been pretty well beaten down by the NFL. I guess they wanted a quick fix and are now coming off the high rapidly. Need youth and energy like a guy like Fleck could provide. Both Purdue and Illinois will languish at the bottom for many years to come. West Lafayette and Champaign do not have much to offer. I think we are starting to see the glitter come off the Dome as well.
Sounds like a good trip. I'm going to stay home and figure out how I can help Riga the next election.
Maybe they hoped he would follow in the footsteps of other former Chicago Bears head coaches turned mediocre college coaches. You know, like Dave Wannstedt. *ducks*
What, you don't think Becks provided energy? I see the main problem at Illinois being structural. The school's natural recruiting turf isn't a hotbed for football, and reaching up to Chicago is extremely difficult when you have Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Notre Dame -- and oh, yeah, NU -- among others fighting for the best players. IMO the program needs stability and patience more than anything.
I don't see any impediment to Illinois having a successful program. They are where they are because they hired five mediocre to horrible coaches in a row starting with "Coach Death Penalty" (that's what UI fans called him) Lou Tepper.
The chatter in Oregon is that Fleck was their #1 target going into the search (other than Chip Kelly) but they didn't like what they found in the vetting process. It could just be the leaving his wife for the mistress stuff that's already out there. Although I heard a pretty plugged in booster-type compare him to hiring Steve Sarkisian, so who knows. If he keeps winning someone will hire him eventually.
Exactly my point. Iowa has had two head coaches since 1979, and they've been able to extend their reach to Chicago, Texas and elsewhere.
Yep - I am hearing Charlie strong to south Florida, but clearly I'm not a good source on this anyway
Concerning the question of who improved themselves at the head coaching spot, I would guess that Purdue and Texas both seem to have stepped up. I like Charlie Strong but Tom Hermann seems like a better fit. The others seem to be pretty much even trades.
The Zooker was able to recruit good players. He just didn't know what to do when he got them. He was kind of a minor league version of John Cooper at OSU.
Fleck should follow the Chris Peterson route. Don't jump - wait for the right one, and take it in a familiar geography. He's in a position to get Western Michigan to the same place Boise occupied for a decade or so. There are worse things than winning 11 games every year.
Fleck should angle to replace Ferentz or Riley (61 and 63) at Iowa or Nebraska, or Harbaigh when he gets itchy or Urban when he doesn't see an obvious successor at quarterback and decides to spend time with his family.
Fleck has done a great job, no doubt. I am skeptical he can have sustained success, though. But if he does stay at WMU and puts together another 2-3 stellar seasons, then like you said the sky would be the limit. I guess it would be a calculated career risk for him to stay put for now, especially since many of his key players will be graduating and he'll find it difficult to just reload like dOSU.
Given that he starts the 2017 season @USC, I doubt WMU will have another undefeated season.....but Fleck has recruited extremely well by MAC standards and should be in MAC title contention once again. He is still very young and can row the boat in Kalamazoo until a midwestern Power 5 job opens. Low risk to stay there IMHO.
If Purdue and Indiana weren't interested then I have a hard time thinking another Top tier P5 comes calling unless he rows his frigging boat a few more years.
Wondering what Fleck is being paid at WMU? Rumors outside of the football program are also seemingly hurting his possibilities.
As I indicated in another thread, I think Matt Ruhle is an outstanding coach. It will take a couple of years but he will succeed at Baylor and he will do it running a clean program. Great hire.
Not surprised that Fleck is getting passed over. I think the guy is not all that he appears to be if you dig below the surface. Certainly doesn't put him in exclusively company when it comes to the head coaching ranks but in terms of character I think he is a lot closer to Bobby Petrino than he is to a Pat Fitzgerald.
True.
In terms of coaching ability, also closer to Petrino than Fitz. There are always schools looking for a winner and willing to accept character flaws.
Doesn't appear that many are knocking on Fleck's door. It will likely get a bit harder for him to keep a winning tradition at WMU. Just look at Northern for example.
Don't make me laugh. You have no clue what you are talking about.
Who did more with less this season? Who won the head to head? Who lost to a FCS school?
Go ahead and argue the exception. I didn't say Fleck wasn't a good coach, he is. He is also a guy I wouldn't hire for a variety of things I've heard about him that I won't get into here. That being said, to say Fleck is a better coach than Fitz is ridiculous. There is no basis to say that. Everything went right for WMU and everything went wrong for NU and Fleck needed a miracle hit and fumble at his own 1 yard line to preserve a 1 point victory against a young and inconsistent NU team. Fitz and NU beat WMU 9 out of 10 times. Watch what Wisconsin does to WMU in the bowl game and then come tell me Fleck is a better coach than Fitz. Comical!
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