I think we’ve reached a point where the last big coaching domino has fallen in this crazy coaching-change cycle. And by big domino I mean one Power 5 school stealing another Power 5 school’s head coach.
Florida State did it to Oregon, grabbing Florida native Willie Taggart. He was the Ducks head coach for 364 days. Unless Oregon makes a run at Mike Leach, which seems unlikely, the Ducks probably aren’t plucking a current Power 5 coach.
It looks like Arkansas, which is reportedly close to hiring SMU’s Chad Morris, won’t either, while Tennessee’s search appears to be focused on SEC coordinators at this point.
Maybe that’s what prompted this tweet from ESPN’s Chris Low.
While we're on the subject of head coaching hires, of the last 40 hires in the SEC, only five have been sitting head coaches at a Power 5 school.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 6, 2017
Interesting. That sounds like a low number from what either is (or was for most of the past decade) the most powerful Power 5 conference in the country, so I went looking for some context.
These were the five SEC coaches in the last 40 hires who were standing P5 coaches: Les Miles (LSU, 05), Gene Chizik (Auburn, 09), Bret Bielema (Arkansas, 13), Dan Mullen (Florida, 18) and Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M, 18). Five such hires is actually the most standing Power 5 coaches hired among the Power 5 conferences and the highest percentage (including coaches who were in place in 2007).
Here are the rest of the numbers:
ACC (1/33): Taggart was the first standing P5 coach hired at an ACC school in the last decade unless you want to count coaches coming from the now-defunct Big East.
Big 12 (3/27): The Big 12 has hired zero standing P5 coaches since 2007, but if you include coaches who were in place that year you have guys like Mack Brown, Dennis Franchione and Guy Morriss.
Pac-12 (3/32): The group here includes Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Gary Andersen, none of whom are still coaching in the Pac-12.
Big Ten (3/34): Nebraska didn’t manage the feat with this hire – despite AAC marketers best efforts – but it did last time inviting Mike Riley from Oregon State. The other two: James Franklin at Penn State and Ron Zook at Illinois.
Point being almost nobody hires standing Power 5 head coaches. It’s just not how this particular food chain works very often. Maybe that’s why Low also tweeted this yesterday.
As schools scurry to fill their head coaching positions, it's worth noting that three of the four teams in the CFP are coached by guys who didn't have any previous head coaching experience when they got the job — OU's Lincoln Riley, UGA's Kirby Smart and Clemson's Dabo Swinney.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 6, 2017
That is sort of interesting. Since 2007, just 42 of 118 (35.6%) P5 coaches hired have had zero years of head-coaching experience. To get three in one playoff is somewhat odds-defying.
The Grab Bag
- ICYMI: Coach John Cook had a powerful reaction to Scott Frost's press conference. Also, Nebrasketball knocked off No. 14 Minnesota last night. (Game story, quotes, photos)
- UCF hired Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, and his buyout is three times what Scott Frost's was.
- Pat Narduzzi is reportedly getting a raise and extension at Pitt.
- Interesting read on the Ball family and UCLA.
Today's Song of Today
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.