Are the Houston Cougars setting a tanking trend?
ByCHRIS HUMMER 83 minutes ago
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“I can’t wrap my mind around that.”
That’s first-year Houston head coach
Dana Holgorsen last week when asked in a roundabout way if the Cougars were tanking the 2019 season. This line of questioning came up after star quarterback D’Eriq King, along with senior wide receiver
Keith Corbin, opted to redshirt this season after playing in the Cougars’ first four games.
It’s a decision that was met with shock nationally, including those within the coaching industry.
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“That’s a first for me in this game,” a Big 12 assistant said.
“This is crazy,” an SEC assistant said.
It remains to be seen how this will play out for Houston. King went on the record publicly last week and said “I’m staying here” when asked about potentially transferring. There’s a long time between now and the offseason, but both King and Holgorsen have insisted that this was a joint decision made to give King and Corbin an extra year of development.
Thus, let’s just assume King and Corbin will return in 2020. That brings us to the question of tanking in college football. Specifically, is it possible? Holgorsen may’ve danced around that word last week, but his comments – Holgorsen said he had a similar redshirt conversation with a “good bit” of his roster – speak to a coach who’s planning for the future after a 1-3 start (the Cougars moved to 2-3 with a surprising win vs. North Texas last week).
“I think the NCAA is upset at me right now because this isn’t the intent of the rule,” Holgorsen said. “Four games is four games, we can use it however we want to use it.”
The question is, will other schools follow suit after a bad start? 247Sports consulted coaches across the country with that prompt, and the answers varied. Most, however, thought Houston would probably go about this alone.
“I don’t (see anyone else doing this),” said a current MAC head coach. “Not in this age where you lose your job after one bad season.”
It’s important to note Holgorsen is in Year 1 of a six-year contract in Houston. The Cougars showed extreme commitment to the former West Virginia head coach, making him the highest-compensated G-5 head coach in the country. Holgorsen has a bit more built-in wiggle room for experimentation than other head coaches, even those in their initial seasons.
A Big Ten offensive coordinator also shot down the idea of more coaches deciding to tank. If anything, he said the NCAA’s redshirt rule, which now allows players to redshirt a season after four games, will lead to
players tanking a program.
“No one is going to tank,” the coordinator said. “College football as we know it, I’m not going to say the sky is falling, I don’t think ultimately this is that big of thing, but what’s going on at Houston you’re going to see more of the kids saying, ‘Hey, f*** it.’ And in this case, with all due respect to Dana, I understand where this kid is coming from. New coach, new system, you don’t have any loyalty to this guy and you’ve already seen three years of transfer quarterbacks do well, and he’s going to be the No. 1 free agent in college football.
“I read the thing and said what the f***!”
This conversation around tanking is multi-layered.
The Big 12 assistant told 247Sports, “I hope my QB, or any other position, would not ask to be redshirted especially if it was during an adverse time and they were the starter.”
The redshirt rule, which is in its second year, is a complicated issue in coaching circles. There are 25-plus players in the transfer portal that have played in at least one game this season, per a source. Not all of them are high-profile athletes like King, who is not in the portal, or
Kelly Bryant from last season. But we’re seeing contributors protect their eligibility with increased frequency.
Those in-season departures are something coaches are still grappling with.
“I’m for the transfer portal,” the MAC head coach said. “I’m good with that part of it. But commitment is commitment to a certain extent. I think the grass isn’t always greener. I think a little of it has to do with the relationship with coach and player. College football is college football and things aren’t always going to go their way. When it gets really hard what’s the reasoning you’re going to run from the situation?
“It still comes down to the coach-player relationship, and that player has to be honest with the coach. You have to talk through it, and the kid has to make the best decision for him. Why would you want a disgruntled player on your team anyway? That becomes a bad locker room guy.”
If King does follow through and stay, the Cougars have gained an extra year of eligibility from one of the nation’s top passers. Houston should be better, too. Holgorsen spoke at length last week about the jumps a team can make from Year 1 to Year 2, and several of the Cougars’ offseason transfer additions – like former Alabama five-star
Eyabi Anoma – will be eligible.
In that regard, the benefits to sitting King are obvious to those in coaching circles.
“You have a new coach come in and have five months to learn the system,” the MAC head coach said. “Now you have 17 months to go through that system. I see the kid’s point. He wants to play in the NFL. At his stature and size, he probably has to have a great senior year. So another year learning is a huge advantage.”
Will tanking become commonplace in college football? Not according to those 247Sports spoke to. But this decision, while shocking, does make quite a bit of sense given the uniqueness of the situation.
So, is it possible another coach attempts to copy the blueprint? One G-5 assistant summed it up best: “Who knows in today’s social media world?”
https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-tanking-Houston-Cougars-trend-136448606/
