Saban, Conference Expansion, & other things

[J.B. TexasEx]

I ranked the candidates SG had listed in his original post to this thread. They're not my choices. My list includes (in no particular order)

Saban, Shaw, Strong, Fitzgerald, Morris, Smart, Fisher, and Sumlin

U have a few coaches u rank pretty high but then have good reasons they should not be head coach. I want nothing to do with Gruden, don't step on campus. Tomlin hasn't coached in college.

Briles is out recruiting Texas at Baylor, head to head, think about that. Great O mind, paired with a very good DC would be great. Briles and Strong are 20 x more proven that Gruden and Tomlin. Gruden doesn't have a coaching job for a few yrs.

 

[TheContractor]

Some nice options, Briles is my #2, than Strong.

 

[LongviewLobo01]

U have a few coaches u rank pretty high but then have good reasons they should not be head coach. I want nothing to do with Gruden, don't step on campus. Tomlin hasn't coached in college.

Briles is out recruiting Texas at Baylor, head to head, think about that. Great O mind, paired with a very good DC would be great. Briles and Strong are 20 x more proven that Gruden and Tomlin. Gruden doesn't have a coaching job for a few yrs.

I can understand you're not being on board with Gruden because he doesn't have ties to college, but you're wrong on Tomlin. He got his start in college. He was a grad assistant in 1996 in Memphis, WR coach at Arkansas State in 1997, DB coach at Arkansas State in 1998 and DB coach for Cincinnati from 1999-2000 before being hired by Tampa Bay to get his NFL career going. Now he hasn't coached at a big time program and hasn't been in the college game in a LONG time, but it wouldn't be completely foreign to him.

And I completely disagree with you regarding Briles and Strong being more proven than Gruden and Tomlin. We're talking about a pair of coaches who have exactly 1 BCS win between them in their entire head coaching careers against a pair of guys who have three SUPER BOWL rings among them. I'm sorry if I believe winning titles in the NFL is more difficult than winning in college. Just look at college coaches in the NFL. Saban is arguably the greatest college coach in history and was a failure in the NFL. Pete Carroll was a bad NFL coach before turning USC into a powerhouse. Bobby Petrino couldn't even make it a season in the NFL. Steve Spurrier was the man in college before walking away from an NFL job. Hell Jim Mora Jr was far from special in the NFL and has turned UCLA around by year two. And yet you'd rather have Briles and Strong over Tomlin or Gruden? I can understand people not wanting Gruden because he hasn't coached in a few years, but it's not like he's just been sitting around away from football. I can make the argument that he's probably become a much better coach from his stint at ESPN than he was previously because of all the time he has to break down tape and learn different things that he could use if he ever got back in. And it's well known that he's a guy who eats, drinks and sleeps football. He's the epitome of a coach and right now that's what we need. I'd rather take a chance on a guy like that than settle for someone because he "fits."

I'm far from on the Briles bandwagon, but we could do much worse. At least we'd know the offense is going to be productive on a weekly basis. And you can't argue with his success finding guys and turning them into NFL prospects while in Waco, but he's not someone I'm calling first. I would definitely call Saban, Meyer, Gruden and Tomlin among others before I even thought about Briles, but that's just me. And I have a feeling that if we did flirt with other coaches before him by the time we would even get to him he'd turn us down just to shove it in our faces. He just seems like that kind of guy to me.

 

[TheContractor]

To me college and NFL are very different brands of football.

Tomlin has coaches but DB coach at Memphis and ark st for 3 yrs isn't too impressive or experienced.

Yes Briles and Strong only have 1bcs win but look at where they are, winning at Bu has been historically impossible and he is killing it, maybe he will get a BCS win this year.

Ur argument on Saban & ball coach make my point valid on NFL/college being different and we need a college coach. Mora Jr has done a great job in the short term.

I'll definitely take Briles/Strong > Gruden and probably over Tomlin. As an NFL job, its flipped. I don't think ur view that Gruden is a better coach bc he interviews QBs and only says positives about each one has made Gruden better. He doesn't get considered for any NFL JOB.

Briles needs a good DC and can get one at Texas compared to Bu.

 

[Wolfman]

Love the post. Baylor>Tcu.

I like the 5 teams, 4 pods idea but maybe CCG issues. Assume u play 4 teams in ur pod and (1vs2) teams other pods. Meaning 7 vs 10 conf schedule. Do u have a final 4 conf playoffs to determine champ? If dividing in half(2, 10 team division), 9 conf games on your own side and at least 1 on the other side. 4 pods gives u more of a rotation vc team from other pods.

Maybe playing 7 conf games, 4 non conf games and then 1-2 flex games at end of year to determine conf champ(kind of like a top 4playoff) but all teams are in ther own small 4 team playoff.

Example:1Tx vs 2ND, 3Fsu vs 4Clemson. Then winners and losers play for NCAA playoffs and bowl seedlings. 1 vs 3, 2vs 4.

Also, 1TT vs 2syracuse, 3GT vs 4Wake. They might all be 3-8(but get their own playoff/flex games at end of year)

Sec would take WV if going to 20.

Acc>Big10>PAC

I still don't see it bc of GOR.

I'm aware of the B10 rumor. It's from the WV board (notorious for disinformation) and if Texas told a prospective employee about being in negotiations with the B1G they would have violated the confidentiality agreement. I don't see them doing that.

Yes, I would like to see a 2-game conference championship but that requires NCAA rule changes. In the mean time you change the divisions every year or two. Year one you would have North/East and South/West divisions. Year two you would have North/South and East/West. You could try and use a regular season game as a semi-final but that gets complicated. One team might loose a home game, etc.

In the divisional scenario 2 of the pod winners would have already played (Texas from West would have already played FSU from South). They should not have to meet again in a semi-final game. You would seed the pods and schedule the top seeds to play as late in the season as possible. There will be some misses but stuff happens.

The CCG would vary by sport. You could eliminate the 5th team but for the pod/regional playoff (baseball, basketball, etc.) I'd like to include #5. Even if that means a play-in game or an extra day.

 

[crotchole]

SG,
It is good to have you aboard. Look forward to seeing you post more often.

I'm not too excited about Cincy or CFU. However, I have been told to look at the bigger picture.

If & when we hire a nationally known coach, having both these schools in our conference will open the borders to FL & Ohio.

McPhaul,

For whatever reason I didn't notice this yesterday, but is Urban Meyer a possibility? Has connections to both FL & OH, been mentioned that he has been very interested in Texas in the past, and will be annoyed with BIG after OSU is left out of the championship game.

 

[TheContractor]

Very good points, especially on home vs road games.

If it ever becomes 20 team leagues, you play 9 games in your league and not much left for cross league games much less OOC games. Unless u don't play all 9 teams on ur side.

 

[Wolfman]

Just saw a post on another board about Sabin's wife "vacation home" shopping in Austin.

Was Nick Saban's Wife House Shopping In Austin? Reports Say: Yes. - Burnt Orange Nation