🏈 December's firings

[LBS]

Which of the current SEC coaches with lose there jobs this year?

 

[firestorm]

Steve Spurrier.anic:

RTR,

 

[Nate]

Steve Spurrier.anic:

RTR,

SC will probably be #2 in the East... I think he will be ok. Mark Richt on the other hand if enough UGA fans stay sober long enough to realize how bad of a coach he really is, he could be gone quick if things go down hill this year.... But then again UGA fans don't seem to have caught on that he is the problem.

 

[alagator]

Uber Safe
Saban - Meyer (By virtue of commanding Top 5 national programs)
Dooley - Phillips - Mullen (By virtue of circumstances)

Safe
Chizik - Petrino - Nutt (Still a little too young in their tenure at their current school)

Neutral
Johnson (Does anyone associated with the Vandy program even know or care?)

Risky
Miles - Richt (If either finishes third or worst in their division things would get interesting. Miles contract is a little insurance for him.)
Spurrier (The bloom is off the rose. From 1986-2001 Spurrier was one of the best, but he has lost his edge.)


I really do not see any coach, outside probably Miles, that would be in any deep trouble from on-flied results.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

For Les Miles, I think it'd take a losing record to get him out of the job. If he wins the games he supposed to win (roughly 8 games), and maybe upsets Bama, he's gonna get his own Krewe in Mardi Gras.

I can't gauge UGA and Richt at all. And the same goes for South Carolina. I think expectations there are much lower now than they were the first 3 years. No one expects to win the SEC anymore, but they'd like to make some noise, and that will be enough. Spurrier can stay as long as he wants, provided SC doesn't fall below .500.

SEC looks pretty calm except for assistants taking off and taking over outside-conference programs.

I see this as being a quiet year in college football head coaching after several years of craziness. Everyone is in place and winning, or is brand new.

 

[TideAlum05]

Mark Richt is a damn good coach IMO. He might be getting a bit stale at UGA, but I still think firing him would be really dumb. Who do you get? I mean if Richt gets canned, he could have a BCS job the next day. You don't think Texas A&M would love to have Mark Richt? If Aaron Murray lives up to the hype, they could win the East.

All that being said. The answer is Mark Richt and/or Les Miles. But they both have to get 7-5 and lose their bowl games IMO. I also believe that LSU has a better chance of 7-5 because if (a really big if) they lose to UNC it could all unravel.

 

[JoshB]

If Georgia has a subpar season, Richt is gone.

 

[LBS]

... He might be getting a bit stale at UGA, but I still think firing him would be really dumb. Who do you get? I mean if Richt gets canned, he could have a BCS job the next day....

Who do you get? Its UGA. They'll get someone decent regardless, and that person may have what it takes to get over the hump. LBS' thoughts are Will Muschamp. But for Mark Richt, UGA can offer him $4million now--which Texas sure ain't doing. Bird-in-the-hand beats "Coach in waiting-and-waiting". Another thought would be Johnson from GeoTech. He's good, UGA would be RB University again, and Tech would be taken down a notch.

Richt would get a BCS job, and likely do quite well, but that is not the point. The point is that he at UGA has been unsatifactory.

 

[BamaCore]

Richt in my opinion is a slight better version of Houston Nutt. I just don't think either of them have what it takes. If they have a subpar season I think he's gone. Also, UGA will be able to lure someone in if he goes.

 

[TideAlum05]

Who do you get? Its UGA. They'll get someone decent regardless, and that person may have what it takes to get over the hump. LBS' thoughts are Will Muschamp. But for Mark Richt, UGA can offer him $4million now--which Texas sure ain't doing. Bird-in-the-hand beats "Coach in waiting-and-waiting". Another thought would be Johnson from GeoTech. He's good, UGA would be RB University again, and Tech would be taken down a notch.

Richt would get a BCS job, and likely do quite well, but that is not the point. The point is that he at UGA has been unsatifactory.

UGA is a second tier program historically and currently. Will Muschamp has proven NOTHING as a HC. Honestly, he's the most overrated coach in CFB imo. You think Bobby Johnson is a better coach than Mark Richt? Really?

Mark Richt has been at UGA for 9 seasons. He's won the conference 2 times, been to 3 BCS games (2-1), and is 90-27 overall (.769). The previous 9 years UGA had a .644 winning percentage, never went to the Sugar Bowl, and never won the conference. UGA went to one Citrus Bowl in that time span.

Are you by chance one of the Bama fans who thinks Mark Gottfried is the worst basketball coach on the planet?

 

[rammerjammer]

Hands down it is Les Miles, IMO

He has done less with more than anybody else in the league. As long as he continues to coach up to this level.....he will be gone. Miles can recruit and get talent, he has proven in recent years that he is unable to get the most out of them.

Another possibility with Miles leaving is if Rich Rod has a sub-par season at UM. Miles is just good enough (on paper) to go to his alma mater.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

UGA is a First Tier program (whatever that means). They don't have recent success as a national title owner, but until this past year, it'd been 17 years since our last one, and we've been through a hell of a lot more in that time than UGA had. They are a perennial contender, and are really only Florida away from being in contention a lot more. Florida is a juggernaut dynasty, and UGA just can't quite keep all that talent instate, and Richt isn't as strong of a xo's coach as Saban. He IS better than Miles at xo's. But has a lot of competition for his own in-state talent, and is just in the mix in places like Florida.

It's a tough job being a HC in the SEC.

 

[LBS]

UGA is a second tier program historically and currently. Will Muschamp has proven NOTHING as a HC. Honestly, he's the most overrated coach in CFB imo. You think Bobby Johnson is a better coach than Mark Richt? Really?

Mark Richt has been at UGA for 9 seasons. He's won the conference 2 times, been to 3 BCS games (2-1), and is 90-27 overall (.769). The previous 9 years UGA had a .644 winning percentage, never went to the Sugar Bowl, and never won the conference. UGA went to one Citrus Bowl in that time span.

Are you by chance one of the Bama fans who thinks Mark Gottfried is the worst basketball coach on the planet?

The UGA fans are not happy. That's them, not me. Whatever that X-Factor is that gets a team over, he has proven 9 straight times that he does not have it. 9-0 proves something.

UGA is king of a talent rich state, which means that a good coach can do well. A coach with that X-Factor can do better than that. Who has teh X-Factor? Who can tell until its proven (or disproven)? Bobby Johnson's assets would improve at UGA, while Johnson leaving GeoTech would hurt UGA's annual rival. I'm am saying that there is more hope in someone like Johnson than there would be in 10 and Oh No Mark Richt.

 

[TerryP]

Uber Safe
Saban - Meyer (By virtue of commanding Top 5 national programs)
Dooley - Phillips - Mullen (By virtue of circumstances)

Safe
Chizik - Petrino - Nutt (Still a little too young in their tenure at their current school)

Neutral
Johnson (Does anyone associated with the Vandy program even know or care?)

Risky
Miles - Richt (If either finishes third or worst in their division things would get interesting. Miles contract is a little insurance for him.)
Spurrier (The bloom is off the rose. From 1986-2001 Spurrier was one of the best, but he has lost his edge.)


I really do not see any coach, outside probably Miles, that would be in any deep trouble from on-flied results.

While Spurrier is getting flack—and has been for a few years now—from USC fans I have serious doubts they'd fire him after another .500-.600 type of season. Right now, he's still too much of a marketing icon in Columbia for them to make that decision.

It definitely should be noted that the problems USC has had under Spurrier haven't improved. The only area of improvement you can point to is what has happened since Ellis Johnson moved to Cola.

I keep saying this with Miles and it seems to fall on a lot of deaf ears. Since LSU's title in '07 they are .500 in conference play. Literally...while we've seen this Bama team go undefeated the last two regular seasons LSU has regressed.

It's my opinion that the LSU team—offense specifically—is going to be even worse this upcoming season. Every stop Gary Crowton has made in his career he's taken over a decent team and did well his first year. Then, slowly but surely, it gets progressively worse. It happened with him in the NFL, it happened again with his HC job at BYU and he repeated it again in Oregon.

FWIW...last season I thought the 2nd and 3rd position in the West would be a battle between LSU and Ole Miss. This year, I'm thinking the battle for 3rd and 4th in the West is going to be between Auburn and LSU.

 

[TideAlum05]

UGA is a First Tier program (whatever that means). They don't have recent success as a national title owner, but until this past year, it'd been 17 years since our last one, and we've been through a hell of a lot more in that time than UGA had. They are a perennial contender, and are really only Florida away from being in contention a lot more. Florida is a juggernaut dynasty, and UGA just can't quite keep all that talent instate, and Richt isn't as strong of a xo's coach as Saban. He IS better than Miles at xo's. But has a lot of competition for his own in-state talent, and is just in the mix in places like Florida.

It's a tough job being a HC in the SEC.

UGA has one legitimate NC. They supposedly claim one in 1942, but Ohio St was voted #1 by the AP and basically any non UGA website recognizes Ohio St (this from my limited research). UGA historically is not an elite program. It's still one of the better jobs in the country imo.

The average finishing spot for UGA in the Rivals rankings since Richt has been at UGA is 7.3. He can recruit.

I do agree with your last sentence. But Mark Richt is a very good head football coach.

 

[TideAlum05]

The UGA fans are not happy. That's them, not me. Whatever that X-Factor is that gets a team over, he has proven 9 straight times that he does not have it. 9-0 proves something.

UGA is king of a talent rich state, which means that a good coach can do well. A coach with that X-Factor can do better than that. Who has teh X-Factor? Who can tell until its proven (or disproven)? Bobby Johnson's assets would improve at UGA, while Johnson leaving GeoTech would hurt UGA's annual rival. I'm am saying that there is more hope in someone like Johnson than there would be in 10 and Oh No Mark Richt.

Luck is the biggest factor in winning a NC in CFB. Les Miles goes 12-2 and he's a NC coach. Tommy Tuberville goes 13-0 and he's not a NC coach. Hell, Mark Richt went 13-1 in 2002 and couldn't get to the NCG because Miami and Ohio St were undefeated.

You don't fire Mark Richt to hire Bobby Johnson. I don't even understand how anyone could think Johnson>Richt. If you fire mark Richt, you better be damn sure that you can a proven big time winner (ie already has won a NC) or an up and comer at a smaller program.

 

[alagator]

Bobby Johnson's assets would improve at UGA, while Johnson leaving GeoTech would hurt UGA's annual rival. I'm am saying that there is more hope in someone like Johnson than there would be in 10 and Oh No Mark Richt.

Are you confusing Bobby Johnson, who coaches at Vandy, with Paul Johnson, who coaches at Georgia Tech?

 

[Big_Fan]

Richt has the best winning percentage of any UGA coach in the program's history, including Vince Dooley. He has 2 SEC titles in 10 years at UGA. The biggest knock on him is that he has a pretty poor record against UF (2-7), but honestly, who plays them every year and has a good record against them since 2001? He has a couple of questionable losses to UT, but holds a 5-4 record over them. Richt has 6 seasons of 10 or more wins in 9 years at UGA (which is more than UGA had from 1980-2000 total), is 8-1 against their in-state rival, and has a 7-2 bowl record. Richt has never won fewer than 8 games, and only that few twice. Dooley had 12 seasons of fewer than 8 wins. Any discussion of firing Richt is insane!

 

[Nate]

Richt has the best winning percentage of any UGA coach in the program's history, including Vince Dooley. He has 2 SEC titles in 10 years at UGA. The biggest knock on him is that he has a pretty poor record against UF (2-7), but honestly, who plays them every year and has a good record against them since 2001? He has a couple of questionable losses to UT, but holds a 5-4 record over them. Richt has 6 seasons of 10 or more wins in 9 years at UGA (which is more than UGA had from 1980-2000 total), is 8-1 against their in-state rival, and has a 7-2 bowl record. Richt has never won fewer than 8 games, and only that few twice. Dooley had 12 seasons of fewer than 8 wins. Any discussion of firing Richt is insane!

The problem is that with the talent he has had on campus, he should have done better, much better.

He is a mediocre coach, he can give you 8-10 win seasons. But in order to do that he needs 3 first round draft picks on his team.. thats not the nature of a GREAT coach. He has to resort to gimmicks and fashion statements to get the team and the fans riled up for a top 5 match up, and they still came out flatter than a steam rolled dollar bill??

You can look at the statistics of it and you are right, it does look like he has done a decent job, but when you look at the substance behind those statistics you should start to question things. Richt firing the DC was his saving grace for a year or so, but his time is coming.

 

[TideAlum05]

The problem is that with the talent he has had on campus, he should have done better, much better.

He is a mediocre coach, he can give you 8-10 win seasons. But in order to do that he needs 3 first round draft picks on his team.. thats not the nature of a GREAT coach. He has to resort to gimmicks and fashion statements to get the team and the fans riled up for a top 5 match up, and they still came out flatter than a steam rolled dollar bill??

You can look at the statistics of it and you are right, it does look like he has done a decent job, but when you look at the substance behind those statistics you should start to question things. Richt firing the DC was his saving grace for a year or so, but his time is coming.

Mark Richt has 90 wins in 9 seasons. That's an average of 10 wins/year. He's a very good coach. He's not great and he's not mediocre. You wanna know who a mediocre coach is? Tommy Bowden at Clemson. The only knocks on Richt are UF owns him and he doesn't have a NC. He's 50-22 in SEC play for crying out loud with his worst finish being 4-4. He's gone to 3 BCS games in 9 years.

I really would hate to see what you guys say about Saban if Bama goes 9-3 this season. Granted, I don't think that happens.