🏈 SEC Coaching Search: Reports: Pruitt to Tennessee: Chad Morris to UArk

[TUSKtimes]

When they fired Butch, everyone said they were going after a proven HC with a history of winning. They wanted the next Saban or Kirby. When I heard Schiano I thought it was a joke.

I heard they had gone through a few names on their A and B list. Maybe they panicked?

 

[Alabama17Tide]

Rivals reporting that MSU interviewing Clemson DC Bret Venables as well.

 

[bama alum]

I keep reading about UT, now going after Kevin Steele, is this true? What happen to the one that sign to be the coach?

Kevin Steele wants the USA job. Yeah, tinersee is a much bigger venue, but he's got to see the reality of the situation he'll get into in that throw-up arnge nation.

 

[rick4bama]

Kevin Steele wants the USA job. Yeah, tinersee is a much bigger venue, but he's got to see the reality of the situation he'll get into in that throw-up arnge nation.

OK that is the only thing I'm been hearing! Now that that other guy not coming who would these guys be looking for now?

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[TerryP]

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[TerryP]

"I've known @DavidCutcliffe for 20 years and don't know many people, period, who are any finer than he is."
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I'm going to set aside his "involvement" with Fulmer, Culpepper, Means, and that fiasco. I do think it's warranted to point out one thing here.

Change the name and the number of years and you've got the same sentence being said about Hugh Freeze roughly a year ago. It was a tweet concerning Freeze that made me throw a question out to you guys asking, "is he that blind or just kissing up to Freeze to maintain a line of communication."

His track record tells me he's blind.

 

[TerryP]

If I'm about to offend WWE fans ... oh well.

Irony or coincidence with the WWE and UT?

 

[bamaledge]

I, honestly, don’t think Pruitt will win as much as CDM has at mittipitti tate.

 

[Max]

Coaching shakeups — now’s the hard part

Easy to fire. Harder to hire.

That’s the mantra every good athletic director has to live by when making a coaching change. Firing is unpleasant but, except in situations involving NCAA violations or ethics, it’s usually a popular move with a fan base. (Fan bases are not noted for patience.) Even when firing is expensive, as most are these days, fans generally aren’t reluctant to see buyouts paid off in the hope of something new.

It’s getting to the “something new” that’s hard. Ostensibly, the whole purpose of the exercise is to get something better than you had. The market offers lots of possibilities but few guarantees. The problem for an AD is that the same fans who wanted a firing also want a grand slam at hiring time. You can’t hit a grand slam every time. Thus, the worst-case scenario, wherein a program finds itself spinning its tires in a hire-and-fire cycle that can last a decade or more.

With that said, here is a look at the six (!) vacancies in the Southeastern Conference now that the smoke has (mostly) cleared.

FLORIDA: The firing of Jim McElwain, who seemed as if he’d burned out at midseason this year, was unavoidable. Dan Mullen, who comes with plenty of SEC experience from years as a Gator assistant and then a Mississippi State head coach, is a solid choice. The question is whether Mullen is a championship coach who was constrained by some of the economics and recruiting demographics in Starkville, or whether he is just “solid” and not “special.” So it’s not a grand slam, but I’d call it a solid double.

OLE MISS: The fans didn’t want to fire Hugh Freeze (see “ethics” and “NCAA” exceptions above) but seem to have enough sense to realize that trying to sell the job to someone without knowing the dispensation of the NCAA case was like trying to sell someone a car by showing them a crayon drawing of a car. Thus, interim Matt Luke is a way of settling on decent, reliable transportation until you can get things squad away at the bank. The players like him, he did a nice job of holding things together when quarterback Shea Patterson was injured, he won the Egg Bowl and he deserves a shot as much as anyone Ole Miss could have persuaded with more money. No grand slam, but call it an intentional walk.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Didn’t fire Mullen, he walked. Trying to replicate the formula that worked before — hire a hot name from the assistant ranks — seems to be the route here.

ARKANSAS: Bret Bielema couldn’t outrun his SEC record. The Razorbacks seem to be waiting before wading into the hiring fray for some reason.

TEXAS A&M: Kevin Sumlin was a really good September-October coach. Aggies are swinging for the fences on FSU’s Jimbo Fisher so they can be good from November on.

TENNESSEE: In this coach-hiring circus, Orange is the lowest-hanging fruit. They’ve been bashed, largely for spending the half-season that elapsed after Butch Jones’ fate was sealed lusting after Jon Gruden, then botching the near-hiring of former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano who was unwanted because of his career record, or a connection to the Penn State scandal, or both. I will not pretend to judge the motives of the mutinous fans that scuttled Schiano. I will note that the latest move seems to be for a “family” hire off the Phil Fulmer tree, which sounds like a shallow fly to left field, not a grand slam.

CECIL HURT: Coaching shakeups — now's the hard part | TideSports.com

 

[TerryP]

I will note that the latest move seems to be for a “family” hire off the Phil Fulmer tree, which sounds like a shallow fly to left field, not a grand slam.

From a coaching standpoint it's an infield fly. Recruiting? Tee's on par with Butch and may be a step up.

I'm not a big fan of the idea of Fulmer and Martin with offices in the same building. I wonder if that duo would get the same insurance from their current (or future) AD as they enjoyed under Dickey.

 

[planomateo]

The amount of money being thrown around these days is silly.

AD's getting themselves locked into large buyouts with coaches after a few years and a smidgen of on field success.

When does it end...

 

[TUSKtimes]

I have wondered for 2 years now how Martin has kept his job at USC. With that knowledge at hand, I would like to give my wholehearted endorsement to this latest exercise in Tenn hiring futility.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I have been saying for the longest that Mullens is the real deal. The east is about to find that out. And Kirby better keep recruiting well.

 

[TerryP]

I have been saying for the longest that Mullens is the real deal. The east is about to find that out. And Kirby better keep recruiting well.

I heard Tebow being interviewed about the hire and he began to list the names of quarterbacks Mullen had worked with. The names were familiar...Smith, Dak, and Leak. When Tebow mention Brian Johnson I thought to myself "that's a bit of a stretch." My jaw dropped when I heard him give Mullen credit for Cam Newton.

 

[bama alum]

I heard Tebow being interviewed about the hire and he began to list the names of quarterbacks Mullen had worked with. The names were familiar...Smith, Dak, and Leak. When Tebow mention Brian Johnson I thought to myself "that's a bit of a stretch." My jaw dropped when I heard him give Mullen credit for Cam Newton.

Probably why State thought $cam wa$ in the bag from the beginning

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Mullen is good...he has good resume.....
The fit.....how does a nice glove fit on a cold day..
As important as the material.....so I think....
So DM is decent man..it appears....
Is a good HC...proven...
Hard not to like the guy...never heard whining or complaining.....
But how does he fit.....
I got the Florida HC job....in the image of Spurrier and Meyer....arrogant...
Run the score up on the little people....nasty at press conferences...snear..whine..complain when they don't get their way or call...
That wasnt Coach Mac...and i dont think its DM either...
Coach Mac had rep for great O....at Bama and CSU.....
Just saying....