Not A Good Time To Be Coachless

In the middle of working on a bigger, detailed piece about Al Golden, the extension, why Penn State was never an option, as well as the future of Miami football. That said, a lot of action in the coaching world that deserves some attention.

In the past few days, Arizona State has fired Dennis Erickson, UCLA canned Rick Neuheisel and Washington State did away with Paul Wulff . Last week it was Illinois head coach Ron Zook who got curbed. A few weeks back it was Houston Nutt stepping down at Ole Miss after a 2-10 campaign and 6-18 run the past two years.

Regarding some recent hires, Rich Rodriguez is the new guy at Arizona while Urban Meyer has taken over at Ohio State. There is also chatter about Dan Mullen being a top Penn State’s wish list.

In a matter of days, or weeks, some other heads will roll, too … and we still have one week left in the regular season, with conference championship games to be played. Amazing.

A year ago this week Miami fans were the ones in a tizzy. Randy Shannon earned his walking papers and within days, the Jon Gruden rumors came to life and faded just as quickly.

Other names were in that mix, too. Everyone from Chris Petersen to Randy Edsall to Mike Leach to Bo Pelini. The rumor mill was cranking, tensions were high and precious time was being lost for a program that needed to start the rebuilding yesterday.

In the wake of Friday’s announcement that Golden had signed a four-year extension, opinions on the matter were split. Some felt 6-6 didn’t deserve anything but a “do better next year”, while others were simply relieved that Golden wasn’t bolting for his alma mater.

Then there were folks from both camps, who were more concerned with an extension more than a raise. Pay Golden more, but let him prove himself before adding more years to the contract.

Again, that’s something we’ll touch on in a more detailed piece, but with all the firings and pending hires over these next few years, it’s very obvious what Miami officials were looking to avoid; the chaos that comes with the search process.

UCLA is having their “Gruden moment” today, hanging on pins and needles, hoping that their Bruins can lure Peterson from Boise to Los Angeles. Their fans are building a case. He’s a California guy. Time is ripe for change. UCLA will throw big money his way. Good time to rebuild the Bruins as the Trojans are still yet to feel the effects of scholarship losses.

Big talk today about UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero headed to Boise with a blank checkbook in order to lure Petersen south. By tomorrow zealous message board enthusiasts will be talking about tracking tail numbers and Petersen’s wife talking to real estate agents in Brentwood.

A few hundred miles west, Arizona State is trying to rid of the stench of the Erickson era. Over five seasons the former Canes coach is a whopping 31-30 in the desert. Erickson started 10-3 in 2007 but followed up going 5-7, 4-8, 6-6 and 6-6.

The Sun Devils were 5-1 mid-October and had another colossal fall, going 1-5 down the stretch, only to be topped by Zook’s 0-6 free-fall after starting 6-0 with the Fightin’ Illini, who handed Arizona State it’s first loss of the season.

Unfortunately for ASU, no Petersen-sized rumors are floating around. Houston’s Kevin Sumlin and NFL coordinators Mike Martz and Jim Mora Jr. have been floated out there as possible replacements.

UCLA. Arizona State. Washington State. Illinois. Ole Miss. Penn State. All in the market for a new guy and should those hires come from the NCAA ranks, it will leave more programs in need of a new leader, in December, when the focus should be bowl games and recruiting season. (There’s also been talk that Steve Spurrier could hang it up at South Carolina after this year.)

Side note, Randy Edsall just put together a two-win season at Maryland this year and the natives are already restless, feeling he’s not the right fit and a bad hire. All your gripes with former athletic director Kirby Hocutt aside, be glad he was sold on Golden, not Edsall.

A lot of programs are looking for new coaches, are ready to start poaching and are doing their best spin job regarding the selling of their program. With the winds of change blowing in so many college towns this week, this honestly isn’t the time to be in the market for a new leader.

Miami fans can beat up the fact that Golden was given an extension instead of a simple raise, but let’s be honest – all the negotiating power was on Golden’s side of the table.

If Penn State has Mullen a top their wish list – 6-6 this year at Mississippi State and 20-17 over three seasons – is it really far fetched to believe that Golden wouldn’t have been right up there too, if he didn’t re-sign?

Golden’s name has been in the mix before and will be again. He came to Miami last December talking about UM being a “destination job”, though few knew what that meant as no coach in recent memory has stayed more than six seasons (Butch Davis, 1995-2000).

Golden was ready to make a commitment to Miami, the ball was in his court and he got the deal he wanted, while UM got a deal it could live with and a coach to believe in.

Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Bob Stoops – those guys are the exception to the rule, yet seem to be a benchmark when Miami fans talk about what they expect in a head coach. When you look nationwide at head coaches at the collegiate level, there are very few guys in that caliber.

Hell, just look at the Sunshine State alone. Will Muschamp year one at Florida, 6-6 and on the wrong end of a few big time beat downs. Jimbo Fisher, leading a top five program into the season and 8-4 when it was all said and done, losing in embarrassing fashion to lesser programs like Wake Forest and Virginia.

Skip Holtz year two at South Florida, thought to be on the rise but 5-6 heading into this weekend’s match up against West Virginia, while Central Florida’s George O’Leary went 5-7 year eight, after 11-3 in 2010.

Gene Chizik and Auburn won a national championship last year and followed up with a 7-5 campaign. Texas, a powerhouse most of the past decade is 7-4 going into a showdown at Baylor, where the Bears should send them Mack Brown and his squad to 7-5, on the heels of 5-7 last year.

Ohio State made Meyer its guy days back but only after Jim Tressel was fired before the season, Luke Fickell was named interim head coach and the Buckeyes stumbled to 6-6.

College football is unstable as ever, making it that much more important to find stability and while you may not fully agree with the Golden extension, if that’s what it took, so be it.

Look around and see what else is available. Not too many pretty girls left at the ball and you don’t want to be stuck, dancing by yourself without a date.

UM went trusted its gut and made Golden the guy. The move will either prove to be genius or simply good, but in no way will it prove to be a bad play. Not when you take everything into consideration. – C.B.

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