Dirk Koetter? Chose Jacksonville. Kevin Sumlin? Staying at Oklahoma. John McNulty? Rutgers is the place for he. Who’s next? We’ll see.
In the interim, let’s attempt to make sense of what’s going on at The U as the fan base is in full meltdown mode and stones are being cast at first-year head coach Randy Shannon.
I’m about to do something really crazy and out there. An attempt at logic instead of reverting into that “sky is falling” mentality so many of our fans choose.
Make no mistake. Koetter was Shannon’s first choice. Homeboy headed straight to Boise in the dead of winter to check out Miami’s bowl practice and was in Coral Gables days later to ink a deal week one into Shannon officially taking over as head coach. Koetter and Shannon had a work-related friendship these past two years and all signs were pointing to “Koetter to Miami”.
It looked like Randy got his #1 guy and all should’ve been well in Coral Gables. While interviewing for he Miami OC job, Koetter got the call from the NFL. Jacksonville called about the quarterbacks coach position, interviewed the former ASU head coach and days later offered him the offensive coordinator position with the Jaguars.
That’s neither an indictment on Shannon, the city of Miami or our fine program. A better opportunity came calling and Koetter took it.
You’re about to leave the bar with a pretty girl and Gisele Bundchen walks in with a better offer. Does that make the other girl any uglier? No. But in this case Door #2 is much more appealing than Door #1. Don’t count that as a strike against Shannon. Call it was it is; crappy timing.
Plan B? To interview everyone else on his list. A handful of “second choice” guys who were all good, but not on Shannon’s radar the way Koetter was.
The most most recent names were Sumlin and McNulty and neither are Miami bound. Some reports say they turned down the opportunity and others say neither was officially offered, just interviewed. Choose what you want to believe. Just remember that these are the same folks who told us Mike Leach to Miami was damn near a done deal and that Kevin Rogers was a shoo-in to get the OC gig.
Sumlin might’ve been a good fit, but trying to poach a guy from a big time program is never easy. OU has the resources and deep pockets to keep him around. If the Sooners are going to offer him more money to stay, why wouldn’t he? You’re talking about leaving a proven winner for another proven winner, except one is in “maintain” mode and the other in “rebuild” mode.
Toss in wives, families and the stress of moving and it makes complete sense that Sumlin would stick around Norman.
As for McNulty, I don’t see why anyone ever thought this guy was headed south and I question how hardly he was actively pursued. He was interviewed and supposedly turned it down as he’s a northeast guy who married a Jersey girl. He says he enjoys Rutgers and feels they’re on the brink of something special, but let’s read between the lines here, people.
McNulty knows good and hell well that his boss Greg Schiano covets the someday vacant Penn State gig. McNulty is a Nittany Lion and would love nothing more to return home. Miami may be Shannon’s dream job, but bet the house Penn State is McNulty’s and he knows Schiano will bring him back when his days in Piscataway are up.
My two cents? I’d like to see Miami focus more on the up-and-coming, lower tier guy from smaller programs. Where are the offers and interviews regarding John Bond (Northern Illinois OC) and George McDonald (Western Michigan OC). Guy who are hungry and primed to be the “next big thing” type of assistants? Coaches like Bond and McDonald are both at smaller programs and you’d think they’re salivating at big time opportunities and a chance to climb the coaching ladder.
Koetter? An NFL guy who already was a head coach at two major programs. Sumlin? Part of the Oklahoma machine, one of the most dominant programs this decade. McNulty? Comfortable at RU until the big boss jets for both their dream gigs at PSU. Same to be said for a guy like Paul Petrino at Louisville, a name Miami fans oft throw out.
Why would Petrino leave a successful UL program for The U? He already has a good gig and isn’t leaving there for anything less than a head coaching opportunity.
At day’s end, Shannon was blindsided by Koetter getting the call from Jacksonville and is still going through the second tier assistants. Give it time. If you’re set to pay an assistant just shy of half a million dollars while you’re on the clock for the first time as a head coach, you need to choose wisely.
For days I’ve stated that I could give a damn about the process. I’m just concerned with the result, as is Coach Shannon, I’m sure.
Relax. Once we have our guy in place, no one’s going to care or remember what it took to get him there.
.:Canes305:.
I just hope Randy is hitting the recruiting trail hard right now, because it seemes everyone is coming at our guys. They really need to institute an early signing period or something like that so other coaches can’t come in and steal a guy away with whatever promises they make. I trust Randy will get in some quality coaches and players in, and we can move forward.
You have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Schiano covets any Penn State gig. That is pure nonsense. PLease cite a source other than idle pondering.
Dan – How can anyone have “evidence” in this day and age of coachspeak? What’s he gonna say, “I didn’t wind up at The U because I am waiting for Paternon to bail”?
He’s a Penn State guy and that’s the bigger powerhouse program in the northeast.
Check out this article from the Pittsburgh Gazette. I’m not the only one speculating this, champ:
Cook: Is Schiano waiting for PSU job?
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There has to be a logical reason why Greg Schiano last week turned down the chance to coach at Miami — one of the great programs in college football — to stay at Rutgers, which has had — what? — one good season in 138 years.
Maybe Schiano is loyal to Rutgers. The university administration did stick by him through tough times. His first four teams went 2-9, 1-11, 5-7 and 4-7. The big payoff didn’t come until this season when Rutgers went 10-2, nearly won a share of the Big East Conference championship and almost went to a Bowl Championship Series game.
Or maybe Schiano truly believes, as he says, that Rutgers can be the next giant in the college game. There’s no reason it can’t dominate the Big East, still a relatively weak league. It has plenty of players in its back yard, not just in New Jersey, but in the New York City-Philadelphia area. And it counts Tony Soprano among its fans, which has to be worth something.
Certainly, Schiano played the interest from Miami like a maestro. He will get a bigger, better contract at Rutgers. He will get more money for his assistant coaches. He will get better facilities. That’s called playing the system for all its worth.
Or maybe Schiano has a better job than the Miami job in mind.
I know, that’s hard to believe. There might not be a better job in college football than Miami’s. Schiano knows that; he was defensive coordinator at the U from 1999-2000. Please, spare me the mention of Miami’s off-field problems. The program will be a big winner again soon for the very best of reasons.
Location, location, location.
Players, players, players.
Still, there might be a better job for Schiano, anyway.
The Penn State job.
The guess here is he’s waiting for it.
The guess here is he’ll get it.
Schiano was a graduate assistant coach at Penn State in ’90 and its defensive backs coach from 1991-95. Those close to him say Penn State is his dream job. Schiano knows everything is in place for the program to be the elite program it was before it started slipping under aging Joe Paterno. The tradition is fabulous because of the great Paterno. The facilities are second to none. The Beaver Stadium seats are filled by 110,000 fannies every game.
All Penn State needs to get back on top is a coach who is a great recruiter.
Schiano is, if nothing else, a terrific recruiter and already has established roots in the area — the Northeast — where Penn State loves to get players.
At 40, Schiano has time to wait for Paterno to quit. That’s important because Paterno, even though he turns 80 in 11 days and is rehabbing from a broken leg and a serious knee injury, has shown no signs of even thinking about retiring. Just last week, he talked of coaching “for a couple more years,” which is absurd, but that’s a column for another day.
I once believed, like a lot of Penn State fans, that Paterno’s longtime defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley, would succeed him. He would be hard to argue against as the choice even though he would bring no head coaching experience to what is an awfully big job. (Think Foge Fazio at Pitt or Bob Davie at Notre Dame). Bradley has been a loyal soldier for 28 years on Paterno’s staff and played at Penn State before that. He is Penn State’s best recruiter. There’s also something to be said for continuity even if the Penn State program isn’t what it once was.
But the Penn State administration has given no indication that Bradley is its guy. It didn’t name him interim head coach when Paterno was injured in a sideline collision late this season. It hasn’t gone public with the announcement that he’ll be the man to follow Paterno, you know, the way Wisconsin did when it named Bret Bielema as Barry Alvarez’s successor a year ahead of time. Sure, that could happen today or tomorrow or next week. But if it doesn’t, Bradley, like longtime Paterno assistants Jerry Sandusky and Fran Ganter before him, could get tired of waiting. It would not come as a shock if he leaves Penn State before Paterno does.
It’s reasonable to believe Penn State president Graham Spanier might want to make a clean break from the Paterno era. He asked for Paterno’s resignation after the ’04 season and Paterno, calling on all his clout as a coaching legend, refused. Spanier was embarrassed. By going outside the program to hire Paterno’s successor, he could show he, finally, is the man in charge.
If Spanier does look outside, he should start his search at Rutgers.
Don’t be surprised if it’s his only stop.
See if you can tell the difference between the above article, which at least admits that it is merely idle pondering, and your blog which reads:
“McNulty knows good and hell well that his boss Greg Schiano covets the someday vacant Penn State gig. McNulty is a Nittany Lion and would love nothing more to return home. Miami may be Shannon’s dream job, but bet the house Penn State is McNulty’s and he knows Schiano will bring him back when his days in Piscataway are up.”
You make it sound like it’s conventional wisdom set in stone, when really it’s all based on a reporter asking idle questions to the stars. Very sloppy work< even for a football blogger>