Past CC: another year of data
So giddy about the upcoming second Harbaughmas. But I got to musing about the candidates from a year ago, that we all debated so much on these boards: a tremendous feat considering we were all typing with fingers crossed for Coach Harbaugh.
With a year of more info have you changed your thinking on any candidates?
Stock up: Shaw, Stoops, Herman, McElwain
Not sure who else would be stock up: I think Wilson is a good coach at a bad spot but can't call him stock up. Wittingham maybe?
Stock down: Mullen, Graham, McNeill (though he shouldn't have been fired), Butch Jones (though he is 'crootin really well).
Stock Even: Smart (we'll know a lot more next year). Mendenhall, Bohl, Narduzzi, Frost, Gundy.
Any others that incremented your opinion up or down this season?
December 16th, 2015 at 10:27 PM ^
If we didn't land Harbaugh McElwain was next on my list. There may have been a sizeable gap between numbers 1 and 2 on that list
December 16th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^
...would have been 100% Will Hagerup if McElwain had given his dead fish speech while coach at Michigan.
December 17th, 2015 at 4:39 AM ^
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December 16th, 2015 at 10:28 PM ^
After being hired by tOSU, Schiano's stock is way down
December 16th, 2015 at 10:28 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^
many wanted Sumlin badly - stock way down. ("We have no chance, Jerry Jones is going to get him!)
I will self penalize myself for wanting Todd Graham - had a meh year.
McElwain and Harbaugh and Herman look like the early winners but I'll wait 3 yrs to eval McElwain - Hoke looked like a very good hire after 1 year.
Whittingam was high on my list and I'd say stock up relative to talent he gets - just about all 3* and was competing for P12 until late in year. Think its dumb USC did not try for him.
Gary Patterson also stock flat at least.
December 16th, 2015 at 11:50 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 10:34 PM ^
Other stock down: Sean Payton, John Harbaugh, Bill Belichick (lost 2 games this year)
December 16th, 2015 at 11:31 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 10:34 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 10:38 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^
McElwain's offense, when run through Grier, was pretty dangerous. Plus it takes time for a coach to put in his system and players so for Florida to achieve that much in one year is pretty impressive.
December 16th, 2015 at 11:05 PM ^
Stitt: 8-5, lost to #3 N Dakota state in 2nd round of FCS Playoffs.
December 17th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 11:00 PM ^
Imagine with Dave Brandon at the helm we would have hired what Nebraska hired.
December 17th, 2015 at 9:16 AM ^
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December 17th, 2015 at 9:29 AM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 11:09 PM ^
I don't think Mullen's stock should be down. Probably even. Of course they did worse this year, but they lost a ton of guys from last year's squad. Many expected them to really plummet, but they had a solid year. He's at the worst job in the SEC West, and probably the worst job in the SEC besides Vandy and Kentucky.
December 16th, 2015 at 11:30 PM ^
December 17th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
Many/most expeccted Miss St to completely fall apart this year and considered last year a total fluke, suggesting Mullen needed to strike now or be doomed to irrelevance.
They did fall off of course, but no shame in going 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the SEC West. Mullen, with some booster help of course, has turned that program into a potential powerhouse. He really doesn't have much reason to leave especially with LSU, Auburn and TAMU looking wobblier than they did a year ago.
December 17th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^
I'd still be looking to leave if I were him. Sure, he has booster help, but so does every team in that division. They're all getting tons of money. He's still the 2nd program in the state and competing with powers like Alabama next door. I'm surprised he hasn't been hired away yet.
December 16th, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^
I'll go ahead and put myself in a corner with my dunce cap on. I'm an Oregon girl, so I was rooting for Frost. That is, I was rooting for Frost as the leader of the also-rans - - I knew enough to join in on the Harbaugh Hope.
December 16th, 2015 at 11:45 PM ^
Would've been a better fit than Mike Riley. And it's amazing the Frost went from being a pretty hated guy in Ann Arbor to someone we would've tolerated if the Harbaugh deal would've feel through.
December 17th, 2015 at 7:46 AM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 11:44 PM ^
Stock Up
Kelly - ND (had them in the playoff hunt until the end, 2nd time in 4 years)
Stoops - Oklahoma (seat's not warm anymore)
Jimmy Mac - Florida (did anybody expect this in Year 1?)
Dabo - Clemson (can't argue w/ #1)
Narduzzi - Pitt
Fedora - UNC (has anybody done more for their stock in the past 12 mos.?)
Ferentz - Iowa (contract extension still bad, but Iowa fans not complaining)
Gundy - Okie State (keeps churning out strong teams)
Stock Down
Strong - Texas (lookin' like their RR hire)
Franklin - Penn St. (another mediocre year)
Les - LSU (another 9-4 year and he'll be gone)
Malzahn - Auburn (crazy how much has changed in 2 years)
Graham - Ariz. St. (sinking into a weird territory between not great and not bad)
Sumlin - A&M (another 9-4 or 8-5 year plus all the transfers)
Johnson - GT (woof!)
Hologorsen - WVU (has been occupying the middle realm of the Big 12 for a while, not maintaining pace set by Nehlen/Rich Rod/Stewart)
BERT - Arkansas (better pick up the pace big man)
And then you have the Group of 5 coaches that either got better jobs or put their names on short lists like Campbell, Fuente, Hermann, Rhule, and some others I'm surely forgetting.
December 17th, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^
I would say his stock is up or even. 8-5 this year, 6-2 in MW Mountain division (1st Place). All five loses on the road, at MSU, Navy, SDSU (all 10+ win teams) CSU, McElwain's old team, and a much improved New Mexico.
He is most likely a lifer at AFA, he played QB there. Here is a resume refresher:
- AFA, HC 2007-present (67 - 49)
- Houston Texans, OC 2006
- Denver Broncos, 2003-2005 ass't on D, O and ST
- Wake Forest, OC/QBs 2001-2003
- Ohio, OC/QBs 1995-2000
- Air Force, 1989-1994, Grad Asst, recruiting coordinator, JV OC
GoWings2008 can sleep well knowing M got Harbaugh and his AFA keeps Troy.
December 17th, 2015 at 6:17 PM ^
He's a grad, but he has interviewed for other jobs. I think what's holding him back is a combination of Waiting for the right opportunity and a Pelini-like relationship with local media and fans. Put all of that together and I will be surprised if he leaves by his own choice, but I don;t think it comes from a wellspring of loyalty to the ol' zoo.
December 17th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
December 17th, 2015 at 3:08 AM ^
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December 17th, 2015 at 6:54 AM ^
I think your probably right on that, Jones has got it rolling in recruiting.
December 17th, 2015 at 6:56 AM ^
I also completely agree with your point. I may be unnecessarily positive on Jones, but I think he will make UT a contender in a short time. He is a great coach.
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December 17th, 2015 at 8:27 AM ^
Ehhh, I live down here and the natives are restless. And I agree with them. Not that he should be written off, but he's on the hot seat in 2016 to 'breakthrough'. This year was a dissapointment. They still have some youth, but I think UT fans expected more. It's year three. Elite coaches usually show the signs of being elite by then. Right now, he just looks like a good to very good coach. The fact that he hired DeBord is just...bad. And the way his teams lost some of those games were squarely on the coaches. He's certainly a step up from Dooley or Kiffen, but I'm getting kind of a James Franklin vibe from him; great recruiter, but not the evidence that he's an elite coach. I honestly don't think he's a playoff caliber coach right now. As I said before, 2016 will be a teling year.
December 17th, 2015 at 8:23 AM ^
It would be interesting to revisit this in a year and see where people would put Mendenhall - I am reasonably optimistic that he will be able to get Virginia to a level that I don't think Mike London would have been able to reach, or rather, I think Virginia is getting a substantial upgrade with this hire. If he can get them to be something better than a team that seems to live around the 0.500 mark (within a game or two of it anyway), then I would think the stock goes way up on Mendenhall.
December 17th, 2015 at 8:53 AM ^
All these comments, yet no mention of Jim L. Mora? I thought he'd be a home run hire last year, but it seems his stock would be down. Last year I was thinking he had a solid coaching tree, pretty solid NFL experience in ATL, and seemed to "fit" in a college environment better than the pros. Worse record year-over-year, and some bad press that made him come off like a dick. So in retrospect I award myself a failing grade, and will sit in the box and feel shame.
Hail Harbaugh!
December 17th, 2015 at 9:19 AM ^
We have Jim fucking Harbaugh. Even after a full year of him coaching, I still haven't completely absorbed the good fortune that has been bestowed upon us by Hackett.
Harbaugh is just an absolute rock star coach, and after our decade of wandering in the wilderness, its still unreal to me that we have a top tier coach, and probably the best possible coach for Michigan. Any other coach would have been a disappointment, and after all the dong punches from the RR and Hoke eras, I'm still giddy every time I see Harbaugh in UM gear.
I'm a unabashed Harbaugh fanboy. 
December 17th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
I'm an avoider. But I don't even want to think about it! :-)
December 17th, 2015 at 11:15 AM ^
December 17th, 2015 at 6:39 PM ^
My knock on Mullen was he only beats bad team save for 2-3 wins in a 6 year career. He gets most of his wins out of conf or with bad teams from the East that crossover or when a team like Auburn is having an awful year. What really changed this year?
Non conf wins:
- Southern Miss
- Northwestern State
- Troy
- Louisana Tech
Woo hoo - 4 tomato cans; I'll give him Southern Miss I guess which a well coached SEC team should beat. Southern Miss lost to Nebraska for reference.
In SEC
- 5-7 Kentucky
- 5-7 Missouri
- 7-5 Arkansas (by a point)
- 6-6 Auburn
It's a perfect Dan Mullen year - beat tomato cans out of conf, beat the weak sisters in the East, beat the West teams that are down. Lost to any good SEC West team. Best win was beating an average Big Bert team.
He did go off that a bit last year by beating 1-2 decent SEC West teams but going into year 7 you expect more for such a hot shot.
Also where are all the great job offers for this guy? This was a year there were a ton of opportunities - there was no massive demand for Dan Mullen.
We'll check back next year to see if he breaks out of this Pattern (tm).