If you’re a college football coach, you didn’t need an election to know change is perpetually in the air.
It’s called a coaching carousel for a reason. It goes around, and around, and around, and every year a few people are forced off the wagon.
If you’re on it, the spinning has got to make you pretty sick – and when you do get thrown off, you’re probably just as confused as when you were on it.
Already this year, two of the most high profile jobs in the nation have opened up. More will follow – both will affect Oregon.
Washington let go of the underachieving coach Tyrone Willingham a few weeks ago, letting him know he’ll not be welcome in Seattle after the season is over in a month.
Thanks for playing, Tyrone. No matter how much of a stand-up guy you seem to be from afar, we’ll be seeing you in a non-BCS conference coaching gig soon.
Willingham deserved to be fired. The Huskies have never been in contention for a Pacific-10 Conference title during his tenure, and no matter how much he puts on his cool trademark face, there’s serious trouble up there on Montlake.
When he was fired on Oct. 28 after a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame (his old head coaching gig) Willingham’s team was 11-32 in four seasons.
This time, the ax was deserved.
It will be easy to see that job as a black hole now, one that coaches will stray away from, much like Oregon State’s men’s basketball job. Both were once proud programs, and the Seattle Dawgs were feared as soon as six years ago.
Don’t get to thinking it’s all that bad, though.
It is the same team former Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora Jr. talked about as his “dream job” – while he was still the head coach of the Falcons. Husky Stadium, though old, is still a jewel of a stadium in one of the most beautiful settings in all of college football.
How does this get back to Oregon, again?
This job is still a big draw. It will undoubtedly grab a top-level candidate for its opening. Don’t forget UW President Mark Emmert once wooed Nick Saban away from Michigan State to Louisiana State in 2000. In the 1990s, LSU made three bowl games. During and since Saban was hired, it’s been eight straight bowl game appearances and two national championships. He knows who he wants, and he knows football.
He’ll likely get a good candidate. Ex-Raiders coach Lane Kiffin and current Missouri (and former UW assistant) coach Gary Pinkel are rumored to be candidates.
The only problem, though, is that he’ll be competing with the even better Tennessee head coaching job. As of Monday, it’s open after the year is over. A firing like Phil Fulmer’s could be seen for a while, sure, but does it give any coach any kind of security for their job? After all, Fulmer had the third-best winning percentage with at least 10 years other than Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. Mike Bellotti isn’t in any danger of his job, but would that make you feel any better if one of the best coaches in the nation just lost his job?
Fulmer delivered a national title to Tennessee in 1998. Ten years later, he’s gone. Could he land at Washington? Most likely not. He’s a southern man, a former player, coach and assistant for the Volunteers since the late 1960s. He doesn’t quite fit the Northwest profile. Then again, did Saban fit LSU when he spent most his time in the Midwest during his coaching career? Nope. Crazier things have happened, like when former Washington State head coach Mike Price took the job at Alabama earlier this decade.
At both schools, something crazy will have to happen to bring each back to where they were a decade ago. But don’t bet against it. And if you’re Oregon, just be glad you’re not in that situation.
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