Grantland: Ranking College Football’s New Head Coaching Hires

[Saunders]

The dust has begun to settle on the annual college football coaching carousel and — brace yourself for the shock — it’s been another banner winter for middle-aged white guys, who are a perfect 14-for-14 in filling available FBS openings. In order to help you distinguish one receding hairline from the next, we’ve put together this handy, highly scientific ranking of the new hires, from the most likely to succeed to the least. Remember: Success is defined differently at Nebraska than it is at, say, Tulsa, and all hires are graded according to that curve.

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/college-football-coaching-carousel-new-hire-rankings/

 

 

[QMany]

For an established program looking to raise the bar, he may be the lowest-ceiling hire the Cornhuskers could have reasonably made.

Ouch!

[Junior]

 

 

 

For an established program looking to raise the bar, he may be the lowest-ceiling hire the Cornhuskers could ha

 

 

Ouch!

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/04/sports/ncaafootball/ap-fbc-nebraska-riley.html?_r=0

 

 

Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell tweeted that the hiring is a "home run."

 

[teachercd]

The "honeymoon" period might be kind of over for writers...most say nice things at first..but when you start "ranking" new hires and stuff like that you have to have a top and bottom.

[Redux]

We expected the hire to make the media go "woah!?". But yeah now that its all said and done they probably feel we didnt make that earth shattering hire. Its ok though, as long as it pans out, who cares what they originally thought of the hire.

[Blackdeuce]

So, if you suck and you hire a guy that will make your team less sucky, you get ranked high? Those rankings are pretty worthless, IMO.

[knapplc]

Nick Saban did nothing more noteworthy prior to going to LSU than Riley did at Corvallis. Saban went on to win the National Championship in his fourth year at LSU.

 

So ranking Riley's hire 10th and claiming it's a low-ceiling hire based on what Riley did at Corvallis, while bragging up Narduzzi at Pitt (never been a head coach, read: Bo Pelini) and Chad Morris at SMU (also never a head coach) is a little laughable.

 

 

Nobody has a clue how any of the hires they ranked are going to do. Harbaugh at Michigan is the flavor of the month, but until he accomplishes something he's no better of a hire than Tony Sanchez.

[zoogs]

This writer goes ga-ga for hot coordinators.

[junior4949]

I'm a little surprised to see Florida ranked so low. At the time, the media was crowning this the best thing since sliced bread. If this hiring process would have taken place back in 09' or somewhere around there, we'd have been in the top 3 easily. Riley was always in a no win situation at Oregon State because the school simply wouldn't give him the resources he needed. I'm still surprised he's here given the opportunities he could have taken in years past.

[BaytownHusker]

Nick Saban did nothing more noteworthy prior to going to LSU than Riley did at Corvallis. Saban went on to win the National Championship in his fourth year at LSU.

 

So ranking Riley's hire 10th and claiming it's a low-ceiling hire based on what Riley did at Corvallis, while bragging up Narduzzi at Pitt (never been a head coach, read: Bo Pelini) and Chad Morris at SMU (also never a head coach) is a little laughable.

 

 

Nobody has a clue how any of the hires they ranked are going to do. Harbaugh at Michigan is the flavor of the month, but until he accomplishes something he's no better of a hire than Tony Sanchez.

 

Well at least some one thinks we are on the same level as Bama.

[Comish]

Wow, what a risk taking formula by the writer......

Ranking Harbaugh as number 1 really shows an in-depth willingness to unearth other's limited research...

These rankings (read OPINIONS) are worthless until a few years of reality on the field yields some honest data, but it would be refreshing if someone actually thought outside the collective haze of worship enveloping all-things Michigan.

 

[Mavric]

Nick Saban did nothing more noteworthy prior to going to LSU than Riley did at Corvallis. Saban went on to win the National Championship in his fourth year at LSU.

 

Saban had Michigan State headed decidedly upwards - first 10 win season in 30 years - while Oregon State has been trending downwards for the last nine years.

 

Also, Saban was 10 years younger then than Riley is now which was part of their ranking.

[TGHusker]

Per this article, Nebraska's hiring of Riley ranks as 10th best in this season's coaching carousal. Mich gets # 1 spot wt the Harbaugh hiring, followed by SMU, Pitt, Houston, Ore State, Wisc, Tulsa (living here - Tulsa got a great hire in the Baylor OC), Floridia, CSU

 

I, personally think the review below is too negative in the final sentence. We will reap the benefits of the much greater coaching experience. With all of our resources and under developed talent, we didn't need the next up in coming guy with little experience but someone who could could get us over the hump that we've been hung up on for sometime. Player development will be our key to success and I think the new staff will be a huge upgrade over the previous staff in that regards.

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/college-football-coaching-carousel-new-hire-rankings/

 

10. Nebraska

Other than Harbaugh, Mike Riley is the most accomplished head coach on this list, having forged a perennial overachiever from a historical backwater in Oregon State. (Riley also has nine years under his belt as a head coach in the pro ranks, a stint notable mainly for two Grey Cup championships with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, in 1988 and 1990, and later for drafting LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees in the 2001 draft as head coach of the Chargers.) At 61, he’s also a bizarre choice for Nebraska, a sleeping giant that grew increasingly impatient with diminishing returns under Bo Pelini.

By all accounts, Riley is more approachable than his volatile, tantrum-prone predecessor, which ought to be worth a little goodwill in the honeymoon phase, at least. In 14 years in Corvallis, though, Riley’s teams never produced a conference championship, top-10 finish, major bowl bid, or any other result that might pass for success in Lincoln; nor is he regarded as an innovator or an especially energetic recruiter. Pelini failed on all of those counts, too, and was shown the door despite winning at least nine games in every year of his tenure. For a hometown underdog just looking to remain competitive, Riley was a solid long-term steward. For an established program looking to raise the bar, he may be the lowest-ceiling hire the Cornhuskers could have reasonably made.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Mavric
Merges into existing thread

[teachercd]

 

Nick Saban did nothing more noteworthy prior to going to LSU than Riley did at Corvallis. Saban went on to win the National Championship in his fourth year at LSU.

 

Saban had Michigan State headed decidedly upwards - first 10 win season in 30 years - while Oregon State has been trending downwards for the last nine years.

 

Also, Saban was 10 years younger then than Riley is now which was part of their ranking.

 

Plus, don't forget that LSU was kind of average-bad before Saban got there...They were not doing so hot at all...I can't remember when Saban got there but in 95 they were 7-4-1 then

 

96: 9-2

97: 9-3

98: 4-7

99: 3-8

00: 8-4

[TGHusker]

I'd like to see where all of these coaches will be in 4 years. Mich very well may be looking for a new one and J H heads back to the NFL. Most of the other coaches will use their current situations as stepping stones to larger Power 5 schools. I suspect Riley to be still here at NU and successful.