Coach Ice

[PSU Cane]

The one thing about the internet, people rewrite history to suit their arguments.

Malzan, the main reason everyone gave at the time for his hiring at Arkansas as the OC'we was to land one VERY BIG recruit. Recruitniks will remember the name Mitch Mustain. The plot worked, they got Mustain, and while neither were at Arkansas for more than a year, Mustain followed Gus out the door with him going to USC and Malzahn to Tulsa, the rest is history.

One's career flourished from that point, the other not so much. Without Mustain, Gus most likely doesn't get that opportunity. He didn't get along with Nutt due to philosophical differences and a friend hired him to come to Tulsa.

Arkansas fans were beside themselves when he was hired to be their OC as we would've been as well. There's a lot of sharp high school coaches out there who never get an opportunity like that. Considering how good Mustain looked under Gus, but never again, in hindsight while Arkansas wanted Mitch....Gus was the real winner

great post. Gus got lucky but proven his worth tenfold

That's right. Gus did get lucky....he had a high profile recruit and found a school willing to bend the rules and give him a job to land that QB. After that, Gus was able to show he was talented enough to stay and the rest is history. Hopefully Ice can do the same, but i'm just hoping for now he can help with recruiting and player development.

But for every Gus, there are great HS coaches who don't make it. They get opportunities elsewhere....small colleges, coordinators at big schools, etc....but don't wow anymore than current college coaches. Life is not just about ability, it is about timing and a little bit of luck. Everyone here always says that any coach with a little ability can win 8 games at Miami with their athletes. Well can't the same be said about HS coaches in Miami? What would Gus have done in South Florida HS? Win 2-3 National Championships? Well maybe Ice can relate to these players better because he's a So Florida guy, an ICON in the community, and he understands the kids and culture. Well then why are these kids going to Auburn (Gus), FSU (Jimbob), and UF (McElwain)? What do those coaches know about being from So Florida? What did Butch know? I can't compare Jimmy because he always says he was the first black coach as UM. On the flipside, what might inner city coaches with no coporate America life experience know about fund raising, University politics and schmoozing with high profile donors if they've never had to do it? Or can they go into the living room of a high profile white QB recruit from other areas and relate? Point is, everything is not as simple/easy and black and white (no pun intended) as fans make it seem as times. This is why experience in any job, any business is critical because there is a grooming process that makes people successful and following it with success at each level shows you can handle it and sets you up for future success. Throwing people into the meat grinder unprepared can result in failure, even if it wasn't the fault of the individual.

When we lose, everyone in So Florida HS coaching is better (or any other school for that matter).
When we win, nobody in So Florida HS coaching is qualified.

Timing and luck:
Clint Hurtt comes in as a highly ranked DT prospect but never amount to anything at UM due to injuries and other talented players. He gets lucky to become a grad assistant at UM (being a former player and knowing people), which turns into a full time job after other coaches leave (eventhough he had no prior experience), where he builds So Fla recruiting ties, gets axed (his Dline were some of the worst i had seen as UM) but hired by Charlie Strong for his So Fla ties, then gets canned again after breaking NCAA rules. Now he's in the NFL. How many other people who failed at things and got in trouble for their work can say they are better off for it? While there were probably hundreds of Dline coaches more qualified with better experience who would have given anything to coach at UM but never had the chance.

Lane Kiffin. Great offensive mind, takes the next step to Oakland and fails miserably. Goes to Tennessee and is nothing but controversy. Bolts to USC during the night and has 1 good season in 4 before he's fired. He becomes so toxic that nobody will tough him. Nobody, not even small schools. UM fans would laugh at his name being mentioned. Then he gets lucky....Nick Saban, one of the most respected coaches in all of college football, brings him in as a consultant to help ramp up his offense. Bama's OC takes a job at Michigan and bam, Kiffin is the OC at Bama. After showing once again he is a great offensive mind, schools are looking past his toxic history and inquiring about his services. Any other coach does that and Kiffin still has a label. Because it was Saban, it's viewed differently. Now UM fans are listing his name on message boards as candidates they would consider.