1. The links you provided are standard articles AFTER a new coach is hired. The articles attempt to be even handed, but lean toward the optimistic side.
Read this board ... Even in year 5, Al Golden still has some supporters.
I never said "every USC fan and booster" was opposed to the hire, but there were enough for Pete to know that he was an "unpopular choice", as he called himself in the linked article you shared.
2. Pete wasn't close to being on the Mt. Rushmore of coaches when USC hired him. He was fired by New England because he underperformed their expectations. That team had gone to the Super Bowl the year before he was hired.
Remember my reference to Kiffin winning 66% of his first 40 games in his time at USC, and 65% for his career there? You discount that because you would argue he had enough talent to win more than that, right? (And for the record, Kiffin has won 63% of his games as a college HC, and NEVER had a losing season in college)
Well, Kraft felt the same way about the team he gave Carroll. He expected better, given where they were when he was hired. Pete went 10-6, 9-7, and 8-8 with a team that was just in the Super Bowl.
So you telling me Pete's playoffs stats after taking over a team that had just been to the Super Bowl doesn't validate your position. He was given a playoff team, and they got worse each successive year.
3. I think Strong could work at Miami, I think Kiffin could work, I think Chad Morris could work, I think Justin Fuente could work, I think Dana Holgorsen could work. I'd also be curious to see Bryan Harsin (but he ain't leaving Boise)
Oh, and I think Golden would do very well at Purdue and Illinois ... Completely agree with you on that!
4. But my Top 5 realistic pursuits would be:
Doug Marrone
Hue Jackson
Mike Shula
Lane Kiffin
And whoever finishes with the best season out of Morris (relatively speaking), Fuente, and Holgorsen.
1. Well that's when most articles about the subject are going to be written. It says it was an 18 day process to his being hired to so there was quite a lull. Not sure what you expect article wise and if they do lean optimistically, maybe there's a reason for that. Year 5 is after a mountain of evidence says Golden sucks and the people who support him make up maybe 10% of the fan base. Comparing Just Hired attitudes and Year 5 attitudes isn't a valid comparison. I didn't say you said EVERY USC person was unhappy with the hire and I know Carroll referred to himself as unpopular but I would bet he and the fan base would be aware that probably over 50% were happy with the hire and that's the majority last time I checked otherwise they wouldn't have hired him.
2. I also didn't say he was on the Mt. Rushmore of coaches but he wasn't a janitor either. His resume was way above par. And underperforming to expectations, especially at the NFL level, is way more different than at the college level. Going to the playoffs in your first two years and then getting fired is lunacy even if the predecessor went to the Super Bowl because of the shift to the position and the gap between the best and worst team in the NFL is a lot smaller than the best and worst teams in college. The, "expectation," argument isn't valid. And I'd have to look for other examples but the coach who replaced Vince Lombardi had a losing record from the jump so taking over a Super Bowl team, a dynasty in this case, and winning immediately are hardly commonplace at the NFL level.
Talent, in the NFL, has the smallest gaps. Kiffin's team were coming off of 7 straight seasons of 9 or more wins and 6 seasons of 11 or more wins. The cupboard was overflowing in a very weak conference except for Oregon and Stanford on the rise and I showed that Kiffin recruited just fine while there so his talent advantage wasn't miniscule like it is for NFL teams. It was exceedingly massive. And if the argument is about getting worse, Kiffin got worse as he brought more talent in and expectation wise he went from consensus preseason
#1 to unranked. That's totally different from the NFL dynamic where the difference between the Dolphins and the Patriots is better QB play and nothing more. It's that small a difference. The descent in wins for both guys is completely different where Kiffin got trounced against Meh competition when he should've been getting better and the guy who fired Carroll said it was unfair so that kind of peters out.
3. Strong would kill it and I already explained why with the whole Miami experience and defensive links. Kiffin doesn't recruit the area and never has and obviously with Cristobal on staff at Alabama that makes sense but even at USC there was a little to no South Florida recruiting. Chad Morris does nothing but recruit Florida and now in Texas that should give two recruiting areas of death. I'll reserve judgment until after the season because SMU stinks but I've got faith. Fuente turned around a SOUTHERN school against teams that play sound football rather than athletic football and he did in a dangerous city that mirrors Miami. The link is obvious. Dana Holgorsen would not have the players like all the Miramar kids that he wants and he's 28-23 at West Virginia despite having a huge strictly athletic advantage. Bryan Harsin seems both comfortable and too Idaho-ian for Miami which I know Dennis Erickson basically was as well but he was an innovative genius and the machine was humming then so that's why it worked.
4. Doug Marrone=Sucks. Overachieved at Syracuse, really impressed me with the Bills especially defensively and even more specifically in the secondary but he is a massive douche and the fact that he went from 6-10 to 9-7, overplayed his hand when Ralph Wilson died, and then could only get an OL coaching job with the Jaguars does not inspire confidence. Arrogant dude who the players could take or leave and his evaluation of EJ Manual as a 1st rounder is all I need to see. Pass.
Hue Jackson=Love him. Got to see him have the Raiders on the right track until Al died and then he overplayed his hand with Mark Davis. I think he'd be spectacular too. Beloved by the players and really has philosophies scheme wise that I enjoy.
Mike Shula=Great recruiter, **** schemer. He stocked the cupboard for Saban right out of the gate who took Shula's guys and went 12-2 in Year 2. That's damaging. He also has NCAA issues and I've seen his awful play calling of 3 and 2 calling for a bomb. Since Chudzinski left as the coordinator, Newton and the offense has regressed even though Ken Dorsey taught him to actually read a defense.
Lane Kiffin=Satan incarnate. Probably clubs baby seals in his spare time while making terrorist plots. But really he had spectacular players and athletes and failed with them. Badly. Talent went up and wins went down. Got a raw deal at USC but he did not help himself. He's not even two years removed from being fired so I don't know how much better he can be now by learning under Saban so I'll pass. He's probably a part time **** too.
My top 6:
1. Charlie Strong
2. Butch Davis
3. Mark Stoops
4. Justin Fuente
5. Jim Leavitt
6. Rod Chudzinski. I make an exception for his lack of head coaching experience at either level for his full Miami ties, excellent play calling, understanding of athletes, and willingness to be aggressive.
