Ranking the Coaching Hires

#1
golfballs

golfballs

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#1
Bret Bielema to Arkansas ranks as offseason's top coaching hire - NCF - ESPN

1. Arkansas
2. Kentucky
3. Western Kentucky
4. Auburn
5. South Florida
6. Texas Tech
7. Wisconsin
8. Cincinnati
9. Tennessee Volunteers
Butch Jones (former Cincinnati head coach)
AD Dave Hart, in his first football hire at UT, aimed high -- maybe too high. However far down on the list Jones was, perhaps he's at the level Hart should have been targeting in the first place. There's a certain gamble when you've tumbled like Tennessee has. Even a truckload of cash couldn't lure Mike Gundy or Charlie Strong, or others.

Does that mean it's an abysmal hire? No, not really. In fact, it could work, but "could" is the operative word.

Jones, 44, is affable, and he's had only one losing season, his first at Cincinnati, as a head coach. The problem with all those winning seasons is that he has never coached at this level.

He's 0-5 against Top 25 teams and 14-23 versus teams with records above .500. That won't sit well with Tennessee fans who will have Derek Dooley (0-22 versus Top 25 teams, 6-33 versus those above .500) nightmares after reading those numbers. Some are already miffed that Hart hired someone who, gasp, lost to Dooley.

Jones' response this week to whether he's ready for the SEC? Players are players and coaching is coaching, he said, paraphrasing. Let's compare his thoughts now and a year from now. It might be more along the lines of "this takes time."
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10. NC State
11. Colorado
12. Southern Miss
13. Purdue
14. Arkansas State
15. Cal

So Tennessee was supposed to be the best job out there this offseason, and we make the 9th best hire. Kudos, Dave Hart.

And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.
 
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#2
#2
And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.
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That means I need to find his parent's house and smack them around a bit. ; )> jk
 
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#6
#6
It's ridiculous to rank coaching hires until you get the results of what they produce on the field...imo.
 
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#7
#7
First of all you CBJ could only Olay who is on his schedule and he won. Secondly both Brian Kelly and Kevin Sumlin had similar records against top 25 teams and over .500 teams. Also just because you are a UT alumn means nothing this guy is still caught up in wanting Gruden
 
#9
#9
golfballs said:
And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.
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Which means he could be taking his bias too far the other way. He could be one of the butthurt Vol fans who were expecting Jon Gruden, etc, so he's undervaluing the hire. Maybe he's trying to be overly objective, since it is his alma mater, and he's ranking it lower to seem neutral? Who knows.

Is the best hire on this list? No. But, he's absolutely higher than 9th, IMO.
 
#10
#10
golfballs said:
I believe these rankings are relative to the school. UK did well with that hire.
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I don't think so he never spoke of the school just the coach. He is still caught up in having a big name coach. Little does he know big names don't win games good coaches do
 
#12
#12
I have heard others put Tennessee as the best hire in the conference...To each his own I guess...plus ESPN hates Tennessee...
 
#14
#14
fade route said:
It's ridiculous to rank coaching hires until you get the results of what they produce on the field...imo.
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It's like a preseason poll. Clearly just a topic of conversation. But who doesn't take part in some prognostication?
 
#16
#16
So Tennessee was supposed to be the best job out there this offseason, and we make the 9th best hire. Kudos, Dave Hart.

And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.

And a lot of CFB analysts who are more knowledgable than Haney rate the Jones' hire as one of the top hires this season; I've seen at least one national analyst say it was Jones was the top hire. And Haney certainly doesn't lend to his credibility by dissing Jones for having never been a HC at this level right after he ranks Mark Stoops the 2nd best hire despite him never being a HC at any level. Sorry. That article needs to be stamped as an 'Epic Fail'.
 
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#17
#17
ThunderVol11 said:
Which means he could be taking his bias too far the other way. He could be one of the butthurt Vol fans who were expecting Jon Gruden, etc, so he's undervaluing the hire. Maybe he's trying to be overly objective, since it is his alma mater, and he's ranking it lower to seem neutral? Who knows.

Is the best hire on this list? No. But, he's absolutely higher than 9th, IMO.
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if it's the guy I think it is then I wouldn't put it past him. Pretty sure I met him at a bar in Columbia and he enjoyed the reaction he got from poking Gamecock fans
 
#18
#18
pretty irrelevant rankings...clearly it is not based upon which coaches are the best but upon how good the coach is in relation to the school that hired him. Based upon the criteria the only thing that would have propelled us to the top of that list was Gruden or Gundy...and I agree, when Kentucky is said to have made the 2nd best hire then the grading is skewed.
 
#19
#19
SCowlsVOL said:
Western ky was the best hire.
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This...western kentucky got the best coach. But I think we are in the top three.

Just some 'Big Blue' fan trying to pizz off the rivals.


No need to sweat it boyz...time will tell. I think we got the winner in the group.
 
#20
#20
SCowlsVOL said:
Western ky was the best hire.
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Couldn't disagree more. Western KY got the best coach, but it was not the best hire. They have already taken a little heat for hiring him. It's a PR nightmare. I'm sure, for them, the impact will be minimal because they are a smaller school, that just wants to rent a coach and win a few games. But when you consider those external factors, it can't be ranked as the best hire.
 
#21
#21
golfballs said:
Bret Bielema to Arkansas ranks as offseason's top coaching hire - NCF - ESPN

1. Arkansas
2. Kentucky
3. Western Kentucky
4. Auburn
5. South Florida
6. Texas Tech
7. Wisconsin
8. Cincinnati
9. Tennessee Volunteers

10. NC State
11. Colorado
12. Southern Miss
13. Purdue
14. Arkansas State
15. Cal

So Tennessee was supposed to be the best job out there this offseason, and we make the 9th best hire. Kudos, Dave Hart.

And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.
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Yeah two coordinators ranked ahead of a guy who has won conference championships, bowl games and coach of the year awards. And yet you take it as if this is some definitive list you can use to judge Hart. Kudos to YOU! :crazy:
 
#25
#25
My more rational thoughts:

golfballs said:
Bret Bielema to Arkansas ranks as offseason's top coaching hire - NCF - ESPN

1. Arkansas - maybe best hire. jury is out
2. Kentucky - this should be maybe 5th or 6th best hire at best
3. Western Kentucky - meaningless. he will be there 1 or 2 years max
4. Auburn - not long enough track record as a head coach. How is this 4th?
5. South Florida - pretty lateral movement in my opinion. WKU is on way up and S. FL still a new program who's lustre has worn a bit.
6. Texas Tech - 1st time head coach. should be toward bottom of list based on GP.
7. Wisconsin - Pretty good hire if you ask me. Maybe top 3 hire of this year??
8. Cincinnati - his style won't win at Cinci. IMO. lateral movement
9. Tennessee Volunteers - Butch Jones hire should be in top 3-4 of the hires made. Most proven HC as far as record and experience go outside of Tuberville.

10. NC State
11. Colorado
12. Southern Miss
13. Purdue
14. Arkansas State
15. Cal

So Tennessee was supposed to be the best job out there this offseason, and we make the 9th best hire. Kudos, Dave Hart.

And before you say anything about Travis Haney (the guy who wrote this) hating UT, he's from Cleveland, TN and is a UTK alum.
Click to expand...
 
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