Jon Sumrall to Tulane
- Thread starter dawgstudent
- Start date
Tulane hired a current head coach while we hired a coordinator who promoted position coaches to coordinators. We obviously didn’t learn a damn thing from last season. It seems like Tulane is in it to be competitive while we just rearranged the chairs on the Titanic.
Damn shame GA won a couple natties with a coordinator, Or that Oregon has been a top 10 team, etc etc.
I don’t think hiring a defense guy after Arnett was the way to go. Sumrall maybe gives you a safer floor but Lebby has the higher ceiling and addresses the side of the ball we’ve historically had the most issues.
They didn’t promote position coaches to coordinators during Kirby Smart‘s first season. Both of his coordinators had been coordinators before. We literally just fired a staff not ready for prime time.
I don’t understand the sentiment around having to hire existing head coaches or existing coordinators to be successful. Also the sky is falling narrative seems odd to me. Feels like letting a head coach get things in place and play at least one actual game before calling it a failed decision would be appropriate. Doesn’t seem like there is a prescriptive path to success in college football anyway that so many experts on here think they have unlocked. Lebby seems like a sharp dude and seems to have a vision for his program.
There’s a big difference in resources between Georgia, Oregon and where we are. That affects how you build and compete. In this era of NIL it is even more extreme.
Please tell me a G5 head coach who has had great success when moving to a P5 head coaching job. The only one I can think of is Dave Deoren and most of y’all would’ve tried to burn down the stadium if we would’ve hired him from NC State.
Before leaving the Browns as the DC to Michigan State Saban was HC for Toledo. That MSU was his first p5. It might be too soon but Norvell went to FSU from Memphis. Gundy's first Head Coaching job was Oklahoma State. I believe Bob Stoops first HC job was Oklahoma. Brian Kelly went from Cincinnati to Notre Dame.
Then you have Dion.**********
Last edited:
Mike Norvell Memphis to FSU comes to mind
Lane Kiffin came from FAU
Chris Petersen from Boise to Washington
Matt Rhule went from Temple to having Baylor 11-1 before he went to Carolina
Last edited:
I'd rather live in small town Troy than #1 crime-ridden New Orleans.
I mean a coach who has only been a G5 head coach. Kiffin coached the Raiders, Tennessee and USC before he was hired at FAU. Norvell is a good one. I had forgotten about him.
The north shore exists. It's a great place to live. Traffic stinks though.
List of coaches who played for or won National titles since 1990 that started HC at lower levels.
G5 or lower start:
Urban Meyer (Utah-Jorts... Utah was Mountain West back then.)
Sonny Dykes (SMU-TCU)
Bobby Bowden (WVU-FSU)
Jim Tressel (Youngstown State-Ohio State)
Brian Kelly (Cincinnati-Notre Douché)
Petersen (BSU-Washington)
Kaleb Deboer (Fresno-Wash)
Frank Beamer (Murray State - VA Tech)
Mack Brown (Tulane-NC-UT)
Don James (Kent State -Washington)
Gus Bus (Arkansas State-Auburn)
Dennis Erickson (Idaho-WY-Wazzu-Miami)
Saban kinda with his first HC at Toledo, but he was an NFL DC for several years before Michigan State. So you could put him and Pete Carroll down as NFL guys.
Terry Bowden (Samford-Auburn) with an asterisk probably had a national title caliber team at Auburn in 93 if not for all the sanctions.
Looking over the last 35 years seems like head coaches playing for nattys are an even mix of coaches with G5 or lower head coaching starts or P5 coordinators/assistants with long tenures under a legendary coach. Then a few oddball NFL guys (Pete Carroll) or recruiting gurus (Dabo and Ogre) or flat out idiots (Chizik.)
Latest posts
Get unlimited access today.