So why is it that many of these “must have” or “best” option out there coaches haven’t performed and others, like the guy at Indiana, are performing? Thoughts?
OT: Lincoln Riley
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
- Start date
I think it just shows how hard hiring coaches is. There's just no way to know how a guy is going to do at a school. For every slam dunk hire that is Kirby Smart and works, you get a few Jimbo Fishers, Lincoln Rileys, and Tom Hermans.
I’d love to see them let him go. I don’t know that he’s really that great a coach but he isn’t bad and he’s beem there a long time bringing stability to the program. I feel like he’s pretty much hit a ceiling in recent years of what Kentucky football can reasonably expect to accomplish. If they let him go it’s pretty likely they will have a drop off which only helps us.
I think Jimbo was a sham from the get go. He made his name with a generational qb and he knew the wheels were coming off so he bolted to A&M. Herman's struggles surprised me. I thought he was going to be a great one, especially at Texas with their resources. Riley should have stayed at OU. He had built a really good program there and the USC job has been tough since Pete Carrol and the cheating left.
Kirby was the magic ingredient at Georgia. They already had all the resources a program could ask for and Richt handed him a pretty talented roster. Saban and quite a few other big name coaches had been saying for years that Georgia was the sleeping giant in college football. Kirby brought the energy and the training at the feet of Saban to Athens and unlocked the potential.
Clark Lea at Vandy is intriguing to me. He is definitely doing more with less up there. I think someone like him could do well at Carolina where he had at least average SEC talent on the roster.
I think the key for a coach becoming successful is that they evolve into more of a CEO mindset, with a caveat or two. You have to be willing to upgrade your coaching staff when it’s necessary, but can’t have a happy trigger finger. You have to build your system over time, but can’t ignore playing to the strengths you currently have. You have to be able to figure out and maximize NIL. And you have to be able to relate to and inspire your players. One caveat, if you are a genius on one side of the ball, then yes, keep your hands more on it until the system is fully in place. Wow, seems pretty simple, amazed not more coaches are successful 
. Seriously, it’s a way more complicated job than it was 25 years ago. The other caveat I would mention is timing. When you end up somewhere seems to be a huge factor in how coaches do once they take over, whether they had past success or not. Holtz and Spurrier did well for us, Saban obviously did well wherever he went in college. Past success doesn’t seem to transfer like it did in the past, Fisher, Herman, and so on and so on. Too many to list.
. Seriously, it’s a way more complicated job than it was 25 years ago. The other caveat I would mention is timing. When you end up somewhere seems to be a huge factor in how coaches do once they take over, whether they had past success or not. Holtz and Spurrier did well for us, Saban obviously did well wherever he went in college. Past success doesn’t seem to transfer like it did in the past, Fisher, Herman, and so on and so on. Too many to list.Not sure I would classify Lincoln Riley with that group. He was successful at Oklahoma. And I still believe he is a good coach. I think it has more to do with where he is coaching. Southern Call does not have a good track record and some coaches that have failed there have found success elsewhere.
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