Former LSU AD explains Les Miles' situation
Former LSU AD Skip Bertman doesn’t believe Les Miles will leave for Michigan.
Bertman also never believed that Tulane (the other college in Louisiana) would defeat his Tigers in the 2001 Super Regionals, Bertman’s last series as a college baseball coach. The Green Wave advanced to Omaha.
Bertman told the Detroit Free Press, "This time now for Miles, he has a 7-year old, a 16-year old and two boys in between, isn't the time for him to move. At LSU he makes the $4 million, likes Baton Rouge, likes LSU, and had a really great recruiting class. The timing is such, I don’t think if Michigan came up with the $4 million plus the ($1.25 million) buyout he has, I don’t think the timing is right for Les Miles.”
Timing? Skip, what would be good timing?
Bertman says, “He has a lot of morality, you don’t find it in many people, let alone many coaches. He won’t try to make more money by pretending that he wants to go to Michigan. That’s extraordinarily rare. I was an AD for a long time. Some coaches they really don’t want to go, but pretend they do.”
Bertman, who hired Les Miles, will soon find out. Several reports say that Miles will talk with Michigan AD Dave Brandon in the next 48 hours.
"Y'all must be crazy"
At FootballScoop we get texts all day long from coaches telling us who is interviewing, who got the job, etc...This morning one comes in saying, "Free beer for coaches." That was all it said. A minute later, "Y'all must be crazy".
Not crazy, we just really like what we do.
Join us Monday at 5PM in the Stemmons ballroom (right off the lobby) for a couple of frosty beverages. ESPN will be rolling pre-game for the National Championship game.
We really couldn't do this without our great sponsors. If you see a sign in one of these great companies' exhibits, please thank them for their support of coaches everywhere.
2011 Sponsors:
Video: One of the best pre-game speeches you will see
In case you missed it, Miami (OH) interim head coach Lance Guidry gave one of the best pre-game speeches you will hear before last night’s GoDaddy.com Bowl game. The Redhawks went on to defeat MTSU 35-21.
Guidry, a Louisiana native, has served as the interim head coach at Miami (OH) since Mike Haywood’s departure. Guidry has coached the defensive backs the last two years for the Redhawks.
Early in the week, Guidry joked, "If my coaching career doesn't pan out, I'm gonna to become a Cajun cook."
Seems like a lot of head coaches might want to consider Guidry for a position.
He also served as the defensive coordinator / defensive backs coach at McNeese State for five years, during which the Cowboys won 3 Southland Conference championships and played in the D1-AA championship game. He's also a former Welsh Greyhound and coached the Wampus Cats at Leesville HS, the home of Cecil "The Deisel" Collins.
Anyway, here’s the evidence:
Quick Hits: Manny Diaz, Brennan Carroll, Will Muschamp
Quoting Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz: "No offense has ever scored in football. The defense has only allowed them to score."
“We had beaten Michigan on Saturday, driven from Jacksonville to Starkville on Sunday and Monday night we were just sitting around the house when Coach called, and that will just change your week. I can assure you that out of all the weeks I've had, this one has been right up there.”
“I don't think I've ever realized I could become a big-time coach. Anyone that sits around and says, “Hey I'm a big time coach” - I think that's a little strange to me. But I am absolutely humbled by the turns that my career has taken. There are a lot of great football coaches in this country and not all of them get to stand here and wear this shirt. The fact that for whatever reason that I was chosen to do this is something that I don't take very lightly. That's why I am so grateful and honored to be here because there are a lot of people as or more qualified to be here. But the way it's worked out, I’m here, and I'm absolutely excited to get going.”
Miami (FL) tight ends coach Brennan Carroll talks about his decision to join Al Golden’s staff: “My decision process was: it was Miami. How could I turn it down? Tight end U. Tight ends coach. I had to come check it out. It wasn't very hard. The only thing I had to really make sure was that it was good for my family and that the kids could make the transition. I talked it over with the wife. She was great about it. We're in a new area now. But you're in Miami."
Will Muschamp talks about getting the right fit in recruiting: “Just like I did when I was defensive coordinator at Texas when I ran the defensive [recruiting] board. We’ve got certain things that we’re looking for at each position. It’s about evaluation. It’s about taking the right guy. Not necessarily taking the best player at that position; he might not be the right fit for your football team or your university. That’s a huge part of what we do as coaches, is evaluating and taking the right players because there are a lot of good football players out there.”
“I’m not worried about the guys that don’t sign at Florida, I’m worried about the ones that sign at Florida. We need to do a great job of developing those players. A lot of these young men that go other places, I’m going to see them once a year. So I’m not as worried about them as I am the ones we are going to have on our campus.”
Muschamp explains the hiring of Charlie Weis
As a guest on the Joe Rose Radio Show this morning, Will Muschamp explained his hiring of Charlie Weis.
“Charlie’s very close with his family. It’s a situation where his daughter Hannah – they need to move back to South Bend, she’s a special needs child. He and his wife Maura are going to move back to South Bend to a more comfortable place for them where she can go to school.”
“His son Charlie, Jr. is going to college and they were choosing colleges and they looked at the University of Florida and really liked Florida. I kind of heard that through a third party and said this might be an interesting thing to see if we can check out.”
“I called Kansas City and asked for permission to talk to him and got him on the phone there. All of a sudden we had a lot of interest on his end, a lot of interest on our end. At the end of the day, it’s still Florida. It’s a great place to be, it’s a great place to coach.”
Weis will call the plays on Sunday at 1 pm EST when the Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens. Even if the Chiefs lose, we are hearing it will be a Monday morning decision on if Weis will attend the FootballScoop Coaches Happy Hour on Monday night in Dallas.
Clemson AD shares his candid thoughts on staff changes
Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips shared his thoughts on the recent staff changes at Clemson with the Post and Courier.
On Sunday, Dabo Swinney announced that offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Billy Napier and running backs / special teams coordinator Billy Napier would not return to the staff.
Phillips indicates Swinney and Napier were not on the same page, philosophically. He also took a shot at some coaches by adding that Clemson’s 9-win team of 2009 (ACC Coastal Champs) had some great players that camouflaged the coaching deficiencies.
Regarding the relationship Swinney had with Napier, Phillips said, "It's hard for me to say. I'm not over there sitting in the meetings. I know off the field they had a very good working relationship. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some differences philosophically; you have that in the best of circumstances. In 2008, when Dabo took over at midseason they had reasonable success, they had some good wins. I think they felt comfortable that they just needed to try to improve upon where they were when they meshed together in that interim period. Of course the next year we had some players that were maybe able to gloss over some deficiencies.”
So what happened to this year’s team that finished 6-7?
Phillips said, "We did lose some key players, C.J. (Spiller) and Jacoby (Ford), two players Dabo recruited. I think the game at Auburn put a little dent in us. That's a game we all recognize that's one of those 'shouldas' against a team that might win the national championship. We lost a very good running back (Andre Ellington) that could have helped us down the stretch. We didn't quite have the receivers we have had. ... and we all know the kicking game."
No mention of Napier or Powell being a problem in THAT answer.
At FootballScoop, we always back coaches. We don't like to see coaches being let go and we dread reporting the news when good football coaches lose their jobs.
We also leave our opinions off the table. We just report the information and let you form your own opinion. In this case, however, we believe Dabo and Terry Don should talk less in 2011. You don't have to explain every single thing you do inside your program.
Sure, as leader of the organization, there are times when you do have to talk. With that being said, the more you talk, the more you open yourself up to criticism.
Quick Hits: Bo Davis, Nick Aliotti, Hank Hughes
Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti talks about preparing for Cam Newton: "I've been sleeping like a baby: I wake up every two hours and cry."
Bo Davis describes interviewing with Mack Brown: It was very thorough and kind of surprising. Coach Mack [Brown] asked a lot of questions - which were good questions - because they check your character out and see what kind of person you're getting to come work with your kids, and I think that's very important. It was very thorough.
“Even when we talked about contracts and all that, I said, 'Coach, me personally, they don't even have to have a contract with me. You can walk up and shake my hand. I'm an old country boy. You shake my hand and give me your word, that's what I go on.' I don't get into how long are you going to be here and is this going to determine my fate if I come here. I don't get into that. To me that's not important. The opportunity you have to come to a great university like the University of Texas - that's what I care about. And getting a chance to coach some young, great players you guys have here. That's what I like to do.”
UCONN interim head coach Hank Hughes wants the job: "In this business, you're combat ready. We didn't bat an eye. Obviously, there was some conversation. [But], you move on.”
"I'll say this, coming as an assistant coach moving up to be the interim head football coach: I know two programs that have had a lot of success promoting from within — Texas Christian, TCU, and Boise. They moved the program forward by continuity. I talked to [Hathaway] the other day and let him know I want to be the head football coach here.”
Stanford Cardinal - Orange Bowl highlight film: You can see Harbaugh's locker room speech at the 6 minute mark.
The coaching profession...how times have changed
We’re sitting around here at FootballScoop Headquarters discussing the various openings when one of our guys, who is soon to receive a raise, brought up an interesting point.
His point involves Bill Cowher and the Carolina Panthers job.
It seems from the outside that Cowher and the Panthers would be great for each other. Carolina is a really good job. As one of our guys explained, “Any job that pays a couple of million sounds good to me. And you are coaching football and working for an owner that isn’t exactly some jackleg like Al Davis.”
While the Panthers have only been to the playoffs 3 of the last 8 years, the organization did play in the Super Bowl under owner Jerry Richardson in 2003. In 2005, they returned to the NFC championship game.
The Panthers have DeAngelo Williams, who was a legitimate MVP candidate late in the 2009 season. More importantly, when they select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the #1 overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Panthers will have a franchise quarterback.
Somewhere, Jaws is saying, “And the National Football League is a quarterback driven league.”
Did we mention that Cowher, a multi-millionaire who could live anywhere, already resides in Raleigh, North Carolina?
From the outside, it appears Cowher isn’t interested in the job because Jerry Richardson won’t pay $4 million + for a head coach. At the least, we’ve heard ESPN analysts say that Richardson won’t pony up the big bucks for a guy like Jim Harbaugh.
So, is money keeping Cowher and Richardson apart? As brought up in our discussion, “What’s really the difference in $2.3 million and $4.3 million? How is that going to change the way you live?”
How times have changed in the coaching profession!
