Last night on FootballScoop Radio we opened up the lines and Twitter to questions. Most were questions came from fans wanting to know about candidates for the remaining openings on college football, but the best one we got was a text from a coach asking what we felt was our best prediction of the year. We didn't have time to get to that one on the air last night so I figured I'd put it out there this way today.
The first thing that came to mind was the very day that June Jones announced he was stepping down at SMU way back on Sept. 8, I wrote that Chad Morris would be hired:
I expect Chad Morris to be offered and to accept the position. I also expect Morris to deny interest in the position until he is offered the job. Morris has quietly sought out other jobs, most recently he pushed for the Vanderbilt opening which went to Derek Mason, and this is one he will push hard for. Morris would love the opportunity to return to Texas and the bravado that comes with being a head ball coach in Dallas. Morris would thrive in this environment and would interact well with Mustang boosters. In my opinion, Hart has plenty of time and will perform his diligence but I believe Morris is likely on top of the list already and won’t be surpassed.
But after thinking it through due to the complexity of the variables involved, and the precision with which we nailed this one like a laser-guided bomb dropped from 50,000 feet...
In August, USA Today's Dan Wolken (who does a very good job covering the sport) offered this piece:
Wolken listed:
1. Mark Hudspeth
2. Pat Narduzzi
3. Tom Herman
4. Rhett Lashlee
5. Matt Wells
6. Matt Campbell
7. Brent Venables
8. Tony Levine
9. Joey Jones
10. Mike Norvell
After reading Wolken's piece I tweeted:
I went on to tweet that he had a list of very good coaches, but my perspective was that some of those were in the right spot for them for a while. (Example: Rhett Lashlee - an excellent offensive mind but is in a very good place with Gus in this capacity for a while.)
Fast forward to today and, yep, seven out of 10 are in the same spot they were. Tom Herman and Pat Narduzzi moved up for head coaching positions at Houston (took Tony Levine's spot) and Pitt.
After Wolken and I exchanged some public tweets about our wager and thoughts we continued the conversation via DM where I took it a step further and told him that I thought Tom Herman and Pat Narduzzi were the two most likely to get jobs, and I told him that the buzz within the profession was the unless Tony Levine had an incredible season at Houston...that he would be out.
That, my friends, is called 10 for 10. Like a bald eagle, often discussed, rarely seen in public.