SMU Coaching Candidate aTm's Jake Spavital

[tristatecoog]

But does he know how to be a head coach?

It almost sounds like you are implying that he does not. You would have to ask that same question about Morris, Beaty, Herman etc and from all indications they are very highly regarded candidates. Kind of like Sumlin was when he went to UH or Malzahn was before he went to Auburn. Seems they turned out very well.

Don't forget the hot Leach acolytes -- Dana and Kliff. Given that Jake is 29, I'd say Dana and Kliff were better thought of due to longevity. Also, Jake learned his stuff from Dana and Kliff. That said, maybe Jake is the next Josh Pastner who took over Memphis hoops at the age of 31 without any previous HC experience.

BTW, at the time, many fans were down on Sumlin because he wasn't the official playcaller at OU. Kevin Wilson was apparently calling plays as co-OC with Sumlin. UH certainly made the right pick because Wilson isn't doing too well at the helm of Hoosier football.

[whitwiki]

Sumlin has swag and recruits love him. Same with KK

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

I really doubt that SMU would be able to pull Spav away from A&M just yet.

What?
Jake makes $383,000 in College Station.
There are two million reasons he would come to SMU.
Actually he'd probably come if it were 1 million reasons.
Of course he would be gone quickly if he were a success at SMU.
But like many have stated that's a "good problem" for us to have.
If bigger programs are stealing our coaches we are probably doing something right.

ps: although Spavital appears very polished for his age,
my gut tells me David Beaty at A&M may be the safer choice for SMU

[Rebel10]

It almost sounds like you are implying that he does not.

Not at all. I think it is a legitimate question considering the last time we hired an assistant with no head coaching experience, it became obvious pretty quick that it was not gonna work out - and he had been at LSU, A&M, Wyoming, TCU, Purdue, Kansas State.... There's a difference in doing it yourself and being able to effectively delegate authority. The "big picture" is a different ballgame in coaching. All of the aforementioned coaches might be ready. If we pick an assistant, I hope he's ready.... whoever it is.

Also. just because a guy was a good head coach somewhere else does not mean that he will do well here either. See Randy Edsall, Ty Willingham, Dirk Koetter etc.

But I agree with you on this quote.

SMU needs to bring out the big guns and go after Chad Morris. Pay him huge dollars to come to the Hilltop. We could be out of the woods in 2-3 years. Would be SMU's most prestigious hire in football. Want results?

Right and Bennett had more restrictions than June. And now Mason is saying that the team has hit rock bottom under June and was not fundamentally sound under June. There is not evidence that when head coaches change jobs that they do any better than coordinators. Add Tim Beckman to the that list of Randy Edsall, Ty Willingham, Dirk Koetter as well of head coaches that did not do well when they went to other schools. I think Beaty, Morris, Spav, or Herman would do fine here since they would not have the restrictions Bennett had.

[SMUer]

Saturday will kinda be a job interview...hope he impresses?!?