Reported on ESPN CFB Live

by **BRStang** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:32 pm

Saw it for myself on ESPN College Football Live at 5 p.m. It didn't say when he was interviewed, though. Although, the talk was as if he is currently a candidate, so I assume recently.

Again, I don't think he is the right guy for substantive reasons, but the old-looking thing is just an anti-bonus.

by **The XtC** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:32 pm

[quote="SMU88"] My personal opinion was that a lot of the assistant coaches got complacent [/quote]

Didnt he fire almost all of his assistants? Randy Shannon was the only one left from the Butch Davis regime when Coker was fired.

by **cs09viking** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:43 pm

huskerpony wrote:
The XtC wrote:Also, I'd like to state that this pretty clearly shows that Orsini hasnt "had his man all along" and "was just waiting until Bowl/NFL playoffs were over to name his guy." The search has gone on for 2 months, recruiting season is almost wasted (now in a dead period) and we still dont have a coach. All the hollow claims about Orisini's alleged backdoor, uber top secret, Machiavellian machinations that were going to make us all sit up and take notice, all went up in smoke the moment it was announced that SMU was interviewing Larry Coker. Coker was available the moment Phil Bennet was fired. If he is the coach, he wont be able to talk to a recruit until January.

I tend to agree with this. Although we don't know the timing. He may have been interviewed some time ago and leaked this for his own purposes at this time.

I never thought we had someone locked up. If Coker interviewed in the last week, we obviously didn't. If it was a couple of weeks back though, I suppose it is still possible.

What hope this does give me is that we are at least talking to head coaches with experience at high levels. The Troy Calhoun thing scared me a lot. But, we do still have the $10-12 mil in the bank and are at least talking to some big names (whether they are scraps from the table or not,) so I think we still have a chance to lock in someone who is at least decent, even if their recruiting class will be terrible for next year.

why in the hell would Troy Calhoun scare you? he's done more in one season at Air Force than any of the spares we have had around here the past 20 years. the guy was a VERY successful offensive coordinator for Wake Forest and coached in the NFL as well.

by **SMU88** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:46 pm

The XtC wrote:
SMU88 wrote: My personal opinion was that a lot of the assistant coaches got complacent

Didnt he fire almost all of his assistants? Randy Shannon was the only one left from the Butch Davis regime when Coker was fired.

Yes he fired them after the 2006 season. Two of the coaches (Werner and Kehoe) went to Ole Miss, where Orgeron was just fried.

by **Alaric** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:47 pm

PonyPatrol wrote:Interesting that Bowden's best season was his first year at Auburn when he went 11-0 and Coach of the Year with his predecessor's recruits. Five years later he was 1-5 and forced out halfway through the season. When Tuberville came in his first year, that team went 5-6 (with Terry's recruits)...but Bowden didn't run that team into the ground?...

To be fair, you're skewing Bowden's record a little, he wasn't on a downhill trend notwithstanding his last year debacle:
1993 Auburn 11-0 8-0 1 - West* Ineligible* 4
1994 Auburn 9-1-1 6-1-1 2 - West* Ineligible* 9
1995 Auburn 8-4 5-3 2 - West L 14-43 Outback Bowl 21 22
1996 Auburn 8-4 4-4 3 - West W 32-29 Independence Bowl 25 24
1997 Auburn 10-3 6-2 1 - West (t) W 21-17 Peach Bowl 11 11
1998 Auburn 1-5^ 1-4^ 6 - West

by **OC Mustang** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:48 pm

After careful consideration, I am in favor of Coker as head coach at this time. Out of the Top 40 coaches on the list that is being batted about on this thread, SMU has a chance at persuading zero of them to come to SMU. In fact, it isn't until between #70 and #80 that a coach would even conceivably risk their careers to come to SMU. They are either making more money or coach at BCS potential schools (aligned w/ BCS conferences). Right/wrong/indifferent, those schools have an advantage over SMU unless SMU is offering ridiculously more money. I think SMU has come up to market price, but it is not offering ridiculous money.

My point: Coker is as good a hire as Neuhisel, Barnett, Gill, or some similar. The fact is, given the chance to coach at SMU, UCLA, Michigan, West Virginia, or even TCU, with money being at general parity, where do you think a coach is going to go? I didn't say that Coker would be as good a coach as the others...I said he was as good of a hire. And that takes into consideration the reality of SMU's program. I hope that a solid name comes out of these interviews, but the fact is that whoever the coach is, he was not SMU's first choice, and he is probably not SMU's 2nd, 3rd, or perhaps even 4th choice.

You can blame Turner and/or Orsini, but net-net, they went after who they wanted, and they lost out. Next candidate.

I love my school, but from a hiring perspective, we will be extremely fortunate to get a good coach to sign on...even if we feed him more money. Coker has nothing to lose in the twilight of his career. This is a good chance for him. SMU is a good job for him in the same way that he is for us. They just have to find a "fit", if one exists.

by **Big Hoss** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:49 pm

SmooBoy wrote:SMU needs young-looking high school coach-types to lead our boys.

The next coach could look like Father Time (or Madeline Albright for that matter) just so long as he actually wins 7+ games a year and get's us to a bowl game at least every other year.

If we have recruits who are more concerned about how a guy looks vs. the skins he's got on the wall, than the talent pool needs a little chlorine!

by **RednBlue11** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:49 pm

hey im not goina complain if we finally have a coach...no i don't really like to coker too much but he might have some talent that hasn't shown yet, he has big game experience that could prove invaluable...again, im just happy to hear we might have a coach....

by **Big Hoss** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:51 pm

OC Mustang wrote:After careful consideration, I am in favor of Coker as head coach at this time. Out of the Top 40 coaches on the list that is being batted about on this thread, SMU has a chance at persuading zero of them to come to SMU. In fact, it isn't until between #70 and #80 that a coach would even conceivably risk their careers to come to SMU. They are either making more money or coach at BCS potential schools (aligned w/ BCS conferences). Right/wrong/indifferent, those schools have an advantage over SMU unless SMU is offering ridiculously more money. I think SMU has come up to market price, but it is not offering ridiculous money.

My point: Coker is as good a hire as Neuhisel, Barnett, Gill, or some similar. The fact is, given the chance to coach at SMU, UCLA, Michigan, West Virginia, or even TCU, with money being at general parity, where do you think a coach is going to go? I didn't say that Coker would be as good a coach as the others...I said he was as good of a hire. And that takes into consideration the reality of SMU's program. I hope that a solid name comes out of these interviews, but the fact is that whoever the coach is, he was not SMU's first choice, and he is probably not SMU's 2nd, 3rd, or perhaps even 4th choice.

You can blame Turner and/or Orsini, but net-net, they went after who they wanted, and they lost out. Next candidate.

I love my school, but from a hiring perspective, we will be extremely fortunate to get a good coach to sign on...even if we feed him more money. Coker has nothing to lose in the twilight of his career. This is a good chance for him. SMU is a good job for him in the same way that he is for us. They just have to find a "fit", if one exists.

All great points.

by **The XtC** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:29 pm

[quote="SMU88"][quote="The XtC"][quote="SMU88"] My personal opinion was that a lot of the assistant coaches got complacent [/quote]

Didnt he fire almost all of his assistants? Randy Shannon was the only one left from the Butch Davis regime when Coker was fired.[/quote]

Yes he fired them after the 2006 season. Two of the coaches (Werner and Kehoe) went to Ole Miss, where Orgeron was just fried.[/quote]

No, he didnt. Coker was fired after the 2006 season. The assistants were fired the year before.

by **Texas Red** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:50 pm

Who would be better right now? Coker or Chow?

by **SMU88** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:29 pm

The XtC wrote:
SMU88 wrote:
The XtC wrote:
SMU88 wrote: My personal opinion was that a lot of the assistant coaches got complacent

Didnt he fire almost all of his assistants? Randy Shannon was the only one left from the Butch Davis regime when Coker was fired.

Yes he fired them after the 2006 season. Two of the coaches (Werner and Kehoe) went to Ole Miss, where Orgeron was just fried.

No, he didnt. Coker was fired after the 2006 season. The assistants were fired the year before.

Yea you right...they were fired in January 2006.

by **QuikSStang** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:29 pm

please no coker

by **Mu$tang** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:43 pm

Coker would be a great fit at SMU.

by **bigdaddy08091** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:39 pm

Mu$tang wrote:Coker would be a great fit at SMU.

AAA++++

Reported on ESPN CFB Live

Coker or Chow

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