Believe it or not, I actually believe Les Miles would be a VERY good hire and good fit for SMU. He is a great human being and the type of coach players want to come and play for. And I think he would look at SMU as a final coaching stop, rather than constantly looking to improve his lot. He is a very loyal guy, too. He is a fantastic recruiter (TX, LA, and the entire Southeast), and has demonstrated that he knows how to bring in other top recruiters and stout defensive coaches. I also think he has learned that the days of "I formation" football have passed CFB by and he would be willing to get an innovative offensive minded OC at his next stop.
Although I firmly believe it was time for him to move on from LSU (as HC), I love Les and think he should ultimately land another job at a place that will love him back. Of course, he just sold and bought another home in Baton Rouge, and I think he's happy living here off his buyout, but Dallas and HP might be a close, tempting spot for him to consider.
I'm baffled by the amount of publicity surrounding UT coaching search. All these coaches have agents .... isn't simply a case of working out a deal with the agent and then having an introductory news conference. Why "interview" Chad or Mike Gundy? Their body of work is well known and their personalities should also be well vetted.
MSU got their replacement coach with nary a whisper. A&M is flying under the radar after their guy - don't see them interviewing people all over the place.
Maybe I'm naive or just baised, but I don't necessarily think it would be the kiss of death for SMU to find a guy who thinks of SMU as home. I think that could be true for a place like Houston or NTSU, but I feel like SMU as a university and community has a lot more to offer than most G5 jobs and some P5 jobs. As much as I hate this example, Gary Patterson proved that there can still be ambition to win and improve a football program like SMU's and still treat it as "home." I could be wrong in SMU's case. But, I still have hope that some great and dynamic coach could love SMU as much as I do, and personally take on the mission of making SMU relevant again in football.
Who knows, maybe Chad will ultimately prove to be that guy. Fingers crossed. But if not, I could at least envision a guy like Les Miles in that role.
IMO the vols search became very public because of the fans not wanting Schiano. I suspect that if a coach is interested then his agent works out the details and the coach meets with the school to make sure there is a good fit between the personalities.
BRStang wrote:Maybe I'm naive or just baised, but I don't necessarily think it would be the kiss of death for SMU to find a guy who thinks of SMU as home.
For G5 schools it's absolutely the kiss of death because you have to seriously compromise on things like fit/competence to get a guy who thinks of your job as "home". You're either going to end up with some retread you pray the game hasn't passed by or some nondescript assistant.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security
If you want to have a successful organization, you need talented people. If you want talented people, you need to be aware those people will have ambition. If you want to hire ambitious people, you need to make your organization as attractive as possible to entice those talented people to stay. You also must be prepared to let those talented people leave for different opportunities. You need to have confidence in your organization to hire the right talented people to replace the talented people who leave while you continually work to make your organization as attractive as possible to entice those talented people to stay.
You won't get anywhere trying to find the 1 in a million unambitious, talented person who will never want to leave.
Edit, besides, what you are asking for is one-sided loyalty. You want a coach that will never leave that you won't think twice about sacking if he has a sub .500 record in three years.
Well, you seem much more experienced than I in coaching searches and coaching hires, and your opinions certainly seem righter than mine, so I appreciate you setting me straight.
Well, you seem much more experienced than I in coaching searches and coaching hires, and your opinions certainly seem righter than mine, so I appreciate you setting me straight.
