Reported on ESPN CFB Live

[bigdaddy08091]

bigdaddy-

If Orsini knows that SMU needs a special coach, why is ESPN reporting that its employee (Coker) is interviewing at SMU? You can take your Orsini rant (below) and direct it to Orsini

I appreciate all the research some of you do to get these numbers that mean nothing here, but please chill out on the stats. This is a special place, with special people and most coaches no that. It will take a special coach (they are all taken) and Coker, Graham, Dodge, Gill, Bowden, Barnett aint it. Orsini understands this why can't some of you.

Not a rant. Take a deep breath and understand where you are at. The current events of the last 24 hours with ED and CJ. Coker is either a CJ interview, Orsini has finally broken Turner down or we are desperate. Coker was not even in the picture early for several reasons. He was a candidate for several jobs and did not get them, so he is one of the HC's left with really nowhere to go. SMU might fit his profile.

[SMU Football Blog]

One reason there may have been a delay in talking to Coker may be his buyout from Miami. He was fired December 8, 2006 and was in only the second year of a $2MM per year contract extension. Perhaps, he had some front end money coming from Miami if he was not employed as a coach by 12/8/07? Wild guess, but anything's possible.

Didn't stop him from interviewing at Rice

[J.T.supporta]

bigdaddy-

If Orsini knows that SMU needs a special coach, why is ESPN reporting that its employee (Coker) is interviewing at SMU? You can take your Orsini rant (below) and direct it to Orsini

I appreciate all the research some of you do to get these numbers that mean nothing here, but please chill out on the stats. This is a special place, with special people and most coaches no that. It will take a special coach (they are all taken) and Coker, Graham, Dodge, Gill, Bowden, Barnett aint it. Orsini understands this why can't some of you.

Not a rant. Take a deep breath and understand where you are at. The current events of the last 24 hours with ED and CJ. Coker is either a CJ interview, Orsini has finally broken Turner down or we are desperate. Coker was not even in the picture early for several reasons. He was a candidate for several jobs and did not get them, so he is one of the HC's left with really nowhere to go. SMU might fit his profile.

you're right, Turners frustrated and Orsinis butt is so sore from Turners hand, its a reach, thats what this interview is...just trying to put SMU back in the news for a few days before the bowl season starts

[Nacho]

Nothing SMU does surprises me so I'm not upset. I do find it curious that we waited so long to hire the best coach in America when we could have hired him the day PB was fired.

[Ponymon]

He can recruit too. I think Coker would be a good pick for you guys. Miami has had off the field issues no matter who their coach has been. I am not sure how much of that you can put directly on Coker although yes I do understand that the buck stops with the HC.

At least he can wear that National Championship ring into the house of the recruit he is interested in. With some of these guys, that might make a difference.

[mrydel]

One reason there may have been a delay in talking to Coker may be his buyout from Miami. He was fired December 8, 2006 and was in only the second year of a $2MM per year contract extension. Perhaps, he had some front end money coming from Miami if he was not employed as a coach by 12/8/07? Wild guess, but anything's possible.

Didn't stop him from interviewing at Rice

But it may be the reason he did not go there. I am not pro or anti Coker but I think it is disingenuous to say he was passed over by Rice as many have done (I do not think you have done so Blog) when it may have been he that turned them down. I can readily see Tulsa taking Graham after the success he had with Tulsa in the past and was probably a lot cheaper. Now if someone can back up with facts that Rice passed on him I would be interested in knowing why. Perhaps an exhorborant payout.

[TheBestAvailable]

Is this the same Larry Coker that won a national championship at Miami? That is a wow to me. When was the last time SMU had a coach that won a national title? There are a lot of coaches coaching today that are great coaches that have never won a national title. I would take him in a heart beat.

Yes, a former NC coach is a WOW hire...but theres going to be some fool on the board that will say Cokers NC is tainted because he won it with BDs players, which is BS, he still won a NC...

Coker would be a good hire here

And Bob Stoops won a National Title with Someone elses players but everyone forget about that. He is still a great coach. Fran won with someone elses players at TCU, which just goes to show you how important leadership is.

If it were all up to the athletes, the coach that recruited the players to begin with would have won championships.

[SMUer]

Coker is either a CJ interview, Orsini has finally broken Turner down or we are desperate.

I apologize for mis-characterizing your post as a rant. I agree that it might/probably is a James idea but if a) or b) or both are true, then it's an encouraging change in the search process. If Turner can't say not to Craig James then I'm glad he joined the hunt.

[ebrooks11]

Did the report say we hired him or interviewed him? I am confused.

[J.T.supporta]

Did the report say we hired him or interviewed him? I am confused.

INTERVIEW

[ebrooks11]

Did it say when we interviewed him? Could it have been a month ago and they are just now saying it happened?

[huskerpony]

you're right, Turners frustrated and Orsinis butt is so sore from Turners hand, its a reach, thats what this interview is...just trying to put SMU back in the news for a few days before the bowl season starts

I imagine that this was a leak from Larry Coker. With all of the secrecy on Orsini's end, I don't see the motivation to leak it--unless we actually are totally striking out. My guess is that LC wanted it known that he was being looked at (whether for the WVU job, another job that opens in the next few weeks, or for next year.) He just wants his name to be out there so people are aware he is a contender. (Not that he wouldn't take the SMU job if offered to him.)

Similar situation with the Calhoun leak. If that came from Orsini's staff, that was a really stupid move. If any of the leaks have come from SMU, I would bet it was the Dom Capers, Gary Barnett, Chan Gailey thing from the Sporting News, but even that may have been from another source.

[Hoop Fan]

Turner Gill would be 10 times the better hire for us

Wow. That's convincing. So if you're the guy investing 2m/year for a guy to run your company, you throw away the candidate who ran Wal-Mart with a great degree of succes for several years (yes, an .800 winning % is successful), just because he inherited a great business plan? Instead, you rationalize spending your money on an "up and comer" who ALMOST has Mike's Hardware out of the red....

If I'm on the board, I might be a little uncomfortable with that logic.

(Don't fight the analogy, you get the point...)

Furthermore, I think Tulsa made a good decision to hire Graham, who is now in the running for WVU...that doesn't necessarily speak unfavorably about Coker...

[/quote]

well, if I happen to own Joe's Hardware and not a Walmart, then yes, I might be very interested in guy who is on the upswing at Mikes Hardware.

[PonyPatrol]

From MSNBC article last year...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Larry Coker looked up from his lunch and posed a hypothetical question.

Suppose an athletic director was told he could have a football coach who would win a national championship, average 10 victories over six seasons, send a few dozen players to the NFL and improve the program’s graduation rate.

“Somebody would pay a lot of money for that coach, I would think,â€

[TheBestAvailable]

An .800 winning percentage (60-15) in college head coaching. If this does not constitute a WOW, what would?

Some would call this a trend:

2001 Miami 12-0 7-0 1st W Rose Bowl † 1 1
2002 Miami 12-1 7-0 1st L Fiesta Bowl † 2 2
2003 Miami 11-2 6-1 1st W Orange Bowl † 5 5
Miami: 35-3 20-1
Miami Hurricanes (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2004 – 2006)
2004 Miami 9-3 5-3 W Peach Bowl 11 11
2005 Miami 9-3 6-2 L Peach Bowl 18 17
2006 Miami 7-6 3-5 W MPC Computers Bowl

We would all probably agree Bob Stoops is a pretty good coach but even he has gone through some down years at OU recently.

The fact that Coker won fewer games each year doesn't mean he's a bad coach. They still had winning seasons just not up to Miami's standards. Those numbers are still very impressive.

There isn't one coach currently in the business who just wins National championships every year for 4 or 5 years straight.