OT: Who was a better coaching hire...

[MustangMan2001]

JJ or Bo Pelini

I am trying to settle an arguement on why JJ is a way better coach and way better hire than Bo Pelini at Nebraska

Any thoughts?

[SMU2007]

which is a better hire for the respective school or which is the better coach if you had to choose between the 2 straight up?

[MustangMan2001]

I would be interested in hearing all points of view

[Water Pony]

The right coach is specific to a given situation. In Nebraska's case, Pellini is a great choice, especially with his DC credentials.

For SMU, rebuilding and creating excitement with the run and shoot is the perfect choice for the Mustangs.

[friarwolf]

Jones is a proven winner as a college head coach - without the benefit of superior talent. Pellini has proven to be a very good defensive coordinator with some if not the best talent in college football.

[ASDF]

Better Coach - BP has no head coaching experience ( yes I know about the bowl game), so I have to give the edge to JJ.

Better Hire - 2M for JJ and he said this is his final contract. BP 40ish and seems to have all the tools to be very successful. I give the slight edge to BP as the better hire.

My thoughts.

[mustang91]

I've got to go with an experienced head coach. For a team trying to rebuild it's a most. For a team that's already built up and simply losing a coach not as important. These teams can go with an OC or DC. If I were Nebraska I would have gone for an experinced HC.

[huskerpony]

As a fan of both teams, I would say that both teams got exactly what they were looking for, and the reaction from both fan bases has been fairly similar.

Nebraska's big problem at this point is defense--after Kevin Cosgrove destroyed the Blackshirts. So, we went out and hired one of the most successful defensive coordinators in the country. The other big problem at Nebraska is that Bill Callahan and the AD stripped the program of its history--they all but eliminated the famous walk-on program there, pushed away all the former players (Eric Crouch couldn't even get into a game a couple of years back), and tore down all of the pictures of former All-Americans in the training room. They also fired everyone in the program that had anything to do with the Osborne-Solich years, including the strenght coaches and even the trainer. The new strength coach was AWFUL.

Pelini, although he only coached there for a year, understands the Nebraska tradition and called it his dream job. He wanted it 4 years earlier, and should have been hired then. The Nebraska program has lost its identity, and Pelini was the best candidate to restore it. He also has lots of big program experience (played at Ohio State, coached under Pete Carroll, George Seifert, Mike Sherman in the NFL, and was DC at NU, OU, and LSU.)

SMU has an entirely different set of problems--and in my opinion, recruiting has been one of the biggest problems. Some of the former coaches we've had would have been more successful with more talent on the team, but we didn't have a winning record anymore to draw kids in and those coaches didn't have the credibility to bring it in on their own. I've been saying for a long time that if we could just break into a bowl game, that would be all it would take (in addition to any "model changes") to get the recruiting ball rolling. However, Jones brings the instant credibility that we need to get recruits. He also has a record of taking players with less raw talent and turning them into winners.

The interesting thing has been that NU has been losing recruits since Pelini was hired (although, I think that has more to do with this season's record and negative recruiting going on by other coaches) and I fully expect SMU to at least pick up a few solid recruits over the next few weeks. However, that is a much bigger deal for SMU, since NU is already packed with 4- star and 5-star kids that didn't pan out because Billy C and crew were so bad at developing talent (and Cosgrove being so bad.)

Both schools got a lot of coverage about their new coaches on Monday though! (I loved that Bo Pelini got the Gatorade bath and Les Miles didn't!)

In the final analysis, they aren't really comparable situations. However, SMU gets a bigger national "Splash" with the news, and probably a better move for recruiting for this year and next year. However, it really is about fit. Both schools got exactly what they were looking for, and I don't think either coach would have been the best hire for the other school.

Regardless, because of both Nebraska and SMU, I am a very happy kid these days! (Especially after how bad this season was for both places!)

[txshusker]

Ditto on the huskerpony point of view. As an NU fanatic that attended SMU during the death penalty. I liked the Pelini hire, as he brings a little swagger back to the defense and is an appeasing hire for the Husker nation, having coached and been liked there before; not to mention having just coached the 3rd best defense in the country to a Nat'l Chmpshp.
However, the greatest impact on the programs I think will be June Jones. I believed once Osborne became AD at NU, the Huskers would come back. As the Pony said, the talent is already available to use at Nebraska.

But SMU has never invested money and had a big hire - a name that immediately draws recruits' attention, a concept of what it takes to build a struggling program back to competitiveness, decent in in recruiting, and someone who seems to like to stay in one place and brings stability. (He didn't really want to leave Hawaii, and is still loyal to the program and the kids he brought in there).

The hire shows more to SMU that the school is committed to improving the program; and I believe I'm not the only one who had serious doubts that was the case.

So for recruitment and alumni support, the bigger impact I think will have to nod towards SMU hire; though I believe NU will likely have the quicker gain in success.
I june can ever figure out how to build a defense, SMU just win the conference at some point!

[StallionsModelT]

June Jones IMO. Pellini has no head coaching experience and walks into a difficult situation. However, I think he'll do a fine job at Nebraska. He's one hell of a defensive coach and I expect the Blackshirts to return to their former stature.

[mustang91]

Has Pelini been a head coach before? Maybe you Nebraska guys know. But there's a huge diffrence in being a head coach and OC or DC. Bo may do great and I hope he does, I miss the big Big 12 games without a strong Neb. I just think it would have been less of a gamble for the Huskers to go with a proven head coach. A lot of big time assistants make that move to head coach and don't pan out.

[Dutch]

Has Pelini been a head coach before? Maybe you Nebraska guys know. But there's a huge diffrence in being a head coach and OC or DC. Bo may do great and I hope he does, I miss the big Big 12 games without a strong Neb. I just think it would have been less of a gamble for the Huskers to go with a proven head coach. A lot of big time assistants make that move to head coach and don't pan out.

only for one bowl game if you count the 'interim' title.

[txshusker]

Has Pelini been a head coach before? Maybe you Nebraska guys know. But there's a huge diffrence in being a head coach and OC or DC. Bo may do great and I hope he does, I miss the big Big 12 games without a strong Neb. I just think it would have been less of a gamble for the Huskers to go with a proven head coach. A lot of big time assistants make that move to head coach and don't pan out.

Interim for the period between Solich's firing and the bowl.. that's it.. which doesn't count.

true, the head coach is a CEO job, these days, so he doesn't have that kind of experience. He was getting a head job somewhere this year or next... the real surprise for him was that a BCS school with NU history would take a leap of faith on and untried head.

I didn't see a lot of other options out there that NU had - Johnson at Navy, Grobe at Wake... Kelly at Cincy... they're proven at smaller schools... Even June Jones' name came up.

I think Pelini can do it... his ex-head coaches think he can do it... Dr Tom is riding his back and I'm sure he'll be helping out a little from his AD position... check back in 3 years to see how it works.

[huskerpony]

Has Pelini been a head coach before? Maybe you Nebraska guys know. But there's a huge diffrence in being a head coach and OC or DC. Bo may do great and I hope he does, I miss the big Big 12 games without a strong Neb. I just think it would have been less of a gamble for the Huskers to go with a proven head coach. A lot of big time assistants make that move to head coach and don't pan out.

There are plenty of head coaches that can't make the transition to big time football too though. Nebraska definitely didn't want a Dan Hawkins. Winning 2 games your first year might fly at CU, but not in Lincoln.

There aren't too many guys out there that haven't been a head coach that have a better resume than this guy (GA under Hayden Fry, 9 years in the NFL under Seifert/Carroll/and Sherman, DC under Solich, Stoops, and Miles.) His defense has been in the Top 20 in the nation everywhere he has been (including taking the same players at Nebraska that were 57th the year before and made them 11th the next year.)

He also comes highly recommended by both Stoops and Miles (grew up together with the Stoops boys) and was originally recommended to Solich by Monte Kiffin (Lane's father--DC for the Bucs) who is of the old guard at Nebraska from the Devaney and early Osborne days.

He is only 40 too--old enough to be a MAN--but young enough to stay around for a long time. Another thing that made Nebraska so great was the continuity in the coaching staff. Harldy anyone ever left under Osborne or Devaney. This guy isn't going anywhere unless he doesn't win and gets fired. He just landed his dream job and took it without any agreement to financial terms. They still haven't even discussed it at this point!

Osborne interviewed plenty of head coaches--Turner Gill, Jim Grobe, Paul Johnson (we think), and a couple others we don't know about. None of them got offered the job, so TO obviously thinks he's got his man.

You're right though. We don't know anything about his ability to run/manage a program (although he has Osborne in the AD office to help him with those things,) his recruiting ability (he hasn't really been anywhere long enough to prove this,) or anything about his ability to manage a game--except for the one bowl game at Nebraska.

But a LOT of the best head coaches at the biggest programs in the country were never the head coach anywhere else--Osborne, Switzer, Stoops, Carr, etc.

only for one bowl game if you count the 'interim' title.

.....And he has the highest winning percentage of any active head coach--1.000!