Candidates

[Dwan]

Top young coordinators like Smart and Morris will have much better options. You need to be a couple years early on guys like that. I think the next hot name coordinator in a year or so will be Justin Wilcox at Washington. He is 36, an excellent recruiter, was a DC at Boise State, then Tennessee and now Washington. Texas tried to hire him to replace Muschamp.

[East Coast Mustang]

I think we are overthinking this. The perfect answer is Philip Montgomery down in Waco. Young guy, Texas ties, good recruiter, and he's been with Briles since his HS days. Would be the ideal hire for SMU in my opinion.

[alamocitystang]

Jarrett Anderson (TCU OC)

[ponyinNC]

I think we are overthinking this. The perfect answer is Philip Montgomery down in Waco. Young guy, Texas ties, good recruiter, and he's been with Briles since his HS days. Would be the ideal hire for SMU in my opinion.

hadn't thought about him but that could be a great call...

[mustangxc]

Whenever June Jones walks away, I strongly believe we need to go after someone young and cheap. $500,000 base salary at most. Use the rest on a very strong staff that will relentlessly recruit Dallas and the rest of the state left and right. Build strong incentives into the contract. $250,000 for a bowl game, an additional $100,000 for a bowl game win, $1,500,000-2,000,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, and additional $500,000 for a BCS bowl victory, %5,000,000 for a national championship, etc. I would love to bring back Ron Meyer, Jimmy Johnson, or Barry Switzer, but don't think that will ever happen.

[PlanoStang]

Charlie Waters har har har

Too old

Let's go with Todd Dodge, Paul Johnson, Phil Bennett, or my favorite Applebowden

[smusportspage]

Whenever June Jones walks away, I strongly believe we need to go after someone young and cheap. $500,000 base salary at most. Use the rest on a very strong staff that will relentlessly recruit Dallas and the rest of the state left and right. Build strong incentives into the contract. $250,000 for a bowl game, an additional $100,000 for a bowl game win, $1,500,000-2,000,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, and additional $500,000 for a BCS bowl victory, %5,000,000 for a national championship, etc. I would love to bring back Ron Meyer, Jimmy Johnson, or Barry Switzer, but don't think that will ever happen.

Yep.

[couch 'em]

Whenever June Jones walks away, I strongly believe we need to go after someone young and cheap. $500,000 base salary at most. Use the rest on a very strong staff that will relentlessly recruit Dallas and the rest of the state left and right. Build strong incentives into the contract. $250,000 for a bowl game, an additional $100,000 for a bowl game win, $1,500,000-2,000,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, and additional $500,000 for a BCS bowl victory, %5,000,000 for a national championship, etc. I would love to bring back Ron Meyer, Jimmy Johnson, or Barry Switzer, but don't think that will ever happen.

Did you just totally miss the Larry Brown hire? Why roll the dice on a Phil Bennett? Hire a proven big name coach AND hire the best $500k assistant types you can. See which one is best to promote when the time comes.

[RebStang]

I love Petrino but he does not recruit well. He does more with what he has than most but he would leave the cupboard bare when he left.

Nutt would leave a similar foundation of sand but with fewer wins.

You are wrong. Boise prospered after he left. Arkansas prospered after he left. Ole Miss is prospering after he left. His problem is ego, not recruiting and coaching.

Oh, his problems include recruiting. Yeah, he brought in some top 25 classes at Ole Miss but many of the higher rated recruits never made it, failed out, or almost had to be tossed because of drug and other discipline problems. When Hugh Freeze came in almost 30 players were on the verge of not being able to play the following year due to lack of academic progress - that is what you get with Houston Nutt's "heppin' people" mentality.

He'd also never be able to recruit enough talent to SMU to be able to effectively run his 1980s offense... but he would have an endless line of retread coordinators to take the fall for his failures.

You also have to factor in his tendency to take entire seasons off after getting new contracts. Nutt only puts in the effort when he's angling for a new contract. Once a contract is signed, his effort level goes to about 5%.

[Stallion]

Nutt signed 39 recruits in one class-that tells you all you need to know. He expected at least 14 of them to not qualify. He probably will find it difficult to ever get a job for that reason alone.

[leopold]

Nutt's old news. You heard about Tuberville and Petrino - heck, even Terry Bowden - being mentioned for jobs when they were out of coaching - never of Nutt.


Here's an idea that's a little out of left field, but something different just to discuss: Cam Cameron.

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.db ... EASON=2013

He was a disaster as an NFL HC but if LSU does well this year - and they should - I've got to imagine his name becoming a bit of a commodity again.

Or is that too much in the vein of a June Jones?

[RebStang]

Nutt signed 39 recruits in one class-that tells you all you need to know. He expected at least 14 of them to not qualify. He probably will find it difficult to ever get a job for that reason alone.

There was actually a rationale behind that class that probably made sense in Houston Nutt world but looked utterly ridiculous to the rest of the world.

In reality, what will ever keep Nutt from ever getting another job is the state he left the Ole Miss program in. When he left, over 30% of the scholarship players on the team were in serious academic trouble. There were numerous failed drug tests that Nutt failed to even address internally.

The problems were so bad going into Nutt's last season at Ole Miss that the athletic director was basically forced to take control of all academic monitoring and discipline of the football team because Nutt and his staff simply wouldn't make the effort to check if players were going to class, hand down discipline for failed drug tests, etc.

[Stallion]

you're right-there are all kinds of ways a coach can justify any number of commits-but if you peel away the curtain it is almost always a situation where there is serious academic issues involved in the classes BEFORE the huge class or in the huge class itself. ie no team should really have more than 22-23 spots to fill in a recruiting class in any year unless there are large numbers of academic failures or a coach is running players off. Red Flag in either case. It just should never happen at a reputable program

[mustangxc]

Whenever June Jones walks away, I strongly believe we need to go after someone young and cheap. $500,000 base salary at most. Use the rest on a very strong staff that will relentlessly recruit Dallas and the rest of the state left and right. Build strong incentives into the contract. $250,000 for a bowl game, an additional $100,000 for a bowl game win, $1,500,000-2,000,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, and additional $500,000 for a BCS bowl victory, %5,000,000 for a national championship, etc. I would love to bring back Ron Meyer, Jimmy Johnson, or Barry Switzer, but don't think that will ever happen.

Did you just totally miss the Larry Brown hire? Why roll the dice on a Phil Bennett? Hire a proven big name coach AND hire the best $500k assistant types you can. See which one is best to promote when the time comes.

Do you have $10,000,000 to spare? Our wealthy alums can't be expected to subsidize an enormous coaching salary long term. Stallion has documented many instances of very successful programs that have hired cheap coordinators without head coaching experience. Football is more about the staff and recruiting than basketball. There is more than one right answer to this thing. Patterson was unproven before TCU gave him his opportunity.

It is all about doing more with less. You simply want to do more with more.

[East Coast Mustang]

Philip Montgomery is in his sixth season at Baylor and serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He calls plays for the Bears' high-powered, record-breaking offense and has mentored several award-winning quarterbacks: Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, Baylor All-American Nick Florence, Conference USA MVP Kevin Kolb and Houston standout Case Keenum.

Montgomery's association with Art Briles dates back to Stephenville High School, and he has coached alongside Baylor's head coach for 15 seasons. His offense has ranked second nationally in both 2012 (572.2 ypg) and 2011 (587.1), and his passing attack has ranked fourth nationally both seasons (340.5 ypg in 2012, 351.5 in 2011).

Under Montgomery's guidance, Florence threw for a school-record 4,309 yards in 2012 and was named an honorable mention All-American by Sports Illustrated.

Following Baylor's record-breaking 2011 season, Montgomery was named the national Offensive Coordinator of the Year by Rivals.com as well as the Quarterback Coach of the Year by SpeedTracs/FootballScoop.com.

As backfield coach in 2011 Montgomery coached two All-Americans -- in addition to mentoring RG3, the most prolific quarterback in school history who set 54 school records, he also tutored future NFL draftee Terrance Ganaway who set Baylor single-season records for rushing yards (1,566) and rushing TDs (21).

The 2011 Baylor offense set or tied 101 offensive school records, ranked No. 2 nationally (587.1 yards per game), and was the only offensive unit nationally to rank in the top 10 in both passing (fourth, 351.5 ypg) and rushing (10th, 235.6 ypg). BU also ranked fourth nationally in scoring, averaging 45.3 points per game. The Bears finished the 2011 season with a 10-3 record, including a memorable 67-56 Alamo Bowl win over Washington, and ranked 12th (coaches) and 13th (AP) nationally.

In 2010 Montgomery coached honorable-mention All-American and NFL Draftee Jay Finley, who broke the Baylor single-season rushing record by running for 1,218 yards. Griffin III set or tied 11 school records including the then-single-season passing mark with 3,501 yards. In all, Montgomery assisted a BU offense that ranked 13th nationally (475.3 ypg) to 55 new school records.

Montgomery coached a 2008 Baylor backfield that was as productive as any BU offense in more than a decade. The Bears total points (28.0), rushing yards (2,349) and rushing TDs (29) were the most since 1994, and the total offense average (376.4) was the highest since 1995. Montgomery mentored Freshman All-America quarterback Griffin III, who threw for 2,091 yards, rushed for 843, and accounted for 28 TDs.

Montgomery came to Baylor after five seasons coaching the backfield at Houston, the final year also serving as co-offensive coordinator. During his time at UH, the Cougar offense ranked as one of the nation's most prolific, in large part due to contributions of Montgomery and co-coordinator Randy Clements. In the 2007 regular-season, Houston ranked fourth nationally in total offense (513.17 ypg), 10th in rushing offense (239.92 ypg), 17th in scoring offense (36.33 ppg) and 27th in passing offense (273.25 ypg).

In 2007, Houston's Anthony Alridge rushed for a team-high 1,568 yards and 14 touchdowns while catching 41 passes for 424 yards and five scores en route to second-team All-Conference USA honors for the second consecutive year. He ended the regular-season ranked seventh nationally in rushing and 12th in all-purpose yards per game at 180.1. Alridge and Jackie Battle both rushed for more than 800 yards in 2006 to receive second- and third-team all-conference honors respectively.

Montgomery also played a key role in the development of Kevin Kolb, who was named 2003 Conference USA Freshman of the Year. His first season at Houston also saw running back Anthony Evans rush for 1,149 yards en route to second-team All-Conference USA honors and Jackie Battle earn team MVP honors after rushing for 124 yards and three touchdowns in the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Two years later, Kolb was a third-team all-league performer and running back Ryan Gilbert was a first-team Conference USA honoree after rushing for more than 1,000 yards.

Prior to joining the Cougars' coaching staff, Montgomery served one year as the offensive coordinator at Denton (Texas) High School and helped the team to a 10-2 record and the 2002 bi-district crown.

Montgomery spent six seasons as the quarterbacks and backfield coach at Stephenville High School, where he helped coach Art Briles' program to back-to-back state 4A Division II state championships in 1998 and 1999.

Among his pupils at Stephenville were all-state quarterback Kelan Luker and all-state running back Zac Hunter, who helped power the team's offense to a national record 8,664 total yards in 1998. He also coached Kendal Briles, the 1999 4A Division II Texas Offensive Player of the Year, as well as Tie Lassater and Kolb to 4A Division II Texas Offensive MVPs in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

A four-year letterman at Tarleton State, Montgomery began his coaching career as a student assistant at his alma mater working with the running backs and serving as the summer weight room coordinator for two seasons.

The Eastland, Texas, native received his bachelor's degree in exercise and sports studies from Tarleton in 1995. He and his wife, Ashli, have two children, Cannon and Maci.