Rank That Coach! » Hirings

Ga Tech’s Tenuta Goes to Notre Dame

Sean — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 04:37:53 +0000

Former Georgia Tech defensive coordinator drove his ramblin wreck up to South Bend to become Notre Dame’s new Assistant Head Coach for Defense. In stints with Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Ga Tech Tenuta has gotten the reputation as something of a blitz wizard. His teams constantly bring five, six, or even more defenders at the quarterback. It will be very interesting to see if he can revitalize a Notre Dame defense that ranked a respectable 39th in the country last year, but at times looked completely over matched.

Hawaii to Name Defensive Coordinator McMackin Head Coach

Sean — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:45:08 +0000

Initially it appeared Greg McMackin was going to follow former Hawaii coach June Jones to SMU. But at the last minute he decided to throw his name in the ring for the Warrior’s top job. And good thing he did, since it appears Hawaii is set to name him their new head coach on Wednesday.

McMackin served as the Warriors’ defensive coordinator last year. It was his second stint with Hawaii, sandwiching jobs with Texas Tech and the San Francisco 49ers. He’s known as a great recruiter, winning Rivals.com’s Big XII Recruiter of the Year while at Texas Tech. But really, how hard is it to recruit kids to come to Hawaii? Let’s see, it’s 80 degrees and sunny most of the time, there are beaches everywhere, and you’re constantly surrounded by gorgeous women. I’m pretty sure even I could recruit there.

ESPN has the full scoop

UCLA Hires Rick Neuheisel

Sean — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:59:12 +0000

UCLA hired former Bruin player and two-time college head coach Rick Neuheisel as their new head coach. Neuheisel steps in to replace Karl Dorrell who was fired earlier this month.

Coach Neuheisel has previously ~~destroyed programs~~ coached at Washington and Colorado, leaving each of the programs in shambles. His most recent job was offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, a team notorious for having no offense. So what exactly makes this guy a good pick? Oh, he’s an alum. Great. Pete Carroll is laughing his ass off right now.

Congratulations UCLA. Enjoy 5-7 seasons.

Michigan Has its Man

Sean — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:42:09 +0000

Michigan’s long strange journey to find a head coach is apparently over. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez had a meeting with his team at 1:30 today. During that meeting he apparently told the team that he’s leaving for Michigan. Looks like Michigan athletic director Bill Martin finally got his act together and got a deal done.

This appears to be credible, since three separate news sources are reporting it independently. ESPN is also reporting that Rodriguez will not coach WVU against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

This move leaves only SMU, UCLA, and now WVU without a coach.

You Missed Your Chance; Duke Hires Cutcliffe

Sean — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 05:12:35 +0000

Sorry America, you had your chance, but Duke has their new coach. I was hesitant to post this until it’s official, but I’ve read it several places now, so I’m pretty confident that it’s going to happen.

On Monday Duke will announce Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe as their new head coach. Cutcliffe sandwiched stints as the Vols’ offensive coordinator around a stretch as head coach at Mississippi. As a head coach he went 44-29, leading the Rebels to five bowl games in seven years. As a coordinator he’s probably best known for giving Georgia fits every year.

Cutcliffe had the privilege to coach both Peyton and Eli Manning. He coached Peyton as offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Eli as head coach at Ole Miss. Now if he can just find another Manning and convince them to come to Duke he’ll be just fine…

Houston Hires Oklahoma Assistant Kevin Sumlin

Sean — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 05:03:02 +0000

The University of Houston has hired former Oklahoma State assistant Kevin Sumlin as their head football coach. Sumlin becomes one of eight minority head coaches in Division 1-A, and the first in Houston history.

He takes over for the very successful Art Briles, who left to take the Baylor job. Briles placed a very respectable 34th in our Rankings, so Sumlin has big shoes to fill.

Northern Illinois Hires Kill

Sean — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:39:54 +0000

Former Southern Illinois head coach Jerry Kill has agreed to become the new head coach at Northern Illinois. Apparently NIU liked what they saw out of Kill when he led the Salukis to a come-from-behind victory over their team back in September.

While at SIU Kill led the Salukis to a 55-32 record and four straight winning seasons. He leaves as the school’s all-time leader in winning percentage. And he pulled off signature wins over both NIU and Indiana in the last two years. He’s basically single-handedly responsible for building the SIU into a division 1-AA powerhouse.

With that track record it will be interesting to see how he does at NIU. He’s taking over for the recently-retired Joe Novak, who brought the Huskies to previously unreached heights before coming back down to earth this year.

Colorado State Fills Vacancy With Steve Fairchild

Sean — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:43:03 +0000

Colorado State has hired Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild as its head coach. Fairchild played quarterback at CSU from 1978-1980, and was an assistant coach there under Sonny Lubick from 1993-2000. He will remain with the Bills through the rest of their season before taking over his duties at CSU. This will be Fairchild’s first head coaching job, so it will be very interesting to see if he’s able to turn around a Rams team that went 3-9 this year.

Southern Miss Hires Fedora

Sean — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:40:06 +0000

Southern Miss ended its coaching search by hiring Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora. Fedora is a first-time head coach, but has been in coaching for 16 years, including a stint as offensive coordinator for Florida. He’ll bring an exciting no-huddle offense to Southern Miss, which the university is hoping will fill some seats.

Hey, maybe they can keep him for 17 years then force him to retire…

Bobby Petrino Coming to Arkansas

Sean — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:58:05 +0000

There are reports out of Atlanta tonight that Bobby Petrino has resigned as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and will take over the same position with the University of Arkansas. ESPN is reporting that Petrino phoned in his resignation and will not coach the Falcons last three games.

The deal with Arkansas is reportedly not quite done yet, but is believed to be in the neighborhood of $3 million per year.

With Arkansas’ recent luck trying to woo coaches, maybe we shouldn’t believe this quite yet. If it turns out to be true though it will be a major coup for the Razorbacks. Petrino went 41-9 as head coach at Louisville, and turned the Cardinals into a force in the Big East. He has had a difficult season with the Falcons, though you can’t blame his best player’s incarceration on him.

If this works out the SEC just got a little tougher.