Coaches come and go. The importance of getting the 'right fit'

Seton Hall, Auburn, and maybe a couple of others might be the dream job for a few candidates. Problem for most is that the Head Coach slot is so volatile. They come and go at the whim of the team’s record. A few years ago, (not more than 20) a coach could be expected to stay 10-15 years at a job or longer, because they didnt move around so much. Now, the expectations are higher, more money is involved, and AD’s and fan bases are not willing to wait out a coach for that one or two magical seasons he has in him.

Are we the end all to end all job for all coaches?, no, not by a long shot, because everyone is different. But for most coaches, (who’s egos are usually as big as their paychecks) they want the limelight, and the glory, and they all understand that the fates are fickle and some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.

Louie Carna whatever stayed at a no name school and they are still trying to get back to the level he set. So did Bobby Knight at Indiana. Some times you don’t know what you have until it gone.
Most of the schools on the list aren’t going to be world beaters and true, they are stepping stones.
You could say even Kentucky is a stepping stone if you look at the current tenure of Tubby and Rick.
We hear about schools being the job of a lifetime. In my opinion there is no such thing. Everyone reaches a level when what they have isn’t good enough.
Most of the schools listed are known for being a one sport school if they even qualify for that level.
Auburn will make any effort to get a goor to great coach but if they don’t it won’t be a carreer ender. That will be left for the failure to keep the football program successful.
Some school sneak up on parity at one time or annother. UCLA, for example but they soon goes by the way side.
Notre Dame, same thing. Texas in my opinion is the closest to doing it right now. Florida was there for two years but do you really think they would fire Billy if he doesn’t get them back to the final four in the next few years?
Whole different situation for Urban Myer. Finish third in the Eastern Division a could of times and watch.

What’s amazing is you can practically pick any sport, at least Football or Basketball, go back to the polls in any years and there will be at least seven, eight, etc of the same teams in the poll for that date, year in and year out. They might not be in the same spot, probably won’t, but they’ll be there.

Are you saying teams like Alabama, Florida, LSU etc. Ohio State Penn State, etc. Michigan fell from grace and I haven’t seen them in the polls lately.
If they would do away with the bull of voting on any one before the fifth game it would stop the dreamers such as locally who load up on teams who should be a homecoming game for everyone they play. Many of the schools are not poll worthy that look great until they get into their conference and they then battle to stay 50-50 the rest of the season.
Would you not consider who you lost to. A loss to App State would be much more damaging then a lost to South Carolina. Or a loss to Gardner Webb compared to Louisville.
Who is end there by reputation only? Even the great Notre Dame hasn’t been able to pull that off.

Who are they beating? Play tthe same quality teams and I will agree with you.

I don’t think Kentucky was ranked at the end of last season. They got a terrific recruiting class and new coach and bingo they were rated in the top three in the polls pre season.
Should they have wanted until they beat some body good? They would still be in the trying to get into the top ten.
Boise State? Didn’t they play in a BCS bowl? They got recognition over some pretty good teams.

I saw that offer.
Why doesn’t Kentucky play them? An SEC team going against a highly recognized program. Looks like they would want to jump on that in a heart beat.

But it would be baiting, annoying, dead horse, etc
There probably are. Look at Cincinnati, They came out of no where to be highly ranked.

Lawman, if we wait until we get good enough to be at the top of the SEC, Boise State will just be a memory.
We have shown we can kick the little guys around. Haven’t lost to one in how long now? Got Western Kentucky in a three or four game series, for the betterment of Football in the Bluegrass State. Whoopee.
Heck, some proclaim we’re improving. Yes we have more wins but what are the caliber of the wins? Bowl games? Yep, we’re one of 68 going to a bowl. Out of 120. And there’s still hope for next year because 72 are going to get the portunity. That’s going to leave 48 teams at home.
I’m not going to mention coaches, athletic directors or players. Never mention players. They were recruited to come here. The others are paid for the product they put on the field.
So, if we wait till we’re at the top of the SEC, I’m afraid it will be a VERY long time for both you and me.
Things are going to have to change for that to happen. See any changes being made?

But if we are beating our non conference schedule, and we have been, but continue to finish either fifth or sixth in the conference, how will we know if we are improving? Wouldn’t a win over someone who isn’t a directional school, i.e. Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee etc. and beat someone such as an Indiana, or a Marshall, or Virginia or even Duke make us at least show some one we aren’t afraid to chance going ‘big time’?
Does everyone one else in the conference need to win at least three of their no conference games to get to the six win level? Check Vanderbilt’s schedule. They may not go to a lot of bowl games but they do play schools that if they win, they can brag about it. Heck, some of them are from conferences we’ve heard of.

They are the team that the other conferences schedule in order to say that they beat an SEC school. The better barometer is to look at what the Mississippi schools, South Carolina and Arkansas have scheduled in the non-conference realm. They schedule no different than us (and a couple of them, worse than us) in non-conference.

As to the first question, we will know that we are improving by watching our conference games. Those are the schools that we play regularly on a yearly basis. We can judge our improvement by how we played them last year, the year before, etc. Non-conference is not how you judge yourself in football unless you are scheduling the truly elite, which no one is advocating (at least I don’t think anyone is advocating that we attempt to schedule teams like Texas, Ohio St. and Oklahoma).

I see your point.
I still say we have reached our ‘comfprt zone’ and won’t move out of it.
South Carolina is playing Southern Miss and Clemson this year. I know Clemson is a rivalry game for them but Southern Miss? I guess that equals an Akron.