Coaching Carousel Thread

[Dawg83]

Silly season is here so let’s review what’s happened and discuss what’s to come.

 

Matt Rhule to Nebraska

Luke Fickell to Wisconsin

 

And most recently

 

Hugh Freeze to Auburn

 

I love those hires by Nebraska and Wisconsin. Could be exactly what both need. Two really good coaches that have won big in college.

 

Your mileage may vary on Freeze. I have no idea what to expect from this. Definitely see both sides of the coin here.

 

There currently are only three other P5 jobs open (Georgia Tech, Colorado, Stanford) so this could be a tame coaching cycle, especially compared to the last couple of years.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Dawg83

[rebmus]

Freeze at Auburn will be an interesting watch. 

 

 

[pancho]

He'll make Ashford a household name.

[Bulldogs4]

Surprised that Auburn hired Freeze. No doubt he is a good coach. But a lot of baggage there. Understandably Pearl had it but has worked out so far. 
 

Will be interesting to see how he does there. I guess in Auburn’s view: What do we have to lose?

High Risk…

High Reward…

 

But after typing this, I am not surprised. 
When we first learned that Freeze was hired at Liberty, there was speculation that he would eventually return to the SEC. So now he has done so. 

 

 

[rebmus]

 

 

SEC Mike on Twitter: "This is the first time I have heard of this being in a coach's contract. Hugh "Freeze has agreed to relinquish control of his social media accounts when he becomes the Auburn coach" Link https://t.co/qcECi2Sk6C https://t.co/LNWaN4TZib" / Twitter

 

 

[pancho]

i doubt that is factual but it sure is hilarious and add these tidbits- freeze has a sub .500 coaching record, auburn saved 2.5-3.5 mil per on his salary and lane got raised from 7.5 to 9 mil for simply playing a game with the ole miss boosters. hum

[Bulldogs4]

Well Cohen put Leach in twitter time out so not surprising that he is doing the same to Freeze…:) 

[Dawg83]

Perhaps I’m wrong but my feeling is that Freeze’s best case scenario is him just being another Gus Malzahn. Might beat Bama some, could even win the West once or twice. But I’m not sure I see him drastically changing what Auburn is. I mean he’ll be better than Harsin I think. But beyond that, eh.

 

I think you could’ve gotten the same result with several other coaches and not had to have nearly the same level of personal concerns that you now have with Freeze.

 

People like to talk about him beating Bama twice at OM, which is great. He also had a lot of WTF losses in the span of 5 years.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Dawg83

[Insideradvantage]

^^^ you sorta redeemed yourself in the second paragraph of that post because saying oh Freeze won't do much, just beat Bama some and win the west once or twice, no biggie. Haha, anybody can do that. You had lost me. 

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, Insideradvantage said:

^^^ you sorta redeemed yourself in the second paragraph of that post because saying oh Freeze won't do much, just beat Bama some and win the west once or twice, no biggie. Haha, anybody can do that. You had lost me. 

But Auburn has always done that was my point. They’ve been to Atlanta six times since the SEC title game was implemented, won the league three times, and played for two national titles. And every single one of those coaches eventually got fired.

 

Could Freeze be another Tuberville or Malzahn? Sure. But I don’t ever see them consistently ascending to the level of Georgia, Bama, or even LSU under Freeze. He may beat those teams every once in a while… but so did most of the other guys Auburn canned.

[MSTSatchmo]

Cohen made a hire to get Auburn back to being competitive.   Competitive with State, OM, A&M and Arkansas.  

[Dawg83]

12 minutes ago, MSTSatchmo said:

Cohen made a hire to get Auburn back to being competitive.   Competitive with State, OM, A&M and Arkansas.  

The optics of John Cohen hiring Hugh Freeze after everything that happened circa 2016-2017 are still hilarious.

[MSTSatchmo]

This Auburn hire has seemed to pull Freeze’s past back out front and center.  On top of that, I’m reading about some stuff at Liberty that I had no idea about.  National media is focusing on a woman who was an assault victim that sent a letter to Auburn to “warn” them about Freeze.  
Also Cohen apparently didn’t take any questions from the media.

 

[pancho]

7 or 8 wins a year won't satisfy the base.  I say 4 years tops if he can't have a 10 win year.  He could also get himself let go even faster........ I don't thinks any fans are considering what a 9 game SEC schedule will be like.

Edited November 29, 2022 by pancho

[Bulldogs4]

Agree with 83, Cohen & Freeze together? 
That goes together about like fish & ice cream. 
 

After a couple of days to digest this hire, I still can’t believe Auburn hired him. I guess they are gluttons for punishment. 

[Dawg83]

Trent Dilfer being hired as UAB’s head coach. That’s a little off the wall.

[Insideradvantage]

I'll say. 

[rebmus]

On 11/30/2022 at 2:06 PM, Dawg83 said:

Trent Dilfer being hired as UAB’s head coach. That’s a little off the wall.

That's certainly an "interesting" hire... 

 

Maybe it will end up a great hire, who knows? If I had to bet, it won't end well. Best of luck to Dilfer, it would be kind of fun if he had great success as a coach. To me, it's more interesting when these surprise hires work out well. 

 

 

[maroontide06]

Prime Time D to Colorado.  Jackson State will be back to mediocrity sooner rather than later.

[Dawg83]

Hard to consider his couple of years at JSU anything other than a massive success. I’m not sure where they go from here, that was very much a lightning in a bottle situation.

[Bulldogs4]

I am not surprised that Sanders has left Jackson State but going to Colorado is a bit interesting.

Though, in his view, this is a good situation to walk into because they have been BAD in the recent years and have nowhere to go but up.

It is a great move on Colorado’s part. Great PR and based on what he did at JSU, he most likely will improve them in the coming years. 
And while P10 is a decent conference, the pressure there is minimal compared to the SEC. 
I wish him well and he definitely left Jackson State in better shape after two years. 12-0 this year was tremendous and hosted Gameday. 
 

Can they sustain the momentum? Doubtful but as 83 noted he caught a situation at the right time and JSU rode at the top of that wave for two years. 

[Dawg83]

Well here’s an interesting one. Scott Satterfield leaving Louisville for Cincinnati. Even better, those two schools play each other in a bowl game in two weeks.

[coastfootballfanman]

Jackson State is the real loser in this situation. They are fixing to be a dumpster fire. They hardly recruited any high school players the past two cycles. The ones they did sign, were 3 and 4 star players that would have never given them a second look if it was not for Deion Sanders. They have been portal heavy bringing in numerous players from the P5. I imagine the vast majority of those guys will be on their way soon enough and enter the portal for bigger/better situations which will leave Jackson State in a huge bind. 

[Insideradvantage]

Well, unless they are granted a release of some kind, those who transferred there from the portal already, will have to sit year if they transfer again. That might just persuade some of them to stick around. 

[rebmus]

Ed Orgeron is rumored to be in the running for the UNLV job. 

Orgeron leading the Rebels again??