SEC Coaching jobs

[Sandman.sixpack]

Just an observation: Mark Richt got fired after a 9-3 season. Les Miles almost got fired after an 8-3 season in a rebuilding year. Some Tide fans were calling for Saban's head early in the year after losing to OM. Malzhan is now on the hot seat only two years after playing in the NC game. Sumlin will be fired after next season. Les may be unless he wins ten or beats Bama.
It's hard for all the "Big" SEC schools to consistently win 10, 11 or 12 games each year (except if you're Saban... lol)
So my contention is that the best jobs overall in the SEC are the mid tier jobs like State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missou, South Carolina. I wouldn't wanna be the HC at the bottom schools like Kentucky or Vandy, but I wouldn't want the stress and scrutiny of alums at jobs like GA and LSU, where 9 wins a year are just not enough.
With the new ESPN money we all share, the salaries are all close to equal (except Saban's) and every coach in the SEC West now makes over $4 mill a year. That's also helped facilities even out, etc too. So the opportunity to win has leveled out a lot too.
At the mid tier schools, as long as you go to a bowl every year and hit 9 wins every once in awhile, you can raise your family and have a good life.
Thoughts?

 

[RocketDawg]

I think that's pretty much true. But as fans, we get spoiled. Just a few years ago we would be ecstatic with 8 wins. Now we think it's a lousy season overall. And that's a good thing. One of these days we'll probably think 10 or 11 wins a year sucks ... hopefully.

But in general I agree with you.

 

[mstateglfr]

I think that's pretty much true. But as fans, we get spoiled. Just a few years ago we would be ecstatic with 8 wins. Now we think it's a lousy season overall. And that's a good thing. One of these days we'll probably think 10 or 11 wins a year sucks ... hopefully.

But in general I agree with you.

1- disagree that thinking 8 wins is lousy is a good thing. Thinking that is a lousy season means our expectations have changed and instead I think our goals should be what changes.
2- if we start thinking 11 wins sucks, its because the season was expanded to 16 games.

 

[aTotal360]

With our current schedule, 7.5 wins is the over/under on decent year now. Beat half the bad SEC teams you play and all of the OCC teams. Adding a tougher OOC team might drop that to 7 wins. I'm just not sure BYU bumps my line just yet.

7-8 wins a year will keep butts in the stands, and quite frankly, that going to be the measuring stick on whether SS fires anyone. If we could win 4 games and still manage to pack the stands, SS would hang on to Mullen for perpetuity.

 

[The Peeper]

And then there's Butch Jones that went from $2.9m first year to $3.6m this past season and just got another $500,000 to $4.1m and extension till 2020 for going 8-4. That's after blowing 2 games when they were up 2 or more scores this year

 

[RocketDawg]

Didn't attendance hang in there with Croome pretty well even when we all knew he wasn't a very good coach? I suppose our expectations have changed to be higher since then though. I don't remember having too many empty seats under him, or under Sherrill either in his waning years. Attendance seems to be a function of the quality of the opponent as much as anything else.

 

[RocketDawg]

1. Yes ... you stated it better than I did. That our expectations have changed higher is the good thing, not fans that think 8 wins suck.

2. That was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but Alabama thinks 11 wins is a lousy season (of course, their season is generally 14-15 games ....).

 

[RocketDawg]

Yeah, I was halfway expecting him to get fired after blowing those two games. And he winds up getting a substantial raise (41% in two years is more than most working stiffs get, and is therefore pretty darn substantial). I wonder if they'll play better against Northwestern than we did.

 

[dawgdoug1962]

Yeah, I was halfway expecting him to get fired after blowing those two games. And he winds up getting a substantial raise (41% in two years is more than most working stiffs get, and is therefore pretty darn substantial). I wonder if they'll play better against Northwestern than we did.

Nothing valid to compare.....two totally different teams...even if we were playing them would be same as far as invalid comparisons.... That was a terrible loss for sure.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I cannot

recall the attendance at the beginning of games, during crooms, but about 1/2 way through most games, the crowds had shrunk.

 

[Sandman.sixpack]

With our current schedule, 7.5 wins is the over/under on decent year now. Beat half the bad SEC teams you play and all of the OCC teams. Adding a tougher OOC team might drop that to 7 wins.
Agree with that. Seven wins= mild disappointment. Eight wins= decent year. Nine wins and up= VERY happy!
So 7.5 is the new over/under.

 

[SwampDawg]

Well, I'm not the one to compare today's success to years in the past. I was at MSU in the late 50's when we punted on third down to "play for the breaks" and would be dominated by all but maybe two teams a year. So, my frame of reference is somewhat different from that of most of you. Rather than quote won and lost numbers, I am just sick and tired of knowing we are going to play Auburn, Alabama, LSU and OM and usually lose three out of four. Plus look forward to being absolutely embarrased by at least one of them. Every year somehow I wind up being a Bulldog fan again, wearing the colors and cheering at the local watering hole. But damn I get tired. I know Dan gets $4M plus so some $4M plus results would be appreciated. Like maybe a decent running back.

 

[RocketDawg]

Yeah, I remember that part. Usually happens when we're getting killed on the field.

 

[was21]

"Every year somehow I wind up being a Bulldog fan again, wearing the colors and cheering at the local watering hole."


You sound like a typical State alum although you didn't mention if you're an alcoholic or not

 

[RocketDawg]

"Every year somehow I wind up being a Bulldog fan again, wearing the colors and cheering at the local watering hole."


You sound like a typical State alum although you didn't mention if you're an alcoholic or not

You got your schools confused ... those are Bear alums.

 

[SwampDawg]

Yes I am a typical State alum. How many thousands of us are there? How many are happy with our football success?

But no, I am not an alcoholic, although I do drink almost everything but the Kool Aid.

 

[was21]

..just yankin' your chain. I'm very pleased with what Mullen has done since he's been here...unparalleled achievements. There's always room for improvement. He predicted that once we started winning we would want to win more. He was right. Has he peaked? I don't know. I do know I'm not ready to "run him off" as they say. As far as his salary is concerned, that's the going rate and I don't have any problem with that either.

 

[KeyserSoze1999]

Also it is worth saying that the upper echelon teams like Bama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, and even Auburn are upset with losing 3 games a year because of their historical perception of MSU, Ole Miss, S. Carolina, Missouri, etc.

In their opinion MSU, Ole Miss, S. Carolina, etc. have sucked in the past (60s 70s 80s) and therefore will ALWAYS be sub par and not in the same league as them. Therefore LSU losing to MSU last year and Ole Miss beating Bama 2 years in a row and S. Carolina and Missouri winning the SEC East over Georgia and Tennessee ruffles the feathers of the older generations.

But this general improving of the SEC middle teams is the current reality of College Football. There was a time when Bama would have close to 200 players on their sidelines for Bear Bryant to play and the opposing team would have far less---they stockpiled all the talent keeping it away from other teams. Players back in the day wouldn't transfer either because back then it was a slight on the player "you ain't good enough for Bama, Georgia, etc." Today players transfer all the time and it is seen as a slight on the coaches, "ya'll ain't given me enough touches / playing time / not starting---ya'll are too balanced on offense, I wanna throw it 60 times a game!"

So basically the historic strong programs will freak out if they start losing because they cannot understand or refuse to understand that College Football is more balanced and has more parity today. The crazy is here to stay---Clemson is undefeated and #1 in the country, Baylor and TCU are WAY better than Texas now, Missouri has dominated the SEC East, Tennessee has fallen off, Duke now goes Bowling consistently, and College aged kids were alive for Alabama losing seasons in 1997 (winless in Tuscaloosa) and 2000 as well as Auburn win the Iron Bowl 6 times in a row---"Dogs and Cats living together, mass hysteria!!!"

 

[HomeBoyDawg]

I guarantee they'll play better against Northwestern than we did. That has to be one of State's worst performances in Mullen's tenure. (I'm admittedly biased because I took my family 600 miles to see that dismal effort.)

 

[TBone.sixpack]

Agree. Mullen has trotted out some poor performers after losing the Egg. NC State is an opportunity to break that trend. A loss to this NC State team would be as bad as loss as we have had under Mullen.

 

[HunterDawg]

One thing that has changed in the SEC is that no one plays any decent OOC games now. This is not directed at any one team, they all do it. But, when you put 4 cupcakes on your schedule, it isn't nearly as hard to get to 7 or 8 wins as it used to be.

Success used to be 6 wins and a bowl, but teams can get there now by going 2-6 in the conference. The win expectation has not only gone up for us, but for all SEC teams. It is why 8-4 will get you fired at some places.

The new OOC requirement will help, but it will still be a race to see who can lock up the available creampuffs first.
Success is now measured more like basketball. Ga. Tenn. LSU etc have to not only have a #of wins but also must have "quality wins" and their definition of quality is real high.

 

[paindonthurt_]

i'm not speaking for the rest of the conference but as far as msu, we've never played a ton of OOC juggernauts

1995 - Memphis Baylor and Northeast La (Baylor wasn't real good back then) (3 and 8 and we beat baylor)
1996 - memphis, la tech, northeast la (5 and 6 and we lost to la tech; we also beat Alabama and Ole Miss so I guess that means it was a success right?)
1997 - memphis, northeast la, and ucf (7 and 4 and i'm sure we were ecstatic as fans)
1998 - memphis, Oklahoma State and East Tenn State (we lost to OSU and went 8 and 5 and won the west; let that sink in. we lost to OSU who was 5 and 6 and we won the west)

the simple fact is we are light years from where we were. We should be happy about that. Should we be satisfied and content? Hell no. But we are making progress and its significant.

 

[fats provolone]

Are you kidding me, Vandy has got to be the best job in the SEC.

Go 6-6 in a terrible SEC East and you're a god.

Then you can vault into whatever job you really want from there.

I'm not sure how sarcastic I'm being now that I really think about it. How hard is it to win 3 conference games in the SEC East and then beat 3 MTSU caliber teams.

 

[tatedog]

Best job and job with lowest expectations are not the same thing. Vandy is one of those.