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Assuming we did have a football head coaching vacancy....

Shouldn't. If Champ can capitalize on Gunner's commitment and build that class, it could save his hide.

You can't be serious. Champ had a stable of 5-star recruits at UF and ended up as one of the worst coaches in their program's history. He's repeating history at SC (sans the stable) while we pay him like a Top 20 coach. He hasn't sniffed the Top 25 in years, and even then it was a shooting star.
 
I’m not sure why we would have an opening. We have the top 2022 recruit all signed up. He have a top DL recruit in 2020. What’s wrong? We are about to really take off! Let’s Go!!!!
 
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If we have an opening (hopefully Muschamp will hit it out of the park this season to make that question moot), we need a young (45 years-old or younger coach with a winning track record as a college Head Coach). He needs to have demonstrated good recruiting against programs with similar resources that he has at his current school. He needs to be offensive-minded in this era of college football in which offense wins championships. By the way, option-type offenses that the military academies run, would not be the way to go. You can't recruit the type of athlete needed to compete in the SEC with that type of offense. Also, it would be good if that coach has been successful against his current school's rival.

There are two coaches on that list who fit that criteria:
1. Josh Heupel
2. Billy Napier.

Those two would be the top guys on my list, in that order. BUT, I'm pulling for Will Muschamp this year to make that speculation irrelevant.

I like Napier, but Heupel would be a disaster.
 
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I believe Chris Petersen is sitting at home. He went from Boise State to Washington. Maybe he would be interested in the SEC after his year off?
 
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We also tried the young up-and-comer with Brad Scott.

If you want a guarantee to win, there's one name out there to get you that: Urban Meyer. Setting aside whatever we think about the man, he does one thing every single place he goes: win. Urban would get us an SEC title. Every other move is a gamble. Urban is a flat-out guarantee.
Doubt he would consider us. Only schools I see him at are the other USC or Notre Dame if they ever have an opening.
 
I like Napier, but Heupel would be a disaster.
Heupel has won 85% of his games as a Head Coach. I believe I could survive that kind of "disaster" as a fan of South Carolina football. If we were to have a vacancy and look to hire someone who is PERFECT in everything and never made a mistake, we will be looking for a long, long time and probably never make a hire.

It doesn't matter though because if we are down $58 million in revenue, we are stuck with Muschamp, arguably one of the most boneheaded hires in the history of South Carolina football. All we can do then is hope he has found football Head Coaching intelligence.
 
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Heupel has won 85% of his games as a Head Coach. I believe I could survive that kind of "disaster" as a fan of South Carolina football. If we were to have a vacancy and look to hire someone who is PERFECT in everything and never made a mistake, we will be looking for a long, long time and probably never make a hire.

It doesn't matter though because if we are down $58 million in revenue, we are stuck with Muschamp, arguably one of the most boneheaded hires in the history of South Carolina football. All we can do then is hope he has found football Head Coaching intelligence.

That doesn't mean Heupel will win here or be a long time success. He has all the makings of a disaster.
 
Watch this after game press conference and see if you think he presents himself well.

What is it you would've had him do differently? His team had just lost a close game on the road to a Power 5 opponent. He didn't snap at any reporters. But he defended his team when someone suggested they may have been beaten up after playing two consecutive Power 5 teams.

I don’t see anything here that says he's a disaster. But if it is, I'll take that one over the one we have now.
 
What is it you would've had him do differently? His team had just lost a close game on the road to a Power 5 opponent. He didn't snap at any reporters. But he defended his team when someone suggested they may have been beaten up after playing two consecutive Power 5 teams.

I don’t see anything here that says he's a disaster. But if it is, I'll take that one over the one we have now.

I can just say he had plenty of detractors not just in Texas, but seemingly in Oklahoma too after Stoops fired him. I think you are too dazzled by a few wins at a minor Florida school.
 
We also tried the young up-and-comer with Brad Scott.

If you want a guarantee to win, there's one name out there to get you that: Urban Meyer. Setting aside whatever we think about the man, he does one thing every single place he goes: win. Urban would get us an SEC title. Every other move is a gamble. Urban is a flat-out guarantee.

We cannot go the coordinator route,
No thanks on Sean Elliott. Been there, done that.

Hiring Sean Elliot would be a very South Carolina thing to do.
 
Tony Elliott. What is not to like? He's a hot prospect, an African American hire, which is right on many levels, including our AD's legacy, which he is surely thinking about now. Ray can certainly not be accused of hiring a loser as HC. And flipping a Clemson guy to USC would be something.

Elliott knows offense. We don't. He is a winner. He can recruit this area. He knows how to beat Clemson. Removing him from Tigertown helps destabilize that program. He gets out of Dabo's shadow in the best way possible.....beating him eventually. He has seen how it is done in the most successful program in recent years.
People said the same about Chad Morris and that didn’t work out well at Arkansas.
 
I can just say he had plenty of detractors not just in Texas, but seemingly in Oklahoma too after Stoops fired him. I think you are too dazzled by a few wins at a minor Florida school.
You still haven't answered my question. What exactly is it he did/has done to call him a disaster? Is he abusive? A malcontent that doesn't play well with others? Racist? An alcoholic? What?

Because so far all I see is someone who wins and whose teams look well-coached and play with confidence.
 
I can just say he had plenty of detractors not just in Texas, but seemingly in Oklahoma too after Stoops fired him. I think you are too dazzled by a few wins at a minor Florida school.
Not wanting to engage in a point counterpoint debate, but it would be extremely rare if not impossible to find a CFB coach who does not have detractors. (Saban may be the lone exemption)
 
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This is easy.....you hire the guy who has done more with less talent, who has proven in his first head coaching gig he can build and coach a team to be competitive for the top spot in the SEC East despite never having Top 25 talent and coaching at a “basketball first” school. Imagine what such a guy could do in the SEC East with Top 25 talent?
Hire Mark Stoops and pay him whatever it takes. This is the most obvious slam dunk hire for us.
 
There are a few things to consider here.

1. Recruiting, especially in the Southeast is a good ole boy network. You need a head coach who has all those relationships, is a powerbroker, provides access at clinics, gives a wink and a nudge to help with high school apparel deal, etc. Muschamp is one of those guys. That’s why, despite his failures on the field, he can still pull top tier talent from time to time.

2. Recruiting is also driven by NFL contacts and success. Players and their families know who can prepare guys for the NFL, who can get scouts to their practices, etc. Muschamp has those connections.

3. Cultivating relationships with donors and digging into their pockets. Perhaps more important now, than ever.

4. Managing a program. Hiring the correct coaches and other staff, building a deep roster, maintaining compliance, brand building, etc.

5. On field coaching competency. Developing players, installing a system, in-game adjustments.

Muschamp checks boxes 1 and 2. He’s also pretty decent at 3– and that includes giving access to former Gamecocks who made the NFL, which helps with 1 and 2. He’s average to poor with boxes 4 and 5. Guy’s rosters are often a mess and his game planning and in game adjustments have to be among the worst in the SEC— if not college football.

The problem with trying to hire a coach is you can certainly find someone who can recruit and sweet talk donors. Or, you can find someone who can actually manage a program and coach. Getting all of the above is nearly impossible, or takes a a ton of luck and patience.

You look at the three most recent hires, Holtz and Spurrier could do all of the above, but ran out of gas due to age. Holtz started letting other people coach and manage the program. Spurrier stopped recruiting and gave up on roster management. Muschamp never had the program management or coaching acumen to begin with.

With someone like Heupel, it does appear he has the actual coaching acumen on the field. You don’t really know yet if he can manage a program— would need another 2 or 3 years at UCF to really know that. And he’s probably behind the curve on his recruiting relationships and NFL connections, to go head to head with the SEC and some ACC coaches for top tier recruits. But, 9 times out of 10, these coaching hires are guess work to a large extent. There are very few complete packages floating around out there.
 
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People said the same about Chad Morris and that didn’t work out well at Arkansas.
People said the same thing anout Chad Morris?- That he was an up and coming young African American coach? Why in the world would they say that? 😂😉
 
I can just say he had plenty of detractors not just in Texas, but seemingly in Oklahoma too after Stoops fired him. I think you are too dazzled by a few wins at a minor Florida school.
Stoops later admitted he made a mistake in firing Heupel. Winning 85% of his games as a Head Coach says the man knows something about coaching, something we have been lacking in for awhile. I may be wrong but I believe that Bill Belichek and Pete Carroll were fired during their careers.
 
People said the same about Chad Morris and that didn’t work out well at Arkansas.

I get Arky was frustrated because they were really, really bad. But they were a fat and slow big 10 type team and then hired a coach who wants to run his offense 1000 mph and fire him before he even gets to complete Year 2. What did they think was going to happen?

Now after recruiting for 1000 mph for two cycles they are converting back to the fat and slow offense. Hope they give Pittman more that a couple years to get his players for his system.
 
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If we go along with everyone else thinking all coaches everywhere get a free pass this year, the number of vacancies the following year will be off the charts. Can we compete with that? History says no. Hope we take that into account before we start handing out free passes. On the other hand, if we're one of the few hiring next year, one would think our options would be much better. Just say'n.
 
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Stoops later admitted he made a mistake in firing Heupel. Winning 85% of his games as a Head Coach says the man knows something about coaching, something we have been lacking in for awhile. I may be wrong but I believe that Bill Belichek and Pete Carroll were fired during their careers.

I am just telling you what the general opinion of him was leaving Oklahoma and Texas. I don't think success at the small school he is at will transfer to the SEC. He can probably be a successful OC somewhere, but as a HC at SC I would only see disaster.
 
I am just telling you what the general opinion of him was leaving Oklahoma and Texas. I don't think success at the small school he is at will transfer to the SEC. He can probably be a successful OC somewhere, but as a HC at SC I would only see disaster.
I understand what you're saying. But Billy Napier is at an even smaller school. And I like him too. The fact is that any hire is a gamble, no matter what. The name of the game is WINNING, which Heupel has done a lot of as a Head Coach. Regardless, we have no opening at this time. But, if Muschamp does not begin winning soon, we might have one.
 
Stoops later admitted he made a mistake in firing Heupel. Winning 85% of his games as a Head Coach says the man knows something about coaching, something we have been lacking in for awhile. I may be wrong but I believe that Bill Belichek and Pete Carroll were fired during their careers.
Both of 'em.
 
Not wanting to engage in a point counterpoint debate, but it would be extremely rare if not impossible to find a CFB coach who does not have detractors. (Saban may be the lone exemption)

Saban had a lot of detractors in Louisiana after he left them for the NFL. But the detractors were saying different things than what I saw said about Heupel during and after his time in Oklahoma and Texas. I think some are too dazzled by a few wins at a small college. I guess you could say the same thing about Napier, but he seems loved everywhere.

I also don't trust Heupel's judgment, hiring Briles son-in-law from the middle of Baylor's scandals.
 
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Saban had a lot of detractors in Louisiana after he left them for the NFL. But the detractors were saying different things than what I saw said about Heupel during and after his time in Oklahoma and Texas. I think some are too dazzled by a few wins at a small college. I guess you could say the same thing about Napier, but he seems loved everywhere.
I'd like to have a coach who is loved. However, I prefer one who wins. But, that's me.
 
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Nothing positive will change in that area until Tanner is gone. If he stays and WM gets the boot, Tanner will just replace him with another overpaid WM-type coach. Some people have no business being the CEO (so-to speak) of your athletic dept., and that especially includes Ray Tanner.
How in the world did Muschamp get on Tanner's radar? He was an unmitigated failure as a Head Coach at Florida. As I recall, his one-year stint as DC at Auburn was not impressive. What kind of DC was he at Texas? Was he a world-beater there?
 
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Saban had a lot of detractors in Louisiana after he left them for the NFL. But the detractors were saying different things than what I saw said about Heupel during and after his time in Oklahoma and Texas. I think some are too dazzled by a few wins at a small college. I guess you could say the same thing about Napier, but he seems loved everywhere.

I also don't trust Heupel's judgment, hiring Briles son-in-law from the middle of Baylor's scandals.
Again, as I said you can find detractors for any coach or asst. coach. Since everyone at home is the next undiscovered Lombardi/Shula and all their decisions are above reproach they obviously know more than anyone patrolling the sidelines.
 
What I don't see is anything I would regard as "disastrous". Nothing even resembling disastrous. At worst I'd say non-demonstrative.
Yes, the way it was described, I thought he was going to show us Heupel doing a "Bobby Knight" and throwing chairs around in the locker room. What I heard was a coach who was disappointed losing to a Power 5 conference school on the road by 1 point.:rolleyes:Eyeroll
 
Yes, the way it was described, I thought he was going to show us Heupel doing a "Bobby Knight" and throwing chairs around in the locker room. What I heard was a coach who was disappointed losing to a Power 5 conference school on the road by 1 point.:rolleyes:Eyeroll

Do you really think Heupel has the commanding presence to be a head coach at a large state university? I just don't see it. I don't see anything that makes me go "wow that is an impressive guy." For all his offensive failures, Muschamp presents well and looks like someone you would want to follow into battle.
 
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