There is a splash hire that no one is talking about (and maybe because he truly wouldn't be interested) but what about Mark Richt? I mean other than Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer he's about as much of a sure bet as it gets (seeing as how he went toe-to-toe with Meyer for years). He had Georgia routinely hanging around the top 4, which in today's world is a playoff berth, and took Miami, a program that hasn't done anything since the Larry Coker days, to its only ACC Championship game and the top ten two years in a row. Moreoever for a 59 year old guy, he maintains a youthful energy and reinvigorated that program with things like the turnover chain, etc., and gave them a momentary pulse.
Secondly, and more importantly, relationships matter. FSU is an odd place because unlike pretty much anywhere else, it really is a good ole-boys club. Watching Coach Bowden's birthday hammered that home. The old guard at FSU really have come up together as a group and sort of built this thing together over the course of decades. They casually throw around names like Bernie Sliger and Sandy D'Alemberte and the people in that room that night are really the people that matter at FSU because people like Rob Wilson, or Bernie Waxman are as much a part of that program as any coach and have largely been the silent glue that's held things together (RIP Monk Bonasorte). Jimbo was always one foot in/one foot out (when he wasn't threatening to fire someone) but he had a three year head start to build relationships with people like Mike Martin which paid dividends down the road. I don't think Willie ever truly got close to being in that group the way someone like Odell has it and I'm not even sure Willie knows who Charlie Barnes is. He was a true outsider in the most inside of inside cultures. Richt on the other hand is a member of that group. Richt could tell you exactly where Mickey Andrew's barbecue restaurant was on Mahan Drive and about Billy Sexton's kid before lime disease. They're not gonna run him out of here in 20 months no matter what the record because relationships matter. Which means he'll have support to do what needs to be done. This isn't Miami.
He may have some genuine health issues and that's understandable, but FSU HAS to have more options than Fleck, Norvell and Mark Stoops. That screams of a get-rich-quick way of doing things which never works because coaching at a place like FSU or Alabama is not like coaching lesser programs. I don't care how well the general manager at Waffle House is (he could be running 90% profit margins) you don't hire that guy to run a big company like Apple or Disney. And yet this is EXACTLY what ADs do when they go after these coaches that no one has heard of until they just happened to have one good year at Podunk U.
What about NFL guys? Rex Ryan was the DC at Kansas and Oklahoma. Kids would respond to him. Or Mike Shanahan? Or Jim Mora Jr, who took the Falcons the playoffs (no one can win at UCLA so I barely blame him for that). Marvin Lewis is an analyst at Arizona State. Tony Dungy is sitting behind a desk. Terry Bowden is an analyst at Clemson. Tommy is on TV. Cam Cameron. Ken Whisenhunt. Rich Rodriguez. Gene Chizik (who won a natty at Auburn and had a Heisman winner). Tommy Tuberville. Jay Gruden. Jack Del Rio. Jeff Fisher. Scott Linehan. I realize many of these names may not be realistic, but the point is many of these guys do have extensive college coaching backgrounds and they're out there and for FSU to seemingly only be focused on the guy from Iowa State seems ridiculously myopic. And the thing is, former NFL coaches don't have a terrible record in college. Pete Carroll, Mike Sherman, Herm Edwards, Bill O'Brien, Dennis Erickson, Jimmie Johnson, (Charlie Weis was only a coordinator and I think another get-rich-quick type hire) and oh by the way Nick Saban. There ARE splash hires to be made, FSU just has to get outside of this unnecessarily small box they're in. What's Mike Leach doing in Pullman, Washington? What say you Corey Clark?
Secondly, and more importantly, relationships matter. FSU is an odd place because unlike pretty much anywhere else, it really is a good ole-boys club. Watching Coach Bowden's birthday hammered that home. The old guard at FSU really have come up together as a group and sort of built this thing together over the course of decades. They casually throw around names like Bernie Sliger and Sandy D'Alemberte and the people in that room that night are really the people that matter at FSU because people like Rob Wilson, or Bernie Waxman are as much a part of that program as any coach and have largely been the silent glue that's held things together (RIP Monk Bonasorte). Jimbo was always one foot in/one foot out (when he wasn't threatening to fire someone) but he had a three year head start to build relationships with people like Mike Martin which paid dividends down the road. I don't think Willie ever truly got close to being in that group the way someone like Odell has it and I'm not even sure Willie knows who Charlie Barnes is. He was a true outsider in the most inside of inside cultures. Richt on the other hand is a member of that group. Richt could tell you exactly where Mickey Andrew's barbecue restaurant was on Mahan Drive and about Billy Sexton's kid before lime disease. They're not gonna run him out of here in 20 months no matter what the record because relationships matter. Which means he'll have support to do what needs to be done. This isn't Miami.
He may have some genuine health issues and that's understandable, but FSU HAS to have more options than Fleck, Norvell and Mark Stoops. That screams of a get-rich-quick way of doing things which never works because coaching at a place like FSU or Alabama is not like coaching lesser programs. I don't care how well the general manager at Waffle House is (he could be running 90% profit margins) you don't hire that guy to run a big company like Apple or Disney. And yet this is EXACTLY what ADs do when they go after these coaches that no one has heard of until they just happened to have one good year at Podunk U.
What about NFL guys? Rex Ryan was the DC at Kansas and Oklahoma. Kids would respond to him. Or Mike Shanahan? Or Jim Mora Jr, who took the Falcons the playoffs (no one can win at UCLA so I barely blame him for that). Marvin Lewis is an analyst at Arizona State. Tony Dungy is sitting behind a desk. Terry Bowden is an analyst at Clemson. Tommy is on TV. Cam Cameron. Ken Whisenhunt. Rich Rodriguez. Gene Chizik (who won a natty at Auburn and had a Heisman winner). Tommy Tuberville. Jay Gruden. Jack Del Rio. Jeff Fisher. Scott Linehan. I realize many of these names may not be realistic, but the point is many of these guys do have extensive college coaching backgrounds and they're out there and for FSU to seemingly only be focused on the guy from Iowa State seems ridiculously myopic. And the thing is, former NFL coaches don't have a terrible record in college. Pete Carroll, Mike Sherman, Herm Edwards, Bill O'Brien, Dennis Erickson, Jimmie Johnson, (Charlie Weis was only a coordinator and I think another get-rich-quick type hire) and oh by the way Nick Saban. There ARE splash hires to be made, FSU just has to get outside of this unnecessarily small box they're in. What's Mike Leach doing in Pullman, Washington? What say you Corey Clark?
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