I'm right there with you. Definitely a huge gamble, and puts them in an even rougher spot if he under performs their expectations, which of course, are high.
Tee Martin is the nation's best recruiter.
I'm wondering who the last SEC coach to be successful with zero head coaching experience would be?
I think it's a good hire,not sure it's an upgrade over Richt,but to use the term 'dream team' led by a guy that's never been a head coach is a bit far fetched.
with the staff he will assemble i don't see it as a huge gamble at all. he & pruitt can put them top 2-3 in recruiting every year and the correlation b/w recruiting and results cannot be ignored even by winone or bigdaddy. OC is going to be a big one for him as he can't just go ex-Bama on that one (Nuss isn't leaving florida, Kiffin isn't leaving Bama for another OC gig)
jimbo won a title with no experience, oregon guy just got to final with no experience so has been done before.. muschamp had no experience and went 11-1 regular season in his 2nd year
obviously auburn did well with two coaches who each only had 1 year of HC experience and McElwain just two. maybe that 1-2 years at Ark St, Col St, and Iowa St was the difference but didn't really help Derek Dooley
if he surrounds himself with great coaches, which is appears he is doing (cochran, schumman are tremendous), he should be great.
right now the south is in love with Nick Saban ex-coaches and why not? Jimbo, Sunseri and Pruitt won a title at FSU, McElwain/Nussmeier taking UF to SEC champ game... but for every Pruitt and McElwain there is a Kevin Steele or Derek Dooley
i wish Kirby the best. hell of a coach and really good guy. he needs to concentrate on the game in 75 hours though...
Hell, Richt was an assistant w/ no experience.....averaged 9.6 wins per year for 15 years. I'd say that's pretty successful.
Hiring an assistant w/ no previous head coaching experience is always a gamble. UF did it twice and failed both times (Zook & Muschamp).
Smart will bring in a great staff...."Dream Team", yeah...I've heard that before. But it will be a great staff none the less. The roster is pretty loaded, except for QB. So if they can get a QB, they'll be fine.
And why in the hell would ANYONE hire Will Muschamp as their next head coach?
And McElwain coached 3 years at Colorado State.
I cant but think of Tennessee when they dumped Fulmer thinking the grass was greener on the other side.
I think UGA will be regretting this day in the near future..
Think about the few games Bama has lost last few years, they were gashed on the defensive side of the ball the same way. A great DC fixes that.
Smart gets to much credit for what Saban has accomplished. Leave no doubt kids go to bama for saban not smart. Smart has the best players in the country every year so of course they will be good, when coaching has mattered in big games for Smart he failed miserably, losing the same way to the ones that beat them.
Bama may be better with out him.
I think UGA will be regretting this day in the near future..
Think about the few games Bama has lost last few years, they were gashed on the defensive side of the ball the same way. A great DC fixes that.
Smart gets to much credit for what Saban has accomplished. Leave no doubt kids go to bama for saban not smart. Smart has the best players in the country every year so of course they will be good, when coaching has mattered in big games for Smart he failed miserably, losing the same way to the ones that beat them.
Bama may be better with out him.
well i guess when you only lose a game or two every year it is easy to make the correlation that the losses were because of the defense...but how about all of those wins because of the defense?
not to mention Smart has a huge hand in bringing those kids on board that he is coaching. guy is a sick recruiter.
obviously jury is out on him as a head coach but i highly doubt he will be a derek dooley (who might be on his way back to bama to coach WR, btw)
Saban recently said Kirby Smart was the architect of Alabama's defense the past 9 years. He joked he was like a grad-assistant
offering advice here and there. Smart deserves credit for leading a string of elite defenses that have been the centerpiece of
three national championships. (2009, 2011, 2012)
Nonsense saying Alabama might be better off without him.
offering advice here and there. Smart deserves credit for leading a string of elite defenses that have been the centerpiece of
three national championships. (2009, 2011, 2012)
Nonsense saying Alabama might be better off without him.
