New coaches had difficult debuts | The Boneyard

New coaches had difficult debuts

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Many new head coaches had rough times in openers. Tom Herman stunk it up at Texas, Charlie Strong's USF team struggled with San Jose State and Stony Brook (let's hope his struggles continue next week), P.J. Fleck at Minnesota put a whupping on Buffalo 17-7, and Matt Ruhle's Baylor Bears lost to "give me" Liberty "or give me death", Baylor ended up with the latter.

Not easy for new coaches to make immediate impacts.
 
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I would say a lot of those coaches are poor fits at the schools they were hired to coach.
Fleck will do well at MN and jump to a top 10 coaching job within 5 years. He is the best of the step up (G6 to P5) coaches in the last 7 years

Herman may be okay but okay is cause for firing at TX. TX still thinks they are a top 5 coaching gig but they only have top 50 talent as they churn thru coaches every 3 seasons. TX can score points but their D is pitiful.

Strong is highly over rated as a coach. He can recruit but his overall head coaching skill is suspect.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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Fleck will do well at MN and jump to a top 10 coaching job within 5 years. He is the best of the step up (G6 to P5) coaches in the last 7 years

Herman may be okay but okay is cause for firing at TX. TX still thinks they are a top 5 coaching gig but they only have top 50 talent as they churn thru coaches every 3 seasons. TX can score points but their D is pitiful.

Strong is highly over rated as a coach. He can recruit but his overall head coaching skill is suspect.

Texas IS a top 5 coaching gig. They should expect the team to be top 10 every year. I am not sure about Herman. I think his whole kissing players and tucking them in at night is creepy. We will see if he is able to transition from overachieving at a small school to exceeding expectations at a big school with unlimited resources. I think he will be ok, but he won't have a lot of time to prove it.
 
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Texas IS a top 5 coaching gig. They should expect the team to be top 10 every year. I am not sure about Herman. I think his whole kissing players and tucking them in at night is creepy. We will see if he is able to transition from overachieving at a small school to exceeding expectations at a big school with unlimited resources. I think he will be ok, but he won't have a lot of time to prove it.
Name a successful P5 coach that would jump at TX? I can't think of one yet if Bama, OSU, MI, FSU, Clemson, ND (I just puked a little typing that) were open you would have people doing everything they could to exit current contracts and take those gigs.

TX could be top 10 every year but TX talent is generally over rated and the top kids have other in state options as well as other top 5-10 choices. The coaching churn there has turned Bevo into an under performing school.

And the Herman quirkiness was a great TV story but it won't last long without a championship season in Austin. Not sure they have the talent on Defense to win the Big 12 right now.
 
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I agree on Strong. Think he is ok but he is very over rated. Rhule took on an impossible situation at Baylor. He will get paid but he won't succeed. I don't think anyone could. Herman is another guy who is overrated. He took over a good Houston team and had a great season. Last year he won two big games but also lost some big ones. Doubt he will be at Texas for 5 years. They are very much like Notre Dame I think. Good programs but no longer the elite of the elite.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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Name a successful P5 coach that would jump at TX? I can't think of one yet if Bama, OSU, MI, FSU, Clemson, ND (I just puked a little typing that) were open you would have people doing everything they could to exit current contracts and take those gigs.

TX could be top 10 every year but TX talent is generally over rated and the top kids have other in state options as well as other top 5-10 choices. The coaching churn there has turned Bevo into an under performing school.

And the Herman quirkiness was a great TV story but it won't last long without a championship season in Austin. Not sure they have the talent on Defense to win the Big 12 right now.

Let me put it this way....Texas SHOULD be a top 5 gig. Recent coaching turnover has hurt that. Hard to commit to a school when you know the boosters and administration have no patience.

But...there are few schools with more money, better facilities, fertile recruiting area and an easier path to a title.
 

huskeynut

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Texas is not a top 5 team or a top 25 team. Maryland looked better and more aggressive. Hermann was never going to turn Texas around in one season.

USF I believe is overrated. I was never a fan of Strong. Two slow starts in a row.

Nebraska could be in for a long year especially with Diaco running the defense.

Again, the pundits should be questioned as to their knowledge.
 
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Would Strong have been chosen for Texas without Bridgewater as his QB at UL?

Would Herman have been chosen for Texas without Greg Ward Jr as his QB at Houston?

Seems like they may have ridden the coat tails of to exceptional QB's.
 

huskeynut

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Would Strong have been chosen for Texas without Bridgewater as his QB at UL?

Would Herman have been chosen for Texas without Greg Ward Jr as his QB at Houston?

Seems like they may have ridden the coat tails of to exceptional QB's.

Good point. Food for thought.
 
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The reason they are new coaches is because the team wasn't very good last year or last several years. Ie, they probably didn't inherit a lot. It may take a bit of time to turn things around.
And Texas was partially done in by overly lofty expectations. They should not have been ranked. Giving up 51 to MD would've been news no matter what, but the idea that they were back already surely played into their loss being a big story. A mediocre team lost to another mediocre team.
 

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