Repost for the Weekend Crowd: Dabo vs The Other Guys

Apr 14, 2019, 2:02 PM

Posted this on Friday: I thought it'd be interesting to look back over 10 years to the other HC Candidates after Bowden's departure and see how they fared. Obviously, TDP made the right choice but there were a LOT of Tiger fans and others dubious of the hire.

What We Got:
We're all aware of Dabo's accomplishments to date but for the record:
116-30 (.795)
5 ACC Titles
4 CFB Playoff Appearances
2 National Championships
6 Top 10 Finishes
6 NY6/BCS Bowl Games

Who We Could've Had
These were all Candidates either actually interviewed or bandied about as Candidates and what they've done since 2008:

Bud Foster
The perennial VT DC was on every HC shortlist in the 2000s but seemed to stick around VT as Beamer's heir apparent. Inexplicably, as you know, they ended up hiring Justin Fuente after Beamer retired, who kept Foster on as DC. He's lost a lot of luster in the last 10 years as the Hokies have been mired in mediocrity.
1 top 10 Defense since '08 (#10, 2013)
1 ACC Champ. (2010)
86-47 (.647)

Brent Venables
Little known (maybe) fact that Phillips actually interviewed Venables for the HC job in 2008.
His accomplishments are also familiar to Tiger fans and he likely would've been a very good hire.
2016 Broyles Award
Top 12 Defense 2013-2018.
#1 Defense in 2014

Rich Rodriguez
The former Clemson OC was a message board favorite to return to TigerTown. He was the newly-minted Michigan HC in 2008 where he was tasked with turning their slow Big-10 offense into a spread attack overnight. He was run out of Ann Arbor in 2010 and resurfaced at Arizona where he had a mediocre tenure before being fired after the 2017 season.
55-48 (.534)
No Big-10 Titles
No Pac-12 Titles
1 NY6/BCS Bowl (lost 2014 Fiesta Bowl to Boise State)
No Top 10 Finishes

Todd Graham
Graham was the HC at Tulsa in '08 and another hot up-and-coming name for all job openings. He had 2 offensive coordinators at Tulsa by the names of Gus Malzahn and Chad Morris. He left Tulsa for Pitt in 2011 where he had a bizarre falling out with the AD after 1 season over trying to interview for the Arizona St. job where he subsequently resigned to flee to. He initially looked to be building something at ASU but petered out and was fired after the '17 season.
67-48 (.583)
1 CUSA Title
0 Pac-12 Titles
0 NY6/BCS Bowls
No Top 10 Finishes

Gary Patterson
The long-time TCU HC was another guy who was mentioned in every coaching search around that time. TCU ran the Mountain West Conference at that time but joined the Big-12 during the conference expansion period. They took a dip after joining a Power-5 conference but had arguably the best team in the country in 2014 (they split the Big-12 Title with Baylor that year and got left out of the CFB Playoff in favor of OSU then absolutely boat raced a top 10 Ole Miss team in the bowl game). You may also remember a really, really good Patterson-coached TCU team coming into DV in 2009 and beating the Tigers in a close game in a rainstorm (that team finished 12-1).
94-36 (.723)
3 MW Titles
1 Big-12 Title
3 NY6/BCS Bowls
5 Top 10 Finishes

Chris Petersen
Petersen was the then-Boise St HC who was on every list for every big job opening. He was the architect of the Oklahoma upset in 2007 (one of the greatest games ever played). He was lured away by Washington in 2014 and has been very successful there, reaching the CFB Playoff in 2016 (where they were blitzed by Bama...).
104-29 (.782)
2 WAC Titles
1 Mountain West Title
2 Pac-12 Titles
4 NY6/BCS Bowls
1 CFB Playoff
4 Top 10 Finishes

Mike Leach
Leach, CFB's favorite weirdo and then-Tex Tech HC, was run out of Lubbock after running afoul of then-ESPN talking head Craig James for not giving his son special treatment. He spent a couple of years in exile before Washington State hired him. He's had a very successful tenure there, improving every season after a rough start.
57-44 (.564)
No Pac-12 Titles but finished #10 in 2018 (11-2, beat Iowa St in Alamo Bowl)

Brian Kelly
Kelly was the HC at Cincinnati in '08 and a hot HC name after leading the Bearcats to a 10-win season his first year. He was hired by ND in 2010 after back-to-back BCS Bowls. You probably think of these three things when you think of Brian Kelly: 1) Getting blasted by Bama in the 2012 National Championship, 2) getting blasted by the Tigers in the 2018 Cotton Bowl, and 3)

93-35 (.727) (All wins from 2012 and 2013 vacated but included in record)
1 Big East Title
4 NY6/BCS Bowls
1 National Championship Appearance
1 CFB Playoff
3 Top 10 Finishes

Skip Holtz
Granny Clampet, Jr. was once-upon-a-time a hot commodity and picked to be the next guy to come out of the "at-large" conferences. Mostly people were banking on his pedigree but he did win back-to-back conference titles in '08-'09. He was the ECU HC in 2008 and left for USF in 2010 where most people thought he'd thrive. He was fired after 3 seasons in Tampa and ended up at Louisiana Tech. He's turned the Bulldogs into a reliable conference contender since hired.
71-59 (.546)
3 CUSA Titles
0 NY6/BCS Bowls
0 Top 10 Finishes

Lane Kiffin
EDIT: Added by popular demand. The son of former NCST HC and long-time NFL DC Monte Kiffin, Lane was newly-fired former HC of the Raiders in the Fall of '08. As you probably remember, he was ceremoniously hired by Tennessee in Dec '08. After a 7-6 inaugural season, he jumped ship for his "dream job" at The Real USC. He had one good season in 2011 but went quickly downhill. He was famously fired in 2013 by AD Pat Haden on the tarmac after returning on the team's plane following a 62-41 loss to an ASU team (Coached by fellow-Candidate Todd Graham). His 2012 USC went from Preseason #1 to unranked following a loss to Paul Johnson and GT in the Sun Bowl (A rare bowl win for PJ's triple option teams). He was thrown a life raft by Nick Saban and spent the '14-'16 seasons giving the Bama offense a much-needed 21st Century overhaul. You probably remember he left before the '16 Playoff run, being replaced by fellow disgraced former USC HC Steve Sarkisian. He was quickly hired by FAU, going 11-3 with a conference title in his first season and following that up with a disappointing 5-7 campaign this past year.
51-31 (.623)
1 CUSA Title
1 Top 10 Finish (2011)
0 NY6/BCS Bowls (Would've gone in '11 but USC was on probation)

Will Muschamp
Believe it or not, Muschamp was a golden boy DC in 2008 and was such a hot commodity as a future HC that Texas named him the Head-Coach-in-Waiting behind Mack Brown. Florida ended up luring him away in 2010 where he had an 11-win season but also presided over their worst season in over 20 years (2013, 4-8, lost to FCS Georgia Southern!). He was run off after a 6-5 2014 season. He spent a year in Auburn as DC before resurfacing... well, you know where. We all know how this would've turned out.
50-39 (.562)
1 top 10 finish (2012)
1 NY6/BCS Bowl (lost 2013 Sugar Bowl to pre-ACC Louisville)
0-3 vs. Clemson

Kelly and Petersen are the only 2 guys who even remotely had any success. Patterson has been solid but no one has lured him away from TCU and he seems to have missed his window as an attractive hire. It's interesting to see guys who were supposedly can't-miss hires like Graham and Rich Rod not even in the business anymore. I know we're all glad TDP took a huge gamble on an unknown WR Coach all those years ago!

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Repost for the Weekend Crowd: Dabo vs The Other Guys

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Re: Repost for the Weekend Crowd: Dabo vs The Other Guys

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