Danny Hope gets fired; Kirk Ferentz, Mark Dantonio, Tim Beckman and Jerry Kill still have jobs.
The "upper-tier" coaches in the league are: UFM, Bert Bielema, Bo Pelini, Pat Fitzgerald, Brady Choke and Bill O' Brien.
Kevin Wilson will probably be moderatley successful when/if Indiana gets a defense.
Basically, the league has one elite coach and 4-5 coaches who have no business coaching in the B1G. The rest will apparently continue coasting for years based on their accomplishment of being painfully mediocre. I'm happy as hell to be an Ohio State fan and to have an amazing coach like UFM, but the rest of the league will continue to be an embarrassment until they get some real coaches.
With all these coaching vacancies, I don't see Herman being here next season.
In that line of thinking, Fickell is also an excellent candidate to replace any vacancy of a MAC school who loses their coach to a BCS School vacancy.
I was thinking about that too... But I do know Fick is getting paid a lot as a Defensive Coordinator at Ohio State and probably close to as much if not more than a head coach in the MAC. I don't see Fick leaving for a non-BCS school...
I see Mattison and Narduzzi getting some head coaching consideration.
^^^ hope you're wrong about Herman. One and done wouldn't be a good thing, needs to boost his resume at OSU by producing dominant offenses for a few more years, and then could have his pick of schools(provided there are openings). I hope he stays and think he will
Hazell is going to get poached at Kent State for sure. Interested in seeing where he ends up, in the Big 10 or at one of the SEC openings.
I really hope he stays in the Midwest. Could easily see him coaching a mid-level B1G program. The league needs to start keeping these hot coaching prospects from defecting to the SEC. I kow everyone points to the population shift of the last decade as to why SEC teams have a recruiting advantage, but I say it starts with coaching. If you get the right guy at your school, he will get the players. Period.
We can't stop here; this is bat country...
another reason, the most talented players in the midwest all go to ohio state or notre dame.
Nothing will change until they cut the purse strings and throw down some coins. Money talks and bull$hit walks. Mediocrity is acceptable for some reason in the B1G. We need quality Coaches to lead high profile programs to national prominence. Spend some money on your facilities and go big or go home, when it comes to your coaching staff.
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
I agree 100%. Purdue is notoriously cheap. Now you see what $950K a year buys you in big-time college football - Danny Hope. The sight of Ross-Ade Stadium half-empty late in the season was pathetic, but was directly tied to Hope being their coach. I can only hope that Wisconsin and Michigan State start to see that their head coaches aren't much better than Danny boy.
We can't stop here; this is bat country...
Not a single Big Ten school outside of Ohio State or Michigan are at all serious about winning national championships. Not a one.
Penn State will be in 2016.
Agreed. This is why Wisconsin and Michigan State have accepted total mediocrity. Iowa and Nebraska too, really. Sadly, the league will continue being a laughing stock until this mindset changes, which will ultimately harm Ohio State. If we go 13-0 next year and it comes down to us or an SEC team, we won't get the benefit of the doubt. The B1G is that bad right now.
We can't stop here; this is bat country...
You wanna know why the big ten isn't sucessful look at recruiting verses the sec. The sec recruits harder and gets way better talent than the big ten as sad as it is to say. They also pay their assistant and head coaches way more money.
I think your second point has more merit. Teams can succeed with 3-star recruits if they have the coaches (plural) to help them get there. Having a staff of quality coaches (as in value, not title) is one of the most pronounced indicators of success. Look what happened to Urban's Florida teams after his coaching staff produced multiple head coaches for other schools over a few years - continuity and quality was lost and the on-field product suffered. Sure is easier with better recruits, though...
"The revolution will be televised."
I'm sorry, but I don't see why you'd be asking for any of these coaches jobs:
Ferentz: Iowa brings in a new Offensive and Defensive coordinator, loses there all-time leading receiver and #1 returning running back and has to settle with a 6th string full back turned RB
Dantonio: Unfair preseason expectations led to a really disappointing season. Supposed to have another lights out defense even after losing Worthy, their best player. Remove Cousins, best QB in Spartan history, starting RB in Baker, the most prolific WR in team history in Cunningham, other two starting WRs, and #1 offensive lineman. And to boot, they lost 5 B1G games by a combined 13 points; the other loss was to the #1 team in the nation.
Beckman: First year coaching a 7-6 team after losing Mercilus and AJ Jenkins.
Kill: Bowl eligible for the first time since 2009 and doubled the win total from the previous year
Those who stay will be CHAMPIONS!
~Bo Schembechler
I'm not advocating these guys be fired after this season. I'm simply saying that they have underacheived in one way or another. A guy like Ferentz, who is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, would probably not be employed if he coached in the SEC or even the Big 12. I understand the injuries to their RB position, but you also have to look at a guy like Vandenburg and see that he has significantly regressed since he almost beat Ohio State in 2009 as a freshman.
Dantonio has had a good amount of success the last couple years, but looking at his entire body of work, especially the several losses this season by 7 points or less, tells me that he's not an elite coach. They beat a ranked Boise State team, but couldn't get a single B1G win at home in a down year for the league?
Beckman obviously walked into a tough situation, but I don't think ANYONE anticipated the dumpster fire that Illinois turned out to be. No one should be fired after one season, but if next season doesn't show significant improvement, I bet he gets the early hook. He really did appear to be in way over his head this year.
The overall point of my post was not to point fingers at specific coaches, but meant to demonstrate the vast difference between coaches in the B1G as a whole vs. other elite leagues. As long as schools in the B1g continue to accept mediocrity, the league will continue to be down. Some schools (like Purdue) have demonstrated that football isn't a top priority, simply by the investment - or lack therof - made into their respective football programs. All the teams in the league are raking in money thanks to the B10 Network, so I don't really see why any school should be paying their coaches the same as they do in the MAC. You've seen the type of coach that 950K a year buys - Danny Hope.
We can't stop here; this is bat country...
Dantonio and Kill have done pretty good jobs, in my opinion. In Dantonio's first season or 2, a 6-loss season (including a tough 1-point loss to OSU and 2-point loss at TTUN) would have been considered a good season. Now it is a total failure. He has built a pretty strong program and has a chance to "take the next step" in the next year or 2. Minnesota, while scheduling a disappointingly weak slate, has taken a step forward. Following Bill Snyder's Kansas St model of inflating wins totals against weak schedules, Kill has a chance for prolonged success.
Beckman and Ferentz are different cases. Ferentz has had a lot of success following his 1st two seasons (1-10, 3-9). OffTackleEmpire had a good post a year ago, an open letter to Kirk Ferentz, wherein analogies were drawn between his career and those of Tommy Tuberville, Phil Fulmer, Bear Bryant, and Joe Paterno (this was about 2 weeks before the Sandusky thing). All four had success and then stagnated. 2 recovered to win championships and 2 did not. Iowa's 4-8 record in 2012 and 19-19 record since that Orange Bowl victory are familiar: Tuberville was 5-7 his last season and 14-11 his last 2 while Fulmer was 5-7 his last season and 29-21 his last 4.
Beckman always seemed like a plan C hire. Plan A was Kevin Sumlin, who had a good season after moving from Houston to Texas A&M. Then we heard names like Larry Fedora (took UNC job), Todd Monken (stayed at Ok St), and June Jones (took ASU job, then didn't). My favorite for the job was Mike Leach, who could have been very successful with Chicagoland area talent similar to west Texas. How much talent is there in high schools around Pullman, WA? If Illinois does not have confidence in its ability to hire a coach the caliber of Bobby Petrino (big time coach who wins) or Charlie Strong (quickly built Louisville program), it may not be able to do better than its last hire, Beckman.