First and foremost in the fan’s mind is a well-conceived plan for hiring a new coach. It begins with, “We’ve got to fire our coach!” When the situation has gotten to this point, the geniuses in the stands have had all they can take - because, after all, who cares more about their beloved football program than someone like them who go to every game and (maybe) write a check out to the athletics department each year? Certainly not someone like the coach who spends about of 14-16 hours every day? Hey, it’s what he’s paid to do.
Let’s take a couple of examples I’m somewhat familiar with - Tennessee and Fresno State - the former because I worked there from 1980-87 as an assistant basketball coach, the latter because my tenure as Director of Basketball Operations was also seven years (1995-2002). The day I started at UT in 1980 nearly coincided with the day Phillip Fulmer, the recently deposed football coach, began. He was returning to his alma mater from Vanderbilt to become the offensive line coach. The two of us went through orientation together and, because of the training table UT offered, would sit together during lunch on several occasions until my departure to become the associate head coach at the University of Toledo.
Pat Hill arrived in Fresno in 1997 and, while Fresno State is not his alma mater, he did put in a five-year stint there as offensive line coach and recruiting coordinater (1984-89). I distinctly remember the first day I met Pat, not so much because of our meeting, but because when I arrived home that night, our older son, Andy, said a new student just moved into his 2nd grade class and was sitting next to him. That new kid was Zak Hill, the youngest of the three Hill boys. Andy and Zak became fast friends and Andy, on many occasions, has vacationed with the Hill family.
Both Phil and Pat took over their respective programs under very similar circumstances, following in the footsteps of legendary coaches who each had experienced a decline in the teams’ records near the end of their careers. Johnny Majors was not only a Vols’ alum, but was a superstar tailback during his intercollegiate stay there. Anyone who can remember that far back will tell you Majors got royally shafted in the 1956 Heisman Trophy voting by the Eastern and Catholic media, coming in second to Paul Hornung of Notre Dame after the Vols posted a 10-1 record while the Irish finished the season with only two wins. In fact, I was in attendance at a meeting where Hornung admitted to exactly that.
Jim Sweeney, the coach Pat replaced and worked for, was at Washington State when I was a graduate assistant there, but with the rules being what they were at the time, e.g. unlimited scholarships, nobody could have won at WSU. After a brief time with the Oakland Raiders, Jim wound up as the head coach of the Bulldogs and is considered the man whose program built Bulldog Stadium (the field is named after him) and put the program in the spotlight by winning in the Big West and immediately competing for the WAC championship.
Health issues marred the final year of both Majors’ and Sweeney’s careers. The end for Majors was more controversial because the Vols had begun the season by losing. Majors’ pain was so severe, he needed surgery shortly after the season begun. Fullmer took over and the Vols won three in a row. Majors returned to the sidelines, saying that had always had been the plan, but to the chagrin of many fans, who felt he should step down in favor of Phil (wonder if they hadn’t won the fans would have felt the same way?) The team lost after Majors returned and at the end of the ‘92 season, Fullmer had the interim tag removed. There’s been bad blood between the two coaches ever since, most fans siding with Fullmer in the early years, especially in 1998 when the Vols won the National Championship. Lately, however, it’s amazing how many of these same fans are bringing up how “Phillip stabbed Johnny in the back.”
Sweeney’s departure, though, was not a cause of dissension, with Jim helping his former assistant get the Bulldogs’ job and continuing to be supportive. When Hill first started scheduling “big-time” teams (Hill’s philosophy of “We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere” meant just what it said), the academic success and graduation rates (under associate head coach John Baxter, inventor of the now widely- used Academic Game Plan) dramatically improved and Pat’s knack for player evaluation (one of his NFL tasks he had while toiling as an assistant coach in for the Browns and Ravens) led to better and better recruiting classes, the entire San Joaquin Valley was gaga for the ‘Dogs.
Now, the two former offensive lineman, each of whom was an assistant for the school prior to becoming head coach, and each turned the success ratio of W’s and L’s around have been under fire from the “supporters.” In fact, Fullmer has already been shown the door, replaced by Lane Kiffin (coincidentally a Fresno State grad), who lost his fight and job with the Oakland Raiders and boss, Al Davis, (usually the loss of one translates into the loss of the other). Kiffin’s hiring, only a day or so ago, has been criticized by Mark May of ESPN who said his past experience doesn’t prepare him for a job the magnitude of Tennessee. Talk about a short honeymoon! “Good luck, Coach - but consider renting.”
Fresno losing to archrival and one of nation’s hottest teams over the past five years, Boise State, by a score of 61-10 has added fuel to the fans’ fire. What I am constantly amazed by is the spewing of venom at the coach when his team doesn’t perform to the fan’s expectation. “I don’t spend my hard earned money to watch us get beat time after time.” For the record, FSU is 7-5 this season and will probably play in a bowl game.
Hill has himself to blame for some of the criticism because he sets lofty goals and then dares to make them public. When the Bulldogs beat BCS schools as they’ve done at the rate of about one per season (a rather remarkable feat, considering they don’t get the chance to play them that often and when they do, it’s nearly always on the opponent’s home turf), chests in Fresno are stuck out proudly. But, the mantra of “If we can beat those guys, how come we can’t win the WAC?” is heard by fans (chests now deflated).
My proposal: get a search committee of fans, ask them the following questions - printing their responses in the local paper:
Who do you think we should get to coach the coach instead of the man we have now? The answer is simple. Someone who will WIN!
What kind of offensive should the new coach run? Are you kidding? Wide open, throw it on every down, so we can score 50 points/game. What a foolish question that was!
How about the defensive side of the ball? We need a defensive coordinator who can figure out how to shut down the opposing team’s offense. You know, if the previous staff didn’t understand that, they deserve to be out of jobs.
And who do you think that is? This answer ranges from 1) the hottest coach in the country. Nothing’s too good for us. Who’s coaching the #1 team in the nation? Oh, he makes four times what we’re paying our current coach? How ’bout one of the Top 5 then? Uh, each of them makes more, coaches at a BCS school and, undoubtedly has a buy-out clause in his contract that is greater than the entire budget for our School of Education (not to mention the buy-out we’re on the hook for in order to let go the coach you’re so anxious to fire). 2) Yeah, what about someone who’s a proven winner, but has retired? You know how coaches have that itch and are always coming back for more. So, … what about guys like Lou Holtz, Don Shula or John Madden? Well, each has a pretty cushy job right now, Holtz makes more in a couple of speaking fees than we can afford, Shula’s getting paid to lose weight and I’d love to see how you’d expect us to get Madden to the Hawaii game. 3) How about an up-and-comer, you know, like Gerry Faust, Karl Dorrell or one of the Bowden boys? Wait, I’ve got the perfect guy? The dude from Boise State. Why would a guy want to leave a school he’s led to an undefeated season for another in the same league he just beat by 50? So he can have you guys as fans?
It reminds me of George Burns’ line about complaints regarding whoever’s president:
“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.”