TheUpperHand

Danny Hope was only making $970,000 while Butch Jones was making nearly twice that. I can't imagine that Purdue could have offered him enough money to justify moving and getting thrashed by Ohio State, Penn Statue, and Wisconsin year-in and year-out.

South Florida: Fox Sports is reporting that Houston Nutt will interview for the head coaching job. Sources tell us that there is tremendous interest in this job.

Wonder if this means tremendous interest in general, or just from Nutt?

Surprised we are not hearing much about James Coley...the guy has been around winning programs at the highest level and knows how to recruit. He won a state 6A title as a high school coach, worked for a year with the Miami Dolphins, was a graduate Assistant at LSU when they won the National Championship, and is ACC recruiter of the year last year and a darn good offensive coordinator. He also has ties to the Miami area which couldn't hurt recruiting. He might also be able to bring some of that FSU talent with him...

Dunno, but Coley, Quinn, and Smart are still around. It's a pipe dream but the more major jobs that fill up without these names, the more likely we are to grab one.

Let's try not to make this a USF vs. UCF thread

I agree. I won't say another word about it. I haven't mentioned the letters U-C-F in a long time so I forgot how inflammatory it was. It's a magical incantation for instant rage.

Don't get me wrong, I want desperately for us to get out of this crap hole conference. They've been playing football for more than 30 years and haven't accomplished as much as us. My concern is that if one looks at a snapshot of the programs NOW or only goes back 2-3 years, I don't know that we make as good of a case as we would have before Skip. All I'm saying is that the gap between our two programs has never been closer and don't think that USF is going to be the shoo-in choice if the ACC needs another Florida team.

GTFO Upperhand. Guy's f*&kin' CLOWN SHOES. Take I-4 East and don't stop until you see the mouse.

Yeah, no thanks. I've been a USF fan for 10 years and don't plan to change that. I hate UCF with every fiber of my being but last time I checked, we haven't beaten them in basketball since 2009 and just got stomped a few weeks ago. I think you all need to check your attitudes, you're the one's who are sounding like UCF, or worse, Florida fans. Someone makes a suggestion that we might not be number 4 in the state anymore (because we've been a Big East bottom dweller save one good season in basketball, and have been declining in football for 3 years) you go ape-$h!t. I'm not advocating the mouse house for the ACC, but you can't tell me that we're heads and shoulders a better prospect for the ACC. Outside of the central Florida region, half the people don't know the difference between us.

The ACC

FSU out

USF in.....

Hopefully

Or UCF

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!........................

It's hard not to make a good case for them at this point:

Larger student body than USF.

On-campus stadium/better gameday environment than USF.

No BCS experience but more successful in CUSA than USF when it moved to a BCS conference.

Arugably better location for road trips than USF.

Stable coaching situation.

Better basketball.

Competitive academically to USF.

The ACC

FSU out

USF in.....

Hopefully

Or UCF

Don't forget that Kentucky last season sucked... which is why Joker is no longer employed.

Yep. That's what I was getting at. It'd be the equivalent of UAB beating Auburn this year.

Taggart is okay, but he is not the best candidate out there... we need to work our way down to Taggart, not the other way around.

Agree. I think Taggart would have been a great candidate if this were 2003 and we needed a coach that would help us transition to CUSA and the Big East. I know, I know the Big East is basically CUSA now, but jokes aside we need to poach: a. A mildly succesful BCS head coach b. A coordinator from a top program c. A very succesful mid-major coach. Taggart is a mildly successful mid-major coach. I know he made WKU relevant but they're still only 7-5 for the past two years. Can you point me to one impressive win that they've had that suggests Taggart is coaching talent above it's level? Something along the lines of our '01 Pittsburgh game, '05 Louisville game, '07 Auburn game, etc? The closest I see is 32-31 over Kentucky and that's hardly program-defining or foundation-shaking. We don't have years to build this program back up. I'm scared when I hear about how nice of a guy he is that it's going to be another Skip Holtz.

If we're willing to look at a 14-10 Sun Belt team, then why not go to the top and go hard after Malzahn or Hudspeth? In the same amount of time, they've arguably done more with their programs.

Sure, Taggart has brought in some decent (read 2-3 star talent) Florida kids to his team and that's a big reason that everyone is saying to bring him in. We don't need 2-3 star kids, we need 3-4 star kids. Are we sure that the only reason he's not getting better players is just because of the location? Additionally, we need someone who can find diamonds in the rough and coach them to their potential.

I think Taggart needs a couple more years at WKU. He's generating interest at other programs, but that's their risk to take.

Trey Holtz

Quinn

Petrino

Coley

Morris

Magee

Very scared that Dave Doeren got hired by NC State. Anyone know how much he had to do with Jordan Lynch's development? He'll probably go after Asiantii hard.

its finals week and i'm having trouble keeping my mind on studying

You MUST do well on your finals. You need to graduate, get a good job, and help us pay for this buyout.

I think his offense would be a perfect fit in Conference USA 2.0 but that's not necessarily a good thing. The average Arizona game ends up being 37-34 and that's what I think would start happening here: we score a mess of points, but so does the other team. Working with Rich Rod so long, I'm not convinced he brings in a lockdown defensive coordinator. My fear is that every game ends up being a shootout and we get squashed by every team that plays defense. I get the feeling that we'll be able to build an offense similar to what we had in 2007, but not the same caliber defense we used to have a reputation for. It is a plus that he has ties to the program and the area, though.

Discuss

Instead, discus.

If we can get him and a stud OC. I'd be very very pleased.

This. Would love another defensive-minded head coach. Hoping he could help us bring more Mike Jenkins, Ben Moffits, JPPs, etc. Plus we owe the Gators for stealing McCarney away from us anyways.

Very leery of Bissacia. He has been out of the college game for more than a decade. He might know a lot about football, which would definitely help with game planning and management, but this isn't the pros. You don't just draft players. Could he surround himself with quality assistants and recruiters?

Fox 13 claimed on the 10:00 news tonight that the short list of coaching candidates include Steve A'Dazzio, Rich Bassacia, Derek Dooley, and Joker Phillips.

1) Pittsburgh

2) 10-45

3) Demetrius Murray

4) Terrence Mitchell

5) 293

My prediction ... PAIN!

Where did that come from? Did you write that?

Yeah, I wrote it. Not sure why I put it in quotes.

My two cents.

September 26, 2009. South Florida Head Coach Jim Leavitt raises his arms in victory after a 17-7 victory over Florida State, the program's first over a major state school. The following week, a billboard appears on I-275, welcoming Bulls fans to the "Big 4." The administration felt it was time to talk about USF in the same breath as schools that have combined for 10 national titles.

Jim Leavitt, on the other hand, knew there was still work to be done. To look past anything other than the next game enraged him. "We have not won national championships, and we have not won conference championships. What gives us the right to sit there all of a sudden like we've won all these championships and done all this stuff?" he said in response. It was not time for a discussion about tea time at some made-up club, it was time to prepare for the game against No. 8 Cincinatti.

Less than four months later, Leavitt was handed his walking papers. An investigation found that he had likely slapped a player in the locker room and then lied to cover up his actions. Although not proven, many believe that Leavitt's inability to win a conference title or major bowl game helped decide that he would be fired rather suspended. The administration had made it's mentality clear: USF is a 'Big 4' school. Leavitt is no Big 4 coach so he had to go.

Sometime in December, USF was approached about a man named Holtz. A man who had won a National Championship. At Notre Dame, of all places. A man who had coached at South Carolina, an honest to goodness SEC school. A man whose name was known all throughout college football. And then they were asked if they'd like to hire his son. USF swooned.

The honeymoon was amazing! USF went 8-5. They beat a major Florida school. They won a mediocre bowl game, but a bowl game nonetheless. Sure they lost 4 conference games, but that can be fixed later. Huh? Oh, wait a minute. I was still looking at the 2009 season. Let's, see. Ah, yes. 2010. USF went 8-5. They beat a major Florida school. They won a mediocre bowl game, but a bowl game nonetheless. Sure they lost 4 conference games, but that can be fixed later.

But then, the dark times. 2-12 in conference games. 6-15 against BCS teams. Late game meltdowns. Anemic defenses. USF left behind in conference realignment. Holtz under investigation for alledgedly beating the word 'compete' to death. And now, the USF administration finds itself at a precipice. Should they can Holtz or give him another year?

Hopefully, as they are doing their soul-searching they consider these points. In 2009, Bill McGillis declared South Florida a Big 4 school. Three years later, Holtz's best season is still his first and it is nearly identical to Leavitt's last. Would Miami, Florida, or Florida State still have Holtz? My guess is the response would go something like this: "It's not fair to compare. They have tradition. They have money. We can't compete with that right now." Maybe they'll know how asinine Jim Leavitt felt in 2009 to be put on that pedestal.

So what's it going to be? Where is that 'Big 4' mentality? What Would The Big Four Do? You know the answer to that question. It's time to step up. Prove it wasn't a marketing gimmick. Prove you still Bullieve.

Hazel spent 5 years at Ohio State as a KR/WR and Assistant HC so he has big school credentials. They went 63-11 at that time and he would have worked directly under Jim Tressel. As far as his role at tOSU: He never had a 1,000+ yard receiver, but several came close. Considering Ohio State was a bit more run-heavy and utilized a dual-threat QB the passing numbers would tend to be a bit lower. Notable WRs he worked with include Tedd Ginn, Jr. and Santonio Holmes, althought this was towards the beginning of his tenure.

At Kent State, he is poised to take the program to only it's second bowl game. However, his 2012 team is getting gashed by an average of 410 yards per game and allows an average of 24 points. Kent State has not played many decent opponents this year on the route to going 11-1: Kentucky (L 14-47); #18 Rutgers (W 35-23); #19 NIU (TBD).

He'd be a bit of a gamble. I don't think he's worth $1.5 million, we don't want to make the mistake of putting all of our eggs in one basket again. He's worked with Jim Tressel, but that doesn't make him Jim Tressel (see Holtz, Skip not to be confused with Holtz, Lou). From what I can see he makes about $300,000 or so now. I'd say shoot him an offer for $900,000 or so but offer heavy incentives. If he wins, the fans will come so we should see enough increase in revenue to give him good bonuses. Holtz will be just about paid off by the time his contract is up so we can either show him the door and start over or offer him a raise.

In order to have success with Hazel, we'd have to tell him to keep his nose out of the Defense's business and hire a star DC. We could also take a gamble on a good assistant (think Kansas State can spot us another Linebackers coach? Mike Cox is pretty good) but it would behoove us to bite the bullet and spend the money on a surefire deal to avoid these end of the game meltdowns. Plus, if we have a good DC, we have a good chance of having a HC in waiting in case we need to can Hazel.

"Four more years."

Not sure why everyone is complaining about the FCS teams. By the time we play them, they might end up in our conference lol. Seriously though, who's to say that some of these teams might not come up to FBS status to replace some of the teams taken in expansion/realignment?

Don't worry about the term AQ, soon it will be meaningless. The way things are going, CFB will be divided into two classes:

Upper: 4 16-team superconferences with access to the playoffs

Lower: Everyone else, with no access to the playoffs

This guarantees that the NC is always a B1G, SEC, BIG 12, PAC 12 team.