[ Post a Response | J.R.'s Mountaineer Message Board ]
Posted by Willy on 1/4/2008, 5:43 am, in reply to "So sick of......."
70.104.175.154
SI.com college football writer Stewart Mandel shares his commentary, analysis and random tidbits on the latest developments around the country.
1/03/2008 04:50:00 PM
West Virginia Outdoes Itself; OSU-LSU Talk
Bill Stewart went 8-25 as the head coach at VMI from 1994-96.
AP
NEW ORLEANS -- I’ll get to Ohio State-LSU (the reason I’m here) in a second, but I have to take a moment to comment on West Virginia’s incredibly bizarre decision to promote interim coach Bill Stewart to head coach based solely on Wednesday night’s Fiesta Bowl rout of Oklahoma. It’s a fitting and, most likely, disastrous end to what had already been one of the most dim-witted coaching searches I’ve ever witnessed.
In the 17 days since Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan, the school’s “search committee” first settled on Florida assistant Doc Holliday, only to have state governor/de facto athletic director Joe Manchin nix it. Manchin then put in a call inquiring about childhood friend Nick Saban’s availability, then tried unsuccessfully to work out a deal to pry Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State. Then the school interviewed Central Michigan coach Butch Jones twice, left both him and Terry Bowden hanging in the wind, hired a search firm to help sort out the mess … then, somewhere around the fourth quarter Wednesday night, decided, “Heck … this guy right here seems pretty good.”
I must confess, I know very little about Stewart, who seems like a nice enough -- and certainly enthusiastic -- fellow. But the best coaching hires are made by professionals who remove emotion from the equation -- and the short-sighted decision to hand over a nationally prominent program to a guy who went 8-25 as the head coach at VMI just because he kicked Oklahoma’s butt is the definition of a decision based purely on emotion. (That, or the fact that they got him for the incredibly low, low price of $800,000 a year, cheap even by Conference USA standards.)
Maybe Stewart will turn out to be the next Bill Belichick, but I’d guess he has a much better chance of becoming the next Bill Doba. Promoting an interim coach based on short-term success (Bobby Williams at Michigan State), or promoting an assistant just because he’s popular with the current players (Larry Coker at Miami), doesn’t usually work out in the long run. With Pat White and Noel Devine, it would be hard for any coach to screw up next year’s team, but two to three years down the road, the school will likely rue its hasty decision.
Meanwhile, university president Mike Garrison couldn’t resist taking one last parting shot at Rodriguez, the guy most responsible for the Mountaineers reaching the Fiesta Bowl in the first place, in announcing Stewart’s hiring. “We know we now have a coach who truly values the opportunity to work as the head football coach at West Virginia University,” said Garrison.
I’m sure that will provide great comfort in 2009 when the Mountaineers are fighting for a spot in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
--Previous Message--
: I am so tired of listening to ESPN
: "experts" talk about how
: under prepared OU was, could it be that
: Stewart got WVU ready for the game.
: How about how poorly the OU offense
: was, not how good the WVU D was. Were
: the refs payed off or was OU just
: simply not ready for the WVU speed.
: Anytime the "experts" had
: anything positive to say about WVU it
: was just in passing. Comments like WVU
: played well but really it's just about
: how poorly OU played. It really makes
: me sick to listen to that BULLS#!%.
: WVU came to play and OU was just out
: classed. Expert judge who is going to
: win the games based soley on how many
: "5 star" recruits each team
: has. Even now I'd be willing to bet
: that, without looking it up, no one
: could tell me the number of 5 star
: recruits OU had on the field. Once
: anyone ponders that now look up how
: many 5 star players WVU had playing
: last night. Neither Steve Slaton nor
: Pat White were 5 star recruits. It
: amazes me that people still under
: estimate how small the talent
: difference is in college football. The
: proof lies within every
: "upset" this year. Sorry but
: I had to vent they are really starting
: to get under my skin with that poor
: Oklahomo stuff
:
Message Thread:
« Back to thread