October 18, 2004
How warm is that seat coach?
Pack your things
John Robinson, UNLV: The rumor mill is in full gear about who will replace the retiring Robinson at the end of the season.
Keith Gilbertson, Washington: A November game against Arizona may be the only winnable game remaining on the schedule after a dismal 1-5 start.
Becoming Unbearable
Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse: Team has rallied back to be .500, but are a shadow of their former selves. Attendance figures are still falling each home game.
John Bunting, North Carolina: Thanks to Mack Brown and Dean Smith, UNC has some of the finest athletic digs in the nation. A few surprise wins have UNC with a chance for a .500 season. Sadly, the aforementioned facilities and the expectations they create rarely find .500 seasons acceptable.
Rich Brooks, Kentucky: During a recent loss to Ohio, the Bobcat players were quoted as saying they'd never heard a fan base boo a team so quickly when things got bad. At 1-5 and facing the school's 2nd straight losing season, that's not exactly a vote of confidence.
Getting Warmer
John Thompson, East Carolina: In the two years and 17 games at the helm, Thompson's Pirates have given up at least 24 points in every game. Last week against Tulane, a last second field goal ended the teams 9 game losing streak. The win was Thompson's second at East Carolina. Add to that the recent high profile hiring of the former Virginia AD as the new Athletic Director, and you can begin see the expectations beginning to mount.
Joe Paterno, Penn State: Don't make any mistake, Paterno, will never, ever be fired by Penn State. But this one proud and dominant football team has been reduced to a year in, year out mediocre squad, and things aren't looking to get any better.
Ron Zook, Florida: There is a certain segment of Gator fans who will simply never be happy with Zook. He's the anti-Spurrier, a voracious recruiter, a defensive minded coach who isn't the "aw shucks" good ole boy that Spurrier is. So the last thing Zook needs to do is feed his legion of critics a big chunk of red meat, like he did last week.
Warm, but cozy for now
David Cutcliffe, Mississippi: FireDavidCutcliffe.com seems to be getting brisk traffic these days, but Mississippi seems to slowly be coming to life, upsetting South Carolina and taking Tennessee to the wire.
Tommy Bowden, Clemson: Four tough games remain for the Tigers, who sit now at 2-4 looking up at the rest of the ACC.
Ron Turner, Illinois: Turner's Fighting Illini are 2-5, but have given a scare to both Purdue and Michigan this season. He's been able to keep his job to date despite pathetic teams in recent years.
Turn off the switch
Walt Harris, Pittsburgh: From goat to hero in a few weeks. Pittsburgh controls the team's own destiny the rest of the season. Win out in conference and the Panthers win the Big East.
Comments:
posted on October 18, 2004 3:34 PM — 63.72.70.149 — link — abuse?Derek Willis said:
Yes, Harris has saved his job for now, but I'm not sure the switch should be turned off just yet. Pitt seems to have some systemic problems, including local recruiting, that could still lead to Harris leaving at the end of the season.
posted on October 18, 2004 4:16 PM — 198.207.0.5 — link — abuse?
As for Thompson, there's been a percolating undercurrent since he came in with a lot of promise. At least, according to my friends in the area, there is some evidence that folks are taking the teams plight seriously.
And thanks for the correction, it's been fixed.
Jeff Brock said:
posted on October 18, 2004 6:25 PM — 146.149.18.7 — link — abuse?
John Thompson hasn't even been in Greenville for two full seasons....how in the world can East Carolina put the man on the hotseat yet?
Jeez. It is East Carolina. If they had been doing so well prior to Thompson, then they wouldn't (or should I say, "shouldn't) have fired their previous coach (Steve Logan).
Logan didn't leave on his own accord, therefore ECU CHOSE to make the move to a new direction. In doing so, they owe the man that they hired a full 'cycle' of 4-5 years to execute the course that ECU chose to align their prorgam with.
ANY school that would put any coach (who isn't breaking the rules) on the Hot Seat before the second year is finished is going to have major challenges in attracting any other coach in the future....especially if you are East Carolina with little to sale to recruits when compared to the new ACC that engulfs all of your recruiting territory.
posted on October 18, 2004 7:33 PM — 12.215.232.213 — link — abuse?
I agree, Jeff. Thompson is a solid coach who inherited a deteriorating situation. To cut a guy loose during or after a second rebuilding situation at a place like that would be unthinkable. Especially with a classy AD like Terry Holland. Perhaps in year three or year four, there should be some pressure to win, but Coach Thompson needs to get his players in place and his system firmly implanted before the seat heats up.
posted on October 18, 2004 10:37 PM — 66.92.128.181 — link — abuse?
i imagine a few nebraska fans might be willing to quote some of these fans the Solich Law: It May Be Bad Today; It Could be 70-10 Times Worse Tomorrow.
sometimes a little bit of perspective is lacking in these mid-season assessments.
that said, man oh man does penn state need to do something. paterno is not the draw he once was, simply not helping with intensely competitive regional recruiting battles.
Will Williams said:
posted on October 26, 2004 5:39 PM — 152.23.104.164 — link — abuse?
Mack Brown may get fired, but no way he goes to Kentucky. The main reason Brown left Carolina for Texas is that he, and all involved parties, knew that football would never surpass basketball at the school. He won't step back into that situation.
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Robert Knodell said:
posted on October 18, 2004 3:31 PM — 168.166.80.205 — link — abuse?As someone that is pretty dialed-in with C-USA, I was unaware of anybody down in Greenville calling for Thompson's head. In fact, patience is the word that has been uttered by Holland and the rest of the faithful down there. Did I miss something?
Also, Keith Gilbertson is the head coach at UW. Kevin Gilbertson is a well-known unicycler.