Who do you want as next ASU Football coach?

[Skkorpion]

Tom O'Brien was hired as the next NC State head coach. Bad news for me, have to search for a new avator

devil, I was secretly hoping O'Brien would come here. But he blew it. Here, the upside is huge. Not so at NC State.

 

[Nasser22]

IMO, he's Dirk Koetter all over agian. Their both better off as coordinators

I'd rather have Martz Super Bowl winning offense than Norm Chow's, never-been-a-head-coach offense. And I'd just rather have someone that has a past with ASU. Just my personal preference.

 

[devilfan02]

devil, I was secretly hoping O'Brien would come here. But he blew it. Here, the upside is huge. Not so at NC State.

I've wanted O'Brien as our next head coach badly for the past year. Before Love extended Koetter I was hoping we'd hire him. He's an excellent coach who gets the most out of his players. He is a solid fundemental coach who preaches defense and discipline. He was by far and away my number one choice. It would have been fun to watch him recruit whoever he wants and develop them (no academic standards here).

I still think that LL has her sights on someone we haven't talked about. If she was gonna hire one of the names people have been talking about, it probably would have already happened (unless it's Martz, McGinnis, or Mariucci).

 

[devilfan02]

I'd rather have Martz Super Bowl winning offense than Norm Chow's, never-been-a-head-coach offense. And I'd just rather have someone that has a past with ASU. Just my personal preference.

It's widely known that Marmies staff left on ugly terms. Martz has actually bad mouthed ASU through the media in the past.

Are there only 2 candidates left- Chow and Martz? There's plenty of other coaches out there that are worthy of this job. Mariucci and Pelini for starters

 

[Mulli]

It's widely known that Marmies staff left on ugly terms. Martz has actually bad mouthed ASU through the media in the past.

Are there only 2 candidates left- Chow and Martz? There's plenty of other coaches out there that are worthy of this job. Mariucci and Pelini for starters

And Russ Smith

 

[devilfan02]

And Russ Smith

We get it

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Honestly, I CAN'T see Arizona State hiring a coach as quickly as this, and I'd think that they would spend a little longer than two weeks searching.

With that said, here's just my own assessment looking at this "Top 6", with highs and lows of each.

Mike Price

Pros: Has PAC 10 Coaching experience at Washington State, where he compiled three 10-win seasons and five bowl appearances. Has developed some good QBs on the college level (although all of them, with the exception of Jordan Palmer who has an unknown future, bombed on the NFL level). Is the 10th winningest active coach in D1.

Cons: Price's teams seem to be hit or miss. In 8 out of 14 years at Wazzou, the Cougars finished with a lousy record, and out of the bowl picture. This trend continued at UTEP, where he put up two 8 win seasons (which was a big step forward), but regressed this season, falling to 5-7. We also all know the situation regarding his brief tenure as Head Coach of Alabama, so that goes without mentioning.

Dennis Erickson

Pros: Arguably has the best credentials of any of the other candidates, with two National Titles to his resume. Leading Oregon State to an 11-1 record and a BCS appearance isn't a bad resume booster either.

Cons: Left both Miami and Oregon State high and dry for "greener pastures". Who's to say he's not just biding his time waiting for the next big money offer to come around? Not to be ignored is the fact that when he left Miami, he left that school in a sanction riddled mess. Also, the 1989 Championship was largely Jimmy Johnson's recruits anyhow.

Norm Chow

Pros: He's a brilliant offensive mind, who has produced three Heisman winning quarterbacks, and seems to have a knack for building up high octane offenses. Shouldn't have any trouble building off what Koetter started with the offense if he is hired. Could actually boost the offense, and make them BETTER than they've been in the past.

Cons: Zero head coaching experience. This would be overlookable if he was 45 or 50, but at the start of the 2007 season, Chow will be 61 years old, which is kind of late to be starting your coaching career. Can he get out and recruit, or maintain success on BOTH sides of the ball? There's also reports that both Arizona and Stanford had stopped just short calling press conferences to name him coach before he interviewed with them for the jobs. Supposedly, his interview with U of A was so bad, one notable booster threatened to remove his name from the U of A picture if Chow was hired. The Stanford interview was rumored to be slightly better, but not by much. There's got to be a reason why BYU went outside the picture to hire LaVell Edwards replacement in 2000, without even giving Chow a look DESPITE the fact that he was on the Cougar staff for 27 years.

Mike Riley

Pros: Has Pac 10 and NFL Coaching experience, and reportedly is a very good recruiter.

Cons: Let's call a spade a spade here.. Riley's Oregon State teams have been slightly better than mediocre. He's yet to coach the Beavers to anything higher than the Sun Bowl, which really leaves you asking "If this is the best they could have gotten, why not just stick with what we had?" The fact that prior to beating USC, Riley was on the hot seat cannot be ignored.

Mike Martz

Pros: The only candidate with ASU ties, as he was part of the 1986 Rose Bowl squad. Can boast of a pretty respectable resume in the NFL, including coaching the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance and has a ring as an assistant. Is an innovative offensive mind, who more likely than not would run a pro-style offense that would bring the recruits in.

Cons: Has a crusty personality. As much as you can boast of a Super Bowl ring, and can boast of being able to run a pro offense, which would be helpful for those with pro aspirations, if you don't have the personality to be able to recruit, you're immediately behind the eight ball. I just can't forsee him being able to recruit well on the NFL level. Plus, let's face it.. St. Louis is a relatively passive market. Martz feuded with media there. Here, with cynics like Bob Kemp in town, Martz would get aten alive. Also, his heart ailment, which caused him to leave the Rams for an extended period of time, and ultimately may have factored in to him losing his job.

Steve Mariucci

Pros: Like Martz, has a well defined NFL pedigree (despite leaving the Lions in disgrace, after a poor tenure, his run in San Francisco was widely successful). He has the personality to be successful in recruiting, and did a fairly decent job in recruiting in his one year at Cal.

Cons: Reportedly would rather return to the NFL sidelines. Would ASU be a stop gap option for him, until an NFL squad came a knocking? With all the ties he has to Michigan State, and known knowledge that the Spartans would have stopped short of renaming the city of Lansing after him if he took the job, it makes you wonder why they instead went in a different direction, and leads me to believe that he is waiting for the NFL.

Here's a few candidates not being mentioned that if I'm putting together a top list, I have these guys on.

Jim Leavitt
Head Coach
South Florida

-- One of the most underrated and underappreciated coaches in College Football, Leavitt has proven he can literally build a program from the ground up, doing just that with South Florida's football program.

As for recruiting, let's face it.. If you can hold your own recruiting against Miami, Florida State and Florida yearly, recruiting against USC and Arizona is hardly a daunting task.

The only real downside of Leavitt is he has at times stated he wants to coach South Florida until he retires, but as we've seen in the past, money talks. Winning at South Florida's nice, winning in the Pac 10 puts you on a different level. He'd also make far more money here.

Paul Johnson
Head Coach
Navy

His tenure in Annapolis has been nothing short of amazing.

When he took over the near dead Midshipman program in 2002, he inherited a program that had gone 1-20 in the previous 2 seasons. After stumbling at first, going 2-10 in his first season at the helm, the Midshipmen have gone 26-10 and will be going to their third straight Bowl game this year.

Prior to coming to Navy, Johnson also had a ton of success at Georgia Southern, going 62-10 with 2 Division IAA National Championships.

For those who worry about recruiting issues, trust me if you can recruit people to play for the Naval Academy, which may be one of the hardest jobs to recruit for in all of college football, he'd do just fine at ASU.

Frank Solich
Head Coach
Ohio University

Not only would this make many Valley Husker Boosters pleased, it’d be a pretty respectable hire for Love, if Big Game experience is what she’s looking for in a Head Coach.

Solich’s success in Lincoln is not to be ignored. He had six consecutive Bowl appearances, won nine games or more in five out of six seasons and led the Huskers to a National Title appearance. Keep in mind, Solich had the daunting task of replacing a legend, succeeding Tom Osborne and actually had a moderate amount of success while filling a very big shadow.

In his last two years, he’s done a very good job building Ohio University from the ashes up, and have the Bobcats in a Bowl game for the first time since 1968.

Oh by the way? One added bonus? He’s from Johnstown, PA. Hey, last time the Sun Devils turned to a coach who hailed from the Johnstown area, things turned out relatively well for the Devils, right? (For those who don’t know, Kush is from Windber, PA-- roughly 15 minutes east of Johnstown).

 

[devilfan02]

I've been meaning to post this-

If Mike Riley is named the next HC of ASU Football, I will not set foot in Sun Devil Stadium until he's fired. For his name to even pop up either shows how stupid the PHX media is or how stupid LL is. I'll side with the PHX media being that stupid

 

[devilfan02]

Good writeup SDJ!

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Good writeup SDJ!

Agreed. While none of those guys is the sure thing Love detailed in her presser, I think all of them have the potential for greatness.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Thanks guys.

I also added a little to it, with a few candidates that aren't being mentioned but could be gems. I'm currently in the process of adding a few other names.

 

[devilfan02]

Leavitt is very interesting. As you said, he's far down on the pecking order in the state of Florida in the recruiting battle yet he still managed to put together one of the best defenses in the nation this season. He's a quality candidate

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Another name added.

This one has Big Game experience, and would make a lot of local "boosters" happy.

One thing to keep in mind is this..

Regardless of who Arizona State hires, the masses are going to be split.

Half are going to dub the new coach a great hire, while the other half are going to call for Lisa Love to take the route of Koetter and get the hell out of town.

The main thing to remember is the idea that the right coach may not always be the popular choice. I can remember many of national media and Los Angelesean critics who absolutely blasted the hiring of Pete Carroll. On the same side of things, I know many who also blasted Ohio State for going with a Division IAA Coach from Youngstown State University named Tressell rather than going for a coach with a proven track record on the D1 level.

 

[devilfan02]

I would add Bo Pelini, Pat Hill, and Jim Fassel to that list. They are long shots but are worth talking about

 

[Mulli]

We get it

Hey, man, it is 2 degrees with the wind chill. My mind is a bit messed up.

 

[devilfan02]

I was in Chicago 2 Xmas ago when they set a record low. I was in Lincoln Park trying to find the bar where my friends were and I thought I was going to die. I was out of the cab for all of 2 minutes and ran back into another cab cause I was shaking like crazy. It was something like -30

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

If Rodriguez goes to Bama, then Paul JOhnson at WVU would be a natural fit.

I really, really doubt ASU hires either Johnson or Solich. While both guys can obviously coach, their respective offensives do not translate well to BCS conference football and certainly not to ASU. It would take three years at least to get the right players in the system.

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

If Rodriguez goes to Bama, then Paul JOhnson at WVU would be a natural fit.

I really, really doubt ASU hires either Johnson or Solich. While both guys can obviously coach, their respective offensives do not translate well to BCS conference football and certainly not to ASU. It would take three years at least to get the right players in the system.

Huh?

Paul Johnson has run the wishbone (er flexbone) and ummm...thats it.

No way would WVU go after Paul Johnson. Most likely they would go with someone already on staff to keep the offense rolling.

And the Big East isnt "BCS Conference" football?

 

[devilfan02]

I highly doubt either are on LL's short list. Honestly, I don't see Solich coaching at any other school. I bet he doesn't get a shot anywhere else and retires at Ohio. Johnson simply doesn't seem to fit at ASU, could at Stanford though

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Huh?

Paul Johnson has run the wishbone (er flexbone) and ummm...thats it.

No way would WVU go after Paul Johnson. Most likely they would go with someone already on staff to keep the offense rolling.

Yeah, my bad. They're both option-based offenses though.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Latest update has the choices down to Riley, Price, and Erickson. If anyone owld know I guess it would be Metcalfe, but even I think he might be off. There's no way Love could go back to the boosters who cut a $3 million check with these names and expect not to get her ass chewed out. Unless it's those boosters who are conducting the search which would not be surprising.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1207asucoachONLINE.html

 

[Diamondback Jay]

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett first tried to hire Erickson, then preparing 10-1 Oregon State for the Fiesta Bowl. Instead, Erickson signed a seven-year, $7 million deal to stay in Corvallis.

Oregon's Mike Bellotti was second on the list. He leveraged salary demands that USC could not meet into his own seven-year, $7 million contract.

Up next was Riley, then with three years remaining on his contract as San Diego Chargers head coach. The Chargers wanted compensation for Riley even though he was under fire for what would end up a 1-15 season.

USC wound up with its fourth choice, Pete Carroll, who last season fell one win shy of an unprecedented three straight national titles.

With these three, I sure hope it comes down to Option 4 for ASU too.

I must say, I'm not at all impressed with this list of three. Not in the least.

I don't know what to think of Erickson, but when he's the best of the three left, that pretty much tells you that ASU's rushing this way too fast.

I just have this gnawing suspicion it's going to be either Price or Riley.. Call it a hunch. I also feel like vomiting as I say that. Price's teams are way too hit or miss for my liking (not to mention the fact that his Miners are coming off a 5-7 season) and Riley is no better than what they had.

Please, redo it Lisa. Your first football coaching hire shouldn't be a fire in the dark, hoping you find a piece of tarnished gold in a pile of dog crap.

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

Yeah, my bad. They're both option-based offenses though.

Umm wrong.

WVU is not an option offense at all. It is a spread offense. They do not run the option play, or very little. Mostly misdirection and spread 3-4 wide.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Umm wrong.

WVU is not an option offense at all. It is a spread offense. They do not run the option play, or very little. Mostly misdirection and spread 3-4 wide.

WVU almost always runs the read option, which essentially every coach in the country has copied in some form. It is run out of the spread though.

 

[Dback Jon]

I don't see all the negativity on Mike Price. He has had GREAT success at WAZOU and UTEP, two places almost impossible to recruit well to. His formula there was to build for good seasons most years, a great season every third or four year, and realize that with the talent level he can get to those schools, the occasion 5-6/5-7 record will happen.

Surely ASU boosters don't think that Tempe will be a tougher place to recruit to than El Paso or Pulliam?

Mike Price would be a great hire for ASU.