The World of College Football

[mrelegazna]

So Billy Napier was just fired after a WIN over Mississippi State, which considering I don't have any fandom or feelings for Florida (except slightly negative ones), has me pretty angry.

 

First of all, while I'm sure UF fans and brass feel you need to blowout teams like Mississippi State, they are in fact pretty significantly improved, with a win over #24 Arizona State and taking #17 Tennessee to OT.

 

Second of all, Florida's results, while disappointing, aren't DISASTROUS.  Every team they lost to is in the top 20.  They beat Texas worse than the consensus #1.  

Because no one can think for themselves, everyone is now following the lead of Penn State (and I mildly disagree with Franklin's firing too, but will absolutely concede their season had turned disastrous) and now there's been this whole slew of mid-season firings. 

Maybe they see what happened at UCLA (which is dumb; the plural of anecdote is not data) and think they too might be world-beaters after firing their coach mid-season.

Mid-season firings IMO should be reserved for on-field disasters or off-field inexcusable stuff.  I don't want to hear a single Florida mucky-muck complain about it being too easy for kids to transfer.  The one bulwark you have against that is coaching stability. You CANNOT have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to firing coaches.

[GP1]

1 hour ago, mrelegazna said:

So Billy Napier was just fired after a WIN over Mississippi State, which considering I don't have any fandom or feelings for Florida (except slightly negative ones), has me pretty angry.

 

First of all, while I'm sure UF fans and brass feel you need to blowout teams like Mississippi State, they are in fact pretty significantly improved, with a win over #24 Arizona State and taking #17 Tennessee to OT.

 

Second of all, Florida's results, while disappointing, aren't DISASTROUS.  Every team they lost to is in the top 20.  They beat Texas worse than the consensus #1.  

Because no one can think for themselves, everyone is now following the lead of Penn State (and I mildly disagree with Franklin's firing too, but will absolutely concede their season had turned disastrous) and now there's been this whole slew of mid-season firings. 

Maybe they see what happened at UCLA (which is dumb; the plural of anecdote is not data) and think they too might be world-beaters after firing their coach mid-season.

Mid-season firings IMO should be reserved for on-field disasters or off-field inexcusable stuff.  I don't want to hear a single Florida mucky-muck complain about it being too easy for kids to transfer.  The one bulwark you have against that is coaching stability. You CANNOT have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to firing coaches.

Good post. I find mid season firings silly as well. They mostly just satisfy blood lust but loud alumni, boosters or members of the press. It doesn't give a school a head start in any search. It's just dumb.

[kreed5120]

42 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Good post. I find mid season firings silly as well. They mostly just satisfy blood lust but loud alumni, boosters or members of the press. It doesn't give a school a head start in any search. It's just dumb.

 

The Franklin firing was especially egregious. He inherited a program that was still recovering from a national scandal and hadn't won a national championship since the 80s. He turned them into a perennial national contender. He literally had them in the semifinals last year, but the boosters said that's not good enough.

 

That's another problem with NIL. Now that schools are going to alumni to fund their $20 million rosters the alumni are feeling entitled to titles now. Only one team can win a national title every year. Not even Joe Paterno (scandal aside) would survive in this college landscape.

[exit322]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

That's another problem with NIL. Now that schools are going to alumni to fund their $20 million rosters the alumni are feeling entitled to titles now. Only one team can win a national title every year. Not even Joe Paterno (scandal aside) would survive in this college landscape.

 

That's going to be a big change going forward.  I don't think we'll see too many coaching tenures even 12 years long like Franklin has (at least, at the P4 level).

James Franklin started at Penn State in 2014.  There were six FBS head coaches (Kirk Ferentz, Kyle Whittingham, Troy Calhoun, Dabo Swinney, Dave Doeren, Mark Stoops) with more tenure than Franklin (and three - including Miami's Chuck Martin - who started in 2014).

[GP1]

10 hours ago, exit322 said:

 

That's going to be a big change going forward.  I don't think we'll see too many coaching tenures even 12 years long like Franklin has (at least, at the P4 level).

James Franklin started at Penn State in 2014.  There were six FBS head coaches (Kirk Ferentz, Kyle Whittingham, Troy Calhoun, Dabo Swinney, Dave Doeren, Mark Stoops) with more tenure than Franklin (and three - including Miami's Chuck Martin - who started in 2014).

I think there will be long tenured coaches, but not at places like PSU. They will be at places where everyone is happy to win 6-8 games and be respectable. Places like Tulane, Wake Forest, Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, etc. Basically, places where you need a brain to attend. 

[exit322]

41 minutes ago, GP1 said:

I think there will be long tenured coaches, but not at places like PSU. They will be at places where everyone is happy to win 6-8 games and be respectable. Places like Tulane, Wake Forest, Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, etc. Basically, places where you need a brain to attend. 

 

Yes, and at a fair number of G5 schools as well.

 

Thing is with those "smart schools," the right NIL donors could put them in a very good spot, especially in the non-P2 leagues (e.g. all of those but Northwestern, though the Wildcats are even 5-2 right now)

[GP1]

2 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Yes, and at a fair number of G5 schools as well.

 

Thing is with those "smart schools," the right NIL donors could put them in a very good spot, especially in the non-P2 leagues (e.g. all of those but Northwestern, though the Wildcats are even 5-2 right now)

Smart scheduling will help also. Wake Forest has feasted on three bad ooc teams in Oregon State, Kennesaw State and Western Carolina. They have Delaware to go, which they will win. A win against a bad VA Tech two weeks ago and all they need to do now is beat any of the following for a bowl: SMU, UNC, Duke, FSU or UVA. They will get smashed this week against SMU, but the rest are winnable. Their alumni and fan base will be doing cartwheels if they win 6 with a new coach. 

[mrelegazna]

Jay Norvell at Colorado State is another preposterous one. 6-1 in conference last year, best they've done in 22 years.  8 wins total, best in 10 years.  Starts this year 2-5, 1-2 conference, gets fired. GMAFB.

[GP1]

2 hours ago, mrelegazna said:

Jay Norvell at Colorado State is another preposterous one. 6-1 in conference last year, best they've done in 22 years.  8 wins total, best in 10 years.  Starts this year 2-5, 1-2 conference, gets fired. GMAFB.

NFL teams aren't this stupid. The amateurism that is athletic department administration is going to begin to really shine through moving forward. 

[exit322]

6 hours ago, mrelegazna said:

Jay Norvell at Colorado State is another preposterous one. 6-1 in conference last year, best they've done in 22 years.  8 wins total, best in 10 years.  Starts this year 2-5, 1-2 conference, gets fired. GMAFB.

Not that preposterous.  Maybe hasty, but Colorado State doesn't want to think one bowl in four seasons (which they'll need a 4-1 finish to avoid) is good enough.

 

I guess that Pac-12 money is helping them pay the $1.5M

[MangoZip]

Could be worse I guess

[kreed5120]

14 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Could be worse I guess

 

I'm surprised that's even possible. I would have thought they would at least have ~3k+ season ticket holders.

[exit322]

40 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I'm surprised that's even possible. I would have thought they would at least have ~3k+ season ticket holders.

Probably not this year.  Their stadium is being rebuilt, and they currently play 70 miles off campus at the soccer stadium in Houston.

 

Best comparison around here would be if Akron had to play their games at Arlin Field in Mansfield...those Tuesday games in an 0-7 season...eeeek (official attendance was 4657 fwiw)

[kreed5120]

51 minutes ago, exit322 said:

Probably not this year.  Their stadium is being rebuilt, and they currently play 70 miles off campus at the soccer stadium in Houston.

 

Best comparison around here would be if Akron had to play their games at Arlin Field in Mansfield...those Tuesday games in an 0-7 season...eeeek (official attendance was 4657 fwiw)

 

Official seems to be more in line with what I was thinking. The 671 number was probably scanned tickets.