College Football Coaching Stuff & Other Rants

The regular season comes to an end and that means coaches start getting fired! I swear coaches get fired before games even end. Gus Malzahn resigned and became the Florida State offensive coordinator before the start of the FSU/Florida game. Side note, I think we will start seeing this more, P4 coaches stepping down as head coach to become a coordinator at a larger P4 program. Chip Kelly last year, Gus this year. The top tier programs just have so much more money and resources. But that is neither here nor there.

West Virginia fired Neal Brown, and the first name I heard mentioned as a possible replacement was Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State’s OC. Naturally PSU fans have taken this news well. They are excited that Kotelnicki could get a shot to build his own program, and pumped that the James Franklin coaching tree continues to flourish. HAHAHAHAHA just kidding! They freaked the fuck out over the news that he has an interview. They blame Franklin. Not sure for what, but everything is his fault (except when Penn State scores a touchdown, then Kotelnicki gets the credit, but if they go three and out, Franklin takes the blame for the play calling…weird). 

Instead of being pissed about the possibility of losing our OC, I want to be positive. I root for all the former coaches to do well, and if Kotelnicki takes the job, then I wish him the best. I believe there are two routes we can go when looking for a new OC. We can look for a rising, up-and-comer, like we did with Andy. And there are a few names out there that intrigue me. Or we can go the Tom Allen route, and look at a coach who was recently fired. I know some people dislike Tom Allen, but the defense has been fantastic, and I am interested to see how it does in the future with more of his style of player. The nice thing about a Tom Allen hire, he may not be in any hurry to get back out there and be a head coach. Being the coordinator definitely has perks. Again, you get all the credit for things going well, and generally none of the blame for mistakes. Less money, but fewer headaches. 

Okay, if we go the first route, here are some options:
-Zach Kittley (current OC at Texas Tech)–listen, I have mentioned him before, and I think he would be a great hire. TT put up points this year. He has been at a few places, and his teams always score. 
-Mack Leftwich (current OC at Texas State)–another guy that puts up points, or if we want we could try to convince GJ Kinne that being the OC is better than the HC at Texas State. Either guy would have a nice recruiting base in Texas (if that stuff matters anymore). Leftwich found Cam Ward and recruited him to Incarnate Word.
-Ben Arbuckle (current OC at Washington State)–might be willing to leave WSU for a real P4 school. He worked with Kittley at Houston Baptist and WKU. He is very young.
-Tim Leger (current OC at Louisiana)–another coach with strong recruiting skills, and the Ragin’ Cajuns can usually put up points. 

The problem with any of those guys is that they could do well and be hired as a head coach somewhere quickly. So then we are back to square one.

The second route has some interesting possibilities:
-Neal Brown–Yes the former WVU coach. He was a great OC at all his stops. He runs a fast-paced offense, and I think if Allar goes to the NFL, and we are starting Beau Pribula, Brown would be able to do some fun stuff. 
-Joe Moorhead–The current coach at Akron, and former Penn State OC. He has not done well at Akron (I mean, does that school even put any money or resources into the program?). I bet he would be willing to come back to Happy Valley.
-Ricky Rahne–The guy who followed Moorhead as OC. He is the current head coach of Old Dominion. They are 19-30 in his tenure. But the Nittany Lions were pretty great running the ball the season he was there, plus he continued that excellent RPO usage with Trace. Not a terrible option.
-Kevin Wilson–The Tulsa head coach was recently fired. Before that he was at Indiana (Tom Allen took over for him). But you know what he was before that? The Oklahoma OC from 2002-2010. Know what the Sooners did during those years? Score points. He was also the OC at Ohio State under Urban Meyer and Ryan Day. 
-Mike Neu–The former Ball State head coach spent a good bit of time in the NFL and other professional leagues. He was a coordinator and QB coach most of his career. I think he would be an interesting hire.

Positive to this type of hire is low-demand. Some of these guys could stay here for a few years. But, the downside is they may not be very revolutionary. Some of them are probably set in their ways, and that could lead to stagnation. 

I suppose we could hire Ryan Day if Ohio State decides to fire him. I wonder if he would want to take an OC position at Penn State…

Okay, time to switch gears…

Penn State is playing for the Big Ten Championship! How cool is that??? Yet, there are many fans who were rooting for Ohio State to win the game against Michigan so we would not be in it. They think that losing to Oregon will drop us from having a first round home game. Seems stupid to me, since the committee has said they would not punish teams for losing in the conference championship game (I mean, not much–I would assume if Oregon wins 60-0, Penn State may slide a bit). There are also fans who think we should purposely lose to Oregon. They believe that getting the fifth seed would give us an easier path to the national championship. Play the winner of Iowa State/Arizona, then play Boise State. Or win the Big Ten, get a bye, then face someone like Georgia or Tennessee.

Have fans been watching college football this year???? Crazy things happen. Arizona State is playing very well. Boise State? They pound the ball, and I think they would run on our defense. Plus, stacking the box does not seem to slow Jeanty down. Georgia is a great team, but they are beatable. If you want to win a national championship, you will have to beat the best teams. I would rather beat Oregon, then play Georgia and beat them. We keep saying the SEC is overrated and having a down year, well it would be nice to shut them all up. Can you imagine if Penn State won the natty, but did not play an SEC team at all? Their fans would be screaming “ASTERISK!!!!” Wouldn’t it be great to win it all by beating Georgia, then beating Ohio State in the finals? How satisfying would that be????

I want Penn State to win. A Big Ten Championship may not seem like a big deal, but we have not won one since 2016. Also, do we really want newcomer Oregon to win the Big Ten in their first year? It is a real possibility that the P4 champions this year will be new teams…Arizona State, Oregon, SMU, and Texas. That is just insane, and I do not want it to happen. The Big Ten should belong to one of the original schools. No, not the original 10, but you know, the eleventh one that joined the conference in 1990. Side not, the Big Ten symbol with the hidden 11 was one of my favorites. 

Speaking of college coaches getting fired. I still believe there needs to be more rules placed on this stuff. I do not believe coaches should be fired or hired until the playoffs are over. I am sorry if that screws up National Signing Day (we have the portal now, does signing even matter anymore?). Teams should not have to worry about their assistants interviewing for other jobs during the playoffs. One of the things that turns people off about bowl games is players sitting out, but also coaches not being there because they took another job. I also think the transfer portal should open once the national championship ends. Players announcing their intent to leave before then should be penalized (maybe they have to sit out). I realize the portal opens the way it does so kids can transfer and enroll in the spring semester, but if they want to transfer, they should have to enroll in the summer session. Yes, this means they would miss spring practices. Oh well. There should be some cost for transferring. Same with poaching a coach from a small school. You buy out his contract, and he gets a late start on recruiting. I just think if there were better deadlines in place, it would make fans a little happier. I also realize there are tons of issues with my proposals.