2017 NCAA Coaching Carousel Thread

According to Outkick sources at no point was Kendrick given a concussion test on the sideline by trainers because players have been told that medical staff only conduct these tests at Tennessee when players notify doctors and trainers of their potential injury. Otherwise the assumption is a player is healthy enough to play.

This is unbelievable given the massive publicity and concern re: head injuries in the past few years. Trusting a guy with a concussion to realize that he has a concussion? Brilliant.

 

And because of the massive publicity and concern around head injuries and because of changes in the way we perceive coach accountability, there's no way Butch Jones gets out of this unscathed.

As recently as probably three years ago, Butch could probably just say that he was unaware this was going on and he'd probably get away without any official action being taken against him. But now saying you were ignorant (which was often times willful ignorance) doesn't cut it.

 

Maybe getting ready to fire him this early gives you an advantage with dealing with recruit fallout. Who is the hot new coach this year?

 

He's been around, but after knocking of Clemson, Babers' stock is HIGH. Don't want him though.

 

I mentioned this in the CFB Week 10 thread, but honestly, this is the ideal offseason for to be let go if you're Kevin Sumlin.

For one, there are going to be a bunch of openings. Sure, he won't be in the mix for any of the blue chip jobs, but those blue chip jobs will undoubtedly create new openings at lower P5 and high-end G5 programs that he could be in the mix for.

And there's already a good chance that programs like UCLA and Arizona State will open, and those seem like reasonably good fits. In fact, Sumlin and ASU flirted back in 2012 before he took the A&M job, so maybe that's something they would revisit.

 

I know it's "classy" Nebraska, but surely Mike Riley will be fired today or tomorrow. Yesterday had to be the last straw.

 

Butch Jones is out at Tennessee, according to SI's Bruce Feldman.

This is always how this was going to go, but I guess the embarrassing rout at the hands of Missouri was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

In other news, UCF is in full beg and plead mode to try to hold on to Scott Frost.

The school had a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for a new athletics complex, and Ken Dixon, the major donor for the project, used it as a platform to talk about how the school will be able to match offers from the likes of Nebraska and Florida within five years and that they're "cautiously optimistic" that Frost will stick around. Truly grasping at straws, in the ensuing column in the Orlando Sentinel (LINK), Dixon was quoted as saying that because Frost and his wife have a brand-new baby, they "don't need the University of Florida stress right now."

It reminds me so much of the situation with Tom Herman prior to the end of last season. The school is doing everything they can, the fans are coming with any and every reason that the current job is a better job right now than the ones he would be taking, and it's all for naught. The reality is that as long as college football is set up to where the G5 teams have basically zero chance of getting into the playoff, even the best G5 programs have little chance to hanging on to their coaches when high-level P5 programs come calling. If anything, I'd think the way UCF has been treated by the playoff committee would push Frost away faster. They've been as dominant as they could be, and they're not really going anywhere in the rankings, even as no-loss and one-loss teams fall by the wayside.

 

What a deal, right?!? Just take less money for the next five years, coach for a program that has no real shot of winning on the biggest stage the sport has to offer, and do it for a school whose fans don't really show up to support the team. And by the way, don't let the quality of play suffer or we'll look to replace you before you get your big payday.

 

Now that Butch Jones is officially out, the Jon Gruden conjecture is free to start up again.

Here's a pretty good piece from SB Nation on the Gruden/Tennessee saga that has now been going on for the better part of a decade. The point about it not being about Gruden anymore, but rather Gruden as an avatar for Tennessee making a home run hire that changes the trajectory of the program the way Saban's hire did for Alabama was pretty interesting.

At this point, I really am rooting for it to happen, just to see how it turns out. He's clearly a charismatic guy, but it's not as if his NFL head coaching record blows you away and he doesn't really have any college coaching experience.

 

Working as intended.

 

I still haven't seen anything specific on this from the usual college football news breakers or any of the most prominent media members who cover UF, but there definitely seems like there's at least significant smoke, if not quite fire here.

Kelly going to UF would be good news for Nebraska, given that Florida was always listed as the other program likely to try to woo Scott Frost. Tennessee, of course, could try to get in that mix as well, but I've seen Dan Mullen's name associated with that opening more over the last 24 hours or so.

 

Arkansas fires AD Jeff Long; Bret Bielema likely next