The Nick Saban Sweepstakes is over...

[teke184 0]

ESPN, WAFB (the Baton Rouge CBS affiliate), and WBRZ (the Baton Rouge ABC affiliate) have all announced that Nick Saban will be taking the head coaching position of the Miami Dolphins next season.

 

This has been huge news in my area, as I'm in Baton Rouge, the home of LSU, and there has been speculation all week about whether he'd take it, especially after Dolphins owner Wayne Huzinga (sp) flew down here yesterday to talk to Saban again.

 

 

Now that the Saban chase is over, I'm wondering who the new LSU football coach will be.

 

Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is out of the hunt because the last time a successful coach left and one of his assistants took over, the program went into the toilet within 2-3 years.

 

Top names being mentioned included Louisville coach Bobby Petrino and Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, but both signed contract extentions with their schools recently.

 

Another name that has surfaced repeatedly is former Cleveland Browns and Miami Hurricanes coach Butch Davis.

 

 

I'm not sure who will end up getting it, but this may set off another round of coach-snatching across the country, as there have been a large number of coaches who supposedly sent out out feelers to LSU about taking the job if Saban left.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

ESPN, WAFB (the Baton Rouge CBS affiliate), and WBRZ (the Baton Rouge ABC affiliate) have all announced that Nick Saban will be taking the head coaching position of the Miami Dolphins next season.

 

This has been huge news in my area, as I'm in Baton Rouge, the home of LSU, and there has been speculation all week about whether he'd take it, especially after Dolphins owner Wayne Huzinga (sp) flew down here yesterday to talk to Saban again.

 

 

Now that the Saban chase is over, I'm wondering who the new LSU football coach will be.

 

Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is out of the hunt because the last time a successful coach left and one of his assistants took over, the program went into the toilet within 2-3 years.

 

Top names being mentioned included Louisville coach Bobby Petrino and Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, but both signed contract extentions with their schools recently.

 

Another name that has surfaced repeatedly is former Cleveland Browns and Miami Hurricanes coach Butch Davis.

 

 

I'm not sure who will end up getting it, but this may set off another round of coach-snatching across the country, as there have been a large number of coaches who supposedly sent out out feelers to LSU about taking the job if Saban left.

Nothing surprising here.

 

Of course the LSU job will be highly coveted as Saban has left a good recruit base waiting for the next coach.

[teke184 0]

Agreed.

 

LSU is returning 2 quality running backs (Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard), 5+ quality receivers (Dwayne Bowe, Craig "Buster" Davis, Amp Hill, Xavier Carter, Early Doucet), 2 highly rated QB recruits (JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn), and one of the best defenses in the country.

 

 

In addition, next season will see LSU play most of their hardest games at home rather than on the road, including Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee.

 

 

 

Whoever comes in will have the tools and the schedule to win a national title next year.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

That might been a risky move for a coach to take; He doesn't have the "I have to build the team first" excuse, whoever takes over is basically going to have 2 years to get the job done. After Willingham, coaches have to uncertain about going into high expectation gigs, I'm not sure if they will get a major name and I do think Davis might be the top candidate unless they find a diamond in the rough, I'd be concerned if I was The New England Patriots front office of their Defensive Coridator leaving, I'd make sure to get an extentsion or not even grant a interview.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I think ultimately they might've made the wrong choice. I think they should've given some serious consideration to retaining Bates since the players like the guy and he's managed to get some wins.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

I think ultimately they might've made the wrong choice. I think they should've given some serious consideration to retaining Bates since the players like the guy and he's managed to get some wins.

Just because the players like him doesn't mean that he's worthy of being a permanent head coach.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

True, but the fact that he'll probably end the season at 4-12 and beat New England says he deserves to get a head coaching gig.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Not really. Brady's always played poorly against Miami, and the way NE's defense had been playing recently they were due to lose a game.

 

I like Saban as a coach. But, I don't like the idea of giving him pretty much all the personal decisions.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Is he going to ditch LSU before their bowl game like he did to Michigan State?

[teke184 0]

Is he going to ditch LSU before their bowl game like he did to Michigan State?

Actually, Michigan State told Saban not to let the door hit him on his way out.

 

As for this time, he'll coach LSU at the Citrus Bowl but get extremely pissed in the meantime because everyone will want to talk about the Dolphins instead of the bowl game.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Not really. Brady's always played poorly against Miami, and the way NE's defense had been playing recently they were due to lose a game.

 

I like Saban as a coach. But, I don't like the idea of giving him pretty much all the personal decisions.

I'm sure the only way Miami was going to get him was if he had control of personel. Coming from a Dolphin fan, I'm excited about this. Great coach with a good eye for quality players. For the first time in a long while I'm excited about the draft/free agent period. Should be a good off-season. It will be interesting to see what kind of offense he runs there.

 

As for Bates, I hope that Saban keeps him there, they have worked together in the past, and as said before the players love the guy.

[Guest Vitamin X]

If I were you, I wouldn't be excited about the prospect of a GM/Head Coach, considering the level of success maintaining both those jobs has had in the NFL. Remember Butch Davis had "an eye for talent" when he was at Miami, as well.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Well.. he can't be worse than Wannastasch's bungling carnival of idiocy.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That's true, however, off the top of my head here's the coaches who also have simultaneous coach/GM positions in their organizations (anyone free to help out if possible):

 

Mike Shanahan, Broncos (Barely trying to get into the playoffs, still searching for that ever elusive post-Elway era playoff win)

Mike Sherman, Packers (Any Packer fan could tell you how horrible this guy is.. Trading a draft pick to move up in the 3rd round to select a punter who hasn't played a snap all season is quite possibly the most symbolically stupid move he's made as a GM)

Mike Holmgren, Seahawks (WAS a GM up until this season.. Still hasn't done much, but again, his drafting prowess was not exactly top notch)

Butch Davis, Browns (Well, we all know what happened there)

 

They were talking on some NFL show, I forget which, about Saban being hired as a GM/Head Coach and this moron went off and started talking "Yeah, well if you know something all the greatest coaches in NFL history had GM/Coach duties- Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Tom Landry, Don Shula, etc." of course what the idiot doesn't realize is when the hell was the last time a GM/Coach won a championship? Shanahan in 97-98, but other than that, you'd have to look far and beyond the salary cap era to find one.