re: Durkn? hate

I am as high on Durkin as ever and hope he keeps it up.

I didn't like his press conference a whole lot. He seemed to stutter.

If we hire Durkin, we completely lose the benefit of his skills, which are coaching defense and calling plays.

The success of our defense would be entirely dependent on which defensive coordinator he hires, and not on Durkin's coaching skills, because Durkin would not be HC/DC, he'd be HC only.

The counter-argument might be that Durkin would still help direct the defense and continue the defense's success, but if that was true, then why didn't he do that at Maryland? His defenses were terrible at Maryland (an average of 76th in the country in total defense).

And as bad as his defenses were as head coach, his offenses were even worse, with an average ranking of 103rd in the country in total offense.

His tenure at Maryland suggests that he does not manage a program well, he does not hire well, and he does not direct the defense or offense well.

He's a very good defensive coordinator, but his resume as a head coach is horrific.

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Then the 2 coaches after him went on to have better records than Mr. 5-19.

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one of them is Matt Campbell, who’s probably one of thd best HCs in the country - midway thru his 10th season there, he’s 66-51

the other was Paul Rhoads, who got fired for going 5-19 his last two seasons

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From 1995 to 1997, Michigan State finished 6–5–1, 6–6, and 7–5

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Care to guess how that turned out for that coach?

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Can you name me a head coach that was struggling as a head coach, got fired, and then went on to have good success at another P4/P5 program as a head coach later in their career?

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Can anyone think of any other examples?

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Ed Orgeron. Granted, he couldnt sustain the success. But it did happen.

Maybe Houston Nutt could kinda count. He "resigned" from Arkansas, but it was widely known they were about to fire him. He got Arky and couple SEC West titles but was mediocre to bad the rest of the time. He then went on to finish 2nd in the western in his first year at Ole Miss.

Lou Holtz (dont know if he was actually fired or not. I will lean he wasn't since he was only there for like 2 seasons. But he struggled so im putting him in) was a few games under .500 at Minnesota before going to Notre Dame and winning a title.

Yes, its rare, but not unheard of so i understand where you're coming from. And it has been a while as far as I know. These were just off the top of my head.

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I know there were the "toxic culture" accusations at Maryland, but it seems like every dude on our defense absolutely loves the guy. They sure as hell play hard for him.

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He had a player get heat stroke and die doing wind sprints where the OLmen were asked to perform 110 yard sprints....and were given 19 seconds.

They then brought in a panel of academics to look at the "culture". They found where one player who was overweight and not following prescribed training.....was forced to eat candy bars on the sidelines while his teammates practiced. Heaven forbid.

Can you imagine Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys, or Pat Dye kicking players off the program in front of the team because they would not run stadium steps and put blood on the saddle......in today's culture?

There is a reason the players love Durkin. He is a hard arse, he expects performance and discipline. Most of these kids have no father and little discipline and are coddled throughout high school. The good ones long for that sense of order.

Promote him, pay the bucks to bring in an OC the likes of Mike Leach or Gorgeous Borges and rock this program.

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The list of legendary players Auburn has produced makes Maryland look like a Pee Wee team.

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Randy White says hi.

I would like for us to hire a coach that hasn't been fired and is on an upward trajectory. I also would like to hire someone with as little baggage as possible after Hugh. So sign me up for a Sumrall, Golesh - type of hire. I want us to find our Kirby or Lanning.

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I would like for us to hire a coach that hasn't been fired and is on an upward trajectory. I also would like to hire someone with as little baggage as possible after Hugh.

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Exactly

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Ed Orgeron. Granted, he couldnt sustain the success 

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This is a good example. And probably the closest to a Durkin type situation working out.

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Lou Holtz (dont know if he was actually fired or not

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Holtz wasn't fired, he had a history of success with NC St and USC and was trying to do a full rebuild at Minn. Minn fans at the time were kinda pissed he bailed on them to take the ND job. You don't go straight from being the head coach of Minn to ND if people think you are sucking.

Houston Nutt isn't really a fit here to me, though I can see why you'd kinda count him. He led Arky to their longest period of sustained success in a while, and bounced before they got completely done to the point of firing him (he wasn't struggling really when he left, coming off 10-4 and 8-4 seasons). Nutt is more of a Jimbo situation, leaving and going somewhere else, have some success and then fall on your face. Plus, I wouldn't consider his Ole Miss tenure successful. If we are calling him successful there I'd have to consider Kiffin successful at USC (which I think we can agree he wasn't).

I guess if we are talking about Ed O here, we can also add Chizik, since Ed O's LSU tenure was just a slightly better version of Chizik here.

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its rare, but not unheard of so i understand where you're coming from.

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Yeah, when we are having to use guys like Ed O and Chizik, I'd say it's rare (and not exactly sustained success). I think what makes it even more unlikely to me is that Durkin's mentor coach is Muschamp, who is basically the archetype for amazing DC, bad head coach.