re: Who would you want to replace your HC in football?

Jim Harbaugh. he won at friggin Stanford. and he has a winning record against USC.

Sean Payton

If Saban left today I would want Harbaugh.

It depends. I'm going to use recent personal experience to shape my answer. Different coaches have different roles. Mike Sherman for instance, was the best head coach at the time for A&M. He repaired what Fran destroyed, loved A&M to death, and restructured the program the way it needed to be. He was a better recruiter than I could have imagined, and was setting up A&M for extended success, even though he took an epic step back before he was fired. I also think he lacked what it took to hit the ground running, and make a splash exploiting the SEC move. That being said, he ran the best offensive system I have ever seen at the college level, really utilized a balanced approach talent wise, had an NFL pedigree, but definitely lacked swagger that attracted youth. Sumlin on the other have reeks of swagger, runs a stupid system, and is recruiting at a very high level, even though it is very opposed of what Sherman did. I know some people say you recruit the best player you can, and then change your system to suit them. That's stupid. You do that out of desperation. Great coaches perfect their system, then recruit and coach players to fit that system.

So. All that being said. Here is my criteria for judging coaches; system, recruiting star players, recruiting NFL players, player development, style, dependency on staff, and ability to win.

All of these are different for different areas. If I was hiring for a school like Ole Miss, I would really really really focus on the NFL angle. They can't go to a winning program overnight, but they should be signing four-six 4star linemen with the angle of pumping out NFL offensive and defensive linemen. A program without an identity other than rooting for the NY Giants because they had a quarterback or something lose games for them, but now he is winning... is tired. They aren't going to get a Heisman Trophy for the forseeable future, so they need to focus on a foundation of a football program that can be a platform for future success. You can do that the Mike Leach way as well. Find a system that catches people off guard, and perfect it. And don't get me wrong, it is hard to perfect. For a playbook that isn't any bigger than a single piece of paper, only QBs with years and years and years of experience could be successful with it. At some schools this is sort of irrelevant. But at A&M, I would like:


1. Lane Kiffin
2. Jim Harbaugh
3. Mike Leach
4. Bill Snyder
5. Bob Stoops
6. Tim DeRuyter
7. Gary Patterson
8. Kirby Smart
9. Chip Kelly
10. Urban Meyer

Gruden


More realistic: Strong

Mark Dantonio

Urban Meyer