Quote:
Originally Posted by BishopMVP
I expect more than this from you SI ��
I've said the "whole time" (36 hours?) that I don't love the idea of a 1st time HC at ND, but Fickell was the only one I thought was a home run, timing made it awkward, and if they got the sense he might say no (waiting on OSU if Day leaves to the Bears?) I'll take Freeman. Lower floor for sure, but I also think his ceiling is higher than Matt Campbell or Pat Fitzgerald, it keeps recruiting classes intact & even Tommy Rees (who I don't love) staying on as OC should help because there's a little continuity on the offensive side.
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Well, we don't know football very well at Kansas, so go easy on me
and I look at this with a more basketball mentality.
If Bill Self were gone tomorrow, I don't want to hear our AD say something ridiculous like "We're staying in the family and our next coach is Jon Scheyer/Hubert Davis". I want the best coach for the job, "the family" be damned. At a blue blood program (which Notre Dame definitely is), I should be calling up successful power five coaches who haven't jumped to elite programs and see which ones actually have interest. For KU, I would have started with guys like Chris Beard prior to this year (hell, I probably still make that call) or guys who probably aren't leaving but you have to ask like Tony Bennett or Jay Wright. Then you start looking at people like Matt Painter, Chris Holtmann, or Chris Mack who have had consistent success, even if not elite, at P5-level schools. Then, even if they fail by your school's standards (i.e. miss the tournament or never make it out of the second round after 5 years), your program hasn't fallen too far and there may be better prospects next coaching cycle.
Now a bit of this is messed up because the silly season this year is downright silly with so many jobs open. I'm not sure what name I put to this list beside Fickell. I already mentioned that Campbell has had a lot of shine taken off his star this year. Fitzgerald is interesting, but only if you think he can recruit nationally. Northwestern is such a weird job. But I'd still take one of those over the coordinator gamble. That's not to say Freeman won't be a good coach - but he has to go prove it somewhere else before I turn over my blue blood to him. He may be really good but with never having been a head coach, the floor is really low and that's too dangerous to me.
SI