Mississippi State Athletic Director doesn't smoke Crack
This just in, Mississippi State Athletic Director Greg Byrne is not a crack addicted idiot as is evidenced by his hiring of University of Florida Offensive Coordinator Dan Mullin. What separates this hire from all of the other AD's that hired Head Coaches so far this month is that this is the only action that actually made any sense and is a move designed to actually improve the program. Every other hire, with the possible, possible exception of San Diego State stealing Brady Hoke away from Muncie, just doesn't make any sense. Let's take a look at the new hires and list them in terms of disasters waiting to happen.
#1 disaster waiting to happen: Tennessee hiring Lane Kiffin. By firing the Legend of Knoxville Phil Fulmer, the UT AD went out and found a man who wasn't even solely responsible for calling plays at USC, he called them along with Sarkisian. Okay, he's bringing his father along and we all know that his father has the bug time credentials, even The Nudge can't disagree with that. But outside of that, the only thing that this guy has done is take Norm Chow's playbook and Ed Orgeron's recruits and tried not to fail to badly. Overall, my biggest criticism of this guy is that he has been anointed as this "Hot New Commodity" without ever having to prove himself on his own. Mark my words, he will fail and fail badly. UT needs a gregarious character like Fulmer in order to succeed
#2 disaster waiting to happen: Kansas State hiring (again) 69 year old Bill Snyder after being away from the program for the past three years. Is the AD smoking crack. What the Hell? This move makes no sense whatsoever. Sure Snyder put the program on the map, no one will argue with that. Sure the guy was one of the most successful coaches, win percentage wise, for the decade of the nineties. But has the K-State AD looked at a calender lately. This could possibly go down as the worst hire in the history of college football. This will destroy the K-State program for years to come. I know Prince didn't have the crazy wins while he was there for three years, but I actually thought he had the program headed in the right direction.
Nudgette Spencer Scott
#3 Disaster waiting to happen: Syracuse hiring Doug Marrone, Offensive Coordinator from the New Orleans Saints, so basically did what Sean Payton told him to do. Look, The Nudge does not know Marrone personally, he might piss champagne and give 95% of his salary to orphans in Indonesia. But what The Nudge does know is that if you want to repair the disaster that was brought to your program because you hired an NFL coordinator who had no head coaching experience in the pro's or college, the best way to do that is by not hiring another guy who has no head coaching experience in college or the pros. Look, flat out no one wanted this job. I don't even think Turner Gill wanted this job, supposedly, he really blew off the interview, ruining his chances of ever being offered the position by the school. Real simple, at Syracuse, you cannot recruit. No one is coming to play there over another program, even programs in the MAC. NY High School football is a mess and at most has two kids that could actually start on Division 1 programs each and every year. When coaching at Cuse, your best best is to try and get the kids from PA that haven't been offered a spot at any other school. This is a horrible hire, and Syracuse football will not be back for at least a decade.
Nudgette Spencer Scott is now becoming a Miss. State groupie
Disaster waiting to happen #4: Auburn hiring Gene Chizik. Chizik was rewarded for putting together great defensive units at Auburn, when they went undefeated, and Texas, very, very respectable. Chizik then took the Iowa State job and was able to bang out a 5-19 record in the past two years. This isn't a particularly horrible hire, it's just not the best hire that was possible. And with all the Turner Gill controversy going on surrounding this move, it is without a doubt a disaster waiting to happen. Chizik will never get a chance at Auburn. I realize that this is a dream job for him, but he would have been much better off staying at Iowa State. In two years, after Chizik is fired, he'll probably land a defensive coordinator job somewhere, but it won't be anywhere near as good a school as Texas. The Nudge thinks that the three best hires for the Auburn position would be 1) Jim Leavitt, USF, the guy built the program from scratch and can recruit in Florida with the smallest recruiting budget in major college football. Auburn has got to come to the conclusion that they are not going to out recruit Saban in Alabama and that their only hope is to recruit in the Sunshine State. 2) Todd Graham, Tulsa, anyone who watched Tulsa play this year or followed Rice while he was there knows that this guy could flat out coach. And finally 3) Charlie Strong, DC UF. This guy has shown that he can recruit the best defensive high school recruits from that state of Florida year in and year out.
British Nudgette and ex-Cristiano Ronaldo arm candy Gemma Atkinson, The Nudge rolls with Chelsea
Disaster waiting to happen #5: Washington hiring Steve Sarkisian away from USC. So far, USC coordinators or coaches that have left the program to move onto greener pastures have not done all that well. Nick Holt left to become the HC at Idaho, he got smacked, Norm Chow left to be the OC at NFL Titans, he leaves and they lead the AFC, and Ed Orgeron left to be the HC at Ole Miss. The guy recruited well down there, but couldn't win. Houston Nutt takes over with Orgerons kids and they wind up beating the eventual National Champs at The Swamp (I guess you know who I'm picking in that game now). So what is missing from the equation. Why while those guys are at USC are they so successful and when they leave to go out on their own are they exposed. Just like the criticism for Mike Leach Quarterbacks, their system guys, the same could be said for Pete Carrolls assistants. Ken Norton knows it. He's turned down every job that's been offered to him, from head coach to defensive coordinator, just to stay at USC and crank out All-Americans at the linebacker position. See, at USC all the credit really needs to go to Carroll and he will never be duplicated or leave that place. Until we see one of his coordinators being successful without the number 1 recruiting class six years in a row, then maybe I'll change my mind. But until then, I just don't think it makes sense to get rid of Tyrone. Give him one more year. The Lushkies had a lot of injuries, and with Locker coming back next year, Tyrone would definitely have a better year.
Seasons Greetings to you and yours, from The Nudge
Disaster waiting to happen #6: Clemson hiring WR coach Dabo Sweeney as their Head Coach. Look, they got rid of Tommy Bowden this year after who knows how many years the guy has been there. The knock on Bowden was that he put together a good team but couldn't push the Tigers up into the upper echelons of the college football world. And apparently Dabo Sweeney is the guy that they think is going to do it. Are they smoking crack? You have a great program at Clemson, you could recruit there, you have great support in the state and student body. The head coaching position is a helluva attractive position. Interview a couple of guys that you think you might have no shot at bringing into the school. Interview a Mike Leach or a Brian Kelly. The worst they can tell you is no. But instead you tap Sweeney right out of the box, unbelievable. Let's see if Sweeney can win some games with Wily Korn running his offense next year, the kid looks like a future Nudge Hall of Famer.
Cristiano Ronaldo's beard, er....Nudgette Gemma Atkinson
Kiffin will have more wins than Mullen next year, there's no doubt in my mind. And I'm not really sure that Mullen will ever have success in Miss. St. The only time I ever saw that team really compete was way back when Jackie Sherrill was coaching them. You can't really recruit to well to Starkville. And I'm absolutely sure that Mullen will not have the luxary of either a Chris Leak or a Tebow while he's there. He might be fired before any of the other guys up top there, that's for sure. The only thing is that this is the only hiring that makes any sense at all.
