https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Wo...49727966_1

Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
Mario Cristobal, FIU
Mike Leach, Texas Tech
Ruffin McNeill, East Carolina
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Jeff Jagodzinski, Boston College

Larry Coker, Miami
Phil Fulmer, Tennessee
Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse
Glen Mason, Minnesota

Ruffin McNeil was hard to wrap my head around

I’ll throw in Mangino at Kansas as well

I think if you let a coach that's just okay hang around too long you can do more damage to a program than having an awful coach for a season or 2. I can't blame a team for moving on from those guys if they make a smart hire on paper. I think McNeil and Pelini are examples of guys that ECU and Nebraska probably needed to move on from.

With guys like Fulmer and Coker, I think both programs have had enough coaches since those guys left that their problems are beyond coaching. It's not like either of them were fired for one down season, either. They were both given fair chances.

Now Ralph Friedgen and Cristobal seem to me like they were just political firings. Don't have any good explanation for those.

Ruffin, Mangino, Fulmer and Leach in no particular order. It destroyed the KU and Tennessee programs and set the others back a decade. Friedgen is honorable mention.

A lot of times an AD makes a bad firing worse by bringing in a hasty replacement.

The Jagodzinski firing seems like a good example of that.

I still can’t believe Jeff Jagodzinski got fired, after taking Boston College to the ACC Title Game in both years he coached, including an AP Top-10 finish.

Firing Jagodzinski for insubordination was the correct decision. He's essentially blackballed himself. He lost his job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the season started due because of "attention to detail issues" in 2009.

https://www.nfl.com/news/jagodzinski-fir...5d8125874f
I assume he has a new agent, but in the last decade, he seems not to work well with anybody. Gene DeFilippio got it right

Depending on what you believe - resigned or was forced out by the Texas President - Mack Brown was the last time Texas was considered a consistent national power. He's not doing too shabby these days at UNC either. Consider under Brown Texas...

158-48 [.767]
10-5 Bowls
2 B12 Conference Chips
1 BCS National Chip [2005]
12 Consecutive Winning Seasons [15 of 16 overall]
9 Consecutive Double Digit Winning Seasons
12 Consecutive Final AP Poll Rankings [13 of 16 overall]

Consider the 6 seasons since Brown left Texas....

41-36 [.532]
3-1 Bowls
3 Consecutive Winning Seasons
1 Double Digit Winning Season
2 Consecutive Final AP Poll Rankings

I will recognize that Tom Herman still has a chance to turn Texas back to a national power but the clock is ticking for him fair or not.

I agree with Tennessee. They have absolutely crapped the bed since Fulmer was let go. I get some of the others mentioned but when you are considered a blue blood program you have to get it right more than the mid-tier schools.

(08-01-2020 02:52 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Depending on what you believe - resigned or was forced out by the Texas President - Mack Brown was the last time Texas was considered a consistent national power. He's not doing too shabby these days at UNC either. Consider under Brown Texas...

I can't really blame Texas for parting ways with Mack. Yes, Mack was great at Texas and yes, Texas hasn't been good since he left, but .... Mack just appeared to run out of gas at Texas. The last few years they slipped to mediocrity and he just didn't seem to have the energy level anymore. That can happen after 16 years in a pressure-cooker job. IMO he was pretty spent.

I think the evidence for this is that Brown didn't move to another head coaching job, rather he just relaxed and became a highly paid consultant to the Horns. That time off allowed him to return to UNC with some old energy, but let's face it - the Heels went 7-6 not 11-2, and Mack is 68 and not getting any younger. Looks more like 73 so you have to wonder how much gas he has left in the tank.

So IMO it was a good time for them to part ways.

Dave Wannstedt at Pitt was a head-scratcher then and now.

Mike Leach's firing was based on the Adam James incident(s). Whether that was justified or not depends on who you ask. Then again after calling his Washington State players fat, dumb, and entitled it tells you about his character. I don't know what Mississippi State was thinking hiring him after he made those comments.

(08-01-2020 03:36 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-01-2020 02:52 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Depending on what you believe - resigned or was forced out by the Texas President - Mack Brown was the last time Texas was considered a consistent national power. He's not doing too shabby these days at UNC either. Consider under Brown Texas...

I can't really blame Texas for parting ways with Mack. Yes, Mack was great at Texas and yes, Texas hasn't been good since he left, but .... Mack just appeared to run out of gas at Texas. The last few years they slipped to mediocrity and he just didn't seem to have the energy level anymore. That can happen after 16 years in a pressure-cooker job. IMO he was pretty spent.

I think the evidence for this is that Brown didn't move to another head coaching job, rather he just relaxed and became a highly paid consultant to the Horns. That time off allowed him to return to UNC with some old energy, but let's face it - the Heels went 7-6 not 11-2, and Mack is 68 and not getting any younger. Looks more like 73 so you have to wonder how much gas he has left in the tank.

So IMO it was a good time for them to part ways.

I understand your perspective but I was addressing more the impact after the coach left vs. the specific reasons why he left. A couple of points...Mack took a heels team that was 2-9 the previous season and finished 7-6 with a bowl win in his first year at the helm. He was within a few close losses to finishing with a better record [see the blown Clemson loss 20-21]. UNC also hadn't been to a bowl since 2016 nor won a bowl since 2013. I'd say that was a pretty successful season at 7-6. BTW, have you seen his incoming recruiting class?

I'm not sure what the point of his taking an extended break has to do with anything with regard to what Texas has done since his departure. I get that his was more than most but do you know of other high profile coaches that have taken some time off before getting back on the saddle?

If you compare Brown to Fulmer they are quite similar in their respective tenures at Texas and Tennessee. Brown coached for 16 seasons, Fulmer for 17. Both had similar incredibly successful winning percentages and each won one national chip and two conference chips. Fulmer was let go after the 2008 5-7 campaign but that followed the 2007 season when he finished 10-4, won the Outback Bowl and finished in the final AP Poll #12. Brown moved on from Texas after finishing 8-5 in 2013 and a loss in the Alamo Bowl. That followed the 2012 season when he finished 9-4, won the Alamo Bowl and finished in the final AP Poll #19.

I will admit that the loss impact from the two coaches is most notable in Tennessee. However, more time has passed in Knoxville and there's still time for Texas to muck it up.

(08-01-2020 04:29 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

(08-01-2020 03:36 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-01-2020 02:52 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Depending on what you believe - resigned or was forced out by the Texas President - Mack Brown was the last time Texas was considered a consistent national power. He's not doing too shabby these days at UNC either. Consider under Brown Texas...

I can't really blame Texas for parting ways with Mack. Yes, Mack was great at Texas and yes, Texas hasn't been good since he left, but .... Mack just appeared to run out of gas at Texas. The last few years they slipped to mediocrity and he just didn't seem to have the energy level anymore. That can happen after 16 years in a pressure-cooker job. IMO he was pretty spent.

I think the evidence for this is that Brown didn't move to another head coaching job, rather he just relaxed and became a highly paid consultant to the Horns. That time off allowed him to return to UNC with some old energy, but let's face it - the Heels went 7-6 not 11-2, and Mack is 68 and not getting any younger. Looks more like 73 so you have to wonder how much gas he has left in the tank.

So IMO it was a good time for them to part ways.

I understand your perspective but I was addressing more the impact after the coach left vs. the specific reasons why he left.

Well, the "why he left" was pretty much the whole point of the thread. It's not merely about teams that fell off after a good coach left, it's about teams that fell off after forcing out or firing a good coach. So i responded in those terms.

Dave Wannstedt at Pitt was a head-scratcher then and now.

(08-01-2020 04:34 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  Well, the "why he left" was pretty much the whole point of the thread. It's not merely about teams that fell off after a good coach left, it's about teams that fell off after forcing out or firing a good coach. So i responded in those terms.

I stated as such. Officially he resigned. Many believe he was forced out behind the scenes which is typical for a long time, respected coach. What's the difference in terms of the thread? Consider...

Quote:As of Saturday morning, Dec. 14, Mack Brown was going to be the Texas football coach in 2014. It had not been announced, but the decision had been made. Brown held a breakfast for recruits who were in town on official visits, and new athletic director Steve Patterson dropped by the breakfast to visit with the prospects.

Afterward, Brown and Patterson spent hours discussing the future of the program, potential improvements in the athletic department and other aspects of their working relationship going forward.

About an hour after that meeting ended, Brown got a call from Patterson, according to a source with intimate knowledge of the situation. The tone was completely different from the upbeat meeting that had just occurred.

"I've got to come over [to the football offices]," Patterson said.

The source told Yahoo Sports that Patterson arrived at the football building with a jarring change of heart for Brown: You need to resign. That was the decision of University of Texas president Bill Powers, and Patterson was the apologetic messenger. The source said Powers, a longtime friend and supporter of the football coach, abruptly yanked the rug out from beneath Brown after supporting his continued tenure the previous two days.

Thus the 16-year Mack Brown Era at Texas was terminated not by the coach himself, but at the insistence of an embattled school president. Although the school's official release and every public statement has said Brown decided on his own to step down, he was pushed – after being told the decision was his.

Mack Forced Out

(08-01-2020 04:02 PM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote:  Dave Wannstedt at Pitt was a head-scratcher then and now.

Dave Wannstedt went 15-6 in conference his last 3 years and got fired. He’s a good coach.

Another vote for Mangino. He had KU at a consistent 5-7 wins a year. The AD make a run at hiring Jim Harbaugh which certainly would have been an upgrade, but that never happened. The result was decade of disfunction. Never more than three wins a year. Never more than one conference win in a season and only six conference win during the entire decade. No way, Mangino let’s KU fall to this level.

(08-01-2020 07:02 PM)Realigned Wrote:  Another vote for Mangino. He had KU at a consistent 5-7 wins a year. The AD make a run at hiring Jim Harbaugh which certainly would have been an upgrade, but that never happened. The result was decade of disfunction. Never more than three wins a year. Never more than one conference win in a season and only six conference win during the entire decade. No way, Mangino let’s KU fall to this level.

If I recall correctly there was some player misconduct allegations at the time (not sure if they had any meat to them), depending how serious those were his firing may have been semi-justified even if the Jayhawks fell off a cliff on the field since then. Part of KU's issues since then have to do with Snyder's return imo, Mangino probably benefited quite a bit from Ron Prince flopping at K-State but subsequent coaches haven't had such light in-state competition.

Terry Bowden at Akron is a good example in the MAC, bad firings rarely happen there since usually you either do well enough to get a better job or bad enough to deserve getting canned. After a three-year stretch with a winning record, two bowls, and MAC East title at a program that was an absolute mess when he was hired he fell to 4-8 in 2018 (although they beat Northwestern early that year); they fired him and his replacement just had a winless season.

Purdue is doing okay under Jeff Brohm, but getting rid of Danny Hope after two bowls just to replace him with Darrell Hazell was a big mistake as well.

Pelini had to go. The team was getting blown out regularly under him and he was fostering a really poisonous culture for the program. He seemed to think it was the fans' and press's fault that they were letting Wisconsin rewrite their record books against them every year.

(08-01-2020 12:24 PM)Gamecock Wrote:  Ruffin McNeil was hard to wrap my head around

I’ll throw in Mangino at Kansas as well

Mangino was a complete piece of crap. He wasn't even the Bob Knight type where he was trying to pressure the kids into being better, he just abused the hell out of them. There's a reason he hasn't done anything but whine on Twitter since getting shown the door.

(08-02-2020 12:18 AM)Mav Wrote:  Pelini had to go. The team was getting blown out regularly under him and he was fostering a really poisonous culture for the program. He seemed to think it was the fans' and press's fault that they were letting Wisconsin rewrite their record books against them every year.

(08-01-2020 12:24 PM)Gamecock Wrote:  Ruffin McNeil was hard to wrap my head around

I’ll throw in Mangino at Kansas as well

Mangino was a complete piece of crap. He wasn't even the Bob Knight type where he was trying to pressure the kids into being better, he just abused the hell out of them. There's a reason he hasn't done anything but whine on Twitter since getting shown the door.

Regardless of his style, the point of this thread focuses on the impact after a particular coach is fired and KU had one of the worst decades in college football history after Mangino was let go.