Larry Coker Fired!

[TSIAS]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2674282

Who didn't see this one coming. I'm not a Miami fan (I like Florida), but it was time for him to go. Coker was sort of like Dave Wannstedt with the Dolphins. Both were very nice men who lived off the success of their predecessors -- Butch Davis and Jimmy Johnson.

Reports indicate that Barry Alvarez and Greg Schiano are likely targets for Miami. I still don't discount the idea that Steve Spurrier could take the helm. That would sure draw the ire of Gator-haters. :)

[RagingInMiami]

1. I would love to see Spurrier take over the Canes

He was born in Miami so it would be like him coming home.

[Awsi Dooger]

2. I want a coach who will run the football

That's my opposition to hiring Spurrier, far above the Gator aspect. Even when he runs the ball it's a damn draw play, for the most part.

Last night Miami took over with a 17-14 lead and about 10 minutes remaining at the BC 45. The old Canes teams would have imposed themselves at that point. Miami always ran the ball great especially late in the season. Last night the first play was a flanker reverse then a ridiculous heave toward the end zone that was intercepted, and fortunate the defensive back was barely tripped up before running the play upfield.

The 4 and 5 wide receiver crap is not Canes football. The idea is not to overreact to the recent lack of offense, but to find a fundamentally sound coach who can return the program to elite level and keep it there.

My preference is admittedly a long shot: Steve Mariucci. I'm convinced he's as close to a Pete Carroll as you're going to find, a boyishly enthusiastic 50ish guy who suits the college game much more than the pros, but he probably doesn't realize that. Mariucci isn't exactly in demand right now and would come relatively cheap. After watching his Cal offenses when he was coordinator, and one season as Cal head coach, I'm convinced his balanced schemes could terrorize collegiate defenses, and Miami is a perfect venue to acquire the talent to do it.

[trumad]

3. I want a coach who won't flee to the NFL after a couple of years.

That's why Spurrier is appealing...he aint going back to the NFL--

Like Schiano from Rutgers... if he comes to Miami and succeeds, he'll go to the NFL.

[Scurrilous]

5. Le Batard:

<snip>

"The expectations have been microwaved. We are the instant-gratification generation, our lives filled with faster downloads and keyless cars and the ability to buy dinner at the gas station. So, in our big rush, it makes sense that a gentleman and grandfather named Larry Coker would get trampled. Get out of the way, old man. We're in a hurry here.

Dinosaurs Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno are antiques in this firethecoach.com world, as dusty as cob-webbed relics like loyalty. Bowden and Paterno were grandfathered in, but there will be no more like them ever again. Our patience, or lack thereof, won't allow it -- much like a television wouldn't sell today if you had to get up to change the channel. We prefer the feel of remote control now, everywhere from the couch to the coach.

Coker was within one penalty flag, one, of having as many national championships as Bowden, as many as Paterno. You have to wonder today if he'd still have his job, or at least some slack on the noose, if that flag had never fallen. Probably not. We've developed amnesia without perspective while turning college into the pros.

It's so cold. There isn't another campus in this college-football country where they're teaching this kind of lesson. Coker went 12-0, 12-1, 11-2, 9-3, 9-3, 6-6, unemployed. That's a winning percentage better than Bear Bryant, better than Paterno, better than Vince Lombardi. Nowhere but here does it get him fired."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16093745.htm

"Dinosaurs Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno are antiques in this firethecoach.com world.."

LOL :thumbsup:

[trumad]

6. LeBatard is an idiot

He said the same about Wannstedt.... The guy has no clue with just how much talent Butch Davis left Coker when Butch left. Erickson had it the same way when JJ left... The talent was immense...immense enough that Erickson and Coker just had to let them play and they'd win.

Same with Wanny when JJ left the Phins---hell, same with Switzer when JJ left the Cowboys. It's easy to win with the other guys players...let's see how you do when there your players.

Coker recruited horribly....

Check out Dave Hydes piece for a truer gage of L. Coker:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-sphyde25nov25,0,2112141.column?coll=sfla-sports-front

[fishwax]

8. I don't think Cooker's recruiting was as bad as his player development

He had top-10 classes most of his years, but the development was lacking. I think Miami can win with the right coach, but I don't think it's a guarantee anymore, due to a number of factors. They could be in for a rough couple of years, but that doesn't mean they won't ever climb back to prominence.

[Awsi Dooger]

9. Barry Switzer did fairly well with his own players

For about 18 years at Oklahoma. Three national titles and maybe a half dozen other years finishing second or third.

[trumad]

13. until he got chased out of town..

He won the SB with JJs players , period.

[fishwax]

10. And, of course, Jimmy Johnson won with Jerry Jones's players

If ever there was a time a coach could be successful just standing back and letting his players play, it was in Dallas when Jerry Jones was free to unload the checkbook. There's a reason Jimmy Johnson didn't do as well as a head coach under the salary cap.

[trumad]

12. Oh please

Jerry didn't pick the players...it was JJ...Also..he left Wannstedt 7 pro bowl players when he left and a couple are still kicking ass for the Phins/

[fishwax]

14. he didn't win a division title in miami or get past the divisional round in the playoffs

Wonder why, with all that talent, and all. And he inherited a pretty decent offense, too.

As for the Cowboys, yeah, I think Jimmy Johnson was a good coach and did a great job in Dallas. But their payroll was way beyond the rest of the league. You don't think that had anything to do with it?

[trumad]

15. JJ got caught in the Marino trap

He was stuck with an aging legend of a QB...he made a huge mistake by letting that happen and it hurt the development of the Phins.... but you can't deny the factr that he left the team after adding 7 pro bowlers.

So what if the Boys had a large payroll...they had several superstars on the team and everyone of them was drafted by JJ.

[fishwax]

16. let's examine some of those assumptions

He was stuck with an aging legend of a QB...he made a huge mistake by letting that happen and it hurt the development of the Phins

I can agree with that, to an extent. Marino was an aging, but still capable QB, and while he was ending his career quietly under Johnson, another aging QB was winning two Super Bowls in Denver. I wonder if (I'm not a Dolphins fan, and didn't follow them closely at the time, so I can't judge as well as you probably could) Johnson sacrificed the possibility of immediate success in favor of trying to replicate his long term success in Dallas, thus causing personal issues with Marino and ultimately preventing either short or long-term success. After all, had Marino been supported by a running game, I think he could have been successful, as Elway was.

but you can't deny the factr that he left the team after adding 7 pro bowlers.

Who are the seven? I skimmed the pro-bowl rosters, and found two that Jimmy Johnson drafted who became Pro-Bowlers during his tenure: Zach Thomas and Sam Madison. Three more of his draft picks became Pro-Bowlers under Wannstedt: Jason Taylor, Larry Izzo, and Patrick Surtain. He also grabbed Brock Marion as a free agent, and Marion became a Pro-Bowler under Wannstedt as well. That makes six, if you include JJ and the three years following. There might be a seventh, but I'm not sure who it is. Incidentally, Switzer, who coached in Dallas as long as JJ did in Miami, acquired five players that became pro-bowlers during his tenure and/or the three years after.

So what if the Boys had a large payroll...they had several superstars on the team and everyone of them was drafted by JJ.

Actually, they weren't all drafted by JJ. Johnson inherited Michael Irvin, Nate Newton, and Ken Norton. He picked up Novacek and Charles Haley through Free Agency.

He did pick several perennial pro-bowlers in the draft, though. Part of what sealed his reputation in Dallas was the blockbuster trade of Hershel Walker, which gave him all those extra draft picks to play with. He deserves a lot of credit for pulling the trigger on that, because it's one of the best trades in NFL History, and set the Cowboys up for a long time.

Still, that trade would not have been possible without an owner willing to shell out major bucks for the draft picks that would result, because the 5 or 6 players and the 7 or 8 draft picks (I forget the numbers, exactly) were going to cost more than Hershel Walker's salary. Most owners don't give their players either the latitude nor the financial support required to pull that off. JJ deserves credit for one of the great team-building moves in the history of the NFL, both it's conception and it's skillful execution. But that trade doesn't happen without Jerry Jones's money. (It also doesn't happen in the salary cap era.)

[trumad]

17. Good debate--but I differ on a couple of things

You're right--JJ wanted to replicate what he had in Dallas and part of that was a good running game---Danny wanted nothing to do with that. That caused a whole lot of friction. Plus Danny was Shulas boy mostly because Danny had his way with a pass only offense. You mention Elway having success at the end.... yep---but that's because he embraced the run game 100 percent.

Have you ever seen Marino play-action-pass? It was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a football field. Dan didn't give a shit if the D knew he was passing and when he was in his prime, he could get away with it. But at the end, he couldn't.

JJs biggest mistake as head coach of the Phins was to give into Dan and let him continue throwing the ball at will. He should have told Dan it's his way or the highway but he knew that would be political suicide because Danny was still the God of South Florida.

Jimmy drafted 6 players that became pro bowlers. JT, Zack, Pat Surtain, Olindo Mare, Larry Izzzo, Sam Madison.... throw in Brock Marion who he brought over from Dallas and that's 7 pro bowlers that he left Dave Wannstedt... Me-thinks that if you have 7 pro-bowlers out of 22 starters, that's pretty damn decent.

Look---I'm not trying to defend JJs performance at Miami...He fucked up several different ways...Marino, Avery, etc.--- but me-thinks that if he wasn't so burnt out from the Dallas days and if he didn't have to deal with the Marino issue---there aint no doubt that he would have stayed and built a great team at Miami.

He knew after the blow out in Jacksonville that if he came back, he'd have to get rid of Marino...I honestly think he wanted none of it and thats why he quit.

You keep mentioning about Jones willing to shell out major bucks for free agents, draftees, etc.... History is replete in major league sports of teams spending big bucks on players and they end up fat and bloated teams because of it.

The Phins were a classic example of it in Shulas last season. Shula was desperate at the end and had Wayne open his pocketbook for a bunch of high priced FAs..... That was a disaster. The team was comprised of a bunch of me only-players that filled the locker room with a shit load of cancer. JJ came into Miami facing a huge salary cap and a team of old has beens.

Jerry Jones may have opened his pocketbook, but JJ brought in the right players.....

Bottom line is this--- JJ has an ego the size of a B52... no doubt... but I rank JJ as one of the best personnel guys the league has seen in a long long time.

[fishwax]

18. I can agree with pretty much all of that

Elway definitely succeeded because he embraced the run game. Unlike (apparently) Marino, Elway always wanted a run game, but he had a coach in Dan Reeves who thought he could count on Elway to pull out a miracle if need be, so why bother shoring up the offense? Your explanation for why Johnson left Miami seems convinving to me.

Regarding the number of pro-bowlers, I'd forgotten about Olindo Mare, and while he wouldn't be one of 22 starters, your point stands that Jimmy Johnson brought a great deal of talent to Miami, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. I think the reason Wannstedt failed to win with all those players (even as he added a pro bowler of his own when Ricky Williams came aboard) is because (imo) he wasn't a very good coach. I was always confused why some of the Miami faithful found that surprising, since he wasn't a very good coach in Chicago, either.

As for what Jimmy Johnson could have built had he stayed, he would have been challenged in ways he wasn't at Dallas to keep the team together. Of the nucleus he drafted, aren't ZT and JT the only ones left?

Jerry Jones may have opened his pocketbook, but JJ brought in the right players.....

Bottom line is this--- JJ has an ego the size of a B52... no doubt... but I rank JJ as one of the best personnel guys the league has seen in a long long time.

That I can agree with completely. Definitely a great personnel guy. My entrance into this discussion was based on two reactions that I generally have when the subject comes up:

First, I think there's much, much more to coaching than just personnel. Particularly in the NFL. In the college game, where the difference in talent is sometimes very great, a legend in the twilight of his career can recruit great players, assemble great coordinators, and then serves as a sort of figurehead and media liasion while the machine rolls on. In the NFL, the talent levels are nowhere near that disparate, and you've got to be able to coach. If, after all, an NFL coach only needs good players to win, that discredits JJ's abilities as well: he becomes merely a great judge of talent who had unlimited funds at his disposal. (A description I proffered--with intentional irony--a few posts ago.)

I think JJ was, as you say, a great personnel guy, and at Dallas--and with the benefit of a blank check--was able to assemble a team that outstripped the rest of the league in talent to a surprising degree, but not to anywhere near the degree that they could just show up and win. Winning required a good coach, and Jimmy Johnson was a good enough coach to take advantage of that. I don't think (and here's where we'll probably still disagree) that he was a great enough coach to have anywhere near the same kind of success with the talent he would have been able to assemble and retain in Miami under a more tight-fisted owner and the restrictions of the salary cap.

Second, I always bristle when people say Switzer couldn't coach and that he only won with JJ's players. To an extent (but only an extent) it's true that he won with JJ's players, but it's entirely untrue that he couldn't coach, for the same reasons listed above.

When Switzer left the team, he actually left the Cowboys with just about as many pro-bowlers as he inherited--this despite the challenges of the salary cap--and yet neither Chan Gailey nor Dave Campo were able to win a Super Bowl like BS was. Because JJ and BS were rivals going back to JJ's days with the OSU Cowboys, and because Jimmy Johnson's post-Dallas gig with Fox (a) gave him a bully pulpit from which to criticize Switzer and (b) cemented alliances from within the media who would reinforce the JJ aura while diminishing whatever BS might accomplish with the Cowboys, it seems that some feel they protecting JJ's legacy requires attacking Switzer.

But those attacks don't always bear the light of reason. It required a good coach to win at Dallas, and Barry Switzer won with a mix of
** the nucleus of pro-bowlers he inherited from Johnson (Aikman, Smith, Novacek, and Haley in the year BS won the SB)
** the pro-bowlers JJ had himself inherited (Irvin and Newton)
** pro-bowlers that Switzer himself added to the team (Larry Allen and Deion Sanders, most notably, but also Jim Schwantz and Dexter Coakley later)
** pro-bowlers that BS inherited from either JJ or even Landry, but who developed into pro-bowlers while BS was there (long-time vets Mark Tuinei and Ray Donaldson, as well as Darren Woodson, who was the only bright spot of JJ's last couple of drafts in Dallas)

Now, do I think Barry Switzer is as good a coach as Jimmy Johnson? Not with respect to the NFL? No. Not even close. I don't think that BS would have been able to pull off a JJ-type, ground-up rebuilding. But Switzer was a good NFL coach and one of the best college coaches.

(Full disclosure: I'm a huge Oklahoma fan, but at the same time I came to the state and the school years after BS left there, so I don't really have any huge allegiance to him. My tendency is to criticize him around those in the sooner nation who blindly revere him, despite the shape he left the program in, and defend him to those who attack him, despite his obvious record of success. :))

I agree this has been a good debate ... I always like the chance to engage football critically :)

[trumad]

19. I know Wanny well...

I own firedavewannstedt.com

It was my brief 15 minutes of fame. LOL

[fishwax]

20. haha

:toast:

[Awsi Dooger]

23. I think Barry Switzer was a heck of a coach

It's one of my major pet peeves in sports, when he is knocked. In fact, my friends in Las Vegas sportsbooks know to leave when someone around me slights Barry Switzer. They've heard it before and know I'll mercilessly rip whoever said it.

Your points are excellent. I'll point out some other things. Switzer won the Super Bowl one year after being dethroned as champion. That is an extremely poor scenario by historic measure. Teams one year after losing their title invariably have subpar years. When Switzer won the '95 Super Bowl, only one coach had won the title in that situation in NFL history, George Halas. Recently, Bill Belichick has joined the list, winning in 2003 after being dethroned in 2002. Prior to Switzer accomplishing the feat, the previous two+ decades had been a joke. The teams one year after being dethroned had only a handful of playoff victories, total. Most teams in that situation missed the playoffs but the ones who did make it were routinely evicted.

Switzer had terrific stats in the vital categories in the NFL. He had the perfect run/pass balance regardless of how the season was unfolding. Lesser coaches tend to panic when the season is going poorly and throw the ball an obscene percentage of the time.

In college, Switzer was 5-0 combined in bowl games versus this trio of legends -- Paterno, Bowden and Osborne. So they had more than an entire month to get ready for the Sooner wishbone yet Switzer still beat them. The complaint during the season was always that the wishbone was so different from a standard attack you needed more than a week to study it and get ready.

I agree with almost everything regarding the Dolphin points. Marino was so laughable on the play fake he didn't even look at the back. He'd stick the ball out about three inches and pull it back. That qualified as a play action fake to Dan Marino.

I mention yards per attempt frequently. Marino was sad at the end. Without a dependable running game and with his skills declining, Marino dropped below the vital 7.0 number in his last three seasons, at 6.9, 6.5 and 6.6. John Elway was just the opposite. The improving running game allowed him to sustain. He's the only bigtime QB I ever charted who did not fall off in that category late in his career. Elway had the most consistent stretch I've ever charted, 9 straight years between 7.0 and 7.3. That was at the end of his career. But get this, in his final year Elway soared to a remarkable 7.9, the best number of his career. I don't think anyone would argue Elway was at his best in '98 but the running game allowed the team to pick and choose when they threw and Elway still had enough to pull it off.

[Awsi Dooger]

24. One other thing about Jimmy Johnson with the Dolphins

He was frustrated at the lack of premier talent at the skill positions. He always had that with the Canes and at Dallas. But with Marino finished and the draft picks not panning out, nor the gambles with Lawrence Phillips or Cecil Collins, JJ knew there wasn't anything close to a title in sight.

I'm convinved he would have stuck around if he had a star QB and/or RB. In the final year I don't know how many times JJ singled out the Colts, who already had Manning and Edgerrin James. Remember, the Colts were still in the AFC East at that point. JJ constantly bemoaned that you needed to be terrible for a year or two to have access to premier talent, while the Dolphins were stuck in a revolving door situation, just good enough to threaten but no premier players on offense or obvious means to acquire them. Too bad he didn't know about Tom Brady, sitting there in the 6th round of the 2000 draft, months after JJ quit.

[BOSSHOG]

7. Schiano may go to Penn State

when Paterno retires in 12 years.

[smtpgirl]

22. because Steve Spurrier can't survive the NFL

That is a proven fact

[davidinalameda]

4. Spurrier already said no

I see Alvarez coming out of retirement to join Shalala in Miami

remember she was his old boss at Wisconsin before she joined the Clinton administration

[jakefrep]

11. I believe Coker could have survived the 6-6 record....

....had the brawls on the field not taken place, especially the fight with Florida Intl.

[smtpgirl]

21. Steve Spurrier sucks, let him stay in South Carolina

so I don't have to watch any ACC games with him on the sidelines.

[Scurrilous]

25. Coker's last game as head coach of UM:

UM headed to Boise for bowl game

<snip>

"As expected, the University of Miami is Boise bound.

The Hurricanes officially accepted a bowl bid today to play in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 31.

Miami (6-6) will play Nevada (8-4) at 7:30 p.m. in a game televised on ESPN.

The Wolfpack finished third in the Western Athletic Conference in the regular season. UM has never played Nevada."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16123298.htm

[trumad]

26. Tough game to bet....

Miami played well against Boston College... They will either come out strong and play inspired ball the whole game--- as a dedication to nice guy Coker...or they will realize that they are in Boise and say fuck it.

[Awsi Dooger]

27. I agree, tough to figure

Nevada plays hard every game. As evidenced by 9 straight covers before the Boise game. But Boise always dominates Nevada. I think the 31 point margin this year was the narrowest in 7 years, believe it or not.

The Canes can't score against decent opposition.

I'll watch and enjoy this one. Doubt I'll speculate on it. Unless Miami is the underdog, but that won't happen.

[Zech Marquis]

28. that last game on espn

Poor Coker said all the right things, but I had a feeling he was going to get his walking papers. He simply lost control of the situation, damn shame as he seems to be a decent guy too.

[Scurrilous]

29. Kosar might enter UM coaching race

Ex-Canes quarterback Bernie Kosar has had preliminary talks about UM's coaching vacancy, for which Randy Shannon interviewed Tuesday.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16173426.htm

<snip>

"The name of a second prominent Hurricane surfaced Tuesday in the University of Miami coaching search.

As expected, UM athletic director Paul Dee interviewed UM defensive coordinator and former Hurricanes player Randy Shannon on Tuesday at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Meanwhile, another famous Hurricanes alum -- Bernie Kosar -- confirmed that he has been approached by some UM trustees and is considering adding his name to the list of candidates to replace Larry Coker.

''Yeah, I'm interested,'' the former quarterback told The Miami Herald. ``UM people knew that I had been offered the president of the Browns job. They knew I wanted to get back into football and asked if I'd be interested in the UM job. At first it was just flattering, but then I thought, `Yeah, I'd really like to look into it."

[Awsi Dooger]

30. Anyone but Mike Leach

That was the ultimate horror the last few days, when his name was speculated as the likely Canes coach. I've been literally numb at the prospect. Leach ran the ball 195 times in 12 games this year at Texas Tech, or 16 per game. Nothing was higher than 23 and only one other reached 20. It would be world class masochism to hire someone with a gimmick philosophy like that. You'll never defeat the top programs, at least not consistently or enough to win a national title. Leach has never run the ball more than 358 times and is almost always in the 280 range. No national champion in my memory has run the ball fewer than 397 times during the regular season, and most are in the 450+ area.

Kosar would be an interesting choice, perhaps not as head coach but as assistant under current defensive coordinator Randy Shannon, who is among the choices to succeed Coker.

I'm still hoping for Gary Patterson of TCU.

[Jack from Charlotte]

32. Leach was OC at Oklahoma when they won the National Championship..

I really don't understand the expression.... "gimmick offense." Explain please. When Leach was OC at Kentucky they put about 30 points per game on the board. When he left.... they couldn't score in a women's prison with a fist full of pardons.

He goes to TT and they score about 30 ppg. Those 2 school have mostly less talent than their opponent's. Give him Miami talents along with a decent defense and he'd be a force, IMO.

I thought scoring alot of points was the object. And BTW, Spurrier's run/pass ratio was almost exactly 50/50 while at Florida and has been something like 60 run vs 45 pass at South Carolina. But who cares... If he scores 35 ppg and never, ever runs......

[fishwax]

33. Actually, Mark Mangino was OC at Oklahoma when they won the national title

Leach was OC the year before, when they lost in the Independence Bowl. The year OU won was Leach's first year at Texas Tech.

Leach certainly deserves some credit for OU's offensive resurgence, and he can coach QBs like nobody's business.

But one problem with his offensive scheme is that his frequent passing often leaves his defense on the field for most of the game. That was a problem the year he was at OU, because OU had the lead in every single game they lost that year. They often were unable to hold onto leads in the fourth quarter, and I think part of that had to do with a defense that was sometimes worn ragged from being on the field most of the game. He's gotten better about that over the years at Tech, I think.

[Awsi Dooger]

35. I never compared Leach to Spurrier

That would be the ultimate insult to Spurrier.

In fact, I've done exactly the opposite on many sites recently, pointing out what you did, that Leach is hardly a younger and more affordable Spurrier. Morons like Dan LeBetard of the Miami Herald have made that claim recently, without understanding numbers like yours.

Spurrier always runs the ball plenty, well within the normal accepted range. I think his 1996 Florida team had 448 rushing attempts. This year at South Carolina it was low, but not absurdly low, 373 times. Compare that to Leach, who had the identical won-loss record to Spurrier yet ran it only 195 times. Leach's high water mark the last eight years in 358, and he's normally in the 280 area.

Wow, I can't believe a statement like that, who cares if he ever runs. See my lengthy post below in this thread. Rushing attempts are absolutely vital to winning. I can't imagine evaluating a football game without an understanding of how many times each side is likely to rush the football. It is the truth and the light. And that just demonstrates how incompetent ESPN and the mainstream media have been, to not point that out and emphasize it ad nauseum, to the point fans can spit out the numbers off the top of their head. Here in Las Vegas, I literally can't go an hour in the sportsbooks without someone bringing up rushing attempt numbers to me.

The Leach spread is nothing but a modern version of the run and shoot, accurately described as the Chuck and Duck by Buddy Ryan. And kudos to the bigtime programs for understanding how flawed the Mumme/Leach style is. Miami is hardly the only major program that has had a period of excellent defense and lackluster offense. None of them have been stupid enough to become the guinea pig and desperately hire a coach with a style like that. The defense would wilt, and it's world class mythology that superior athletes would make those styles unstoppable. You surrender the physical aspect of the sport to the defense via no threat of drive blocking, and little WRs running around. The smart physical teams seize that physical advantage and attack the line of scrimmage, punishing the QB and the receivers. It becomes a comedy act. Especially on the road. Leach brought two nationally ranked Tech teams into Oklahoma and Texas since 2002. In 2002 the Sooners destroyed Tech 60-15 and Texas wiped out Tech in 2005, 52-17. I literally salivated for months to wager against Tech in those games.

I saw TCU embarrass Texas Tech this year with their excellent defensive minded coach Gary Patterson. Two years ago Tech out up 70 on Patterson's team. The second time around they knew how to attack the wimpy offense and held it to 242 yards, including 3-14 on third down and 0-3 on fourth down.The 12-3 margin would have been worse except TCU was missing four offensive starters for that game. A lousy but physical Colorado held Tech to 6 this year, and in last year's bowl game Alabama held Tech to 10.

Leach is 8-7 in his last 15 games, losing 5 times as the favorite. No kidding he's desperate to depart and find new toys, before his reputation plummets to where it rightfully should be.

[trumad]

31. I have mixed feelings about this one

I love Bernie and he's a brilliant guy...but me thinks we need experience at the Head Coaching position.

I love the guy from Texas Tech, Mike Leach.

For the last several years I've wished that Miami would change offensive philosophy and Leach is the guy to do just that.

Here's a great piece about Leach and what he can do on the offensive side of the ball.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/magazine/04coach.html?ei=5090&en=c9f46201dc95f91d&ex=1291352400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[Awsi Dooger]

34. Leach is a joke of a head coach

He is a typical pantyhose coach, someone who never played the game at the college level so he doesn't even consider the physical aspects of the sport. It's pure flag football to him and it would be suicidal at Miami. You hire a guy like that at a third level program if you want to be an entertaining 6-5 to 8-3 type team. It would be ultimate masochism to even think of giving him the keys to a top program. Luckily it appears the Canes have wised and Leach will be rejected.

I'm literally astonished at posters who don't understand how vital rushing attempts are to winning football. The mainstream media never mentions it so I guess fans don't pay attention. In the NFL the team with the most rushing attempts wins 82% of the time. In college football that is 74%. It's not quite as high in college football since superior weaponry can overcome a more flawed approach. In the NFL the talent level is as close to even as in any sport so you can't get away with imbalance.

Spare me the mythology that rushing attempts are decided by who leads in the second half and specifically the 4th quarter. That is lazy guesswork nonsense. Chart some games and that will be obvious in a hurry. The team that has the most rushing atttempts at halftime wins in almost identical percentage to the end of the game.

A swing pass is hardly the equivalent of a rushing play. Anyone who even threatens to propose that should be zipped into a clown suit. One is drive blocking and the other is pure retreat. There is a reason teams like Texas Tech wilt in the second half. They don't hit anyone and the opposition avalanches them in the second half. Tech was shut out three times in the second half this season and came within 29 seconds of making it four.

Mike Leach was described perfectly by a poster on the Canes board on Rivals. Here's the link but I'll also summarize:

http://miami.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=116&tid=84731157&mid=84731157&sid=903&style=2

* He couldn't care less about defense
* He doesn't run the football
* He doesn't like to recruit
* He thrills to go for it on 4th down even in idiotic situations.
* He prefers to be left alone so he can watch film and tinker with his flimsy offense

Leach ran the ball 16 times per game this season. He allowed the opponent to outrush his team in all 12 games. Now go back to theat 74% stat I gave earlier. Do you really think Leach can overcome that statistical reality 12 times out of 12? Or 11 out of 12? That's still the goal and the opportunity at Miami, reaching the national championship game. A Mike Leach would forfeit any hope of that. There is no way you can allow top opponents to outrush you 45 attempts to 16 and defeat them. It is rank garbage that Leach would adapt his style at Miami, or that he would suddenly be invincible with superior personnel. The guy knows the other Big 12 teams have caught on to his style so now he is desperate for new toys, and opponents who won't start to slaughter his pathetic style for a couple of years.

It's always the same thing with gimmick styles like that. John Jenkins. Mark Duffner. Hal Mumme. The cutesy approach blitzes unprepared foes in the early years then the physical flaws show up and the team wilts.

Someone else in this thread wrote that Leach was the coordinator when Oklahoma won the national title. What a laughable farce, pure wanta believe. There never would have been a national championship for the Sooners in 2000 if Leach had stayed one more year. He ran the ball only 294 times at OU in 1999. That is pure reject level, gridiron masochism. Hardly a coincidence they lost five times. Leach ran the ball 14 times in a loss at Notre Dame, 16 times in a loss to Texas, 17 times in a loss to Colorado, and in the low 20s in upset losses to Texas Tech (of all teams) and to Mississippi in the bowl game. I remember that stuff because I was betting against him.

A year later Leach was gone and Oklahoma wisely adopted a more balanced style, rushing 408 times. That is all the difference. Pass oriented college teams who have won titles like Miami, Florida, FSU, USC and Oklahoma 2000 always rush in the range of 400-460 times over the course of a regular season. As I indicated in the earlier post, FSU's 397 in 1999 was the low in that regard in recent history. Mike Leach prefers the 280 level but when a you get a year like this he panics and it was 195 attempts, the lowest in the country.

Trumad, as a Dolphin fan you should understand basic football. Run the ball often, pass the ball well. No team will ever succeed at highest level by violating one of those two principles. The Marino-era Dolphins were a similar joke because they never ran the damn ball. It's the only NFL team I've ever charted that consistently eliminated itself via strategic ineptitude. Marino's yards per attempt were excellent but the rushing attempts were so absurdly low they essentially forfeited the line of scrimmage and therefore the game. Miami was averaging 22-24 rushes per year in some of those seasons, incomparable masochism. The Marino era was puke football and I barely paid attention, other than to bet against the team when appropriate, which was often.

Leach embraces the same tissue paper style, only even more pronounced.

I get tired of this debate on site after site. Frankly, I just wish the fans who don't understand the value of high number of rushing attempts would make the betting lines.