Whether or not he ends up being more successful in the long term than Mike Stoops or Rich Rodriguez (had Rich Rod not been fired and been around for a few more years), I do think Sumlin will have a lot of success in the short term. If there's one thing you can't really knock Sumlin for, it's his recruiting acumen, and that's always kind of been a bugaboo for Arizona. According to 24/7, UA hasn't had a recruiting class ranked better than 9th in the Pac-12 since the 2014 class, when they were ranked 6th in the league, and then you have to go all the way back to 2008 to find another class ranked that high. If nothing else, I think their talent level is going to rise in short order.
Apparently Saban interviewed Hugh Freeze this past week about the opening. I haven't heard anything on the DC opening yet.
Just saw that FAU AD Pat Chun is leaving to become the AD at Washington State. A couple of things... 1. I don't think it's any secret that the marriage between WSU and Mike Leach has started to get stale. Leach quite literally was set to be the Tennessee head coach before the UT AD lost his job and wasn't able to seal the deal. Chun famously stood by Lane Kiffin at FAU and not only tolerated but encouraged his head coach's...ahem...activity on Twitter. He seems to be the type who lets his coaches be themselves and that should go over well with Leach. 2. With Chun gone, it will be interesting to see how Kiffin's antics are received with a new AD. I'm sure the school won't hire an AD without having first explicitly discussed how they would approach Kiffin's eccentricities, but still, not everyone is going to be cool with their head coach openly mocking other schools on social media.
That and going to the Rose Bowl. I had no idea they were the only Pac10 team to never do that. That's a difficult accomplishment.
Lol at the headline. Herm Edwards shares just how surprised he was at how involved college recruiting is nowadays
I suppose I could be surprised, but I have a strong feeling that ASU is going to be cleaning house entirely after two years or so. The AD's job is now basically tied to this Herm hire, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to see how this succeeds on a level they find acceptable. They may not have said so, but in firing Todd Graham, they've basically said that 8-4 isn't really acceptable there, and I'm having a lot of trouble envisioning ASU attracting enough talent to do better than that consistently.
We might have another opening this offseason after all, although that's hardly the most important aspect of this increasingly disturbing Michigan State story. The scandal has continued to grow and grow, and now, Mark Dantonio is caught up in it. An ESPN story broke today about a pattern of denial and passing the buck when it comes to sexual violence among athletes at MSU (LINK). There are some pretty damning details in the story, including one anecdote where Dantonio reportedly dealt with a player who had been accused of sexual violence by having said player call his mother to tell her what he had done. Dantonio, for his part, has denied mishandling these situations, but man, with the way the dominoes have been falling at MSU, if there's even shreds of truth here, it seems somewhat hard to believe that he'd survive. The situation is just too toxic.
Just figured we'd get the band back together in this thread, given recent news. The obvious news item is Urban Meyer, who is just days away from learning of the results of the OSU investigation, but recently making his way into the news cycle is Maryland's D.J. Durkin. If you've had a chance to read the details in the ESPN story, it's some pretty bothersome stuff. Berating players, particularly those dealing with injury, is bad enough, but when you read stories about a coach trying to entice players to drop weight by forcing them to eat until they're on the verge of vomiting (I suppose in order to create a negative association with food), that's some deranged stuff.
Whole bunch of Maryland staffers got placed on leave today. Even if those guys end up being let go and Durkin survives to coach this season, you have to figure it will be a lame duck situation. It's not like the Terrapins were even really winning, so what's the motivation to stand by him? It honestly seems more likely, though, that he doesn't make it to the season. Someone on staff is going to get fired for what happened here, and if you're Maryland, why not just kind of push the reset button now? Why let Durkin continue through a toxic 2018 season where they finish something like 4-8 and then fire him at the end of the season?
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...j-durkin-put-leave-amid-reports-toxic-culture Maryland coach DJ Durkin placed on administrative leave The University of Maryland has placed football coach DJ Durkin on paid administrative leave as it investigates allegations of abuse and disparagement in the program and the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair. Athletic director Damon Evans announced the move Saturday, saying offensive coordinator Matt Canada will serve as the team's interim coach. "I am extremely concerned by the allegations of unacceptable behaviors by members of our football staff detailed in recent media reports," Evans wrote in a letter sent to university students, staff and alumni. "We are committed to fully investigating the program. At this time, the best decision for our football program is to place Maryland head football coach DJ Durkin on leave so we can properly review the culture of the program. This is effective immediately. Matt Canada will serve as interim head coach." Evans continued: "The external review into the tragic death of Jordan McNair continues, and we have committed to releasing publicly the report being prepared by an independent and national expert. The safety and well-being of our student-athletes is our highest priority. These alleged behaviors are not consistent with the values I expect all of our staff to adhere to and we must do better. You will be hearing from me as our work continues to rebuild the culture of respect in our football program." The school on Friday placed head football athletic trainer Wes Robinson and director of athletic training Steve Nordwall on administrative leave, sources told ESPN. Rick Court, Maryland's assistant athletics director for sports performance, was placed on paid administrative leave Saturday, sources said. Durkin oversaw Maryland's practice Saturday morning. ESPN on Friday reported allegations from current and former players, and current and former staff members, of bullying, verbal abuse and humiliation directed at players. ESPN also reported Friday that McNair, 19, died of heatstroke after showing visible signs of distress during a workout May 29. He died June 13. The Baltimore Sun reported Durkin sent a letter Friday to players' families informing them of an upcoming ESPN story and asking them to send their concerns to the program. Durkin, 40, is set to enter his third season as Maryland's head coach. He's 10-15 at the school.