Would be surprised if either Shephard or Grubb want to try to compete against their old boss from a position in Bloomington. I could see Creighton wanting it. I think Lewis would jump on it to get out of his situation in Colorado - where Prime pumped him up and then knocked him down. The whole expectation level in the B1G is about to change drastically next year with 18 teams, coast to coast conference travel and no divisions. Half the teams will have to pad their OOC schedules with CUSA, low MAC and an FCS game just to become bowl eligible.
The top half of the B1G in the foreseeable future will likely be Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, USC, Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin and possibly Iowa.
Thatās perfect for him and for the Aztecs! They have been offensively challenged under both Rocky Long and Brady Hoke. They have a culture of stalwart D. Heās got all the offensive firepower heāll ever need sighing a three hour drive.
How does this guy get so much hype? Heās never beaten a name brand as a head coach and his best record was like 7-6. Me? I think heās going to be very mediocre. Not trying to be mean, just not convinced heās the next coming of Hal Mumme.
It was also at Kent State, where he had to play like 2-3 buy game per season at a historically lousy program that hasnāt won the MAC since the 70s. I think itās a solid hire for SDSU, but he needs a good DC to succeed there.
My issue is none of his murdererās row losses were close. If heās such guru, then there would be some points on the board. Even in those losses. And itās not as if he whipped the MAC. Far from it. How did he get the hype? Put another way, how is Chris Creighton not getting that gig when heās actually beaten name brands and taken EMU much farther? I donāt get it.
Lewis has a career record of 24-31. He was 19-17 in the MAC. His best year was 7-6 with a win in the Frisco Bowl. Basically he is CM before CM really started to figure out the MAC and without the conference title.
He runs a fast tempo offense. Thatās it. And it doesnāt really lead to great ā or even good ā results.
Thank you! Ps, if he was all that then Neon wouldnāt have dropped him. Run and Shoot is a crowd pleaser but I do sometimes wonder about how easy it is to do really well. Dino getting fired at Syracuse comes to mind. He was great at The Growling Bean and had a really good year at Syracuse. Then not much. He is a way more accomplished coach than Lewis.
I think Deion was trying to make a move to take some scrutiny off of his kid. I think itās really hard to upset teams with an up-tempo offense. If you canāt get first downs, you end up with your defense never getting a chance to catch their breath, but if you have the talent, you end up burying teams. He also recruited really well for Kent State.
Itās worth noting over the last 40 years Kent State has 7 .500 or better seasons. Lewis is responsible for 3 of those 7 and he did it in consecutive seasons. Dick Crum, who had three 10 win seasons at Miami, went 2-9, 0-11, and 5-6 at Kent.