This puts another silver dollar in this year’s carousel and starts it spinning again. Who goes to Washington?
Fisch, Liepold, Kleiman, Campbell, Fritz? Does Grubb finally separate from DeBoer and take the Washington job.
I’m guessing Fisch and Liepold will be the top targets.
Worked so well for Alabama the last time they took a yankee as their head coach
To be fair, it’s a different time and DeBoer has a record that goes back almost 20 years as a successful head coach and coordinator. He’s gonna have resources only matched at Texas
It is a far different time. But Saban had experience winning a Natty at LSU before he came to Bama. The environment has changed tremendously. 25 years ago most recruiting was regional. Now it’s pretty much national.
30 years ago 60% of Miami’s roster was from Ohio. Now it’s down to about 30%. So knowledge of the local recruiting base isn’t as big as it once was. Plus there is the portal.
But the Southeast is the most parochial region of the country. The fan bases have little tolerance and the pressure to win it all every year is intense at about a half dozen schools. Bama is one of them.
If they don’t go internal, could Chris Creighton be a sleeper candidate for the Washington job? DeBoer was his OC for a few years at EMU and he grew up in Seattle.
I doubt it seriously. That EMU debacle in the 68!Ventures Bowl when an Eagle player sucker-punched a USA player singing the Alma mater wasn’t a spectacular look.
This is the best assessment from a real Alabama fan. Roll Tide!
https://x.com/finebaum/status/1745958539917508723?s=42&t=6o6QN4eHhEVbIIqyNNUj5g
A lot of Bama fans are calling it a Bryan Harsin hire.
If you mean Saban, he isn’t a Yankee. He was from West Virginia. I know the Bama people think WV are Yankees but to me they are more of a southern state. And yes, they fought with the Union.
Imo there’s a case to be made that hiring a coach with little ties to the SEC/deep south can be a negative at some programs. But at a program like Alabama with that can spend Brinks trucks of cash for NIL, facilities, and staff budget (for regular assistants and a hundred analysts), it’s less of a big deal. Saban, Meyer, and Miles won multiple nattys without being good ole boys.
Depends on which part of WV. Southern WV is definitely southern and full of Scotch-Irish. Northern WV (where Saban was born and raised) is more Pittsburgh-oriented. No twang, more rust belty. And a lot of Italian and eastern European ethnic families (Saban’s grandfather was Croatian).
My brother in law and his family live in Barnesville, Ohio, about 30 minutes from Wheeling. Definite southern accent from a guy who grew up, as I did, 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh in Western PA!
Reports that Jason Candle has interviewed for the OSU OC job.
Interesting on 2 fronts:
If hired as THE OSU OC, his salary would probably double…AND…
He’d be in the catbird seat if/when OSU gets rid of Ryan Day…or Day opts out for another job…far away from the BIG 10…or at least far away from Meechegan.
OK, have to add: He also might just be a candle in the wind.
It seems to me he’s lived his life/career way. I would have thought he’d be out of Toledo to greener pastures by now
Candle is an underachiever. He would mesh well with Day.
I wouldn’t call Day an underachiever. More schools have just caught up to A&M
Looks like Arizona’s Jedd Fisch is heading to Washington. Poor Arizona…so late in the process. Two steps forward and now undoubtedly a step backwards.
Candle would fit in well on Day’s staff.
He already knows what it feels like to choke in big games.
Candle also being mentioned as a candidate for Arizona.
