Coaches on the supposed hot seat

[osugrad21]

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Hurricane warning is on
Coker can feel the heat with 1-2 start

Larry Coker is stunned as his Hurricanes drop two of first three games.
You don't want to be listening to sports talk radio in Coral Gables today if you're a University of Miami fan. A huge, dark cloud has fallen over that sun-drenched campus following Saturday's embarrassing 31-7 loss at Louisville and there will be a lot of angry voices on the air. UM's demanding fans, who are not used to 1-2 starts, were less than kind to nice guy Larry Coker as he walked off the field after that debacle.
Coker's team is 13-8 since opening the 2004 season with six straight wins. The Hurricanes are absent from The AP poll for the first time in 107 weeks, and are in deep trouble unless they turn things around in a hurry. It will not be easy, given Miami's average offensive linemen and running backs and the army of new assistant coaches Coker brought in during the offseason to put in a new offensive system that hasn't kicked in yet.
Knowing UM's demanding president, Donna Shalala, and the sometimes impatient AD Paul Dee, they probably are already putting together a short list of candidates in case this scenario plays out.
"Right now, we're not a very good football team," Coker said.
He needs to make sure the message reaches some of his arrogant players, who must have listened to TV analyst Lee Corso, who not only picked the 'Canes to win the game, but then said the Floridian players on the Louisville team were "Miami rejects."
The 'Canes attempted to show their machismo before the game by stomping on the Cardinal logo at midfield, taunting Louisville players and almost igniting a pregame brawl between the two teams.
Then, the game began.
Louisville, playing without star running back Michael Bush, who is out for the season with a broken leg, and playing most of the second half without quarterback Brian Brohm, who tore ligaments in the thumb on his throwing hand, still embarrassed Miami, averaging 7.9 yards per play.
And when it came to pregame boasts, Louisville backed up an earlier statement from linebacker Nate Harris, who said this Miami team paled in comparison with past squads.
"His quote was right," Miami quarterback Kyle Wright said. "You don't win games with swagger. It's nice to jump on their logo, but if you don't go out and take care of business, it's nothing but fake hype. And I'm tired of it."
Louisville is headed for the Top 10 and a possible BCS spot if the Cardinals beat West Virginia in a Nov. 2 showdown at Cardinal Stadium.
Miami looks like it has lost its way.

[osugrad21]

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Carr Defies His Critics As Michigan Makes Statement
College Football
By RUSSELL LEVINE
September 18, 2006

Lloyd Carr is what's known in Ann Arbor as a "Michigan Man"? a title that speaks to his having descended from the Bo Schembechler coaching tree. He has spent 26 years on the Michigan staff, the last 12 as head coach. Though he has taken the program to heights never achieved by the legendary "Bo," he has spent the last several seasons fending off calls for his dismissal, a chorus that grew to a crescendo after last season's 7?5 mark.
As the fire under his feet has grown warmer, Carr has grown more aloof. He treats halftime interviews and postgame press conferences as if they were a root canal. Some would say he coaches with a chip on his shoulder.
If that's the case, score one for the old school coach. Carr's team carried that collective chip with it into Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend on Saturday, and the result was a three-hour mugging of the Fighting Irish. By the time it was over, Michigan had reclaimed its position among the nation's elite teams, rising to sixth in the AP poll, Notre Dame's national championship aspirations were shelved, and a presumed Heisman run by Irish quarterback Brady Quinn was put in serious doubt.
But the take-away from this game wasn't about the fallout for Notre Dame, nor was it about Michigan's place in the 2006 national-title chase. It was simply a statement by a much-maligned coach that those who would write off the Wolverines as being too staid in their approach to modern football do so at their own risk.
The chief criticism of Carr in recent seasons has to do with his conservative approach. Four of Michigan's five defeats a year ago involved blown fourth-quarter leads, all characterized by a lack of a killer instinct on offense and a passive approach to defense. The Alamo Bowl loss to Nebraska was a fitting end to the season, as the Cornhuskers rallied from two scores down in the fourth quarter.
Carr, fiercely loyal to his fellow Michigan Men on the staff, nonetheless invited his two coordinators to seek other opportunities. Mike DeBord returned to the offensive coordinator post he held during the 1997 national championship season, while a dynamic young assistant, Ron English, was promoted to defensive coordinator.

English, in particular, promised to change things. Gone would be the bend-but-don't-break approach favored by his predecessor, Jim Herrmann. The more aggressive approach was evident in Michigan's season-opening wins over Vanderbilt and Central Michigan. English called for blitzes even on obvious passing downs, a strategy that had grown increasingly rare under Herrmann. Against Notre Dame, Michigan's talented front four routinely found their way into the Irish backfield, knocking Quinn off his game early. By the time Notre Dame had its initial first down, the score was 20?7 in the second quarter.
Quinn, who had carved up Penn State the previous week to boost his Heisman campaign, grew so confused from the battering and the twisting, stunting Michigan line that he began to feel a pass rush that wasn't always there.Many of his 24 incompletions were thrown nowhere near their intended targets despite ample time in the pocket.
Michigan's offensive approach was equally aggressive, although it didn't start out that way. After linebacker Prescott Burgess scored with an interception to give Michigan a 7?0 lead in the first minute, the Wolverines regained possession at midfield after forcing a three-and-out.To every Michigan fan's horror, the Wolverines ran offtackle twice then watched as quarterback Chad Henne forced a terrible pass that was intercepted and returned to the Michigan four-yard line, allowing Notre Dame to tie the score.
This was the same conservative approach that had contributed to six consecutive losing efforts in road-openers. But just as Michigan supporters were settling in for a long day, a light went off on the Michigan sideline. After an exchange of punts, Henne threw deep to a wide-open Mario Manningham for a 69-yard score on a first-down play, giving the Wolverines a lead they would never relinquish.
DeBoard kept attacking throughout the first half, and the result was two more long touchdown throws to Manningham, who looks to be the next great Michigan receiver, following the likes of Anthony Carter, Amani Toomer, David Terrell, and Braylon Edwards. With the lead at 34?14 at halftime, the second half became an exercise in grinding the clock on offense and pummeling Quinn on defense.
Any Michigan observer would have to be blind to miss the change in the Wolverines' approach. Recognizing the weakness in its opponent (the shaky Notre Dame secondary), Michigan attacked it over and over, consequences be damned. Still, the school's shellshocked fan base can be forgiven for hanging on to its fears. Fans posting to a popular message board in real-time throughout Saturday's game continued to express their doubts even as Michigan held on to its lead deep into the fourth quarter.The parallels between the 1997 team and this one are obvious.That Michigan squad was coming off four consecutive four-loss seasons and there were plenty of questions about Carr, then an unproven third-year coach. They weren't taken seriously until a late-season road rout of Penn State, perhaps the last Michigan big-game victory that was as complete as Saturday's. This year's squad has announced its intentions to compete for Big Ten and BCS titles by mid-September, but the Wolverines must prove they can handle success.
The first test comes Saturday, in Michigan's conference opener against Wisconsin. In 2003, the Wolverines crushed an overmatched Notre Dame by a 38?0 score, but their stay among the nation's elite lasted all of seven days. A ragged Michigan lost at Oregon in its next outing. The schedule is a bit gentler this time around, with three winnable games (vs.Wisconsin, at Minnesota, vs. Michigan State) before a road trip to Penn State.
For Carr, redemption will last only as long as he keeps winning. Another season-ending loss to Ohio State, which would drop Carr to 1?5 against Jim Tressel, would renew the calls for his head, no matter how unlikely his firing would be.
When Urban Meyer was on the market two off-seasons ago, many Michigan supporters lobbied for the school to sack Carr and pursue the dynamic, young coach who ultimately landed at Florida. What those fans fail to grasp is that Michigan will never hire a coach of Meyer's ilk as long as the living legend, Schembechler, continues to draw breath. Though officially retired, Bo's influence still runs deep in the Michigan athletic department, meaning the next coach of the Wolverines will always be somebody with ties to the program ? a "Michigan Man." A few more days like Saturday and it's an idea that the school's fan base may even come to embrace.

[osugrad21]

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ON THE HOT SEAT
Who?s more likely to get the ax:
Michigan State coach John L. Smith or Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione?

Yeah.


2a. Better jobs are waiting for you ...
Greg Schiano (who has Rutgers 4-0), Jim Grobe (Wake Forest, 4-0), Gary Patterson (TCU, 3-0), Steve Kragthorpe (Tulsa, 3-1), and Paul Johnson (Navy, 3-1).

2b. A nice, warm seat in Bristol next to Lou Holtz is waiting for you ...
Larry Coker (Miami, Fla., 1-2), John Bunting (North Carolina, 1-3), Chuck Amato (N.C. State, 2-2), and Walt Harris (Stanford, 0-4).

[Jagdaddy]

Originally Posted by osugrad21

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2b. A nice, warm seat in Bristol next to Lou Holtz is waiting for you ...
Larry Coker (Miami, Fla., 1-2), John Bunting (North Carolina, 1-3), Chuck Amato (N.C. State, 2-2), and Walt Harris (Stanford, 0-4).

God help us if they put Amato in a commentator position. He'd make Holtz and May sound like Cicero and Daniel Webster.

[osugrad21]

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Coker fizzling at Miami



GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Those weren't vultures circling the Orange Bowl, just three small planes carrying banners that urged the University of Miami to make a coaching change and ax Larry Coker. "UM players and fans deserve better," one said. "Fire Coker Now," said another. "Enough is enough," said the third. Coker could be gone as soon as the season ends, but at least the Hurricanes (2-2) won Saturday night, holding off upstart Houston, 14-13.
Still, this has hardly been a vintage year for traditional powers Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech.
The Hokies (4-1, 2-1), who were the highest-ranked ACC team last week at No. 11, took an unexpected tumble Saturday when suddenly grown up Georgia Tech hammered them, 38-27, in Blacksburg.
"The way we're playing, we couldn't even beat a bad team," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said. "And Georgia Tech is a good team."
With a long memory.
Take All-American wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who lived through the Yellow Jackets' ugly 51-7 loss last year in Blacksburg. "That was humiliating," he said. "We got a chip on our shoulder this year. We want to go out and take care of business early."
The seemingly unstoppable Johnson, who constantly demands double coverage, helped Georgia Tech (4-1, 2-0) make a case for itself as the best team in the balanced ACC, catching six passes for 115 yards and scoring the first two times he touched the ball - once on a 3-yard lob fade and a second time on a 53-yard bolt to the end zone as the Jackets jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first 11 minutes.
Suddenly, the big game in the conference could occur Oct. 21 when Georgia Tech visits Clemson (4-1).