Nutt, Gailey & Roof Fired, Sherman to A&M (Updated)

As a follow-up to our most recent Coaching Carousel entry we have the following updates for you. Additionally, our community is adding to this entry with some great related links in the comments section of this entry.

•Sources: Gailey fired at Tech after six seasons
•Duke Expected to Fire Roof; 2 p.m
•A&M taps Texans’ Sherman as head coach
•Sources: Nutt out as coach, will receive settlement from Arkansas

Speaking of Houston Nutt…

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94 Responses to Nutt, Gailey & Roof Fired, Sherman to A&M (Updated)

  1. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 11/27/2007 at 2:10 PM #

    “Facilities mean everything to football coaches.”

    Yes it make the coaches job easier or shall we say the lazy approach. Come play here and you will have a underwater treadmill- That piece of equipment as turned the State program around for sure. Facilities are important, no doubt, but they should come after a program does or because the old facility is just to old. Not because ‘we need shiny luxury boxes for the gray-haired fans with deep pockets.’

    Duke probably does need a nicer stadium but I would focus on a nicer field for the players and better seating for the students and fans first. Worry about the bells and whistles down the road. App State is probably a better team than NC State over the last two or three years (even though they lost) and they have saved 100 million on facilities during this time period. They are upgrading now but they have earned it.

  2. Wolf Dog 11/27/2007 at 2:12 PM #

    Thoughts on Duke hire. If I were Duke Ad I’d go after Steve Spurrier, not much chance he’d leave Gamecock nation, but got him once and everything not so happy in the hen house right now. Next go talk to Lou Holtz, his ego might make him take the job. Not much chance on getting those two but show you not scared to go for name people. Bill Cowher lives in triangle that would stir some media interest.

    Next some people that could get some seriuos consideration.

    George O’Leary. The man can coach bet quite a few Irish wish they hadn’t looked at the resume that was not why they hired him anyway. I’d call him of course if Tech were smart they’d bring him back.

    Go to App State and hire the man. He has potential to build like Wake and recruiting would not be too much different. He understands the need for speed. He won at Michigan, Duke hasn’t had a win like that in decades.

    Southern Miss’s stupity is Duke’s gain. All that success and they fire the guy. He was a hot commidty for years, he didn’t forget how to coach. Go get the man.

    Steve Logan. He’s itching to be a head coach again and he’d bring the ego to fit right in with the rest of the Dukies.

    Dick Sheridan Why not? Duke fits him. He coached at Furman and after doing some consulting on helping people set up football programs maybe he ready to get back in the game and no pressure at Duke any success will be good.

    Bill Lewis He been in NFL long time. Did great job at ECU and got done dirty at Tech. Built a good ECU program that Logan walked into, people forget Lewis was the one that got ECU going before Logan walked in.

    Mike O’Cain I’d call him. He can put together a good offensive scheme and had success with less talent at State plus stints at Clemson and Va. Tech make him wiser and he has coached at Div. I level and had a winning record. he would just need to turn the defense over to someone.

    Tommy Bowden. Can’t beat em join em. One of last people to lose to Duke and most Clemson fans hate him. (This one’s a joke).

    I don’t see Johnson from Navy or Holtz from ECU going to Duke too much of a lateral move. I do see Duke as a potential huge stepping stone for someone like a George O’Leary to get back into a major conference. Roof’s recruiting was not bad the last couple of years. Someone comes in to Duke and has a little success and get alot of national attention then could bolt to a bigger pay day.

  3. WolftownVA81 11/27/2007 at 2:27 PM #

    EverettBeez, don’t disagree with your logic on the Duke fan base. Just think that the lack of commitment has more to do with it than the geographical location. Those N.E. alum can probably afford to fly back and watch the games if they were worth watching (or have their chaufer drive them down in a luxury RV.) Fans will travel if the team play merits it.

  4. McPete 11/27/2007 at 2:30 PM #

    Jerry Glanville. period. I think he’s at Portland state right now. call him up. the run and f’in shoot offense. spray paint the field purple give free ten gallon hats to the 1st 15,000 fans – every home game. plus you know duke could get a OOC win every year against, you guessed it, portland st.

  5. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 11/27/2007 at 2:58 PM #

    Glanville isn’t a name I thought of but maybe worth the call. I think an old or older experienced coach is probably the way to go. One that is out of coaching or at a non-BCS school or that left their last job under a bit of a cloud- O’Leary would be a great hire as would S or L Holtz, Logan. O’Cain might be a good choice, he was certainly heads and shoulders better coach than Amato. Sheridan may of been gone for just to long and the App State coach is going no where. Hasn’t he been at App as long a JoPa at Penn St- Not literally.

  6. BJD95 11/27/2007 at 3:02 PM #

    Know who would make sense for Duke? Karl Dorrell, soon to be fired at UCLA.

  7. noah 11/27/2007 at 3:34 PM #

    “Bill Lewis He been in NFL long time. Did great job at ECU and got done dirty at Tech.”

    He went 5-6, 5-6 and 1-10 at Tech. This was two years after Bobby Ross won a national title.

    And he didn’t do a damn thing at ECU. Steve Logan did everything at ECU…which is why ECU continued to do well after Lewis left.

  8. noah 11/27/2007 at 3:39 PM #

    “Yes it make the coaches job easier or shall we say the lazy approach. Come play here and you will have a underwater treadmill- That piece of equipment as turned the State program around for sure. Facilities are important, no doubt, but they should come after a program does or because the old facility is just to old. Not because ‘we need shiny luxury boxes for the gray-haired fans with deep pockets.’”

    That was pretty much NC State’s approach throughout the 80s and 90s. And that’s why Mike O’Cain got his ass whipped on the recruiting trail every single year.

    UNC expanded their stadium and built the new football facility and we were trying to convince the best player in the state that he ought to say “no” to that and come play at a school whose weight-room was about one close inspection away from being condemned.

    The parents loved the O’Cain staff. The kids loved the O’Cain staff. And then they came on their official visit and immediately marked us off their list. And while you can say that such a move is silly or lacks perspective — we’re talking about 18 year olds. Who are often silly. And always lack perspective.

    And luxury boxes, if done correctly, are self-financing and actually a huge source of revenue. See Bill Martin’s papers on this.

  9. Wolf Dog 11/27/2007 at 5:36 PM #

    Clearly Tech didn’t hire Bill Lewis on his looks but because of his success at ECU. And clearly Jimmy Johnson didn’t add Bill Lewis to his staff cause of his looks either. As far as Mr. Lewis getting short changed at Tech, I reference that because he lost control of hiring his own assistants.

  10. joe 11/27/2007 at 6:06 PM #

    Actually Lewis was 1-7 his last year at GT. He was fired midseason which was a lot more rare back then.

  11. noah 11/27/2007 at 6:10 PM #

    At the 1991 Peach Bowl (where we blew a 17 point lead with 5:52 left in the game….not that I’m bitter or anything), everyone in the stands knew that Lewis was going to take the Tech job.

    And every State fan was chuckling about it, knowing full-well that the secret to ECU’s success was Steve Logan. It was hoped that the move would ultimately destroy two programs…but Logan took the ECU job and maintained the success while Lewis was a miserable failure.

    He took over a program that was as strong as any in the conference at that time. National title, good facilities (at that time), great recruiting base, and a good core group of returning players.

    It took him exactly three years to completely dismantle everything down there. He is a complete joke as a coach. Dook might as well rehire Carl Franks if they’re going to think about hiring Bill Lewis.

  12. bTHEredterror 11/27/2007 at 11:19 PM #

    I hadn’t thought of the disadvantage in recruiting for Navy, I was tilting more towards the intangibles Navy has. Senior laden, team first, hard working and disciplined. They are also Indy, which means they can sprinkle in the worst of every major conference, namely Duke, Vandy and Stanford, with some MAC and C-USA teams on their schedule. Now that he has beaten Notre Dame, regardless of the circumstances, believe PJ can retire there comfortably.

    Facilities are important. Look at it like this, wouldn’t you want to go to the Playplace McDonalds rather than one of the 1960 painted brick McDonalds if given a choice?

  13. choppack1 11/27/2007 at 11:40 PM #

    Noah – Regarding Spurrier, he was at Duke 3 years, he went 5-6 his first season, then 7-3-1, then 8-4. So, he only had one losing season – and 5-6 your first year at Duke is nothing to sneeze at.

    I do think that pass D has come a long way since Spurrier was at Duke – we’ve also added FSU and VaTech. The confernces football is much better than it was when he was at Duck.

    Logan or Paul Johnson might be a good fit. I don’t think a coordinator is the way to go. You need a offensive genius – as was demonstrated at Vandy – a defensive “genius” ain’t good enough. Bobby Johnson has done a solid job at Vandy, I wonder if he’ll be mentioned for any of these openings.

  14. noah 11/28/2007 at 10:26 AM #

    Bobby Johnson would be a terrific fit at Dook. I just don’t think he’d leave for that job.

    Johnson is a terrific coach.

  15. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 11/28/2007 at 2:16 PM #

    “That was pretty much NC State’s approach throughout the 80s and 90s. And that’s why Mike O’Cain got his ass whipped on the recruiting trail every single year.”

    You forgot to add that the program was in far better shape after O’Cain left without throwing 100 million into CFS than when Amato left after the money grab. O’Cain left many NFL picks where as Amato left almost no one. So your theory works in theory only.

    Of course there are some improvements to facilities that have to be made and upgraded but the idea that you can’t win without world class facilities is BS. State and Duke will never be national powerhouses in football. This isn’t to say you can’t string together some good years from time-to-time but the idea that State will every be a consistent top football program is Dix worthy.

    As with most schools there is a limited number of major donors that give and for every dollar that goes to athletic facilities is potentially a dollar not going towards academics, students, faculty or staff.

  16. roandaddy 11/28/2007 at 2:45 PM #

    Facilities are one leg in the three legged stool… its like the nice shiny car you drive people around in, but its not what closes the deal. Tradition gets you noticed and on tv.. its what brings the prospects in the door. You impress them with your facilities, and finally.. you win with good coaching. You can have all the top 10 classes in the world and good facilities.. but if you have poor coaching, it doesn’t matter. (see Florida State) So I am always cautious to believe if you are strong in just one area, you will have program success.
    If you did have to rank the most important.. I would say coaching is the most important. (see Wake) They can give you a good year, but coaches leave and its hard to build a lasting program around just a coach.

  17. noah 11/28/2007 at 5:47 PM #

    “You forgot to add that the program was in far better shape after O’Cain left without throwing 100 million into CFS than when Amato left after the money grab.”

    Okay, you can stop right there. Just….stop.

  18. noah 11/28/2007 at 5:49 PM #

    roandaddy, you take coaching and I’ll take talent and I’ll beat you three times out of four.

  19. roandaddy 11/28/2007 at 6:31 PM #

    No Noah.. you opened that can.. (just kidding)
    Ok.. to make my point.. CTC had some great talent, but couldn’t win. FSU has GREAT GREAT talent, but can’t win. Wake Forest recruits football players and is often in the bottom of the recruiting rankings.. but wins! Of Notre Dame is the poster child for talent, but no wins. Clausen.. the “once every 10 year recruit”.. and they still lose.
    Obviously I can go on and on.. but this year especially seems to show that there is only a weak correlation in recruiting rank and where they end up.

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