Author : college football/basketball writer @MattZemek, Editor at @TrojansWire .
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This coaching carousel cycle has already been different from most. For one thing, a blue-blood program — USC — fired its coach after Week 2. That’s not normal. That in itself started the 2021 carousel in a unique and unexpected way. Yet, it was only the beginning of a different kind of carousel progression.
Texas Tech then hired a coach midway through the season. That coach immediately landed three prospects. The coach, Joey McGuire, had been on Dave Aranda’s staff at Baylor. He didn’t become a sideline coach actively involved in game-planning. Sonny Cumbie has been the acting gameday coach ever since Matt Wells was fired by the Red Raiders midway through the season. McGuire is simply hitting the trail and bringing in recruits before the early signing period begins.
It’s a new way of doing business in college football, and it seems likely we’re going to see more of this, not less, in the future.
Now Virginia Tech swooped in with a coach firing very early in the morning on a Tuesday, with a few weeks left in the regular season. This is also a move designed to adjust to the early signing period. The days of waiting until the end of the regular season to bring down the hammer on a coach are not necessarily gone, but the old ways don’t have the traction they once possessed.
Jimmy Lake of Washington essentially got himself fired in the course of one week — and not primarily for losing a game. Lake’s public statements and questionable conduct, combined with a bad loss and a brutally awful punt-safety decision against Oregon, all led to his dismissal. The carousel spins more wildly and violently than before.
The product of that craziness: USC, LSU, Washington State, Washington, and now Virginia Tech are open, with Florida and Miami possibly joining that list very soon.
Virginia Tech and other schools trying to fill a vacancy will watch coaches move from one school to another. The Hokies need to be bold and creative in seeking the right opportunity and pouncing on it when it emerges.
Some initial thoughts before the carousel gets even more intense in the coming weeks:
- Dan Mullen is what Justin Fuente hoped to be. No, he’s not a lights-out recruiter, but he is the play-calling and scheming genius Hokie fans thought they were getting when their program brought aboard Fuente. Virginia Tech could do a lot worse than Mullen. If Florida fires him, that’s a great rebound job for Mullen. (Side note: USC’s next head coach should consider bringing aboard Mullen as offensive coordinator, but I’m not sure Mullen would want the demotion.)
- Jim Leonhard of Wisconsin isn’t going to stay with the Badgers forever, nor will he remain a defensive coordinator forever. He certainly wants a big opportunity. He’s a brilliant defensive tactician and player developer. Leonhard with a strong offensive coordinator sounds like a match made in heaven for the Hokies.
- Jeff Grimes of Baylor has helped Dave Aranda and caused Aranda’s coaching stock to rise. Grimes is viewed in the industry as a cutting-edge play designer and thinker. The offensive coordinator would jump at a chance to be a head coach.
- Billy Napier of Louisiana might want the LSU job, but if he doesn’t get it, would an ACC job be the next-step-up landing spot Napier needs before he goes to LSU later in his career? Virginia Tech should make that sales pitch, even if Napier doesn’t intend to be a Hokie for life. If he delivers a four-year rock-star tenure and sets himself up to jump to LSU in 2026, the Hokies will be a far better program anyway.
The days of Frank Beamer steadily winning division championships feel like an increasingly distant memory in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech isn’t going after the superstars in the coaching business — the job isn’t that good — but there are plenty of intriguing candidates to court and pursue if athletic director Whit Babcock is up to the task.
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