Hawg Heaven

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Tskwared said...

IMO Jeff Long was between the proverbial "rock and hard place" and may have pulled a rabbit out of his hat with this hire. Now I will say I'm taking the optimistic approach to this because, quite frankly, that's all any of us can do and keep our sanity. That being said, this situation is very, very similar to the hiring of Larry Coker at Miami in 2001, in which he took the Hurricanes to a national championship. As the Canes OC under Butch Davis, who left for the NFL, the Miami players loved him and lobbied for his hiring to keep staff and system in tact. Coker's record was 24-1 in is first 2 seasons with his only loss being the national championship game in 2002. Another similar situation was the interim hiring of Bill Stewart at West Virginia, after Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan. Although Stewart didn't enjoy as much success as Coker, he did upset #3 Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. After the win, W.V. star quarterback Pat White and others lobbied for Stewart's permanent hiring. He was hired as head coach and went 9-4 in his first season, including a bowl win over #25 North Carolina. Maybe Long caught "lightning in a bottle"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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R. Turbeville said...

Good stuff, Tskwared. Thanks for this post. We'll find out next fall if Long did catch lightning in a bottle. John L. certainly has a good team, great skill guys and a quality staff. All he's got to do is keep from goofing it up, as he said today.