Sid From what I read about Wilson his players felt he went over the line in making them play when injured. Let's face it, on the field Indiana was pretty competitive, certainly better than traditional Hoosier teams. I think that the buyout reflects his termination due to misconduct rather than poor production on the field.
Gip, That appears to be the major issue. You are correct that one thing seems certain, i.e., there was a clause in the contract which voided an extended payout based on certain circumstances, hence the one-year base salary of $500,000+ to settle a six-year contract with a total value in excess of $12 million. It was obvious from the words of the AD that there was a past issue that he (the AD) thought was behind them but reared its head again after the signing of the 2015 6-yr. contract. The AD emphasized that it had nothing to do with the on-field performance of the team or with compliance issues.
The Houston job has a list and it's a pretty good one, they expect to fill the job in the next 2 weeks. Les Miles Dana Holgerson Lane Kiffin Lincoln Riley - OU OCoord Major Applewhite-Houston OCoord Todd Orlando - Houston DCoord and Interim HC All but Miles and the two current UH coaches are also rumored to be interested in the Oregon job which is a plum compared to Houston. Houston however is a good job, it's been proven by Briles, Sumlin, and now Herman that you can win and move up at Houston. There is a lot of talent within 300 miles of Houston that is overlooked by Power 5 teams, there are good facilities and a nice new stadium as well. I think the Tulsa coach would also be a good one to consider for the Houston job, Tulsa is a pretty good job but not as good as the Houston job.
While I haven't heard his name in any job searches I wouldn't be very surprised to see Greg Schiano get a HC job this year.
ESPN reports that PJ Fleck has declined to interview for the Purdue job and that Purdue is now targeting former Bobby Petrino asst and Louisville QB Jeff Brohm who is at W.Kentucky right now and plays La.Tech (Skip Holtz) for the CUSA Championship. I wonder if Fleck will pass on leaving WMU this year waiting for another job to open or maybe is hoping for the Oregon job.
Yeah I'd agree that WVA is a better job in a lot of ways than Houston starting with it's a Power 5 Conf member. Holgerson was on the hot seat at WVA starting the season, but they've had a good year so I guess he's safe for now. Now the rumors of him being in the mix at Oregon seem more likely, that's a better job than WVA. I wonder who is Baylor going to talk into taking that job, once this Sr. Class graduates they will be in terrible trouble. Virtually no freshmen of any talent, those guys all left for Texas and they have only a couple of verbals right now. They are headed for KU territory pretty quickly. That's a graveyard for the next guy, and the only reason to go there is for the paycheck and I wouldn't even do it for that without some pretty heavy guarantees if you get canned.
The West Virginia AD didn't extend Holgo's contract and they have really bad facilities at UWVa. They've shown no sort of commitment to Holgo despite the fact that he's done a pretty good job there. The Duck rumors seem to be swirling around Holgo and Schiano.
That's what the carousel does, it gets guys raises and extensions! Everybody wins, except the guys who got fired I guess and that depends on the contract. I don't feel very sorry for Charlie Strong! Hell even Charlie Weis who is not getting a check from ND this year still gets one from KU. What a system!
What has Shiano really ever done, at least at the college level? I predict Herman will last 4 years at Texas. Rumors are strong around here that Kiffin is the leading candidate for the Houston job. Of course what has Kiffin done as a head coach?
Well I hope you are wrong about Herman but we'll have to wait and see. Kiffin, he had Tenn headed in a good direction after his 1st year and that ill advised move to USC right when they were hit with probation just didn't work out, and it was of course as much his fault for how he handled it as it was all the sanctions. Houston would be a good job for him, it's proven that you can win and there is a lot of talent in their recruiting zone. He won't get what he had at those jobs or at the current one but he also won't be playing the same level of competition week in and week out so if he's good at evaluating and developing like Briles, Sumlin and Herman then he can have the same success that they had and use it as a spring board to a better job.
Maybe Kiffin learned something working for Saban. I guess we'll see. Herman may do great at Texas but he will need to get the 5 stars to play well together and he will need to adapt his style to the talent he has and that seems to be one of the problems that the up-and-comers seems to have. Anyway, I still think Les Miles is the best coach out there that is available.
That is of course the task for every coach at a program that tends to get a lot of highly ranked talent. That is what makes Saban great, sure he gets a ton of talent but he gets it all to play together. Maybe Kiffin has picked up that and I hope that Herman got that from his assoc with Urban Meyer. Unless he's lost it, Kiffin was a dynamic recruiter at Tenn and USC and while he won't get 5 stars at UH he can bring in some pretty good talent compared to his competition in the AAC. I think at a program like Houston you have to be a good evaluator and developer of talent, of course that's true at most schools. Watching Wisc they rarely have highly ranked recruiting classes but some how they have good solid even great teams.
Tommy Tuberville out at Cincinnati. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/12/4/13683418/tommy-tuberville-fired-cincinnati-coach
Tubesteak stepped out to avoid the chopping block. I saw some real ugly videos this year involving his interaction with Bearcat fans. I think they're glad to see him go.
They also moved from the Big East to the Big 10. Anyway he has always been one of my examples of the big fish in the little pond that maybe should stay in the little pond, but who knows maybe he too learned something under Meyer. :?