Which P5 Head Coaching Opening is Best?

Which P5 Head Coach Opening is Best

  • Arizona State

    Votes: 3 13.6%

  • Colorado

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Georgia Tech

    Votes: 2 9.1%

  • Nebraska

    Votes: 8 36.4%

  • Wisconsin

    Votes: 9 40.9%
  • Total voters
    22
s--k

s--k

Goodbye to Romance College Football
You can vote on whatever criteria you want, I was assuming the potential for winning at a consistent level and occasionally having chance for a special season every now and then.

The recruiting potential and branding of Georgia Tech makes it the most attractive on one hand, but admissions are said to be a challenge.

Colorado has been down for long enough to make the roster difficult to work with and also has some admission hurdles.

Nebraska I think has the best fan base and tradition of the 5, but while those seem like positives, competing with past greatness seems like it creates a certain pressure to attain unrealistic results.

Wisconsin obviously has had recent success and wouldn't appear to need to many fixes to get it pointed back the right way.

Arizona State has weather and recruiting advantages the 3 midwestern/mountain schools do not. But nobody has been able to win with regularity here and there are some pending NCAA sanctions waiting in the wings.
 
s--k said:
You can vote on whatever criteria you want, I was assuming the potential for winning at a consistent level and occasionally having chance for a special season every now and then.

The recruiting potential and branding of Georgia Tech makes it the most attractive on one hand, but admissions are said to be a challenge.

Colorado has been down for long enough to make the roster difficult to work with and also has some admission hurdles.

Nebraska I think has the best fan base and tradition of the 5, but while those seem like positives, competing with past greatness seems like it creates a certain pressure to attain unrealistic results.

Wisconsin obviously has had recent success and wouldn't appear to need to many fixes to get it pointed back the right way.

Arizona State has weather and recruiting advantages the 3 midwestern/mountain schools do not. But nobody has been able to win with regularity here and there are some pending NCAA sanctions waiting in the wings.
Click to expand...

But GT has to compete with some top-caliber programs for recruits from that region

If players can tolerate the dry climate
 
Not sure it's close, Wisconsin is an incredible gig.

Nebraska, glory days gone. GT, not a player in the ACC lol.

Buffs, future is completely up in the air.

ASU needs someone who can recruit locals, hasn't happened since I've lived here.
 
GA Tech is tough to get into and you can't hide in a "soft" major that maybe you can at another school with high academic standards.

Vince Dooley would carry a calculus textbook around with him when he was trying to "outrecruit" GA Tech back in the day while at Georgia. Saying you don't have to take calculus if you go to UGA.
 
Nebraska is too hard to recruit to these days and you don't have enough local talent base to supply to.

I'd probably take ASU over Wisconsin. You can recruit enough kids from Cali to win with.
 
KJ said:
Not sure it's close, Wisconsin is an incredible gig.

Nebraska, glory days gone. GT, not a player in the ACC lol.

Buffs, future is completely up in the air.

ASU needs someone who can recruit locals, hasn't happened since I've lived here.
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I rated ASU second, only because of the uncertainty regarding the future of the PAC.
 
CPA-hole said:
Nebraska is too hard to recruit to these days and you don't have enough local talent base to supply to.

I'd probably take ASU over Wisconsin. You can recruit enough kids from Cali to win with.
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Phoenix is loaded with high school talent but no one stays here

Pretty sure that's the angle, current coach was HC at Chandler and I expect he stays around with the new hire to recruit locally. Pretty sure Matt Ruhle is on the short list.
 
It‘s not like Nebraska is hopeless while Wisconsin is approaching juggernaut status. Nebraska has lost so many close and winnable games.
 
VirginiaCavs said:
It‘s not like Nebraska is hopeless while Wisconsin is approaching juggernaut status. Nebraska has lost so many close and winnable games.
Click to expand...
Lincoln is one of the best football cities I've ever been to. There's also no such thing as a quick road trip anywhere from there.
 
If I were a head coaching candidate, my primary consideration would be where do I want to live-quality of life considerations (esp for wife)-
You’re likely to be fired from any of these within a few years unless you are a generational coach-the assumption being that you have your choice of locations-

Second consideration is where am I most likely to be competitive quickly (how tough is my conference, how soon can I get back to a decent bowl, as mentioned recruiting)- plays into how long I will be at the school-

Third would be administrative structure, fan base- who do I answer to, where does pressure come from? How much pressure will there be to perform early? How long to “build” a program?

Those make the choice not as straight forward- there’s a difference between which university has the best “program” and which has the best coaching “job”-
 
Dsn150 said:
If I were a head coaching candidate, my primary consideration would be where do I want to live-quality of life considerations (esp for wife)-
You’re likely to be fired from any of these within a few years unless you are a generational coach-the assumption being that you have your choice of locations-

Second consideration is where am I most likely to be competitive quickly (how tough is my conference, how soon can I get back to a decent bowl, as mentioned recruiting)- plays into how long I will be at the school-

Third would be administrative structure, fan base- who do I answer to, where does pressure come from? How much pressure will there be to perform early? How long to “build” a program?

Those make the choice not as straight forward- there’s a difference between which university has the best “program” and which has the best coaching “job”-
Click to expand...
So Tulsa?
 
Wisconsin by a mile.

Nebraska is one of the worst. Zero recruiting base. Alums and fans who are delusional and think Nebraska is a powerhouse and the glory days will return. They have loyal fans, but that's it. They don't even have a rival anymore. Talking heads on TV think all they have to do is offer Leipold and their problems are solved. If Leipold has any common sense or if he has a good lawyer and agent he'll realize Kansas is a better job than Nebraska.
Nebraska fans are clueless to the fact there has never been any school that has succeeded in a conference where every other school in the conference has a better recruiting base and many of them have a far, far better base (Oklahoma fans are going to learn the same lesson when they move to the SEC)

Arizona State seems like a good job on the surface, but in addition to having few local recruits they are in the desert. The humans species has been trying to get OUT of the desert for millions of years and a coach has to try and convince kids to move to the desert. I still recall when Mike Stoops--the hottest assistant in the country after OU won a national title under brother Bob--could have had any job in the country (this was before people realized he was a moron) and took the Arizona job. He said what every AU and ASU says, "why, no problem at all. We'll just get our recruits from California." Problem is, California recruits are like recruits from everywhere else--they like to see something green once in a while and prefer not to live in 110 temps for much of the year. Both schools fly in recruits at night in the hope they don't notice there is nothing but desert for 500 miles in every direction

Colorado is hopeless. They have two things going for them--a beautiful campus in a beautiful location, and one of the best mascots in the world. Colorado produces more recruits than Nebraska but still only a few each year and most of them go out of state. And they are hundreds of miles from any good recruiting area. It has no rivalry game and never has had. They tried to promote Nebraska as the big rivalry game, but you can't just make up a rivalry. They have nothing in common with anyone in their conference and are hundreds of miles from any of them. Worst of all they think they are a prime job

Georgia Tech is located in the middle of one of the most fertile recruiting areas and has had a lot of success over the years so it's not impossible, but any school that requires players to meet even modest academic standards is in a tough position. I think the right coach can win at G Tech, but it's hard to do much better than Paul Johnson. He went 82-59 in all games, 51-37 in conference games. Is it reasonable to think anyone can do much better than that?
 
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I believe any of those except maybe GT you can win a NC with right coach. NIL is factor now obviously and agree the playing field has to be somewhat level on that basis. But I will always reference Urban. Won big in MAC, almost won a NC at Utah with Smith, and then did win multiple NC at Florida and OSU. If he goes to any of those schools they will be a NC contender in a few years. And I think he wants to - I don't think he wants the Jags debacle to be his legacy.

I'm from San Diego (now live in LV) and always felt SDSU could have been a powerhouse if only they could have gotten into the Pac12 (I mean San Diego is pretty unbeatable otherwise). Saw local guys like Junior Seau, Marcus Allen, Reggie Bush (went to my high school as did Alex Smith, Karl Dorrell and lot of other Div. I players), etc. go away to PAC schools because SDSU played in a lower tier conference, no NC, no Rose Bowl, etc.. So on similar thinking, to me ASU should be a powerhouse. Phoenix is huge market itself, CA/TX both close, warm weather obviously, seems to have everything. Of course, just like any CA school, football is not everything like it is in Midwest/South. You have to win.
 
Dsn150 said:
If I were a head coaching candidate, my primary consideration would be where do I want to live-quality of life considerations (esp for wife)-
You’re likely to be fired from any of these within a few years unless you are a generational coach-the assumption being that you have your choice of locations-

Second consideration is where am I most likely to be competitive quickly (how tough is my conference, how soon can I get back to a decent bowl, as mentioned recruiting)- plays into how long I will be at the school-

Third would be administrative structure, fan base- who do I answer to, where does pressure come from? How much pressure will there be to perform early? How long to “build” a program?

Those make the choice not as straight forward- there’s a difference between which university has the best “program” and which has the best coaching “job”-
Click to expand...
Now you're thinking like a professional. Those are the things a coach should consider, and some of them do. If they don't it's the job of the lawyer to advise them of the realities in addition to merely football while the agent handles the financial side

Few of them really pay much attention to quality of life for the family, probably because to a coach every campus is pretty much the same. They work all the time. They don't worry about weather, or a beautiful setting, or whether it's boring to their kids. I've always stressed of life with the coaches I've advised, but it's hard for a coach to see that side of things. Once their kids get old enough to be in high school and are playing sports coaches pay more attention to that and the wives are more inclined to put their foot down. Coaches are more apt to listen then

The president-athletic director-coach situation is vital. The main reason Bob Stoops never considered leaving OU was because he had the same president and AD his entire stay and they left him to do his job and provided him with everything he needed. That's rare. No other school in the country had the same people in those three jobs during the time Stoops was at OU

When it comes to on-field issues, the first requirement to win is to control your state and for you state to have a good local recruiting base. And to have access to one of the few recruiting hot beds in the country. If you have those you have a chance. If not, you better be in conference where none of the other schools have it either

Winning pedigree for the school is nice, but high school recruits don't know what happened 20 years ago and don't care. There is not a recruit in the country who was alive the last time Nebraska won even so much as a conference title so talking to them about what happened in 1980 is like telling them about the civil war. A good coach can use it if it's there, but doesn't need it to win
 
Really wild to me how some years some coaches just get “lucky” by what’s open….

Mel Tucker is a perfect example.

Then there are the mysterious ones….Harsin is a perfect example of “hired to get fired”
Yea I know most coaches this is the situation, but not like that one
 
TahoeLegend said:
Now you're thinking like a professional. Those are the things a coach should consider, and some of them do. If they don't it's the job of the lawyer to advise them of the realities in addition to merely football while the agent handles the financial side

Few of them really pay much attention to quality of life for the family, probably because to a coach every campus is pretty much the same. They work all the time. They don't worry about weather, or a beautiful setting, or whether it's boring to their kids. I've always stressed of life with the coaches I've advised, but it's hard for a coach to see that side of things. Once their kids get old enough to be in high school and are playing sports coaches pay more attention to that and the wives are more inclined to put their foot down. Coaches are more apt to listen then

The president-athletic director-coach situation is vital. The main reason Bob Stoops never considered leaving OU was because he had the same president and AD his entire stay and they left him to do his job and provided him with everything he needed. That's rare. No other school in the country had the same people in those three jobs during the time Stoops was at OU

When it comes to on-field issues, the first requirement to win is to control your state and for you state to have a good local recruiting base. And to have access to one of the few recruiting hot beds in the country. If you have those you have a chance. If not, you better be in conference where none of the other schools have it either

Winning pedigree for the school is nice, but high school recruits don't know what happened 20 years ago and don't care. There is not a recruit in the country who was alive the last time Nebraska won even so much as a conference title so talking to them about what happened in 1980 is like telling them about the civil war. A good coach can use it if it's there, but doesn't need it to win
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With transfers and how they work now, some of the “lower rung” teams will get a kid that likely would star a bit better at a Tulane let’s say. Maybe they go to Colorado or something like that to play P5 teams and use it as an audition of sorts to get up the ladder to a “better” football school
 
I do not understand why everyone is saying that Nebraska is so hard to recruit to when comparing the teams on this list. Obviously depending on your source, these rankings could be different and the one I used only went through 2020 but I am not sure where that sentiment is coming from.


www.sbnation.com

Updated 4-year recruiting rankings for all 130: SEC dominates

UGA’s nearly tied Bama as the SEC’s gap grows. Meanwhile, A&M’s 2019 class ranks sixth-best in the SEC, but would have led two other power conferences.
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com


247sports.com

2022 Recruit Football Team Rankings

In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com 247sports.com

Those were the first three I looked at and no idea if the middle one is worth a damn or what the source for the table was.

I suppose Wisconsin and Nebraska are somewhat close in recent years but they are really not close when it comes to the last 10 years.

There are other important factors as dsn and tahoe mentioned. I wouldn't want to live in Wisconsin or raise my kids in Colorado but that is just me and everyone has their living preferences.

It is just hard for me to accept the concept that Nebraska is the hardest to recruit to of this list when they absolutely demolish every team on this list in recruiting with the exception of Wisconsin recently and I think even in these prime wisconsin recruiting years they have maybe had the best recruiting class between them and the corn once or twice.

I also think Nebraska has some of the best combined year round weather of the grouping (Maybe Georgia Tech is better?) for football season and offseason. But hard to imagine Georgia Tech being a better job than Nebraska.

I do agree that the Nebraska job does come with more pressure. That is generally what comes with the better coaching jobs.
 
I would absolutely love to live in Colorado, but Boulder wouldn't be the place. I could work in Boulder and have a work related residence there, but my home and family could be elsewhere in the state. Colorado is a fantastic place to live.

Arizona would appeal to a lot of people, but the summer heat would be rough.

Some people would like the metro ATL setting - I would not.

I'd be fine with Lincoln or Madison, but would prefer to not live there, but they'd be fine.

I didn't vote, because I really don't know. I would put Colorado last though based on where I think the roster is and the challenge of keeping potential transfers out and getting new transfers in. If Georgia Tech changed their admissions to get more recruits to qualify, I think with the right coach there and based off of the kind of mediocre competition of the ACC, it could have some appeal, but they'd have to change some of the admission and academic criteria. Nebraska and Wisconsin would seems to be pretty equal other than Wisconsin is closer to a win now roster and culture. ASU kind of the wild card, it seems like it has untapped potential, but if nobody can ever tap said potential, does it really exist?
 
s--k said:
I would absolutely love to live in Colorado, but Boulder wouldn't be the place. I could work in Boulder and have a work related residence there, but my home and family could be elsewhere in the state. Colorado is a fantastic place to live.

Arizona would appeal to a lot of people, but the summer heat would be rough.

Some people would like the metro ATL setting - I would not.

I'd be fine with Lincoln or Madison, but would prefer to not live there, but they'd be fine.

I didn't vote, because I really don't know. I would put Colorado last though based on where I think the roster is and the challenge of keeping potential transfers out and getting new transfers in. If Georgia Tech changed their admissions to get more recruits to qualify, I think with the right coach there and based off of the kind of mediocre competition of the ACC, it could have some appeal, but they'd have to change some of the admission and academic criteria. Nebraska and Wisconsin would seems to be pretty equal other than Wisconsin is closer to a win now roster and culture. ASU kind of the wild card, it seems like it has untapped potential, but if nobody can ever tap said potential, does it really exist?
Click to expand...
You don’t like Boulder? I haven’t been everywhere in CO but def feels like the best place to live imo
 
s--k said:
I would absolutely love to live in Colorado, but Boulder wouldn't be the place. I could work in Boulder and have a work related residence there, but my home and family could be elsewhere in the state. Colorado is a fantastic place to live.

Arizona would appeal to a lot of people, but the summer heat would be rough.

Some people would like the metro ATL setting - I would not.

I'd be fine with Lincoln or Madison, but would prefer to not live there, but they'd be fine.

I didn't vote, because I really don't know. I would put Colorado last though based on where I think the roster is and the challenge of keeping potential transfers out and getting new transfers in. If Georgia Tech changed their admissions to get more recruits to qualify, I think with the right coach there and based off of the kind of mediocre competition of the ACC, it could have some appeal, but they'd have to change some of the admission and academic criteria. Nebraska and Wisconsin would seems to be pretty equal other than Wisconsin is closer to a win now roster and culture. ASU kind of the wild card, it seems like it has untapped potential, but if nobody can ever tap said potential, does it really exist?
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Boulder always seems awesome but not if you're trying to build a football program at this point

Very comparable to ASU really, just too much to do in the area to expect people to live, eat, breathe football which is obviously what you want as a building block
 
@survive&advance @KJ
I don't like overly populated areas. I'd live in a one or two red light mountain town. But this is me, I'm not a coach and coaches need and do care about other things than I do.

I was just saying in general, Colorado would be a fantastic place to live if you like outdoor recreation in all seasons of the year. But Colorado is also the most challenging job.
 
s--k said:
@survive&advance @KJ
I don't like overly populated areas. I'd live in a one or two red light mountain town. But this is me, I'm not a coach and coaches need and do care about other things than I do.

I was just saying in general, Colorado would be a fantastic place to live if you like outdoor recreation in all seasons of the year. But Colorado is also the most challenging job.
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Boulder is a suburb of Denver

The skiing would rule the roost if that was where I lived
 
KJ said:
Boulder is a suburb of Denver
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Right. And why I don't like it, but I shouldn't have interjected me into what a college head coach might want. We are very different people. Colorado is just an exceptional place to live. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - few states offer the varied year-round outdoor recreation that CO does. Out of all the states that have P5 jobs open, I feel CO is the best, but the Buffs unfortunately are the worst from a job standpoint.
 
s--k said:
Right. And why I don't like it, but I shouldn't have interjected me into what a college head coach might want. We are very different people. Colorado is just an exceptional place to live. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - few states offer the varied year-round outdoor recreation that CO does. Out of all the states that have P5 jobs open, I feel CO is the best, but the Buffs unfortunately are the worst from a job standpoint.
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You get it...grow up in the Midwest the entire week is looking forward to Saturday. Assume SEC territory is the same.

Then you move somewhere like Colorada (or here, SoCal etc) and you don't even know it's Saturday. There's a reason the P12 doesn't compete well with the other conferences...football is an activity, not an omen.
 
RetroVK said:
I do not understand why everyone is saying that Nebraska is so hard to recruit to when comparing the teams on this list. Obviously depending on your source, these rankings could be different and the one I used only went through 2020 but I am not sure where that sentiment is coming from.


www.sbnation.com

Updated 4-year recruiting rankings for all 130: SEC dominates

UGA’s nearly tied Bama as the SEC’s gap grows. Meanwhile, A&M’s 2019 class ranks sixth-best in the SEC, but would have led two other power conferences.
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com


247sports.com

2022 Recruit Football Team Rankings

In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com 247sports.com

Those were the first three I looked at and no idea if the middle one is worth a damn or what the source for the table was.

I suppose Wisconsin and Nebraska are somewhat close in recent years but they are really not close when it comes to the last 10 years.

There are other important factors as dsn and tahoe mentioned. I wouldn't want to live in Wisconsin or raise my kids in Colorado but that is just me and everyone has their living preferences.

It is just hard for me to accept the concept that Nebraska is the hardest to recruit to of this list when they absolutely demolish every team on this list in recruiting with the exception of Wisconsin recently and I think even in these prime wisconsin recruiting years they have maybe had the best recruiting class between them and the corn once or twice.

I also think Nebraska has some of the best combined year round weather of the grouping (Maybe Georgia Tech is better?) for football season and offseason. But hard to imagine Georgia Tech being a better job than Nebraska.

I do agree that the Nebraska job does come with more pressure. That is generally what comes with the better coaching jobs.
Click to expand...

I tried to make that point, but some people love regurgitating stupid talking points over and over.
 
I will also note that Nebraska has had one coach post Solich who took recruiting as seriously as you need to, which was Callahan. Pelini made multiple conf title games with Callahan's players - Suh, Amukamara, Dennard, Crick, Dillard, etc. Tons of NFL guys if you go look at those classes and Bill was going to have an even better class the year he was fired, led by Blaine Gabbert who was the top pro style QB in the country.
 
cubsker said:
Big overlap between football players and skiing. I should make a venn diagram - kamala would be thrilled.
Click to expand...
All things being equal or not. You obviously feel like Nebraska is the better job, I assume.

Have to have Wisky as a 1A minimum then yes?
 
twinkie13 said:
All things being equal or not. You obviously feel like Nebraska is the better job, I assume.

Have to have Wisky as a 1A minimum then yes?
Click to expand...

One issue Wisconsin coaches have faced is a meddling AD - not sure what Barry's influence is now that he retired. I do think that was at least a part of why Bert left.

I also think there is way more financial support as far as NIL, money for assistants and facilities, etc. at Nebraska.

Would any of these other programs ever beat out Texas for an all conference Big 12 player who is from the state of Texas?
 
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