Who are the worst college football hires of the last 30 years?

Elliott Uzelac, anywhere.
John Gutekunst, Minne.... wait. Not fair. I liked Gutekunst and no one can win at Minnesota.

 

Gutie is now an assistant at Columbia, under a former player of his, Norries Wilson. It's Gutekunst's first year and Columbia's now 3-2. Coincidence?

Homecoming this weekend. I'll make the one-minute walk to hear the Lions roar.

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you ...

Watson Brown, Mack Brown's older brother.

Began his career with two decent seasons at Austin Peay (14-8), then on to Cincy (4-6-1), Rice (4-18), Vanderbilt (10-45; 4-29 SEC), then founding coach at UAB (62-74) and now basically back where he started, at Tennessee Tech (16-25). The guy is 110–176–1 in 26 seasons with 6 winning seasons. Take away the Peay job and he's had four winning records in his last 24 seasons as a coach. Ghastly.

 

Which is why it seems rather silly to mention Gill here after six games in Lawrence. I mean, KU did beat Georgia Tech, so it hasn't all been embarrassing.

Taking over a program that lost its most prolific quarterback, starts a freshmen backfield, freshmen receivers, a patching offensive line, lost its entire linebacker corps due to injury before the season began ... it would probably be best to reserve judgment a year or two down the line, as opposed to six games.

 

Glad to see someone remembered the sucktitude that was Brian Knorr. Smashed a good thing God, er, Grobe built up in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a bunch of other I-A's at a perennial loser.

 

In Brown's defense those were - and most still are - ghastly programs when he took those jobs. I give the guy credit for being willing to take on some of these jobs.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure what you expected Kiffin to do in one year there, coming off a 5-6 season and with a pretty outmanned team in the SEC. If we're looking at the decision, I don't see where it's that bad of one. UT's AD sees a young, offensive-minded coach with good recruiting ties who will also bring in his legendary dad to coach the defense. And in his one year there, he was already starting to build up a hell of a recruiting class.

And, while you say he didn't do much, he did win 7 games, nearly beat Bama and got into a decent bowl game. That's a good deal better than 2008, so it could easily be argued he made solid progress.

 

One of Croom's biggest problems was his honesty. He was fond of saying how much his players sucked.
You can get away with that for a year or two, with the players you inherit. On some level it's actually refreshing to hear a coach who doesn't sugarcoat anything. By year three, though, he's got a few of his own recruiting classes on campus and it rightfully gets thrown back on him.
If they suck so bad, why did he recruit them? Why isn't his coaching making them better? I think Mississippi State people got tired of hearing how much the team stunk, and saw that it was probably going to become a self-perpetuating cycle as long as he was there.

 

Anyone who hires Watson Brown is just desperate. I mean, if your program is in shambles, why hire someone like Brown? He has proven nothing more than he can continue your progression downward.

 

The only slight correction, Brown went to UAB to lead the program to Division I. There was a founding coach during their D-III seasons.

Anybody remember when Watson and Mack were called the Lose Brothers?

 

When four of your most recent coaching hires are all on this list, maybe - just maybe - it's the school that's the problem and not the coaches? The problem at Eastern Michigan include lack of resources, lack of will, lack of commitment, complete lack of community and student interest, and ridiculous micromanaging by the regents (like forcing Genyk to scholarship one of their kids). It is Exhibit 1A of a school that should not be playing D1 football imo.