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

[Mizzougrad96]

I'm guessing Notre Dame will occupy several spots on this top 10 list.

Ron Zook at Florida

John Blake at Oklahoma

Dan Hawkins at Colorado

Gerry Faust at Notre Dame

Ty Willingham at Notre Dame

Charlie Weis at Notre Dame

Ray Goff at Georgia

I'm sure there are a ton I'm forgetting...

Thoughts...

 

[Dick Whitman]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

Outstanding point. The same can be said about Hawkins.

So Zook and Faust go to the top of the list.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Mike DuBose at Alabama: Was a terrible in-game coach, couldn't manage a staff and got them hit with major NCAA sanctions within four years.

Dennis Franchione at Texas A&M probably falls into the category **** was talking about.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

Outstanding point. The same can be said about Hawkins.

So Zook and Faust go to the top of the list.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too.

 

[Bubbler]

Don Morton at Wisconsin. The reason Wisconsin needed a Barry Alvarez was because of Don Morton.

The Badgers were on a nice track when Dave McClain died of cancer in the mid 80s. Wisconsin hired Morton and his vaunted veer offense, and within two years, the Badgers were a 1-10 laughing stock playing in front of 40,000 at Camp Randall Stadium.

****abuncha Don Morton.

Stan Parrish, who has taken a Ball State team on the fringe of BCS recognition a few years back to total mediocrity, is rising fast on my list.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

If I remember correctly when Florida hired Zook to replace Spurrier, they went after Mike Shanahan and Bob Stoops before picking Zook.

I don't know if that's worse than picking a high school coach to lead the most famous football program in the country, but it might be a close second.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Paul Hackett at Pitt.

Foge Fazio at Pitt.

Johnny Majors Part II at Pitt.

Keith Gilbertson at Washington.

Greg Robinson at Syracuse.

John Mackovic at Texas and Arizona.

Wlat Harris at Stanford

 

[Steak Snabler]

How could I forget this guy?:

 

[TrooperBari]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

If that's the case, what about Bill Callahan at Nebraska? Changing a program's approach -- not just tactically but organizationally -- so suddenly was a big ask for a man whose track record as a head coach was, at best, mixed.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

If that's the case, what about Bill Callahan at Nebraska? Changing a program's approach -- not just tactically but organizationally -- so suddenly was a big ask for a man whose track record as a head coach was, at best, mixed.

That's a really good call.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

How could I forget this guy?:

YAW YAW YAW YAW GOOD PULL

 

[Armchair_QB]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

Blake was in no way, shape or form a good hire at the time. The guy had never been a coordinator up to that point and the only reason Switzer recommended him to OU was to get him off his staff in Dallas without having to fire him.

 

[TrooperBari]

I'd rather approach it like poker: Decisions, not results. For example, Faust was a bad hire for Notre Dame. But Willingham and Weis were good hires at the time they were made that didn't work out. Same with Blake at OU.

Blake was in no way, shape or form a good hire at the time. The guy had never been a coordinator up to that point and the only reason Switzer recommended him to OU was to get him off his staff in Dallas without having to fire him.

Is that the same John Blake who in 2007 told Ndamukong Suh he had reached his peak as a defensive lineman? I can't remember if that was Blake or Callahan.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I remember listening to Tirico on the radio a couple years back and he called John Blake "the best assistant coach in the country" and all but cried racism when he said it was such a travesty that he never got a second shot at being a head coach.

I remember meeting a coach who was an assistant under Stoops at OU and he just went off on all the stuff Blake did and how he tried to sabotage the program after he got canned. It was amazing stuff.

 

[Small Town Guy]

How about one of the most recent ones. Tim Brewster. Tight ends coach for the Broncos, to Big Ten coach, despite the fact he hadn't even been a coordinator before. Yes, it's the Gophers, but still, it is a Big Ten job.

As for Blake, if anyone's read Skip Bayless's book Hell-Bent, Blake's departure from the Cowboys before the end of the 1995 season is all but credited with being the spark that brought them to the Super Bowl. Blake told Bayless that he heard Aikman call Kevin Williams the n-word. Aikman obviously did not take kindly to the accusation.

 

[hondo]

Mark Duffner at Maryland.

Bill Lewis at Georgia Tech.

Eventually, we will be able to list Lane Kiffin for Tennessee and USC.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

How about one of the most recent ones. Tim Brewster. Tight ends coach for the Broncos, to Big Ten coach, despite the fact he hadn't even been a coordinator before. Yes, it's the Gophers, but still, it is a Big Ten job.

As for Blake, if anyone's read Skip Bayless's book Hell-Bent, Blake's departure from the Cowboys before the end of the 1995 season is all but credited with being the spark that brought them to the Super Bowl. Blake told Bayless that he heard Aikman call Kevin Williams the n-word. Aikman obviously did not take kindly to the accusation.

Blake was also accused of spreading the Aikman is gay rumor.

 

[BadgerBeer]

Don Morton at Wisconsin. The reason Wisconsin needed a Barry Alvarez was because of Don Morton.

The Badgers were on a nice track when Dave McClain died of cancer in the mid 80s. Wisconsin hired Morton and his vaunted veer offense, and within two years, the Badgers were a 1-10 laughing stock playing in front of 40,000 at Camp Randall Stadium.

****abuncha Don Morton.

Stan Parrish, who has taken a Ball State team on the fringe of BCS recognition a few years back to total mediocrity, is rising fast on my list.

This should be called the "Don Morton" award. Terrible hire. One note, McClain died of a heart attack on a treadmill. I was a Sr at Madison and I remember that day very well.

 

[mpcincal]

Paul Hackett at Pitt.

John Mackovic at Texas and Arizona.

How about Paul Hackett at USC. The Trojans actually had his tenure at Pitt to look back on and still hired him. IIRC, at least when Pitt tabbed him he was still considered to have some potential, to the point where I remember reading an SI writer saying a couple years earlier when he was a 49ers assistant that he was a good bet to be a successful head coach.

Mackovic (at Arizona more than Texas) is a prime example for this thread. I didn't know what they were thinking in Tucson when I heard about that hire.