Vandy’s Search – Predictably – Turning To Coordinators And Assistants
December 6th, 2010 10:01 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink
║ Schools: Vanderbilt
Tags: Former Miami, Greg Roman, Gus Malzahn, James Franklin
The idea of landing a hot name in coaching circles — like Temple’s Al Golden — briefly excited Vanderbilt fans last week. Alas, Golden was apparently less enthused about the prospect of having to resurrect Lazarus for a second time. Would you want to rebuild Temple only to be rewarded with the tougher challenge of rebuilding Vandy… in the SEC?
So now assistant coaches are bubbling to the top of Vandy coaching pot. Just as we expected.
1. Vandy has a tradition of losing.
2. Vandy plays in the toughest league in America.
3. Vandy has horrible facilities.
4. Vandy’s football budget lags behind those of Stanford, Northwestern and Duke.
It should be no surprise then that the newest names on Vandy’s list are Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin and Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. Assistants looking for a first-time gig — and a million-dollar paycheck — might be lured to Nashville. Proven candidates likely will not.
ESPN’s Bruce Feldman tweeted this weekend that Watson was “slated to interview for the Vandy job” yesterday. Nebraska lost 23-20 to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday night.
According to HuskerExtra.com, Bo Pelini was asked about Watson’s job opportunities just a few weeks ago. “He’s had opportunities at some other jobs in the last couple years that he didn’t feel were the right opportunities or right places. He didn’t even give them any consideration.”
Feldman also tweeted that Franklin might be a candidate. Franklin is Maryland’s coach-in-waiting under Ralph Friedgen. The Washington Post reports that Franklin is due $1 million if he is not named the Terps head coach by January of 2012. He is not believed to be a serious candidate for the VU job.
The Post also says that Temple’s Golden remains atop the Commodores’ wish list though several sources have already said that he is not interested.
Vanderbilt has already interviewed Stanford offensive coordinator Greg Roman. The two parties got together Friday in Atlanta according to The Tennessean.
There are several other names that have been connected to the Vandy job:
1. Former Miami coach Randy Shannon
2. Former Miami and current Texas-San Antonio coach Larry Coker
3. Tulsa head coach Todd Graham
4. Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst
5. Former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden
And three candidates for the vacant job at Indiana are also believed to be in the running at Vandy:
1. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson
2. Michigan State offensive coordinator Don Treadwell
3. Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren
The Tennessean reported Friday that Vandy is still interested in interviewing Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster and Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun, too.
Uh, yeah.
So Vandy’s next coach will either be:
Al Golden or James Franklin or Shawn Watson or Greg Roman or Randy Shannon or Larry Coker or Todd Graham or Paul Chryst or Tommy Bowden or Kevin Wilson or Don Treadwell or Dave Doeren or Gus Malzahn or Bud Foster or Troy Calhoun.
Or not.
Either a) Vanderbilt is putting out a big smokescreen of disinformation over their search process or b) the Commodores are casting a very wide net in the hopes of finding anyone who might actually be interested in taking their job.
Judging by the school’s plan to interview 10 candidates before moving to a second round or interviews, it looks like b is the answer.
Mr. SEC,
You are obviously right about a number of things on this list: Vandy needs better facilities, they'll have to pay out to get a coach, etc. And I think a number of the names you're talking about are also legitimate candidates.
And also to be fair to you, you're covering 12 programs and not one, so nobody expects you to be spot-on in all your analysis of one particular program.
It's when you make comments like "the search is predictably turning to assistants and coordinators," or the seeming out-of-hand dismissal of candidates like Foster, Malzahn and Calhoun, that makes your article seem a bit slanted. Maybe you didn't mean it, but that's how it comes off.
Could you be right in the end, and Vandy gets an assistant who's not a high-profile candidate? Absolutely. But it's certainly premature to make some of the assumptions you're making, when they may well hit a home-run with this thing, yet.
Peace.
Casey from Nebraska - How wrong can you be? Watson is genious! Any team, let alone Vanderbilt would be honored to be lead by Shawn. I think if Vandy has a chance they should hire him - immediately! Don't wait! Act now before he gets away! If you don't hire him we'll -err- I mean "you" - will regret it!
Shawn Watson is not and has never been a candidate for the Vanderbilt job. He didn't withdraw his name from consideration, it was never in consideration.
He interviewed Sunday!
It's just your focus on the negative makes your commentary hard to read IMO. You could list positives like:
1. It's the only job opening in the best football conference in the country. (A big deal if you are part of the defunct and/or declining conferences out west).
2. Nashville is a great city in which to live and work.
3. Vanderbilt wins with integrity in other sports.
4. VU's last coach was given plenty of time to get his program going and left of his own accord. (Saban and Meyer won't get 9 years- book it).
5. The job pays better than 99% of other coaching jobs in the country. I'm including the whole fraternity of paid football coaches.
If Vanderbilt hires a "proven candidate", I will look forward to your comments.
Jack Green...
I didn't say that Vanderbilt had offered anyone. Instead of folks having to go to 15 websites and 30 Twitter feeds, I condensed the information into one post. Don't like it, find another site -- or better yet the other 15 and 30 Twitter feeds. I'm glad you're in the "know" about Vandy. You'd be amazed how many "in the know" people I hear from on a regular basis and they usually don't know what the hell they're talking about.
John
This is Mike Rapp with VandySports.com. We are covering the coaching search 24/7.
All I'd like to tell you is, the degree to which you are off target is impossible to say in this short of space. If you want to make fun of and belittle Vanderbilt, fine, do it as a column like the other football factory shills. But when you act as if you are reporting things, some people might actually make the mistake of assuming you know what you are talking about. That is concerning to any real journalist.
JMHO.
Mike Rapp,
I've written since the firing of Caldwell that Vandy will have to prove it will spend money if it's to land a proven candidate. I stand by that 100 percent. Yesterday, I listed those reasons again. Period.
If you read this site, you know that I've repeatedly defended Vanderbilt anytime some cheap shot is thrown out (ie: they should be tossed from the conference.) I've said that Vandy was competitive under Johnson and that they're A-OK in all other sports.
Now, for someone who "reports" on a messageboard -- yeah, I've been to your site and linked to it -- to explain "journalism" to me is pretty rich. I don't think a "journalist" gets his panties in a wad when someone writes about his favy-wavy school. Maybe someone needs to talk to you about "objectivity." You read my article and got mad -- and then made a plug for your website.
What I've written is what everyone else has written: Vandy is planning to talk to 10 different candidates. Right now, there are either smokescreens being thrown around or the Commodores are casting a huge net.
This piece was simply a Monday morning "here's what everybody's saying" note for our readers. Our goal it to make sure they don't have to go to 15 websites to find every Vandy rumor -- and every other school's rumors.
But thanks for your pomposity.
John
"Everyone else has written"....that's creative. I think Rapp takes things personally from the writer stand point, not Vanderbilt in general.
John,
What you wrote is what some people have written, but clearly not the people who are covering the coaching search as insiders. I "plugged" VandySports.com because, like it or not, we are one of the few media outlets that are covering it by actually calling sources and getting actual information on and off the record.
If you are a Vanderbilt fan and are interested in this story, then you probably would get more, better, and certainly more accurate information if you subscribed to VandySports.com. You don't need to troll "15 websites" to find "every Vandy rumor," unless you prefer rumor to fact.
Jack Green...
I didn't link to him. I didn't take from him, either. That's his whole point. If you want to buy your way into his messageboard and read real "journalism" from a Vandy fan, be my guest.
I linked you to information that's out there. If you don't want to know what other people are saying, then don't come to this site. We try to provide you information from across the web. And unlike most sites, we provide links and attribution.
Don't you dare to suggest we steal information.
I spend hours trying to bring people info and keep them updated on the SEC and there are never any thanks. Just smart alecks punks who complain.
John
Seriously, you have no clue as to what Vanderbilt is doing right now and no one has been offered the job yet. Al Golden hadn't even gotten to the stage of being offered an INTERVIEW yet before some in the media started reporting his "lack of interest", so please come off the typical SEC journalism slant of "might actually be interested in taking their job". Those in the real know, know that Golden has a jerky agent that's asking for things that would rival Nick Saban, something a career 2-24 vs. team's with winning records, does not deserve. No matter how crappy the Temple job is. Try to represent the actual full 12 teams in the conference well if you want to be "Mr.SEC.com". Otherwise, you are "Mr.11plus1.com". This kind of "journalism" is boring and hardly well thought out.
Hello from Nebraska. Do not look for Vanderbilt to improve one bit if Watson is named the next head coach. This guy has been great hanging around and collecting paychecks while waiting for a job offer from another school. He is ready to leave Nebraska before a sound offense has even been put in place. I have been patient and understanding as a fan; however, I have seen better offensive output from schools using their third string QB's . This offensive story at Nebraska is getting old. I could go on and on but I won't. You don't need to know about Nebraska's troubles. If you are from Vandy, start the no Watson protests now.
no let him leave! less trouble for us!
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