Tag: Lane Kiffin

5 Instant Impact New Head Coaches: 20 For 2020 College Football Topics, No. 16

The five new head coaches who’ll rock right away this season. 20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 16

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20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 16: The five new head coaches who’ll rock right away this season.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

24 college football teams are starting the season with a new full-time head coach.

It’s an interesting group with 12 first time FBS head men, a few retreads getting another shot (Brady Hoke at San Diego State and Karl Dorrell at Colorado), and a few brand-name upgrades (Mike Leach at Mississippi State and Steve Addazio at Colorado State).

Which five might just turn around their respective programs right away?

Who doesn’t make this list? Coaches inheriting heaters (Shawn Clark at Appalachian State and Ryan Silverfield at Memphis) and coaches who aren’t likely to make the team better than it was last year (Dave Aranda at Baylor and Willie Taggart at Florida Atlantic).

We did a decent job with last year’s 5 Instant Impact New Head Coaches, and these five have a whole lot to live up to in their new gigs.

The five new coaches about to make the biggest instant impact are …

5. Danny Gonzalez, New Mexico

It’s been a rough run for New Mexico football.

Rocky Long was able to make the program a regular on the bowl circuit with five post-season appearances in six years in the 2000s, and then came one bad year in 2008. That was it for Long, the program was stale, it couldn’t make that next step, and …

Long made San Diego State a Mountain West powerhouse.

Meanwhile, Mike Locksley had a miserable run, Bob Davie went to two bowls in eight years – going 8-28 in his final three seasons – and it’s up to new head man Danny Gonzalez to try reviving his alma mater.

Getting Long to help the cause is terrific, too.

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Long returns to Albuquerque as the Lobo’s defensive coordinator under the 44-year-old former defensive back/punter/jack-of-all-trades, but they both have a whole lot of work to do.

You’re not going to have New Mexico football to push around anymore … eventually.

The team will need the positive injury-luck on offense it hasn’t had over the last few seasons, it needs to improve on the nation’s worst pass defenses, and it has to be a whole lot better than the second-worst overall D in America.

He’s bringing a nastiness to the defense, a no-excuses attitude, and he’s bringing a whole lot of talent.

And he’s bringing back Rocky Long, too.

There might not be a Mountain West title right away, but with Idaho State, New Mexico State and UMass on the slate, beating last year’s win total shouldn’t be a problem.

With this coaching staff, New Mexico might just win more than five games, not just five weeks of off-season practices.

NEXT: Oh this will be fun …

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Happy Valentine’s Day: 5 Reasons Why You Will Love The 2020 College Football Season

Happy Valentine’s Day. Here are 5 reasons why you’ll love the 2020 college football season.  

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Happy Valentine’s Day. Here are 5 reasons why you’ll love the 2020 college football season.  

Contact/follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

5. The most interesting college football in 2020 will be played in … Mississippi?

And you thought the end of the 2019 Egg Bowl was a whole lot of fun.

A wild finish with a player pretending to pee like a dog, a missed extra point to miss out on overtime, and one of the most intense games of the season – a 21-20 MSU win – was nothing compared to what’s coming on a weekly basis.

Ole Miss fired head coach Matt Luke, landed Lane Kiffin – an under-appreciated talent as a head man – and away we go.

All aboard the Lane Train.

No one knows how to poke the bear better than Kiffin. He’s going to rally up the base, he’s going to recruit at a high enough level to be a problem, and he’ll get under the skin of the rest of the SEC head coaches.

And he’s going to win a whole lot of games, too.

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Mississippi State had a good head coach in Joe Moorhead.

Even though it never got rolling in his two years in Starkville, Moorhead’s offenses are normally amazing, he was just getting his pieces in place, he went to two bowl games in two years, and … he wasn’t Lane Kiffin.

So Mississippi State got the one guy with the type of differentiating factor of an offense to annoy every SEC defensive coordinator.

Granted, LSU and Alabama haven’t had a whole lot of problems lately getting the O going, and it’s not like Leach’s teams have ever done anything all that amazing, but this is different.

Leach has never been a head coach with these resources and this ability to pull in the talent – his 2020 class, which he had almost nothing to do with, was his highest-ranked recruiting haul in 18 years as a head coach.

Leach is going to be Leach, and Mississippi State is going to be Washington State/Texas Tech.

Kiffin is going to be Kiffin, and Ole Miss is going to be a weekly problem to deal with.

And football in Mississippi is about to add even more spice to an already amazing SEC West.

Buuuuuuuut ….

NEXT: No. The most interesting college football in 2020 will be played in … the Big Ten?

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Pete Carroll’s son is a candidate for Hawaii head coaching job

Brennan Carroll, a longtime Seattle Seahawks assistant and son of head coach Pete Carroll, is a candidate to be Hawaii’s next head coach.

Seattle Seahawks assistant offensive line coach Brennan Carroll, son of head coach Pete Carroll, has emerged as a candidate for Hawaii’s head coaching vacancy, according to Fox Sports reporter Bruce Feldman.

Hawaii is in need of a new head coach after Nick Rolovich replaced Mike Leach at Washington State University, after Leach left for Mississippi State.

Carroll played tight end at the University of Pittsburgh from 1999-2001 before joining USC as a Graduate Assistant in 2002, under his dad.

Carroll ended up serving a variety of different roles while at USC, including tight end coach and eventually recruiting coordinator, before he was let go by new coach Lane Kiffin, who came in to replace Pete Carroll after he went to Seattle.

Carroll then spent four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Miami, coaching tight ends and wide receivers while also leading the recruiting charge, before he joined the Seahawks in 2015 as an assistant offensive line coach, a role he still holds today – for now.

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The arrivals of Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin in Mississippi just made the Egg Bowl a must-watch rivalry

Mike Leach is taking over at Mississippi State, and Ole Miss recently hired Lane Kiffin.

Mike Leach is leaving Washington State to take over as head coach for Mississippi State, USA TODAY Sports confirmed Thursday. This is huge news for the 58-year-old coach who’s famous for his air raid offense and is approaching two decades as a head coach.

Leach had been with the Cougars since the 2012 season after getting his first head coaching job in college at Texas Tech and spending 10 years with the Red Raiders.

After a 6-7 2019 season, the Bulldogs fired Joe Moorhead Friday at the end of his second season with the program. Mississippi State lost in the Music City Bowl to Louisville in December.

Leach taking over means the SEC has yet another big-personality coach in the conference, particularly the SEC West. But while the always blunt and often entertaining coach joins Alabama’s Nick Saban and LSU’s Ed Orgeron in that category, perhaps the most entertaining aspect of this news involves the program’s rivalry with Ole Miss, which recently hired Lane Kiffin.

The Egg Bowl rivalry game between the two teams is often wildly entertaining, sometimes regardless of the score. And even the most recent on in November ended in absurd fashion with a last-second touchdown, a penalty for a player mimicking a dog urinating on the field and a devastating missed extra point. A dog urinating moment also occurred in the 2017 matchup too.

So how could a game with a history of ridiculousness get even better? Pitting Leach against Kiffin is a great start. So mark your calendar because the first Egg Bowl with these two coaches is November 26, 2020.

College football Twitter is rightfully pumped about this new element of the rivalry with Leach’s arrival at Mississippi State, and that even includes the former Alabama assistant and FAU coach.

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D.J. Durkin doesn’t deserve a second chance in college football

Ole Miss has hired the former Maryland coach, D.J. Durkin, who oversaw the program when 19-year-old Jordan McNair died due to heatstroke.

On Thursday, Ole Miss announced it was hiring D.J. Durkin, the former Maryland coach, to be an assistant under new head coach Lane Kiffin.

It’s a shocking decision from Kiffin and Ole Miss AD Keith Carter. Durkin was the head coach of Maryland when lineman Jordan McNair, 19, died due to complications from heatstroke during a team workout.

McNair’s death was a horrifying — and completely preventable — tragedy, and while Durkin never faced charges over his death, the event did eventually cost him his job shine a light on the program Durkin was running at Maryland. An investigation revealed that Durkin had shown graphic videos during team meals as a motivational tactic.

From the report:

According to Gus Little, this included videos of serial killers, drills entering eyeballs, and bloody scenes with animals eating animals.

Members of Durkin’s staff were alleged to use abusive speech against players, including homophobic slurs. Every bit of the investigation showed something clear: Durkin had overseen an unsafe environment for young people, and a young person died under his watch.

That should be the end of it. That has to be the end of the discussion for Ole Miss.

Durkin had a chance to run a football program, and he failed. Not just in wins and losses, but in the very first thing anyone running a college program must be responsible for: The safety of the young people in the program.

My old colleague Alex Kirshner put this well: Durkin can find work doing just about anything in this country. But he should not be overseeing young people in any capacity.

Ole Miss AD Keith Carter put out a statement after the hire was made, suggesting that he’d done his due diligence and talked to plenty of people before OK’ing the hire.

From the statement:

 “We received consistently strong feedback about Coach Durkin’s strong character and work ethic and his positive impact on the communities and institutions where he was previously employed. Once we had the chance to spend time with coach Durkin, we were even more convinced that he is exactly the type of accomplished coach with strong football credentials who is also a proud and committed family man that will make him a great addition to our new staff.”

What I am willing to bet: Carter didn’t talk to the family of Jordan McNair. I’m guessing he didn’t talk to any of the former players who said Durkin had created a toxic environment at Maryland.

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Ole Miss has been put through the ringer recently by the NCAA, and many in Ole Miss land have felt wounded by the NCAA enforcement team’s investigation into the school that lasted years and years.

This has resulted in a defiant attitude from many in and around the university. They may see the hiring of Durkin as another push back against the organization/the world at large, a loud “eff you” to the powers that be.

But AD Keith Carter needs to know better. Lane Kiffin needs to know better. This isn’t thumbing your nose at the NCAA and the rest of college football. This is thumbing your nose at the family of Jordan McNair, and putting football over common sense.

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Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl: SMU vs. Florida Atlantic odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Saturday’s Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl betting odds between the SMU Mustangs and FAU Owls, with betting picks and tips.

The SMU Mustangs (10-2, 6-2 AAC West) and Florida Atlantic Owls (10-3, 8-1 C-USA East) square off in the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday. We analyze the SMU-FAU odds and betting lines, while providing college football betting tips and advice on this matchup.

SMU vs. FAU: Three things you need to know

1. While the Owls are technically listed as the ‘away’ team, they’ll be playing on their home field on their own campus. FAU went 5-1 straight up and 4-2 against the spread at home, including 3-0 SU/ATS in the final three outings.

2. The Mustangs went 2-2 SU in their final four games, and 1-4 ATS in the final five regular-season games, although they won and covered in their season finale against Tulane, a bowl team.

3. SMU ranks ninth in the country with 495.3 total yards per game, 12th in passing yards per game (309.3) and seventh in points (43.0) per contest. Defensively, the Mustangs allowed 31.8 PPG to rank 100th in the country.

College football season is almost over! Place your bets on this game, or others, at BetMGM now. Place your bets and win, win, win!

SMU vs. FAU: Odds, betting lines and picks

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 7:05 a.m. ET.

Prediction

FAU 40, SMU 36

Moneyline (ML)

FAU (+125) is listed as a short dog at home. The Owls are an attractive play because they’re on their home field, as well as the fact they’re 3-0 all-time in bowl games.

Against the Spread (ATS)

FAU (+3.5, -121) is catching three and a hook at home, making it an attractive play. While SMU (-3.5, +100) can sling it on offense, it’s poor defensively, and the Owls have plenty of talent to pile up the points. They will be playing their first game since head coach Lane Kiffin bolted for Ole Miss, but the Owls were focused in the Conference USA Championship game despite the rumors swirling, and they’ll be focused with interim coach Glenn Spencer at the helm before Willie Taggart takes over.

Over/Under (O/U)

The OVER 69.5 (-110) is worth a roll of the dice. In SMU’s past six against non-conference teams, the Over is a perfect 6-0. The Over is 9-3 in the past 12 overall, and 6-2 in the Mustangs’ past eight as a favorite. The Over is 5-1-1 in FAU’s past seven as a dog, too.

Get some action on this game or others, place a bet with BetMGM today. And for more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Ranking the 12 biggest changes in sports in 2019

A new era of NFL quarterbacks, juiced baseballs and the resurgent Lakers top Touchdown Wire’s list of the 12 biggest changes in sports.

For the better part of the past decade, Tom Brady and Drew Brees were the NFL’s two top quarterbacks. But that’s no longer true.

Brady and Brees are still great. But they’ve got company at the top of the mountain with the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen emerging as the next generation of great quarterbacks. That’s a major change in the NFL landscape.

Change is inevitable in the world of sports. In 2019, there have been myriad significant changes in sports, and we’re not just talking about the changing of the guard at quarterback in the NFL.

We’re talking about things such as big-name coaches landing in new places, NBA teams rising and falling, a first-time champion in men’s NCAA basketball, allegations of a juiced baseball and new looks with new uniforms.

Those are just a few of the changes that took place this year. Let’s examine the 12 most significant changes in the sports world in 2019.

12. The spread of legalized sports gambling

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

For years, betting on sports was illegal in the United States, with the exception of Nevada. Otherwise gamblers had to turn to offshore and online gambling or bet with illegal bookies. But all that has changed recently. Sports gambling now is legal in Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia in addition to Nevada. Gambling also has been legalized, pending launch, in several other states with legislation pending in approximately 20 other states. Only a handful of states have taken no action toward legalizing sports gambling.

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Lane Kiffin compares Nick Saban to his dad, ‘Shawshank Redemption’ character

Lane Kiffin also weighed in on Urban Meyer’s future.

After three seasons with Florida Atlantic, Lane Kiffin is back in the SEC after recently taking the Ole Miss head coach job. As a guest on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday, Kiffin said he didn’t miss coaching in the SEC every day, but he did when he saw big matchups or the conference title game.

Leaving FAU, he said, was about regularly facing the best players and coaches in the country, and he’ll have a chance to do that now in the SEC West, which includes LSU, Auburn and his former team, Alabama. Without going into details, he said he had other options, but Ole Miss was the right fit.

“I was at Alabama for three years, and we lost two regular-season games and both were to Ole Miss,” Kiffin told Dan Patrick. “So I got to see what the place looked like when it was rolling. So it’s not like going to a place that you’ve gotta do something that’s never been done before.”

Nick Saban hadn’t reached out by that point, Kiffin said, but he received a message through someone that the Alabama coach is happy for him and said it was well-deserved. And now the two will go up against each other annually, first with Ole Miss hosting the Crimson Tide in October 2020.

When Patrick asked Kiffin how long he thinks 68-year-old Saban will continue coaching, the former Alabama offensive coordinator said:

“I think a long time. I do. I mean, what else are you going to do? … He does golf, but he’s miserable. And I mean that in a way — it’s why he’s so good. He is singularly focused on the University of Alabama and football at Alabama, every minute of every day — even if he’s golfing, even if he’s on a boat. He’s got his recruiting calls to make every night, whether it’s Christmas or whatever it is. It doesn’t matter. Every day is the same, and that’s why he’s so good. So I don’t know how he could retire.

“I think my dad’s like that. My dad’s turning 80 this year and still coaching for us, walking around the field, meeting players, helping young coaches. So there are certain people like that I call, like, prisoners. They can’t go in the real world, like Shawshank Redemption. When Brooks [Hatlen] goes in the real world, he can’t do it. He’s like, ‘Wait, I need to be in prison.’ You know? So they come back.”

Kiffin also weighed in on whether or not former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer will return to coaching after walking away at the end of the 2018 season. The latest rumors about Meyer is that Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys are interested in him replacing Jason Garrett, who is still the 6-7 team’s coach.

“I do,” Kiffin said when Patrick asked if he thinks Meyer will coach again. He continued:

“And that’s not from anything Urban has said to me so I don’t want some rumor mill [starting]. … Maybe [in the NFL]? He seems more of a college fit just because of his ability to recruit, but maybe if he wants to have a little than in college because college is yearlong. The NFL nowadays, coaches work half a year because of the NFLPA and the agreements [they’ve made]. You know, a lot of these staffs are one week on, one week off in the offseason, which they don’t have in college.”

Here’s Kiffin’s full interview on The Dan Patrick Show:

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