Well just a day after Florida made on some unaccounts an underwhelming hire by pulling DC Will Muschamp from Texas, Vanderbilt and Miami have made their selections.
First the Commdores: Vandy has hit a homerun in my view by luring Auburn OC Gus Malzhan as its new head coach. Malzhan will have his hands full in the worst program in the SEC but make no mistake Malzhan will do some good things at Vandy. First of all, he will establish an offense that SEC teams will not see everyday and cause coaching headaches. A gimmick offense is perfect for teams that struggle getting premiere talent to their schools. Just look at the success Paul Johnson has been able to do with an under talented Georgia Tech team. In just his second season he led the Yellow Jackets to a ACC title with a recruitng class that did not rank over #45 nationally over the previous two season.
Reports are that Vandy will pay up to $3 million a year but sources at Vandy have confirmed to me that the pay will actually be around $1.85 million a year with a pile of incentatives that could reach $3 million. However, at a school like Vandy you would have to think these incentatives would be tough to reach.
Miami hired Al Golden today as its coach. Now let’s get this out front. Golden is a fine football coach, and has done great work to bring Temple back to some form of respectability. But, it’s a sad day when this is the best Miami can do. The facts are that this program is in horrendous shape. Fan support is among the worse for any FBS team (attendance at the season finale was only 26,000), the facilities haven’t been upgraded in nearly three decades, and the clear lack of committment by University of Miami President Donna Shalalah is keeping many of the top names away. Al Golden may do a fine job at Miami but it’s sad when this is the best a once proud program can do.
I am a little surprised that even Golden took this gig. He played at Penn State and many expected he was in line to take the head job whenever Joe Paterno decides to hang it up. However, this move virtually assures that the gig will fall to Penn State DC Tom Bradley who has done a fantastic job in his long tenure at Penn State and will get a shot well deserved.
With regards to the Gators and new head coach Will Muschamp, it appears Texas RB coach Major Applewhite is set to be tapped as the Gators new offensive coordinator. Applewhite has been OC before in a very unsuccessful one year stint with Nick Saban at Alabama back in 2007. If Applewhite is indeed the guy this a very risky for one for a first time head coach in Muschamp. It was believed last night that the Muschamp was at Oklahoma State OC Dana Holgorsen, which would have been a home run. However, all signs as of this hour point to Holgorsen replacing Dave Wannstedt at Pittsburgh.
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