AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 17
Monday, December 17, 2007
Les Miles will have a Merry Christmas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Things we learned, and things we still don’t know after the weekend:
1. Les Miles is going to have a Merry Christmas: Nobody wanted Michigan to hire a new coach more than the current coach at LSU. Because if the Wolverines, who wanted Miles, had not gotten a coach in place by Christmas, the Michigan rumors would have dogged Miles throughout the preparations for the national championship game. THAT would have been the story in New Orleans, not the fact that LSU was playing for the national title.
2. What if West Virginia had beaten Pittsburgh? One of the reasons West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez turned down Alabama last year, I strongly believe, was that he knew his 2007 Mountaineer team was good enough to play for the national championship. If West Virginia beats Pittsburgh on Dec. 1, the Mountaineers would be in the big game right now. Would Coach Rod have been willing to turn down Michigan if that had happened? Michigan fans should be thrilled. Rodriguez will recruit speed and force the rest of the Big Ten to do so as well. This is a great hire for Michigan.
3. Can Cutcliffe be successful at Duke? David Cutcliffe, the offensive coordinator at Tennessee really wanted the job at Georgia Tech but could not get an interview. He is convinced that he has learned a lot since his tenure at Ole Miss ended and will be able to apply those lessons at Duke. The Duke administration has promised to give him some help in terms of facilities and with the admissions process. If Duke wants to be competitive in football, they need to help this guy more than they helped Ted Roof. Speaking of Roof, if somebody needs a good defensive coordinator then call this guy. He wants to coach next season.
4. Phillip Fulmer is in a tough spot: Trooper Taylor has been a loyal soldier and has done incredible work for Fulmer coaching the wide receivers and helping with player development. Taylor is one of those guys that every staff needs to be successful. But what if Fulmer determines that Taylor is simply not ready to become offensive coordinator after the departure of Cutcliffe? Taylor will have opportunities to leave and, after getting passed over twice, probably will in order to become a coordinator. That is the next stepping stone to being a head coach. That’s just part of the business.
5. I’ve got two words for Phillip Fulmer: Like most college head coaches, Fulmer likes the familiar. He likes the comfortable. That’s why he brought back Cutcliffe, a known commodity, to run his offense and that turned out well. But if Fulmer wants to really shake things up and get the Volunteer Nation excited about the future of the program, I have two words for him:
Norm Chow.
He’s the best quarterback coach this side of Cutcliffe and Steve Spurrier and he’s just down the interstate in Nashville. Maybe you can’t lure him from the comfort zone of the NFL. But it’s worth a call.
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