For the better part of the past two weeks, three names have dominated the possible Notre Dame coaching search to occur this week: Florida’s Urban Meyer, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, and Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly.
In baseball parlance, Meyer represented the walk-off home run, Stoops the bases-loaded double into the gap that tied the game, and Kelly the leadoff single in the ninth, with a threat to steal, to begin a rally. Meyer is the reigning MVP, Stoops is in the comeback mode after being an MVP years ago, and Kelly is the rising rookie with star potential after a prolific career in the minors.
Recently, with Meyer stating that he will remain in Florida “as long as it wants him,” many Irish eyes have begun to center on Stoops — with Kelly in the peripheral vision.
Earlier this decade, when Notre Dame had a head coaching vacancy in December 2001 and December 2004, I viewed the wooing of Stoops as another fantasy indulgence among Irish faithful. In both of those years, I gave Notre Dame a zero percent chance of landing him. Stoops was at the apex of his career, professionally and financially, with three national title appearances in five years. Moving into the instability environment at Notre Dame seemed three flights below lunacy.
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Stoops' resume includes a National Championship, six Big 12 titles, two Heisman Trophy winners, and the nation's longest current home winning streak.
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Now, as December 2009 nears, my perspective on Stoops has changed. In mid-November, I gave the Irish a 10-percent chance of landing him if he were approached because the timing seemed better for him to make a change. Several days before the Stanford game, I upped it to about 20-to-25 percent. After hearing recent talk — and even non-talk from Norman, Okla. — maybe it’s more realistic than I thought. Over the past decade, I try to insulate myself from disappointment by not getting overly excited about rumors or hype.
As stated in an earlier column this week, timing is everything, and Stoops appears to be falling into the Lou Holtz or Steve Spurrier mode of needing a challenge after spending a decade at the same school where 10-2 seasons are now perceived as “disappointments.”
Men of achievement are predisposed to playing the role of “Mr. Fix-It,” and it’s in their DNA to be the one who saves the day, whether it’s a captain navigating the ship through choppy waters, the knight rescuing the damsel in distress, or the every day father fixing the loose bicycle chain for his young son. There is a visceral need to feel loved and needed, and that especially applies to stroking a coach’s ego.
This Sunday on ESPN, Holtz explained how he has even told Meyer at Florida that staying at one school more than seven years these days is hazardous, and that a change of scenery is necessary to preserve sanity and perspective. It’s the modern-day substitution of “The Seven-Year Itch.” There is always an initial honeymoon period at a school (just as there was with Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis), followed by bouts of ennui, familiarity — and even ultimately a roving eye for “the next hot coach.”
Spurrier experienced this at his alma mater Florida, particularly after winning the national title in 1996. Finally, he had to leave his beloved school in 2001 to try the NFL just because he had grown weary of the expectations in Gainesville and constantly feeding the insatiable monster he had created.
I saw it first-hand with Holtz at Notre Dame. He was castigated or mocked for a 9-2 regular season in 1995 and an 8-3 follow-up in 1996. Since his No. 2 finish in 1993, he was eaten alive by his perceived failings and underachieving: “One national title in eight years, Lou … one national title in nine years … one national title in 10 years …”
Ironically, both Holtz and Spurrier found their way to South Carolina, where 8-4 seasons are embraced and a 9-3 record plus a bowl win over Ohio State (which Holtz achieved in his third season) gives you almost demigod status.
Possibly, Stoops is undergoing a similar frustration in Norman now that he completed his 11th season there with a 7-5 record. Like Holtz at Notre Dame, he transformed the program instantly, winning a national title in his second season (2000) and earning the moniker “Big-Game Bob” in his first five years. However, with losses to archrival Texas in four of the last five years and an 0-5 record in his last five BCS bowl appearance — including huge upsets to Boise State and West Virginia — Stoops’ Sooners have become known as “Chokelahoma.”
The X-factor in Notre Dame potentially luring him here is whether he feels the need to challenge himself anew. Is his family firmly ensconced and content in Oklahoma (last year he received a $3 million annuity for completing a 10th year with the Sooners), or is it ready for a change? Stoops’ name also has been bandied about in NFL circles, including the Denver Broncos last year, so it’s not inconceivable.
At Oklahoma, he’s been chasing the ghosts of Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer, both of whom won three national titles with the Sooners, and he reportedly wanted to match that. Holtz was the same way at Notre Dame, once stating that he wanted to be remembered as “the luckiest guy ever to win three national titles for the Irish.”
“Instead, I’m the unluckiest to ever lose three (national titles),” said Holtz, referring to the near misses in 1989 and 1993, and another down-to-the-wire finish in 1990.
I will say that if Stoops is beginning to get a little weary at Oklahoma, the pressure cooker at Notre Dame might not be the right salve. As mentioned in a previous column, it’s like the teenager telling his parents, “I’m joining the Marines to get away from all these demands at home.” Conversely, Stoops also could find a unique place in college football lore if he leads two of the most tradition-laden powers ever to the summit. Unquestionably, he would bring instant credibility — both on the recruiting circuit and on the field — to a program in desperate search of a marquee Messiah Coach, a la Ara Parseghian in 1964 or Lou Holtz in 1986.
In reviewing the past 60 years of college football, hiring a coach from a school from where he won a national title is rare. Johnny Majors won the national championship at Pitt in his fourth season (1976) before taking the Tennessee job the next season — but that was his alma mater, where he was the runner-up to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung in the 1956 Heisman Trophy balloting.
Holtz and Spurrier also left, but Holtz first took a year off to recharge himself, and Spurrier went to the NFL, which he quickly discovered didn’t fit in with his style, similar to Charlie Weis learning how much different the college game is after establishing himself in the NFL the previous 15 years.
From the outside looking in, it appears Stoops might be the focal point of the probable Irish coaching search, with Kelly on the side — or at least that’s what I gleaned from ABC-TV college football analyst Bob Griese’s comments during this weekend’s Cincinnati-Illinois game.
“I talked to Brian Kelly on the field, and he said something will be decided in the next seven to 10 days,” said Griese, regarding Kelly’s coaching future.
That “something” is speculated to be the Notre Dame job. Again, from the outside looking in, it seems the Irish want to take Stoops to the prom, but just in case he’s busy (“I’m washing my hair for the next 10 years, so don’t call”), Kelly would appear to be the girl-next-door option who would not be insulted to be the next choice.
One question I have about Stoops is last year Oklahoma ranked near the bottom of FBS teams in graduation rate for 46 percent. Now, I blame a University and a school president more for low graduation rates than I would a coach. I often was critical of former Irish basketball coach Digger Phelps for the way he took credit for “graduating all my players.” I always thought the credit should go first to the individual, his parents, and then the school for providing the resources necessary.
My concern from that graduation rate stems more from a feeling that Stoops recruited a different caliber of athlete at Oklahoma that might not fit in, or even be admitted, to Notre Dame. He would have to learn about the Notre Dame culture, and if he is amenable to it and accepts it, he can still thrive.
There are plenty of worthy candidates that could still be evaluated, although I’m reluctant to include anyone who has been a career assistant. Texas’ Will Muschamp, the “coach in waiting” behind Mack Brown, has been mentioned as a candidate in at least one published report, but Notre Dame would be opening itself for unbelievable criticism if it were to hire another coach without head coaching experience after going 0 for 4 the past 55 years.
I was dumbfounded by a recent report that former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick might be a top candidate, but not because he’s not a competent coach. It’s just that I doubt the Irish would want to take the NFL route again. With Weis, at least he was an alumnus who understood and appreciated the school’s culture. Tony Dungy is the one former NFL coach I could envision fitting in that way. Jon Gruden, not so much, although he has referred to Notre Dame in the past as “God’s country.”
TCU’s Gary Patterson, Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald intrigue me, but I’m not sure if the Notre Dame position is the end-all, be-all for them. Patterson is at a quality, comfortable position already, Harbaugh might see alma mater Michigan or the NFL as better destinations, and Fitzgerald is at the school where he starred and graduated. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz might be closest to Stoops’ position as far as maybe, just maybe, needing a change of scenery.
As of Thanksgiving weekend 2009, Stoops and Kelly appeared to be the front-runners to become the next Notre Dame coach. But as we’ve learned over the years … much can change in a short period of time.
