Is hiring an alumnus as HC a good idea?

[stoopified]

I just been thinking about Gundy at oSu and this question came to mind.The most sucess ful coaches at OU are noy from OU(Wlikinson-Minnesota,Switzer-Arkansas,Stoops-Iowa,Owen Kansas.-Wesleyan?).The three winningest coaches at UT are not alumni of UT(Royal,Brown,Akers).Gary Gibbs is the winningest alum coach at OU(44-23-2).

The only alum coach I can think of that is HOF bound is Paterno.I forgot Bryant of Bama as well.

[soonermix]

Spurrier was an alum at florida and that worked out pretty ok i guess
Carr was also wasn't he?

[SbOrOiNaEnR]

Paterno didn't go to PSU. He went to Brown.

[stoopified]

Spurrier is also an exception.Among other well known coaches ,Osborne of Nebraska-Hastings,Devaney-Alma College,Bobby Bowden -Howard College,Pete Carroll-Pacific.John McKay of USC-Purdue & Oregon,Vince Dooley Georgia-Auburn,Woody Hayes Ohio State-Dennison,Bo Schembecler Michigan-Ohio State.

BTW I was wrong about Paterno,he graduated from Brown,not PSU.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

The thing about hiring alumni is that schools give them a longer leash as far as building a team and will accept mediocrity longer from them..I may be wrong, but I am convinced John Blake would not have lasted 3 seasons if he wasn't alumni..of course he never would have been hired if he wasn't alumni either

[rainiersooner]

I don't think it makes a difference as to the coach's performance, but stoops the eternal pimp is right, it injects emotion into decisions by the AD and administration...that's rarely good.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Hiring Gundy was just a bad idea. Dosent matter wheer he went to school.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Flag I think it was a good hire for them in this way

1. If any other coach was to have success there, he would jump ship at the sign of a better job(ala miles). Gundy will be there until he dies or Pickens says otherwise. Nobody is gonna stay there for the long haul unless he has ties to that school.

2. Gundy is good enough to scrap together a .500 to .600 season and that is good enough for their fanbase and so far good enough for Pickens...Its not like its a school that is accustomed to winning 9-10 games every year and he is a step back...

[MichiganSooner]

Correction: Bo Schembechler got his Bachelors Degree and played football at Miami University of Ohio. His head coaches at Miami were Sid Gilman and then Woody Hayes. He got his Masters degree from Ohio State and was a grad assistant there but did not play at OSU.

Is it good to hire an alum? Maybe, sometimes. Ask okie state, they hired Gundy and Sutton and wished they had hired Bill Self.

[royalfan5]

Osborne went to Hastings College. His advanced degree is from UNL which he earned after he began as an assistant.

[OUMallen]

Hiring Gundy was just a bad idea. Dosent matter wheer he went to school.


Their recruiting virtually skyrocketed since his hire. That alone made him a somewhat good.

[stoopified]

Their recruiting virtually skyrocketed since his hire. That alone made him a somewhat good.I hear that from Puke fans but the reality is the talent level is about where it has always been and so is the record.My point was and is that most teams do NOT flourish when hiring alums.Why?I don't have a clue.

[Crimsontothecore]

Their recruiting virtually skyrocketed since his hire. That alone made him a somewhat good.

Then again, Blake recruited good....

[Leroy Lizard]

Hiring an alum is like hiring someone because he was in your fraternity. Stupid move. Hire the best, no matter the ties to your organization. All that matters is whether he can make you money or (in the case of the coach) win football games.

[Jacie]

Johnny Majors, who coached at Tennessee, was an alum. The Vols hired him away from Pitt where he had done pretty well I hear . . .