Karma & Coaching - Nebraska & Mississippi Get What They Deserve
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The grass isn't always greener, is it?
"Fire the coach" is EveryFan's instant solution for whatever ails his favorite team. There is always a team out there getting more out of its talent, running a more exciting, innovative offense or being more aggressive defensively. Why can't our coach be more like that?
In the rush for greener pastures and instant gratification, fans and A.D.s have developed a trigger finger with coaches. It doesn't matter if you are a living legend like Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden, a national champion like Lloyd Carr or Philip Fulmer or even if you are still building a program like Charlie Weis or Greg Robinson.
But sometimes, those greener pastures are not quite as lush and bountiful as once thought. Just ask Nebraska and Ole Miss.
Nebraska dumped Frank Solich after the 2003 season (one in which he won nine games) because Solich had been unable to recapture the Tom Osbourne magic of the early 1990s. All Solich had done was go 58-19, play in six consecutive bowl games, finished in the Top 10 three times, won Big XII Coach of the Year twice and even played for a national championship in 2001 (remember that one, Oregon)? It might sound like an impressive resume, but it was not impressive enough for Cornhusker fans and A.D. Steve Pederson, who canned Solich and replaced him with former Super Bowl coach Bill Callahan.
Callahan's time in Nebraska has been, to say the least, shaky. He dumped the patented Nebraska ground game for the West Coast offense and got rid of the stingy Cornhusker defense for one that gives up 50+ points every Saturday. There have been no national championships, no Top 10 finishes and no Big XII titles. The vultures are gathering in Lincoln for Callahan's head after an embarrassing 2007 season.
Whatever vultures are not in Nebraska are south, flying over Ed Orgeron's head in Oxford, MS. Orgeron's fate might have been sealed with yesterday's Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State (a game they led and dominated until the final two minutes), though the lack of SEC wins this season, the 10-25 record over three years, the accusations of trying to recruit Tulane football players after Hurricane Katrina, the juggling of quarterbacks and the lack of bowl appearances all added to his increasingly hot seat.
Orgeron was brought in from Southern Cal to take Ole Miss to the next level after the absurd firing of David Cutcliffe. All Ole Miss had done under Cutcliffe was produce a #1 overall draft pick in Eli Manning, a SEC West title, a Cotton Bowl berth and five straight winning seasons. One bad year and a refusal to fire his assistant coaches led to Cutcliffe's canning and Orgeron's hiring in Oxford.
Oh, those greener pastures...
The Hindus and Buddhists believe in the concept of karma, a pretty simple idea that what goes around, comes around. For Nebraska and Ole Miss, karma is a bitch.
Firing a successful coach in the hopes of finding something better is a risky proposition. It can work (ask Gator & Buckeye fans), but more often than not the head coach turns out not to be the real problem. In the cases of Nebraska and Ole Miss, the reality was that each school had really good football coaches, exaggerated expectations and wandering eyes. Each school fired coaches for no good reason and each school is getting what it deserves. What goes around, comes around.
With the likely firing of both coaches, each school will now have to start from scratch to try to get back to where they were under their previous coaches. Hopefully the lessons of looking for greener pastures have been learned in Lincoln and Oxford, but fans in Knoxville, Little Rock, Ann Arbor, Happy Valley and Clemson do not seem to be taking note.
These lessons do not just apply to college football either - just ask the San Diego Chargers.
