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Will Muschamp getting one, but second chances in SEC are rare
By John Hollis
Published:
Former NFL coach Bum Phillips used to say there were just two kinds of coaches in football: Those who have been fired and those who will be fired.
Life in the college game has been pretty tough on the former because there seems to be so few precious second-chance opportunities in major college football these days.
Newly-minted South Carolina coach Will Muschamp and former Georgia coach Mark Richt are more the exception than the norm in recent years as coaches who were able to land other big-time positions after having been fired or resigned from a previous job.
Finding the next up-and-coming star in the coaching ranks has become en vogue, and the numbers readily back up such a claim.
There were 25 coaching vacancies among FCS teams by the conclusion of this year’s regular season, including three in the SEC in Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.
Of those openings, only seven – Mark Richt (Miami), Will Muschamp (South Carolina), Dino Babers (Syracuse), Matt Viator (Louisiana-Monroe), Matt Campbell (Iowa State), Bill Cubit (Illinois) and Willie Fritz (Tulane) — went to previous head coaches. The bulk of the others went to younger coordinators who were seen as rising stars within the coaching community.
The trend was just the latest example of the rarity of second-chance coaching opportunities in major college football. In the two years before this season, there had been 51 FBS programs to fill head football coaching vacancies, according to a Fox Sports report from 2014.
Only six went to coaches with previous head coaching experience, including Bobby Petrino who was hired at Louisville followed his firing at Arkansas for lying to his superiors about an infamous motorcycle incident with his mistress.
Some from 2013 to have been a rare second chance included former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who has fared well at Cincinnati after resigning from the Tigers job in 2008 and a later unsuccessful stop at Texas Tech; Ron Turner, the former Illinois coach who was hired by Florida International; and Skip Holtz, who was fired by South Florida following the 2012 season only to be hired by Louisiana Tech.
Perhaps the most notable example of a second-chance rehire has been Duke’s David Cutcliffe. After spending years at Tennessee as the beloved offensive coordinator who groomed Peyton Manning into NFL stardom, Cutcliffe went to Ole Miss, where he won an SEC coach the year award — only to be fired the next year.
Duke gave him a second chance in December 2007, and couldn’t be more thrilled about the decision. Under Cutcliffe’s leadership, the Blue Devils have become relevant in football once again, winning a school-record 10 games in 2013 to claim the ACC Coastal Division Championship and a berth in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Cutcliffe was named both the ACC and National Coach of the Year for 2013.
Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl matchup with Indiana marked Duke’s fourth consecutive bowl appearance.
Cutcliffe is example enough of what experience can do as well, but college administrators also want a young face who is eager to glad-hand deep-pocketed alums and eager fans.
But winning is what gets the fan base excited most, and Cutcliffe has done just that.
Muschamp, whose tenure at Florida rather unceremoniously after a myriad offensive problems, will need to make a strong offensive coordinator hire in order to follow suit and make the most of his latest opportunity.
There’s no guarantee there’ll be a third.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
