Last year when the Wisconsin Badgers lost their HC the comment was made that Wisconsin just isn't seen as Big Time/Destination anymore.

Then you look at Nebraska...they have been flailing since Solich left.

Georgia, although their record is always good, they never seem great. Like they can be beaten on any given day (Georgia Southern took them to OT)

Florida can't score a TD...same with Mizzou. They are awful.

What happened to Auburn? Didn't they just win a National Championship?

The same could be said for many of the "fodder" teams in the major conferences.

Conversely, the AAC seems to be on the rise. Even though Fuentes left for VT I get the feeling Memphis is going to move ahead without him. I may already be wrong, but I think Rhule stays at Temple. If UC could ditch Tubbs and get a young gun I think they would be back on top. We joke about Tulane, but with their renewed commitment, if they can get the right AD/HC they could make some noise.

We may not be THE "destination job" for many of the established coaches. But we definitely are a "stepping stone" for the biggest, brightest young coaching talent in CFB.

Most of our teams are located in recruiting hotbeds. There is a lot to do. And our teams can compete with just about ANY Power 5 team in the nation.

So does this make us appealing to coaches? I believe it does. Many of the P5 jobs are where coaching careers go to die. OUr conference is where many come to life.

I don't really agree that the town's size makes a difference.

You've got the examples of OKState, Baylor, Tuscaloosa, College Station, etc.

Madison is a fairly large metro @ close to 600,000 so I'm not sure it really fits the small town argument.

No way. Big cities do not make good football programs.

In Nebraska's case, when you fire people for winning "only" 10 games, you have a hard time finding people to take the job.

(12-01-2015 12:25 PM)UHRedcat96 Wrote:  Last year when the Wisconsin Badgers lost their HC the comment was made that Wisconsin just isn't seen as Big Time/Destination anymore.

Then you look at Nebraska...they have been flailing since Solich left.

Georgia, although their record is always good, they never seem great. Like they can be beaten on any given day (Georgia Southern took them to OT)

Florida can't score a TD...same with Mizzou. They are awful.

What happened to Auburn? Didn't they just win a National Championship?

The same could be said for many of the "fodder" teams in the major conferences.

Conversely, the AAC seems to be on the rise. Even though Fuentes left for VT I get the feeling Memphis is going to move ahead without him. I may already be wrong, but I think Rhule stays at Temple. If UC could ditch Tubbs and get a young gun I think they would be back on top. We joke about Tulane, but with their renewed commitment, if they can get the right AD/HC they could make some noise.

We may not be THE "destination job" for many of the established coaches. But we definitely are a "stepping stone" for the biggest, brightest young coaching talent in CFB.

Most of our teams are located in recruiting hotbeds. There is a lot to do. And our teams can compete with just about ANY Power 5 team in the nation.

So does this make us appealing to coaches? I believe it does. Many of the P5 jobs are where coaching careers go to die. OUr conference is where many come to life.

Pellini did a good job at Nebraska.
Georgia is 9-3
Whisky in 9-3
Florida is playing in the SEC title game. They would score if Grier was the QB. 10-2. Ranked near the top 10.
Auburn struggled this year, maybe it is a rebuilding year IDK
Mizzou struggled also.

They do have climate going against them in Wisconsin and Nebraska. Some hate that cold weather.

You start off your post by bringing up places that are clearly not small towns, like Lincoln and Madison. And for every coach that appreciates being in a major metro area, there are many that appreciate a small town. And even in some of these so called small towns, they are insulated by having a major university there and more quality of life options as compared to living in a place that doesn't have a major university. Even a place like Bryan/College Station has solid amenities given its size, aided by campus events at A&M that otherwise wouldn't draw major professionals and well known people, plus student events that provide entertainment.

Most places have a Wal-Mart by now (increasingly a SuperWM), so we're not dealing with too, too many podunk hillbilly hick towns in major college athletics. Plus, even those that are very small have major metros nearby like Auburn (Montgomery and Atlanta) and B/CS (Houston, SA, Austin).

Madison is larger than Baton Rouge, Tallahassee, Salt Lake City, Knoxville, Tempe, Eugene, Columbia SC, Waco, Ann Arbor, Norman, Athens, College Station, South Bend.

(12-01-2015 02:13 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Most places have a Wal-Mart by now (increasingly a SuperWM), so we're not dealing with too, too many podunk hillbilly hick towns in major college athletics.

If you think having a Wal-Mart precludes you from being a podunk hillbilly hick town, you need to watch more youtube videos.

There are some of those everywhere, what's your point? I know of many places that lack a Wal-Mart or anything basically, like the town of the college I went to.

I'm really saying that most of these college towns are in spots where people have all they need to be happy and efficient without driving 100 miles or ordering stuff online. You can't do certain things but that's everyone. I can't go to a major theme park and I live between Houston/Galveston (don't be technical on me, I said major theme park).

I think the difference is: "recruiting area". Look at USF. It gets a new coach and quickly gets great recruiting. Now, its performance is surging. It does not matter whether Tampa is small or large if a coach can recruit like USF has.

Then, watch UCF with a new coach. I probably should say "watchout" instead.

Arkansas was a top school until it left the association with Texas and the SWC.
It has not been the same since in either basketball or football.

Similarly, Nebraska broke its assocation with Texas recruits and has not been the same since.

I think you will see the same with Missouri.

Kids want to play for a winner but they also want to play where their friends and family can attend. Playing with or against former highschool team mates is also important to them.

Frequently, UH gets a transfer from some Texas kid that elected to go to the cold, far north. After, one or two years, the mistake is realized.

Nebraska had a good quarter century stretch (at least) without playing in Texas every year, though Oklahoma is close to it.

The answer to the thread title question is no...and nothing points towards yes.

It's as I said, some people are suburban people, some are country town people, some are mid-sized town some are big city people (like Temple's coach). There's more than enough to go around.

No. It's exactly the opposite. Big cities with NFL are rotten for college football and coaches would rather be at places where college football is king. Cheers!

Listen I would love to say that there's been a huge shift and trend and coaches are staying away from these big conference teams in small college towns but unfortunately there is no evidence to suggest they are. Just look at the hires that are happening right now, V. Tech gets Fuente from Memphis and they are only paying him slightly more than what Memphis reportedly offered.

I think it is what it is and these "power" conferences will always have an advantage over non "power" conferences regardless of the size of their town. Houston kept Herman for at least one more year and trust me that is great! But that is more of an aberration than the norm,

@Billybob777

What does that have to do with some coaches liking big cities and their amenities?

(12-01-2015 03:26 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  What does that have to do with some coaches liking big cities and their amenities?

People are responding to the thread title. Your line of thought about some coaches liking big cities is not what was being asked.

So we have Nebraska sliding downhill... and that's evidence that "small town" colleges can't find a coach?

Lets try to think of some towns:

Stillwater
College Station
Gainesville
Southbend
Oxford Miss
Waco
Ann Harbor
Chapel Hill
Anapolis
Eugene
Salt Lake City is a little small
even Baton Rouge is smaller than Lincoln
Lansing + East Lansing MI together are about the same size as Lincoln.

Also:
Tuscaloosa, AL
Clemson, SC
Iowa City
Norman, OK

Basically, what I'm saying is that the OP doesn't know anything and didn't bother either knowing the population of Lincoln or looking at the top 25 rankings and figure out what cities those colleges are in. Ohio State, Stanford, TCU, Northwesterm, Houston, Temple, and USC are the only ranked teams from major metro areas. And really, the only teams from towns larger than Lincoln. We can throw in OU if we want to, since it is in the OKC metro. Of course, Washington State, BYU, Arkansas, WV, and Ark State are also drawing votes and add to my argument, so...

Dumb thread is dumb.

(12-01-2015 03:05 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  I think the difference is: "recruiting area". Look at USF. It gets a new coach and quickly gets great recruiting. Now, its performance is surging. It does not matter whether Tampa is small or large if a coach can recruit like USF has.

Then, watch UCF with a new coach. I probably should say "watchout" instead.

Arkansas was a top school until it left the association with Texas and the SWC.
It has not been the same since in either basketball or football.

Similarly, Nebraska broke its assocation with Texas recruits and has not been the same since.

I think you will see the same with Missouri.

Kids want to play for a winner but they also want to play where their friends and family can attend. Playing with or against former highschool team mates is also important to them.

Frequently, UH gets a transfer from some Texas kid that elected to go to the cold, far north. After, one or two years, the mistake is realized.

This is Taggart's 3rd year, so he is not "new". USF's recruiting has always been pretty good. In the Big East they had 1 class that was close to a top 25 class. I think their 8-4 mark might be more related to Flowers getting experience and have 2 new coordinators this season. Taggart brought 2 new guys after last season. In the Big East USF always seemed to manage an 8-4 type of season.