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I keep seeing the term "stepping stone" littering these threads and I started to think in a "real" sense, what jobs in this country AREN"T a stepping stone toward a bigger job WITHIN college football. You get there, you stay there. Not talking about someone that has NFL aspirations.

I actually could only come up with 7 schools (3 of which I think are debatable) that I could come close to Top Of The Mountain status. PS-Minnesota isn't one of them :) Of course, a lot of this has a tint of "one man's trash", but I'm curious about what you all think.

What say you?

Bama, ND, Michigan, OSU, USC. Even Wiscy lost their coach to the SEC.

(01-10-2017 10:12 AM)AFLAGWA Wrote:  I keep seeing the term "stepping stone" littering these threads and I started to think in a "real" sense, what jobs in this country AREN"T a stepping stone toward a bigger job WITHIN college football. You get there, you stay there. Not talking about someone that has NFL aspirations.

I actually could only come up with 7 schools (3 of which I think are debatable) that I could come close to Top Of The Mountain status. PS-Minnesota isn't one of them :) Of course, a lot of this has a tint of "one man's trash", but I'm curious about what you all think.

What say you?

There's always a bigger fish....

Speaking in generalities, I would say the top 3-4 programs of each P5 conference (plus ND).

I know a Penn State or Wisconsin still doesn't have the marquee pedigree of UM or OSU, for instance, but I see those more as "homes" than limbo/stepping stones.

(01-10-2017 10:12 AM)AFLAGWA Wrote:  I keep seeing the term "stepping stone" littering these threads and I started to think in a "real" sense, what jobs in this country AREN"T a stepping stone toward a bigger job WITHIN college football. You get there, you stay there. Not talking about someone that has NFL aspirations.

I actually could only come up with 7 schools that I could come close to Top Of The Mountain status. PS-Minnesota isn't one of them :) Of course, a lot of this has a tint of "one man's trash", but I'm curious about what you all think.

What say you?

I think that's spot on. Alabama, ND, Michigan, OSU, USC, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, Texas, LSU, Stanford, Oklahoma, U of Miami, Auburn, Tennessee, Oklahoma State (maybe), Penn State (maybe), Washington (maybe), Oregon (maybe), Wisconsin (maybe) can't think of many others.

I think that's why you do see so much ladder climbing - everybody wants one of these 14-20 spots.

People need to get over the "stepping stone" mentality. Football coaching is super fluid. A college has no qualms cutting a guy loose if they don't make all the boosters happy. I think what you hope for in a hire is a guy who elevates your program, stays for an entire cycle (his first class gets him the whole way through), and leaves the program on strong footing.

To that effect PJ gets an A+ for the first category....a B for the second (some of his first class is still around), and a B for the third category, great roster returning, poached a great recruiting class, turning them into a top 3 level in the MAC.

Compare to Cubit (who I'm an admitted fan of)...he gets a B+ for the first category... and A for the second, and a B- for the third.

Darnell would likely get a A- for the first....A for the second, and a D for the third.

Stepping on dollar bills might be better term given todays coach climate. Sweeney just made $1.4M coaching bonus for one game