I've been thinking about my take on Bob Stoops leaving OU and I can't help but feel like it lessens OU's brand. Not taking anything away from new coach or OU's overall historical football identity but I feel like Stoops was at least 60%-75% of OU's football brand identity.

For comparison I feel like Saban for Alabama and Harbaugh for Michigan are more like 80% of overall current football brand identity versus colleges brands. For Ohio State I would peg it a bit less for Urban Meyer, probably 50%-60% as it seems they've been similar in success with previous coaches.

What's your take on coach % vs college % for perception of football or even basketball brand identities? How much of a role might it factor into realignment? As an example OU might look at and be looked at differently as far as realignment since Stoops departure.

I believe you got it backwards. Saban, Meyer and Harbaugh are where they are because their schools already had existing brands established that had the resourses available to hire a top coach. If the current coaches fail, these programs will keep hiring another top coach until they get it right. These coaches will never be bigger than the program.

When i think of coaches that are bigger than the program, I think of someone like Bill Snyder at Kansas St. There you can argue he is 99% of the brand, because KSU has zero history of any success without him.

Another example we may have to wait and see, is Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech. VT was nothing before Beamer. So when he retired, I feel like he took the brand with him. I now think of VT as an average program, whether that is fair or not.

Now some interesting cases are Florida St and Penn St. Which was bigger? The schools brand or their legendary coaches? Florida St seems to be doing just fine since their legendary coach reitired, but Florida St was nothing before him. Penn St's brand is now Pedophile St, so Penn St's brand, you would thimk, is in shambles, but they kerp winning amd drawing 90k+ crowds anyway.

Another intersting one is Dabo Sweeney at Clemson. Which is bigger, the coach or the program. I believe its the coach in this case.

(06-10-2017 11:50 PM)Strut Wrote:  I've been thinking about my take on Bob Stoops leaving OU and I can't help but feel like it lessens OU's brand. Not taking anything away from new coach or OU's overall historical football identity but I feel like Stoops was at least 60%-75% of OU's football brand identity.

For comparison I feel like Saban for Alabama and Harbaugh for Michigan are more like 80% of overall current football brand identity versus colleges brands. For Ohio State I would peg it a bit less for Urban Meyer, probably 50%-60% as it seems they've been similar in success with previous coaches.

What's your take on coach % vs college % for perception of football or even basketball brand identities? How much of a role might it factor into realignment? As an example OU might look at and be looked at differently as far as realignment since Stoops departure.

To be honest, when I think (or now, thought) of Oklahoma football, I never once thought of Bob Stoops. I just think of a program that has been excellent for more than a century, with countless different coaches at the helm. If Lincoln Riley wins big there as well, I'm sure I'll feel the same way.

Even at Penn State, I always thought of Paterno as a coach who inherited a great program from Rip Engle. That's not to take anything away from outstanding coaches. It's just that to me, the school is the brand, not the coach.

(06-11-2017 06:48 AM)goofus Wrote:  I believe you got it backwards. Saban, Meyer and Harbaugh are where they are because their schools already had existing brands established that had the resourses available to hire a top coach. If the current coaches fail, these programs will keep hiring another top coach until they get it right. These coaches will never be bigger than the program.

When i think of coaches that are bigger than the program, I think of someone like Bill Snyder at Kansas St. There you can argue he is 99% of the brand, because KSU has zero history of any success without him.

Another example we may have to wait and see, is Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech. VT was nothing before Beamer. So when he retired, I feel like he took the brand with him. I now think of VT as an average program, whether that is fair or not.

Now some interesting cases are Florida St and Penn St. Which was bigger? The schools brand or their legendary coaches? Florida St seems to be doing just fine since their legendary coach reitired, but Florida St was nothing before him. Penn St's brand is now Pedophile St, so Penn St's brand, you would thimk, is in shambles, but they kerp winning amd drawing 90k+ crowds anyway.

Another intersting one is Dabo Sweeney at Clemson. Which is bigger, the coach or the program. I believe its the coach in this case.

Texas is another example. A couple of mediocre seasons under Mack Brown then the Charlie Strong era. They just keep throwing money out there and getting high profile coaches. Sooner or later they will find one that clicks.

Clemson is interesting. Sweeney is at the top of a lot of lists. Clemson has money, they just don't have Alabama or Ohio State money.