| 21 December 2010
We are having a discussion on the Bucknuts message board about who could replace coach Hazel. Hodgepodge came up with a list and I would expect the next hire to come off that list but the discussion evolved into something else. The name Josh McDaniels came up. I do not believe that McDaniels would consider taking a position coaches job at the college level. I wonder if he would consider an offensive coordinators job at a crown jewel school of college football, especially in his home state?
The argument against it is a strong one. He is an NFL guy. NFL guys don't come back to the college game. At least not as long as they still see the NFL as a possibility. I have argued that point myself most recently when the name John Gruden came up with the Miami job.
Would he be wise to come back to college? I think yes. He has some negatives that could be better worked out at the college level, considering how young he is. He is a hard line it is my way or the highway kind of coach right out of the Parcells/Belichick school. The day of the authoritarian coach is over at the NFL level. Coughlin is the last old school guy and he has to win. He is only tolerated by the players as long as check marks are popping up in the win column. Mangini tried it. He has lost one job and may be out of another. NFL players are grown me. They are being paid alot of money. They don't want to have some guy old enough to be their father riding them like rented mules let alone some guy who may be younger than the veterans on the team.
The Belichick way is the Parcells way which is the way it was done back in the day. It is still done that way in the college game. College players are still kids. They have their parents still trying to tell them what to do. High school coaches tend to be authoritarian. That might serve a Josh McDaniels better. I think it could be a great learning experience for him. He would learn how to deal with immaturity from players who make Terrelle Owens and Chad Johnson look like wise old men and how to deal with them, or he would learn that his way of doing things are better in the college game. Very young head coaches at the NFL level either become stars of the game or disappear in short order. I think their own lack of experience hurts them. It is like a player going pro too early. He did not learn the game well enough against players he could work on his game against. Now he is stepping up to play against veterans who did learn those lessons.
I think coming to college could be the best thing that happened to Josh McDaniels. I am sure what he brings to the game would be good for a college program. Darrell Hazel was not the OC in name but was the de facto OC. Why not name McDaniels the assistant head coach like Hazel was and let him run the offense, at least until the NFL comes calling again or until McDaniels realizes he might fit the college game better?
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