I have tried my best to support Jeff Long, although some of his decisions as AD have been both costly and questionable. I stayed in Bielema’s corner for longer than I would care to admit, but losing to A&M for the 5th year in a row was enough for me.
It seems without doubt that Bret is a good guy and personable in the public’s eye. However, a head coach in the SEC, he is not. Long should be dismissed, in my opinion, if he hasn’t also seen enough and has any intentions of bringing Bielema and company back for another year.
How do you know JL has not seen enough? I personally think the movement toward a new coach has already started. Obviously the news will not be public information until everything is finalized.
Agreed, I don’t think a decision will be announced until after Dec 20th (The new Early Signing date). I just hope they have their ducks in a row and all the good candidates haven’t been snatched up before we start looking for a replacement.
So you think we would keep a head coach, let him sign kids and then fire the coach a week or two after? That’s a good way to kill relationships. You’d likely see a ton of kids want out of their NLI
Well, no. I haven’t heard that any of our recruits are signing early. Bielema has said he is not a fan of the Early Signing period. However waiting might mitigate lost commitments until we find a replacement giving the new coach a chance to recruit them. Honestly it is the only reason I can see for keeping Bielema as long as we have. We will not win the last two games for bowl eligibility or even one of the last two to qualify for a APR bowl spot.
It seems to me if we are going to make a move we should cut bait now and start making inquiries with the agents of prospective candidates. But that is obviously not happening.
I don’t have a problem with JL as long as he fires Bielema if we lose either of the next two games. We should not be under 50%. I don’t know what happens if we are 6-6 but I’d support CBB’s firing. If we go 6-6 and he stays then we need a good house cleaning of coordinators – especially the offensive line. If we are under .500 and CBB stays then JL and CBB should go next season first embarrassing loss.
We have to think about the next steps in order to figure out what’s best here. I think that JL is well-regarded within the coaching profession. I know a lot of people don’t like him on these boards but his integrity (as I see it) and national prominence as well as his willingness to give a coach five seasons to prove himself are pluses in our favor. And, believe me, we need a lot of help if we have to fire our coach this year with Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and likely A&M also looking for coaches at the same time. We are not going to be high on anyone’s list who is a hot name. Especially if we have to find an AD before we hire another coach.
JL had success attracting a successful coach from another team once and might be able to do it again. I’m not sure who that would be now but we need an AD who can present stability and the chance to compete in the best conference in the nation. The odds are we will always be a middle of the road team as long as we are in the SEC. We could be much worse than that (and currently are) if we make the wrong hires. We should learn from the John L Smith debacle that a quick fix can lead to years of lost recruitment, development, etc. which kills you in the West. I think that hiring someone and keeping them for at least five years (barring disaster) is going to be our best bet as a team that will never recruit as well as the titans and will rely on hidden gems.
But man, whoever we get next needs to realize that Texas is our natural recruiting grounds and needs to have some connections there!!!
Not sure that Jeff Long can be trusted to select our next head football coach, especially after he hired CBB & then locked us into an outrageous buyout of CBB’s contract.
No doubt the Board of Regents are having to make tough decisions about JL & CBB to reverse the bleeding within the football program.
Next year the problem will not only be wins & losses but also lost revenues as expectations, attendance, & booster contributions decline.
I am afraid that we will again be having this same discussion next year, even though the outcome is already inevitable.
I can’t see any universe where a decision is not made right after the Missouri game - or before.
It would not be fair to the current head coach and assistants or the future head coach and assistants to have the open recruiting weekends in December to have their kids on campus.
It certainly would be in no way fair to the commits.
I will aquiese to the expert…you know much more about this subject than I. Why do you think the trigger hasn’t been pulled yet? Is Long giving him a chance to get to bowl eligibility before making a decision?
I think that’s exactly what is happening. If we win these last two and are toilet level bowl eligible then I expect either a staying with him or letting him go announcement the first week of December or so. If we lose next week then I think we hear something that week and Enos coaches against Missouri as part of his job interview. I do not believe that Enos will be hired but they will likely interview him and make him interim head coach for any remaining games. If we win this week and lose to Missouri then I’m guessing we hear something a few hours after the game or early Sunday.
I have to wonder if Bielema isn’t or hasn’t already worked out another job as he did quietly before he left Wisconsin. I honestly just do not see us beating State so i guess we will know next Sat/Sun.