Rivals Roundtable: How attractive is the Vandy job?
In case you don't get enough put-downs of our football program during the season, read what Rivals writers have to say about our job opening. Sadly, I don't disagree with them all that much; I'd consider our job the most challenging, but not the worst.
almost 2 years ago
PhilipVU94
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Looking at what makes a job good or bad
Of course VandySports (where I got this link — proverbial doffing of the chapeau to Andrew Kerr) is filled with indignation. This can’t be! How dare they call us one of the worst! Haven’t they ever been to Pullman, Washington?
Really the whole “good job” / “bad job” thing is a bit silly, anyway, because it turns coaches into commodities. The young up-and-comer will wait for a better job than Vandy, because all up-and-comers think the same way and have the same value system. It may be OK as a short-hand, but humans are more complex than that.
Anyway, here are some more thoughts I scribbled over there:
Most good coaches are self-confident enough to put up with the lunatics somewhere like Alabama or Texas, or heck, even the ridiculously inflated expectations at Ole Miss or Tennessee, in return for a much higher probability of winning championships. Interestingly, almost none is self-confident enough to believe he can overcome the obstacles and win championships at Vanderbilt.
(Note that winning one divisional championship at Vanderbilt would probably lead such a coach to be perceived as more skilled than 50 Nick Sabans; nevertheless, the public assumption would be that, having won at Vanderbilt, he could now leave for a “better job.”)
A good job is whatever the person offered it thinks is a good job. Vanderbilt’s job is among the most challenging, and to most people skilled at I-A college coaching, it’s perceived among the worst.
They were saying the same thing about basketball until 2007. All you need is one person who disagrees.
In my opinion
It starts with the Boosters. I would think that Vanderbilt has one of the wealthiest alumni networks in the country. If there was a commitment to upgrading the facilities and a long term commitment to put a winning team on the field, coaches would be fighting to be in Nashville. The success of the basketball and baseball teams should have provided a blueprint on how to build successful programs at tough academic institutions. No matter what people say, coaching Vanderbilt football is still an SEC job and a damn good one at that. If I were the administration, I would be insulted by calling this a C-USA (and not a top C-USA) job. I will be following Vandy football for at least the next four years. I know they will be good ones.
P.S. on the other SBN blog I follow, this topic would have 1,000 comments by now. C’mon Vandy WAKE UP!! Go ’Dores
Comments
Yeah, our community feedback is growing slowly but surely. Since we’re still pretty new the hope is that this football season will drive a lot more fans to AoG – and that they’ll drive the fan comments up with stimulating conversation. We’ve still got a solid group of dedicated posters, we just need more to really drive some discussions around here.
http://www.anchorofgold.com - For all 27 Vanderbilt fans out there.
by Christian D'Andrea on Jul 19, 2010 9:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Vandy football
I love Vanderbilt.
I didn’t go there, but Vandy is a source of pride to me as a Southerner, a Tennesseean, and an SEC fan.
I would love for a dynamic coach with a solid reputation to take up the challenge of coaching the Commodores in his twilight years. It would take immense effort by the staff, a commitment from the University to pump just a bit more money into the program (which might be the biggest hurdle of all), a stout defense, and probably a niche offense (a la GT or one of the service academies) to succeed, but I am confident that it can be done.
Here’s hoping Vanderbilt hires a winner.
"The North isn't a place. It's just a direction out of the South."
--Roy Blount, Jr.
I'd rather see a rising star
Who wouldn’t be afraid to make sweeping changes, because as you said, a niche offense might be the team’s best chance given their current strengths as well as their recruiting disadvantages. The bigger question will be how this affects funding, since the team was committed to adding funds when Bobby was turning the team around – will that support diminish without him? Both basketball and baseball have driven to get top-notch, SEC-caliber facilities thanks mainly to the fact that they’ve had strong coaching presences to lead them. Bobby’s departure could end up creating a vacuum in its wake, though I think the administration won’t let that happen.
It’ll be an interesting off-season, though.
http://www.anchorofgold.com - For all 27 Vanderbilt fans out there.
by Christian D'Andrea on Jul 19, 2010 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions
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