A friend of mine made a good point to me yesterday- he said that most people who make up that rare breed of people destined to become football coaches already know the history of the BIG college football schools. Do they really need to be bred there to appreciate or comprehend that history? I never went to Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State or Notre Dame but I recognize their unique status in the realm of college football. I never played defense at Nebraska but know enough about what the "Black Shirts" means to the players and fans.
Sure, "Michigan Men" have a leg up over most coaches if they are coming "home" to coach. They know the ground, they know the recruiting bases, they know the front office staff. Doesn't matter how long you played or coached at a school either- if you were there one year, you are a "Michigan Man." There has been great success by coaches coming "home" to coach. Look at Brady Hoke this year at Michigan. Steve Spurrier is the all time classic example. Success is great if you are a "Michigan Man".
Then again being a "Michigan Man" brings great pressure. Lloyd Carr was allowed to retire (forced out) when success at Michigan escaped him. Frank Solich at Nebraska was fired for going 9-3. You have to win every single game because you know that is expected of you. It's a ludicrous philosophy.
Do I think that new Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien will be successful at Penn State even though he isn't a "Michigan Man"? Who knows. Under the most normal of circumstances it is hard to tell. Given the recent troubles at Penn State it is hard to say if anyone can win there now. However, him not having any ties to the school has riled up an already insane fan base. I'm not going to go into that scandal, but come on... did you really think they were going to hire someone from that regime?
"Michigan Men" are the norm in college football- especially in the storied Big Ten. It's not really that way in the SEC. The SEC is the king of college football right now but only 3 of the 12 schools in the SEC have a "Michigan Man" as its head coach. UK and newly hired Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze have a "Michigan Man" as a head coach and are both at the bottom of the SEC pecking order. Auburn took a HUGE risk and hired Gene Chizik who coached there for 2 years. The fans hated that hire but Auburn wanted to hire someone with ties. It worked out for them, but it very well could not have.
For some reason college football is transfixed by the pageantry of hiring a "Michigan Man". College basketball doesn't really have that problem. Look at the top programs in hoops history- UK, KU, UNC, Duke. Of those only UNC has a "Michigan Man" in Roy Williams. Kentucky has the most tradition of anybody. Only Joe B. Hall and Tubby Smith were "Michigan Men". When it came time to hire a new coach after the failed Gillispie saga, UK went and hired the best man they could in John Calipari who had no ties to UK. Sure they wanted Billy Donovan who was an assistant here eons ago, but they chose the better man. A large segment of the UK fan base wants Travis Ford or John Pelphrey to come home and be the next head man. That's never going to happen. Those guys are not good enough to coach here. I don't care how good they were as players.
College football is a different beast and the top historical schools want to keep the tradition in house when they hire new coaches. Sometimes you have to part ways with the old coaching tree and plant new ones. Maybe that is why the Big Ten is so stuck in the past. Hopefully Urban Meyer can break the mold. Wait, what? Oh yes I forgot, he too is a "Michigan Man".....
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