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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Letter to the Editor

When you're hot, you're hot
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What makes someone a "hot" coach? What does it mean when someone is described as "hot?" Why is it that every year when job openings occur a short list of the same names seem to appear? Before Bob Stoops took the Oklahoma job, he was rumored for every opening for three years. Brian Billick was supposed to be the next coach for about six teams last year.

Sometimes a coach becomes hot by having success as a head coach at one program and other schools take notice (Gary Barnett at Northwestern, Dennis Franchione at New Mexico, etc.). These coaches have taken a downtrodden team and revived their fortunes, sometimes overnight (Tommy Bowden at Tulane) and sometimes rebuilding of the program from the ground floor up (Bill Snyder at Kansas State).

But, nowadays the one sure way to get hot is to become a coordinator. In the world of politics, they say the vice president is only a heartbeat away from being the president. In the coaching profession, a coordinator is only some other unfortunate soul's pink slip from becoming a head coach. At almost every level, it has become well-defined: get a job as a coordinator, prove yourself on a playoff or championship team, and chances are you'll be at the top of the list when job openings occur. Serving as a coordinator has become a virtual prerequisite to getting hired to run a program. It seems as if coordinators are given the status of "heirs apparent" to the thrones.

For example, look at last year's college hirings. Oklahoma hired Bob Stoops (DC at Florida), Ole Miss hired David Cutcliffe (OC at Tennessee), Duke hired Carl Franks (OC at Florida), Connecticut hired Randy Edsall (DC at Georgia Tech), and Miami of Ohio hired Terry Hoeppner (DC at Miami, Ohio).

During the off season in the NFL, nine teams hired head coaches, four teams (Cleveland, Chris Palmer; Chicago, Dick Jauron; Baltimore, Brian Billick; and Kansas City, Gunther Cunningham) chose coordinators, of the other five, three were former head coaches (Ray Rhodes, George Seifert, and Mike Holmgren), one was a college head coach (Mike Riley, Oregon State), and one was a pro position coach (Andy Reid, QB coach at Green Bay) making the almost unheard of move to head coach without first serving as a coordinator.

In this issue, we examine the path to the top of the coaching mountain, in our article Hot Coaches. And, in a follow-up piece, The Next Generation, we examine the 25 coaches heading into the 1999 season we believe will soon join the elite fraternity of big-time head coaches.

It is my hope that we make this look at the Top 25 an annual review and it becomes a list every coach everywhere hopes to find his name on. I know that by carefully looking at the rank and file of thousands of coaches and pointing out the stars on the horizon, we are fulfilling our mission as the "trade journal" of the football coaching profession.

If you think we've omitted an obvious choice or slighted your colleague, e-mail or write us and we'll take the heat.

Sincerely yours,

Barry Terranova
Publisher






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