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Who’s Hot?

LSU’s Will Muschamp -- one of the youngest coordinators in college football -- is one of our hot coaches who are ready to prove themselves this season
by: Richard Scott
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DAN HAWKINS, HC, BOISE STATE

After serving as Dirk Koetter's assistant head coach, special teams and tight ends coach and overseeing Boise State’s highly successful community service and public involvement program, Hawkins moved up to the head coach’s job when Koetter took over at Arizona State following the 2000 season.

During his time as an assistant at Boise State, the Broncos went 26-10 and captured two Big West Conference championships and two Humanitarian Bowl victories. When Hawkins took over as head coach, the Broncos went 8-4 and finished third in their first season in the WAC.

Hawkins also has served as both an offensive and defensive coordinator at the collegiate level, and has previous head coaching experience at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., leading the Bearcats to a 40-11-1 record from 1993-1997, as well as a trip to the NAIA Division II National Championship game in 1997 and three conference coach of the year awards.

WILL MUSCHAMP, DC, LSU

At 31 years old, Muschamp may be the youngest person on this year’s hot coaches list, but age didn’t prevent LSU coach Nick Saban from turning over the reigns of his defense to Muschamp following the 2001 season.

After going through three defensive coordinators in his first two years on the job, Saban must have seen something special in Muschamp, who coached LSU’s linebackers in 2001 and produced two all-SEC linebackers – Trev Faulk and Bradie James – who provided critical leadership for the Tigers’ SEC championship team.

Despite his youth, this isn’t Muschamp’s first opportunity to run his own defense. Prior to joining LSU before the 2001 season, Muschamp served as the defensive coordinator at Valdosta State for one season. Muschamp helped lead the Blazers to a 10-2 overall mark, a share of the Gulf South Conference title and an appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Muschamp also worked at Eastern Kentucky and West Georgia and spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Auburn after a standout playing career at Georgia.

BILL O’BRIEN, AHC/OFFENSE, GA. TECH

New Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey called his own plays in his past three head coaching jobs, including his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys, but it certainly said a lot for O’Brien when Gailey quickly retained him from Tech’s previous coaching staff, turned over the offense and the quarterbacks to O’Brien and promoted him to assistant head coach.

O’Brien has been with the Tech coaching staff since 1995, but finally became offensive coordinator when Ralph Friedgen left to become the head coach at Maryland following the 2000 season. O’Brien took up where Friedgen left off and directed an offense that led the Atlantic Coast Conference in passing and ranked third in scoring in 2001. Quarterback George Godsey set school records for passing yards (3,085 yards) and completions (249), including the best single-game performance in school history with 39 completions and 486 yards against Virginia, while running back Joe Burns became Tech’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 1995.

During his time at Tech, O’Brien also coached Tech’s running backs from 1998-2000 and served as Tech’s recruiting coordinator for two years (1999-2000), helping the Yellow Jackets attract highly-regarded recruiting classes.

JOHN CHAVIS, DC, TENNESSEE

When Phillip Fulmer stayed within his staff and chose John Chavis as his defensive coordinator in 1995, the choice was initially viewed as a surprise. Obviously, Fulmer knew what he was doing because Chavis has risen through the ranks to become one of the nation’s most successful defensive coordinators.

Chavis came to Tennessee as a walk-on defensive lineman, earned a scholarship for his scrappy play and lettered in 1977 and 1978. That same feisty attitude paid off when he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1989 and continues to be a plus in his coaching career.

Chavis has coached both the defensive line and the linebackers since returning to Tennessee. After Chavis took over as the Vols’ defensive coordinator, Tennessee’s defense led the SEC in 1996, finished third in 1997, second in 1998 and third in 1999. In 1998, the Vols went on to win the national championship. The next year, Fulmer also promoted Chavis to assistant head coach, further improving Chavis’ stock as a potential head coaching candidate.

GREG MCMACKIN, AHC/DC, TEXAS TECH

McMackin is generally regarded as one of the best defensive coaches in football. It’s not only evident in his resume and experience, but in Texas Tech coach Mike Leach’s decision to hire McMackin in 1999, make him one of the highest-paid assistants in all of college football and turn the defensive completely over to him.

McMackin has considerable experience working with successful coaches, including Dennis Erickson and June Jones, and his own success as a defensive coordinator at the NFL and collegiate level suggests he is more than ready to run his own program.

From 1993-95, McMackin coordinated the Miami defenses that ranked No. 1 in the nation in pass defense, total defense and scoring defense while helping lead the Hurricanes to a national title. In his one season at Hawaii (1999), McMackin helped lead the Rainbow Warriors to the most improved season in NCAA history, from 0-12 in 1998 to 8-4 and a WAC championship in 1999.

One of his best coaching jobs came last year when mid-year adjustments and personnel moves helped Texas Tech make significant strides in the second half of the season, allowing the Red Raiders to win four of their last five regular-season games, finish 7-5 and earn a trip to the Alamo bowl.

MIKE BORICH, OC, BYU

The Gary Crowton era at BYU jumped out to an impressive start in 2001, and Mike Borich was one big reason why the Cougars were able to go 12-2 and win the Mountain West Conference championship in their first year under a new coaching staff.

After coaching receivers with Crowton at Louisiana Tech from 1995-98 and then with the Chicago Bears in 1999-2000, Borich followed Crowton to BYU to coach wide receivers and run the offense. Together, they helped direct an offense that led the nation in scoring offense and total offense, averaging 46.77 points and 542.85 yards per game.

The BYU offense proved to be particularly effective at adapting to its available talent, taking a previously unproven quarterback, Brandon Doman, and turned him into the nation’s seventh-rated passer (with 3,542 passing yards and 33 TDs), and taking an injury-plagued running back, Luke Staley, and turned him into the nation’s third-leading rusher (with 1,582 yards and 24 TDs.)

For his efforts, Borich was selected as American Football Monthly’s 2001 Division I-A offensive coordinator of the year.

LC COLE, HC, ALABAMA STATE

Cole might not be a household name among the nation’s college football fans, but his name carries considerable weight in NCAA Division I-AA, particularly among the traditional black university programs throughout the South.

After a successful five-year stint at Tennessee State in the 1990s, Cole moved on in 2000 to accept the challenge of rebuilding an Alabama State program that had fallen on hard times in the late 1990s.

Cole continued to build on his reputation as a coach and recruiter by turning the program around quickly. With an 8-4 record and a 6-1 record in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 2001, the Hornets won the SWAC West Division championship and had eight players named to the all-conference first team. Alabama State’s quarterback Darnell Kennedy earned SWAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Cole, who has a 42-27 record as a head coach, had hoped to move up to the Division I-A ranks with Alabama State, but the university’s board of trustees voted against the move in May.

MIKE STOOPS, AHC/DC, OKLAHOMA

While his older brother Bob might be more famous as the head coach at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops is building his own reputation as a defensive coordinator and potential head coach.

Stoops, who will turn 40 this season, first made his mark as a college coach at Kansas State, where he and Bob worked together to lead one of the nation’s best defensive programs in the 1990s. When Bob left to become the DC at Florida, Mike moved up to become the DC, switched from defensive ends to defensive backs and eventually became coach Bill Snyder’s assistant head coach.

When Bob became the head coach at Oklahoma in 1999, Mike joined him as Oklahoma associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator. In 2000, he helped direct a defense that formed the foundation for the Sooners’ 13-0 national championship team. After allowing only 14.9 points per game in 2000 and 13.8 points per game in 2001, the Sooners could be even better this season and Mike Stoops’ stock as a head coaching candidate will likely continue to rise.

RANDY SHANNON, DC, U OF MIAMI

Many college football fans remember Shannon as a former Miami linebacker, a four-year letterman and a member of Miami’s 1987 National Championship team. However, Shannon has paved new ground as an assistant coach, and his future could be even more impressive than his past.

Shannon coached defensive linemen and linebackers at Miami before spending seven seasons as a defensive assistant with the Miami Dolphins. He returned to the University of Miami in 2000 as defensive coordinator, and while there’s no doubt Miami’s overall balance and talent played a huge role in the Hurricanes’ national championship run last year, Shannon’s aggressive 4-3 scheme definitely did its part by producing the nation’s most opportunistic defense. Miami led the nation in turnover margin by forcing a school-record 27 interceptions and 45 turnovers, and the Hurricanes led the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 9.4 points per game, while leading in pass efficiency defense (75.60 rating), ranking second in pass defense (138.2 yards per game), and sixth in total defense (270.9 yards per game).

For his efforts, Shannon earned the 2001 Broyles Award winner as college football’s Assistant Coach of the Year. He lost some significant contributors from last season’s defense, including safety Edward Reed and cornerback Phillip Buchanon, but there’s little doubt among college football experts that the Hurricanes will once again be tough on defense and the 36-year-old Shannon’s stock as a head coaching candidate will continue to rise.

CHARLIE STRONG, DC, SOUTH CAROLINA

Strong, 42, kept busy in the offseason interviewing for head coaching jobs at Vanderbilt, California and Kansas. None of the jobs worked out, but they did a lot to thrust Strong into the spotlight and help prepare him for the next round of openings.

“I feel I’m ready,” Strong said. “My time will come. I just have to be patient. You don’t want to be hired because you’re a minority but because of the job you do.”

Strong has built his reputation by directing one of the nation’s top defenses, often using an aggressive 4-2-5 defense to make the best possible use of South Carolina’s team speed and lack of size. His defenses not only excelled statistically, ranking sixth in the nation in scoring defense in 2000 (15.8 points per game) and 12th in 2001 (18.4 points per game), but played a big part in the Gamecocks’ success, including 15 wins and two consecutive Outback Bowl victories.

“Charlie Strong should be a head coach,” South Carolina coach Lou Holtz says. “He’s anxious to be, and he and I have talked about how you get a head coach’s job. I know we’re going to lose him eventually.”

BUD FOSTER, DC, VIRGINIA TECH

Bud Foster has spent most of his coaching and playing career learning directly from Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, but it appears to be just a matter of time before Foster strikes out on his own and applies those lessons as a head coach.

If his career success is any indication, Foster, 43, has learned well. After playing for Beamer at Murray State, Foster began his coaching career working for Beamer at his alma mater and then followed Beamer to Virginia Tech in 1987. After coaching linebackers and special teams from 87-94, Foster became the defensive coordinator in 1995.

After helping Tech reach the national championship game in 1999 with a defense that led Division I-A in scoring defense and ranked third in both total and rushing defense, Foster was one of five finalists for the 1999 Broyles Award given to the nation’s top assistant football coach and recognized as the Division I-A Defensive Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly.

Foster continued to build on that success the past two years, rebuilding with younger players and continuing to rank among the nation’s best defensive units. In 2001, Tech finished second in the nation in total defense, scoring defense and run defense and Foster again earned AFM’s Division I-A Defensive Coordinator of the Year honor.

DEAN PEES, HC, KENT STATE

After Pees struggled through three seasons trying to build the Kent State program and winning only three of 33 games, the university decided to give Pees a chance with a contract extension and he made the decision look smart.

With a team that included 42 of the first 46 players signed by Pees’ coaching staff, the Golden Flashes won five of their last six games to finish the season with a 6-5 overall record and the school’s first winning season in 14 years. Kent State’s 5-3 record in the Mid-American Conference also was the program’s best MAC season since 1987.

With a new offense and freshman quarterback Joshua Cribbs, Kent State averaged more than 360 yards and 22 points per game. On defense, where Pees spent most of his career working as an assistant at Miami (Ohio), Toledo, Notre Dame and Michigan State, the Golden Flashes held six of their 11 opponents to 20 points or fewer, including three of the last five to 18 or less.

Pees, 53, is also an accomplished pianist who released his own CD in 1993.

URBAN MEYER, HC, BOWLING GREEN

It sure didn’t take Meyer very long to establish himself as one of the hottest young head coaches in the nation. In his first season as a head coach, the 38-year-old Meyer took over a Bowling Green team that hadn’t produced a winning record since 1994 and led the Falcons to one of the top turnarounds of 2001 in Division I-A football.

By immediately turning up the intensity and demands of the program’s offseason training and its practice regime, Meyer helped transform the attitude and expectations surrounding the program. His first Bowling Green team not only went on to produce an 8-3 record, but also went 4-2 in the MAC East and finished second in the division standings.

The Falcons also became the first MAC school to post regular-season wins over three BCS conference programs (Missouri, Temple, and Northwestern), and knocked off two teams (Northwestern and Toledo) ranked nationally during the season.

Meyer, who came to Bowling Green after five seasons as Notre Dame’s wide receivers coach, earned MAC Coach of the Year honors.

JIMBO FISHER, OC, LSU

After playing quarterback for Terry Bowden at both Salem College and Samford University, Fisher’s career path to a head coaching job began when he joined Bowden’s staff at Samford and then moved with him to Auburn as quarterbacks coach.

For all he learned from Bowden, Fisher’s best break might have been the opportunity to step out on his own and call his own plays as Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator in 1999. The next year, he became LSU’s offensive coordinator and spent the past two seasons directing one of the SEC’s most prolific offenses.

Fisher established himself as one of the nation’s best offensive coordinators in 2001 by directing an LSU offense that set numerous school records and helped the Tigers win the SEC championship. He also helped quarterback Rohan Davey transform from a raw, talented player into a more polished college QB who set six school records during the regular season and then broke another seven Sugar Bowl or LSU bowl records in the Tigers’ 47-34 win over Illinois. With Davey throwing the passes, wide receiver Josh Reed caught 94 passes for an SEC record 1,740 yards and earned the Biletnikoff Award.

TOM AMSTUTZ, HC, TOLEDO

One look at Amstutz, a big, blue-collar guy with a high-and-tight haircut, and many college football fans will be reminded of Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen. However, people in the business are more likely to draw comparisons to their first-year success with their respective programs.

While Friedgen transformed Maryland into a surprising winner last year in his first season as a head coach, Amstutz moved up from defensive coordinator to head coach at his alma mater and took immediate aim at taking the Toledo program to a higher level of success. After the Rockets experienced considerable success under previous coach Gary Pinkle but came up just a bit short of the MAC championship, Amstutz opened up the offense last year and hired OC Rob Spence to install the spread. The Rockets rose to the top of the conference, going 10-2, winning the MAC title and closing the season with a win over Cincinnati in the Motor City Bowl.

Amstutz is a Toledo guy, a perfect fit for the town, the university and the program, and it might be hard for another program to convince him to leave all that for a shot at coaching a more prominent program, but don’t be surprised if Toledo continues to win and Amstutz finds himself having to decide between Toledo and another offer or two.

JOHN L. SMITH, HC, LOUISVILLE

It was impressive enough when Smith came to Louisville and quickly turned the program into a winner in his first season, but Smith didn’t stop there. In the past two seasons, Smith’s fourth and fifth at Louisville, the Cardinals rose to the top of Conference USA and broke into the national Top 25.

After Louisville went 1-10 in 1997, Smith came to Louisville from Utah State and produced immediate results. His first two Cardinal teams went 7-4 and earned bowl trips with an exciting pass-oriented offense. The 2000 season brought necessary improvement on the defensive side of the ball, a 9-2 record and the program’s first Conference USA title while the 2001 season produced an 11-2 record (a school-record for victories in a season), a second consecutive conference title and a convincing 28-10 victory over BYU in the Liberty Bowl.

Along the way, Smith earned two consecutive C-USA coach of the year honors, and saw the Cardinals’ national status improve with six games on national TV in 2001, 11 players on the all-conference team and eight first-team selections. All that success led to a significant raise and contract extension, but it’s not difficult to imagine Smith coaching in a major conference such as the Pac-10 or the SEC in the near future.

ED ZAUNBRECHER, OC, FLORIDA

Zaunbrecher has been a head coach before, spending 1994-98 fighting an uphill battle to build a winner at Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe), but losing that job may have been the best thing that could have happened to his career.

Since his departure at Northeast Louisiana, Zaunbrecher has re-established himself as a capable offensive coach, serving as Marshall’s quarterback coach in 1999 and then as the Thundering Herd’s offensive coordinator in 2000-01. At Marshall, he coached two of the nation’s most productive quarterbacks, Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich, and the Herd averaged 458.6 yards of total offense per game and totaled 104 touchdowns and 790 points during his two years as coordinator.

Zaunbrecher has 27 years of experience as a collegiate coach, with stops at Michigan State, LSU, Wake Forest, Purdue and Arizona, but he might be in his best career position as the new offensive coordinator at Florida. With the freedom to run a wide-open offense and a talented quarterback in junior Rex Grossman, don’t be surprised to see Zaunbrecher’s name connected to many head coaching jobs.

PAT HILL, HC, FRESNO STATE

If the rest of the college football world didn’t know much about Hill before the 2001 season, they learned a lot when his Fresno State team opened the season with wins over Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin, finished the season with an 11-3 record, earned its third consecutive bowl invitation, and saw its quarterback, David Carr, become the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NFL draft.

For all that success, Hill’s success at Fresno State must be viewed through a larger scope. In 1996, Hill returned to Fresno State, where he spent six seasons as an assistant coach in the late 1980s, to find a program suffering both on and off the field, with three consecutive losing seasons, only 61 scholarship players on campus, and an embarrassing academic track record.

The Bulldogs finally turned the corner in 1999, with its first winning season in five years, a share of the Western Athletic Conference championship and its first bowl invitation since 1993.

Hill also has been willing to sell the program beyond the field. Through a combination of winning and Hill’s work with boosters and fans, Fresno State set a school record by selling more than 32,000 season tickets for the 2001 season, then drew an average of 42,881 for the final five home games.

STEVE LOGAN, HC, EAST CAROLINA

Logan seems to be a perennial member of American Football Monthly’s Hot Coaches list, and not because he’s looking to get out of East Carolina. It’s because Logan continues to do an outstanding job at a program that doesn’t get as much notoriety and national respect as it deserves.

If anyone bothers to look a little closer, they’ll find a coach who has won 65 games in 10 seasons at East Carolina, which make him the school’s all-time winningest coach. No other head coach in the program’s 70-year history has held more than a 10-year tenure, and Logan has done with it an innovative offense that always seems to make the best use of the available personnel.

Add four consecutive non-losing seasons (for the first time since the program was classified as NCAA Division I-A in 1978), three straight bowl berths, five in 10 seasons, four seasons with eight or more wins, and wins over traditional football powers such as Miami (Fla.), Pittsburgh, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, among others, and it’s no surprise Logan remains one of the nation’s hottest coaches.

DOUG WILLIAMS, HC, GRAMBLING

Williams is still more famous to most football fans as a nine-year pro football quarterback and the MVP of the Super Bowl XXII champion Washington Redskins, but he’s quietly and quickly building an impressive resume as the head coach at his alma mater.

When legendary coach Eddie Robinson finally decided to retire following the 1997 season, Williams was an obvious choice to succeed him, considering his collegiate football success at Grambling and his head coaching experience at Morehouse College.

Williams, 46, became only the second Grambling head coach when he replaced Robinson, but he’s proven to be a worthy choice by guiding the Tigers to a 10-2 record and the SWAC championship last season, picking up numerous Coach of the Year accolades along the way.

Considering his reputation, his name recognition, his knowledge of the passing game and his experience, it appears to be only a matter of time before Williams is considered for a Division I-A head coaching opportunity.

JACK BICKNELL III, HC, LA TECH

It may have been easy for some in college football to ignore Bicknell’s success at Louisiana Tech when the Bulldogs played in relative obscurity as a Division I-A independent, but last year’s success will make it hard to overlook Bicknell or the Bulldogs.

In their first season in the Western Athletic Conference, the Bulldogs not only went 7-5 but won the WAC championship and earned a trip to the Humanitarian Bowl. The last time a Tech coach experienced that kind of success, Gary Crowton went on to become an NFL offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears and then became the head coach at BYU.

It’s hard to imagine Bicknell not following a similar path to a bigger job after three years of success at Tech, including an 8-3 record, the school’s first Associated Press Top 25 ranking and a 29-28 upset win over eventual Southeastern Conference champion Alabama in 1999, his first season as a head coach.

Bicknell certainly comes from good stock. His father, Jack Bicknell II, coached at Boston College in the 1980s and is currently the head coach of the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe.

DAN MCCARNEY, HC, IOWA STATE

When Dan McCarney came to Iowa State in 1994, with a long history of losing and low expectations and faced a steep, uphill battle to change all that. It’s taken time, patient, effort and a tremendous amount of work, but it’s actually happened.

Before McCarney came, the Cyclones hadn’t had a winning season since 1989 and hadn’t been to a bowl since 1978. Now, Iowa State enters the 2002 season with 16 wins in its last 24 games and two consecutive bowl trips. They’ll also get their shot on the national stage when they open the 2002 season on national television in the Eddie Robinson Football Classic against Florida State at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Both of the past two Iowa State teams were impressive in their own way. The 2000 team included a group of seniors who paved the way for Iowa State’s success and became the first Iowa State team in 94 years to win nine games. After those seniors completed their eligibility, the 2001 team won seven games and proved McCarney has built something more substantial than a one-hit wonder at Iowa State.

BRENT VENABLES, CO-DC, OKLAHOMA

Venables might be only 32 years old, but there seems to be little doubt he’s on the fast track to a head coaching job after successful stints at Kansas State and Oklahoma.

Venables, who shares the defensive coordinator responsibilities at Oklahoma with Mike Stoops, played linebacker for Kansas State and then returned to his alma mater to coach some of the best linebackers in the Big 12, including two-time All-Big 12 and 1998 first-team All-American Jeff Kelly, as well as all-conference linebackers Mark Simoneau and Travis Ochs. At Oklahoma, he has coached 2001 Butkus Award winner Rocky Calmus and first-team All-Big 12 linebacker Torrance Marshall.

During Venables’ time as a co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma, the Sooners allowed only 14.9 points per game in 2000 and won the national championship with a 13-0 record, then allowed only 13.8 points per game in 2001 and won 11 games. Despite his youth, Venables is already being mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate. Considering the possibility that the Oklahoma defense could be even better this season, his value as a head coaching candidate is sure to keep rising.






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