AD Simulator 2008

With Fulmer being forced out, I thought it'd be a good time to go over the guidelines for firing your old coach and hiring a new one for a major college football program.

The most important part of this process is to know who your replacement is before you get rid of the old guy. If there is someone out there that you know will come in and do a better job than the person you currently have, then make the change. If not, you have to stick it out with your current coach until you can find his replacement.

There is nothing dumber in college football than change for the sake of change. The college game is not like the NFL where there are two or three different offensive and defensive philosophies, and all the players are suited to perform in these same philosophies. There are many different kinds of offenses and defenses in the college game, and you're going to need to recruit players specifically for your system. If you hire a new coach it is going to take him 3-4 years to get his players to run his system. If the guy you hire doesn't work out, then the next guy is going to need the same 3-4 year period. One bad hire can set you back almost a decade. So as I said, do not make the change unless you're certain you can get someone better.

Now, how do you find the right guy? All great college football coaches possess at least two of these three qualities:

1. Ability to assemble a high quality coaching staff

Coordinators and position coaches are more important in college than they are in the NFL. They handle the majority of recruiting and they are vital to the development of players. Bobby Bowden went from genius to senile old man when Mark Richt left, Phil Fulmer can't run an offense without David Cutcliffe, Tommy Tuberville is on the hot seat after making one bad coordinator hire, Randy Shannon found himself a defensive coordinator and the 'Canes went from 5-7 to bowl eligible with 3 games remaining.

2. Recruiting skills/Roster Management

Can you recruit great players? I am not just talking about the 5 star can't-miss prospects. You also must be able to identify the hidden gems like Michael Crabtree (2 stars), Brandon James (2 stars), and Chase Daniel (3 stars).

Another important part of this is recruiting for depth. You can go out and have the #1 recruiting class in the nation, but if that class has 5 RBs, 6 WRs, 8 LBs, and 3 Safeties, you did a bad job. You must recruit contributors at each position every year. You're not always going to be able to get All-American calibur athletes, but you need to get guys who can provide solid play until the All-Americans arrive. Depth is one of, if not the most important, aspects of any championship calibur team. It helps with injuries, it makes the starters better (they will have to constantly be improving if they don't want to get passed up on the depth chart), and it can be used to wear down opponents who lack depth. I would take a team with no-name players and quality depth at each position over a team with three or four stars and no depth.

3. Able to put together an excellent game plan and make effective game day adjustments

Pretty self-explanatory. Once you have the players, you have to know how to position them to be successful.

So now that we know what makes a good coach, let's see which possible replacements meet the criteria and which don't.

Tier 1 (Potentially meets all 3):

1. Chris Petersen
2. Mike Leach

Tier 2 (Could possibly meet 2 of 3):

3. Tim Brewster
4. Brian Kelly
5. Lane Kiffin
6. Kyle Wittingham

Tier 3 (Probable college head coach busts):

7. Will Muschamp
8. Jon Gruden
9. Bill Cowher

To be honest, I haven't done much research on all the potential coaching prospects, but these are the names that have been floating around. If at all possible, I think the major college programs should target head coaches at smaller programs that have had continued success. Coordinators are risky because you don't know how well they will transition to the head coach position. Ex-NFL head coaches are extremely risky because you can't succeed running a college program like an NFL franchise. What about Pete Carrol you ask? Carrol ran his NFL teams like a college program, which is why he wasn't that great as an NFL coach.