The hardest jobs in college football: Coaches, ADs and agents on Miami, Vanderbilt, Kansas, UMass, Michigan and more (The Athletic)

[huskymedic]

-> The Athletic polled more than 60 people working in college football to find out. Turns out, “hard” is … a hard word to define.

“What makes a good job a good job is commitment, support, tradition, but nothing is more important than access to players,” one Group of 5 head coach said. “There are just some places where you just don’t have it that have been historically good places and it’s just harder to recruit than people think it is.”

A Power 5 athletic director summed up high expectations: “There are places with so much history that are so far away from touching that again. They may never touch it again.” But that doesn’t mean those programs are ready to wave a white flag. <-

HARDEST POWER 5 JOBS (Top 2):​

Vanderbilt​

Points: 94
First-place votes: 10

Kansas​

Points: 67
First-place votes: 5

HARDEST GROUP OF 5/IND JOBS (Top 2)​

UConn​

Points: 115
First-place votes: 6

-> UConn earned the most votes of any school. Its trajectory has not been promising after going independent. This year, the Huskies are 0-7 and already playing under an interim coach, Lou Spanos

A Power 5 assistant told The Athletic he sees an administration that “clearly doesn’t care” about the program.

“UConn guys talk about how that school really doesn’t do much for that football program. Well, if you’re not gonna support the program, it’s not gonna become what it ultimately could become. It’s crazy that they were in the Fiesta Bowl just 10 years ago,” another Power 5 assistant said.

Talent acquisition is also a losing battle for the Huskies.
“Northeast football has probably only four or five FBS players there a year — one goes to Notre Dame, one to BC, maybe some fringe kids stay,” said a Power 5 assistant coach.<-

UMass ​

Points: 97
First-place votes: 11

 

[NowInStorrs]

"Its trajectory has not been promising after going independent."

Independence is such a cop out. The trajectory was bad long before independence. If anything, going independent is likely to help versus staying in the remains of the AAC.

 

[PAGS]

Northeast football only has 4-5 FBS players a year!? That’s a crock of crap! Maybe 5-10 each from CT, Mass and NY. Maine, VT, RI and NH are way less…but a lot more than 4-5 a year from the northeast produce at FBS schools!

 

[coachcap]

Nicole Auerbach has always cast UConn in a negative light ever since her days with ESPN.
As to the notion that the administration doesn't care about supporting the football program: This is why the Announcement by Governor Lamont is so important. It's past time to rebut that narrative. Publicly announcing that the State will find the money to pay for a qualified head coach will result in attraction of better candidates.
Note to Nickie A.: Maybe yo should have done your fact checking with Pete Thamel & the national consultant group that UConn hired before before writing that drivel.

 

[Waquoit]

The Rent alone makes UConn the better job.

 

[Hogoff]

Northeast football only has 4-5 FBS players a year!? That’s a crock of crap! Maybe 5-10 each from CT, Mass and NY. Maine, VT, RI and NH are way less…but a lot more than 4-5 a year from the northeast produce at FBS schools!

With out checking, I think there were 12 FBS players from CT last year.

 

[Bongo Fury]

They’re just trying to keep UCONN down. They don’t want them to be good.

 

[phillionaire]

Imagine using one data point (this season) to say the trajectory of independence is going the wrong way. Would things be better if we were 0-7 in the AAC and getting blown out by Tulsane?

 

[storrsroars]

Oddly, in 2020, both CT and MA had the same number of blue-chip recruits as PA, OK and KY - 4 for each state.

CT had 3 in 2019, MA none.

All 50 states, ranked by their percentage of national blue-chip recruits

Georgia’s rise and California’s slip mean the Big Three is officially the Big Four.

www.bannersociety.com

 

[gioff2323]

In fairness, this board does not believe that the administration is all in. There’s plenty of evidence to support that statement. Why take a shot as to that “fact”?

it is put up or shut up time for UConn.

 

[Forte]

Screw the AAC! Indy with CBSSPORTS plus big east bball on Fox/FS1 is 100X's better than being ESPN's bottom dweller. More clear now than ever.

 

[PAGS]

With out checking, I think there were 12 FBS players from CT last year.

2020 CT 14
2020 NY 21
2020 MA 16
2020 NJ 63
2020 PA 41
2020 MD
2020 NH 2
2020 RI 0
2020 VT 0
2020 ME 0

2021 CT 14

I got sick of counting…we all get the point. MD is a hot bed too…are they NE? Plenty of talent up here. Not FLA or Texas. But we have more than 10 freakin FBS guys here

 

[SubbaBub]

He may have been exaggerating or flippant. 12 FBS level players is not a lot.

I've always thought that the difference between UConn and a place like Cincinnati is that being in Ohio makes it easier to fill roster spots 23-85 with quality guys who've played a lot more FB decreasing the pressure to recruit at a 100% success rate for spots 1-22.

For example, we have 4 QBs on the currents roster, none are as of this week qualified to play FBS. I guarantee that there are backups at CIn and starters at MAC schools that would be a significant upgrade for us, but the fall into the lap of local schools for a bunch of reasons.

This is what I think they meant. Yes, we have and have had a lot of local CT/MA talent roll through the Rent, there just isn't the volume in this area compared to others. This is not a new observation.

We are a tougher job than UMass because of the expectations and past success not only in FB but other sports.

 

[Bongo Fury]

But you can make twice as much failing at UConn

 

[pepband99]

Anything that ranks UMass as a better job is wrong. Period. Doesn't pass the smell test.

 

[Stinger92860]

Anything that ranks UMass as a better job is wrong. Period. Doesn't pass the smell test.

it did last weekend

 

[pepband99]

it did last weekend

It's the football equivalent of climate vs weather.

...and what happened last weekend absolutely smelled.

 

[Yup!]

it did last weekend

Self inflicted IMO UConn didn’t want it more than UMass did. UMass played like they wanted to prove something, UConn played like they didn’t give a crap

 

[Bongo Fury]

Their coach was likely gone if the didn’t beat lowly UConn.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Northeast football only has 4-5 FBS players a year!? That’s a crock of crap! Maybe 5-10 each from CT, Mass and NY. Maine, VT, RI and NH are way less…but a lot more than 4-5 a year from the northeast produce at FBS schools!

By my count from 247, there were 35 players from New England's 2021 class who are currently on FBS teams. 17 of them are at P5 schools.

 

[Yup!]

By my count from 247, there were 35 players from New England's 2021 class who are currently on FBS teams. 17 of them are at P5 schools.

That article was ridiculous, the only thing I agree with is that UConn wasn’t taking football seriously comment.

 

[Guapo]

You guys, this wasn’t Nichole Auerbach’s or David Ubben’s opinion. It’s informative in that it shows how bad the perception of the program has become. It’s also a good reminder of a) how dumb a lot of football people are (see the stupid NE recruiting comment) and b) college football people tend to be vindictive of schools that clearly choose basketball.

Ultimately, this doesn’t matter; it’s up to AD Dave to sell the pluses of the program to potential hires and their agents

 

[SubbaBub]

Anything that ranks UMass as a better job is wrong. Period. Doesn't pass the smell test.

Better job if you want a long career in coaching.

 

[RSTuthill]

I am surprised that no one seized upon the phrase "an administration that clearly doesn't care". That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. They care about BB, not about FB. Full stop.

 

[Slasher]

He may have been exaggerating or flippant. 12 FBS level players is not a lot.

I've always thought that the difference between UConn and a place like Cincinnati is that being in Ohio makes it easier to fill roster spots 23-85 with quality guys who've played a lot more FB decreasing the pressure to recruit at a 100% success rate for spots 1-22.

For example, we have 4 QBs on the currents roster, none are as of this week qualified to play FBS. I guarantee that there are backups at CIn and starters at MAC schools that would be a significant upgrade for us, but the fall into the lap of local schools for a bunch of reasons.

This is what I think they meant. Yes, we have and have had a lot of local CT/MA talent roll through the Rent, there just isn't the volume in this area compared to others. This is not a new observation.

We are a tougher job than UMass because of the expectations and past success not only in FB but other sports.

You're not wrong, Cincinnati's backup QB: