So while I wait for countdown clock to hit zero, I have set my football energies toward exploring possibilities for our December 2014 coaching search. You can see The List and The List, Part II by clicking the links. Unfortunately, those posts are already a bit outdated. Meanwhile, I have been doing a little bit of living vicariously through Wake Forest fans (they hit it out of the park with the Dave Clawson hire, I think)
With news breaking this weekend that Louisville's Charlie Strong (the guy I really wanted when UVA hired Mike London without giving anyone else an interview) had accepted the job at Texas, the Louisville job popped open. Now the Cardinals are embarking on their own coaching search, giving me another chance to live vicariously. The L'Ville job is not the same as the UVA job, but I sincerely believe the two are in the same ballpark. L'Ville is the more attractive post, but it's close, given the fact that both teams are in the ACC, both sit outside of the fertile recruiting territory of the Deep South / California, both have great financial backing behind the football programs, and both have similar facilities (actually, UVA's facilities might even be better, when you consider the new IPF and the size of Scott Stadium). Louisville obviously has more recent on-field success, but the football history is pretty similar between these two programs. Anyway, I don't think it's totally crazy to believe that some of L'Ville's candidates might end up being some of Virginia's candidates a year from now.
So here's some reading for you to tackle, knowing that there are true and obvious overlaps between what Louisville is doing now and what we're going to be doing in 11 months.
And finally, for those keeping track at home, here's the 2013 coaching carousel overview. It's not done spinning just yet, with more trickle-down positions popping open, potentially at Miami and/or Vanderbilt, among others.
327 more days, Hoofans...
One last thing:
I want to go ahead and put pen to paper on this. I have a short list of four guys that I'm most interested in as *realistic* possibilities for UVA in December 2014...
- Ball State's Pete Lembo
- Fresno State's Tim DeRuyter
- Louisiana-Lafayette's Mark Hudspeth
- and Michigan State's Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi
Oh man I bet you're loving today's news.
ReplyDeleteYep, I am. Petrino would never have been a candidate for UVA. Plus, this protects the four guys I'm eyeballing for December 2014.
DeletePLUS, I'd like to note that there's no reason Petrino's offense should be held in any higher esteem than Pete Lembo's. The main difference is that Lembo has been able to light the world on fire with far less talent (at Lehigh, Elon, Ball State) than Petrino has had at his disposal (at Louisville, Arkansas). And to me, that's a huge positive in Lembo's favor.
477 ypg, 38.5 ppg -- those numbers sound tasty to me. YES, Petrino's offenses at Louisville were off the charts... but who's to say Lembo's won't also be, once he has quarterbacks the caliber of LeFors/Brohm/Matt Jones/Mallett/Tyler Wilson once he's recruiting into his system at a BCS conference school? I believe in Lembo and his system and approach.
Is Lembo getting no sniffs right now? Are you all in on him?
DeleteHe's gotten sniffs. Seemed to be one of the frontrunners for UConn prior to Diaco blowing them away. I'm sure Lembo will be on Vandy's list as they try to replace James Franklin.
DeleteAm I all in on Lembo? Yeah, I guess I am. But there are also other guys I like. I'm geared up for a fun 11 months of tracking this stuff on Wahooze.