Harbaugh to Michigan - expected announcement on Tuesday

[ufgator812]

freeze has a simular record at ole miss as harbaugh did at Stanford except he was in a tougher conference. it would have been a quick turn around with freeze .

Laughable.

 

[soflagator]

freeze has a simular record at ole miss as harbaugh did at Stanford except he was in a tougher conference. it would have been a quick turn around with freeze .

Freeze had one very good 3-loss season. He lost 5 the season before, and 6 the year before that. And he wasn't starting from scratch either. He followed Nutt, who, as much as Saban gets blamed for oversigning, was the worst offender in that regard. HF had talent, but more importantly had a ton of kids there when he started.

But putting all that aside, teams were lining up to get Harbaugh. That wasn't, or isn't, the case with Freeze. No one believes that those two are on the same level, or even close.

I'll also add this. We don't know that the turn around time with McElwain won't be quick as well.

 

[oxrageous]

I'm going to chuckle when Harbaugh takes the Raiders job for $10 million a year.

 

[78]

This thread has some entertaining twists and turns. No. 1, the presumption that Harbaugh could be bought. Sure, he's interested in a return to college football and wants to be paid handsomely, but where's the connection to Florida? He's a Michigan alum with no ties to the SEC. It would have amounted to a stretch chasing him and the potential fallout from having waited this long could have proved damaging.

Secondly, the notion that Freeze was an automatic home run hire is flawed IMO. He's done a great job at Ole Miss, but the resume remains limited. All things considered, I think Foley handled this about as well as he could have.

 

[ufgator812]

You act as if there wasnt a huge paycheck that the alumnus thing would make him leave the NFL. If the paycheck was $4MM or $5MM would he have gone? Its all about the money. The alumni thing was just gravy.

Again....has nothing to do with our situation.

 

[ufgator812]

I'm going to chuckle when Harbaugh takes the Raiders job for $10 million a year.

No, apparently Freeze is going to take it for 11 million.

 

[t-gator]

Freeze had one very good 3-loss season. He lost 5 the season before, and 6 the year before that. And he wasn't starting from scratch either. He followed Nutt, who, as much as Saban gets blamed for oversigning, was the worst offender in that regard. HF had talent, but more importantly had a ton of kids there when he started.

But putting all that aside, teams were lining up to get Harbaugh. That wasn't, or isn't, the case with Freeze. No one believes that those two are on the same level, or even close.

I'll also add this. We don't know that the turn around time with McElwain won't be quick as well.

harbaugh may be a higher caliber coach but he's overrated. For an offensive guy he leaves alot to be desired on that side of the ball. And he inherited the best defense in the nfl and now that the defence is getting old and they need to rely on the offense , they suck. Stanford hasn't missed much of a beat since he left either. And nfl teams aren't lining up for freeze because he's a college guy not a fair argument at all. As far as turnaround time , mcelwains name doesn't carry much weight with recruits yet. And it's going to take longer to implement a pro style offense than an uptempo spread system.

 

[78]

I really think Harbaugh wants to be in the NFL. The problem is, he's looking for some degree of control over personnel decisions, which doesn't present itself very often. I think that's lacking in Oakland, which otherwise would be a very logical landing place for him. I know he won't get it in Chicago, which is the other team interested in his services.

 

[ufgator812]

I never said we had a chance hiring him or even was interested in him. I said that we dont want to pay a premium for top talent. Also you are assuming alumnus>= paycheck. I don't think so. I think 1) paycheck, then 2) alumnus. Harbaugh left because of the money. End of story. If no money then no leave. Alumni thing is just the sweetener.

Disagree.

 

[soflagator]

[QUOTE='78;n138302]This thread has some entertaining twists and turns. No. 1, the presumption that Harbaugh could be bought. Sure, he's interested in a return to college football and wants to be paid handsomely, but where's the connection to Florida? He's a Michigan alum with no ties to the SEC. It would have amounted to a stretch chasing him and the potential fallout from having waited this long could have proved damaging.

Secondly, the notion that Freeze was an automatic home run hire is flawed IMO. He's done a great job at Ole Miss, but the resume remains limited. All things considered, I think Foley handled this about as well as he could have.[/QUOTE]

This. All day.

What gets lost in all of this "show them the money" talk is that typically coaches(and their families) like certain areas of the country, or have a history in a particular conference. It's not to say that they have to, but one thing we just learned with the Meyer fiasco is that he's a midwest, B10 type guy who never felt at home in Gainesville. It was widely reported that we beat ND to the punch, and closed him. But at the end of the day, if he'd gone to South Bend in 2005, he's probably still there. Instead, we fit something that didn't naturally fit, got a few great years out of it, and were left searching again. The idea of a guy like JH of Kelly coming to Gville and staying for more than a few years is crazy. Freeze may have, but as you point out, there's nothing that he's done to date that says he'd bring championships to UF.

 

[78]

This. All day.

What gets lost in all of this "show them the money" talk is that typically coaches(and their families) like certain areas of the country, or have a history in a particular conference. It's not to say that they have to, but one thing we just learned with the Meyer fiasco is that he's a midwest, B10 type guy who never felt at home in Gainesville. It was widely reported that we beat ND to the punch, and closed him. But at the end of the day, if he'd gone to South Bend in 2005, he's probably still there. Instead, we fit something that didn't naturally fit, got a few great years out of it, and were left searching again. The idea of a guy like JH of Kelly coming to Gville and staying for more than a few years is crazy. Freeze may have, but as you point out, there's nothing that he's done to date that says he'd bring championships to UF.

Great points all, SoFla. If chasing down a coach were a simple matter of money, every AD with money in the bank would be competing for a national championship. It's not that simple.

 

[divits]

Here is the question to ask What is the return of having a winning team and cost of having a mediocre team? Yes Foley screwed up by hanging on a year too long, but he had a chance to make a big hire and his cheapness won over. It reminds me of how Muschamp's stubbornness in his offensive philosophy did him in. Foley's philosophy of value hires is doing Florida football in. If Foley hired Stoops or Kelly for $6MM and it did not work out, I don't think that anyone would be faulting him for the hire because everybody would agree those are top notch hires.

Not nearly as much as it appears you think it to be. The main payoff is more in bragging rights than actual dollars.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/01/post_160.html

This idea that we should open the vault and pay a football coach "whatever it takes" is ludicrous and as an alumni and season ticket holder I, for one, am totally against it. As I mentioned while ago in this thread (at least I think it was this thread), there is no guarantee that a top coach is going to win championships even if you pay him eleventy billion dollars. You pay the going rate AFTER he has proven he can deliver not before. If that means you aren't going to lure "the top guy" here then so be it. Hire an up and comer and see what he can do. Other than someone like Saban, the chance of having similar results with a McElwain or a Harbaugh are probably even.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

It will be interesting to see if he gets them back faster than Mac gets us back. This guy can flat out coach and would have been my top pick over anybody if we would have been able to somehow pull it off....

 

[oxrageous]

I think Harbaugh is a good coach, but he's never won any titles and he's never been at a place longer than 4 years. It's certainly a risk for Michigan, as it's extremely unlikely he's a long-term solution.

 

[MJMGator]

812,

You are being purposely obtuse. Nobody was saying to pay Freeze $8MM. What I was saying was that if Ole Miss is offering $4MM, then offer $4.8MM or $5MM even though you might be paying a premium, not $4.3MM. When you come with that offer, you are basically telling him that you are cheap or that Ole Miss= Florida in terms of prestige. This is not rocket science.

If I was in Foley's position here is what I would do. Find out who has the best HC office in the country and make Florida's better. Find out who has the best football facilities, and make Florida's better. If our new OC/DC work out really well, pay them the top salary for those positions. If you really think T-rob is the best or one of the best at his position, pay him the best. That is all I ask.

Have you ever stopped to consider that Foley didn't think he was worth anymore that what you say he was offered?