- Oct 5, 2014
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Justin Fuente took a University of Memphis program that was dead and now has them on one of nation's longest winning streaks and ranked in the top 25. In my book what this guy has done at Memphis is good enough to be Coach of the Year. Memphis had a string of 8 losing football coaches in a row before Fuente was hired. You have to go back to the days of Billy "Spook" Murphy and Fred Pancoast ( a former Gator offensive coordinator under Ray Graves) to find a Memphis coach with a winning record. And that was a long time ago.
Memphis is a state school ( I still call them Memphis State ) in a urban setting. Miami is a private school in an urban setting. Both are step children to the flag ship schools in their states, the University of Tennessee and the University of Florida. Memphis is a commuter school. Memphis plays at the Liberty Bowl Stadium which is about two miles from campus which is not nearly as far away as Sun Life Stadium is from the U. of Miami. But Memphis, like Miami, has had a hard time creating a vibrant collegiate type atmosphere for their home games. Miami plays on a bigger national stage than Memphis and plays in a more prestigious conference, but the Miami program has hit rock bottom. At this moment, Memphis is a more vibrant program.
Jim McElwain was reportedly hired by Memphis but the deal did not go through when he pulled out to go to Colorado State instead. That right there says a lot about where the Memphis program was. It's pretty bad if you get left at the altar for Colorado State.
The video is of Coach Tommy West who did pretty good at Memphis as head coach, but still couldn't win and was fired. He told it like it was. Memphis mad some upgrades and went on to hire a good coach in Justin Fuente. They had the backing of the administration. Will Miami be able to do the same?
[youtube]eLk06dQlyAE[/youtube]
Memphis is a state school ( I still call them Memphis State ) in a urban setting. Miami is a private school in an urban setting. Both are step children to the flag ship schools in their states, the University of Tennessee and the University of Florida. Memphis is a commuter school. Memphis plays at the Liberty Bowl Stadium which is about two miles from campus which is not nearly as far away as Sun Life Stadium is from the U. of Miami. But Memphis, like Miami, has had a hard time creating a vibrant collegiate type atmosphere for their home games. Miami plays on a bigger national stage than Memphis and plays in a more prestigious conference, but the Miami program has hit rock bottom. At this moment, Memphis is a more vibrant program.
Jim McElwain was reportedly hired by Memphis but the deal did not go through when he pulled out to go to Colorado State instead. That right there says a lot about where the Memphis program was. It's pretty bad if you get left at the altar for Colorado State.
The video is of Coach Tommy West who did pretty good at Memphis as head coach, but still couldn't win and was fired. He told it like it was. Memphis mad some upgrades and went on to hire a good coach in Justin Fuente. They had the backing of the administration. Will Miami be able to do the same?
[youtube]eLk06dQlyAE[/youtube]