Lincoln is probably safe but DeBoerās is payable over a long enough time that itās not too bad for them economically. Staples and Low had a piece on it last week. Heās definitely not safe even with the buyout. (And Iād hire him in a heartbeat if he felt like working again!)
Also, important to remember this week, Mike London was a cop.
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DeBoer is a good coach, heās just overmatched in that job with those expectations of that program and base. I do think his seat is flaming hot. If they do move on I think itās a more of a DeBoer steps down because of whatever excuse they publicly give. But that will likely facilitate an easier buyout.
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The interesting part in Ttown is how much money do they try to throw at Lanning, do they try Schumann, can they stomach Lane or Dabo, etc.
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Itāll be interesting. But I think a key question to ask is flip that. Would a Lanning, Dabo, Lane or pick a big name want to ship off to Bama to put up with those expectations etc. At the end of the day DeBoer won 9 last year and probably wins 9 this year and still gets shown the door.
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guy after the guy vs. guy after the guy after the guy
Their expectations will be relatively lower. But yeah I honestly think only Schumann and Lane would take it.
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This is Bama, normally the guy after the works. But that base is not dropping expectations far. In modern football no one is coming in there winning 9 games and the program is happy with it. Insane, but thatās the reality. I live the SEC life daily and the Bama SEC life is itās own sub-cult of insanity.
Lane would do a backflip to get there. And the base would be ready to burn him at the stake after 3 years of Lane being Lane.
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Didnāt Lanning turn them down last year, thatās how they ended up where they are? I donāt think heād go back on that now, especially if Oregon holds up to expectationsā¦
Dabo would make a ton of sense but not sure his style is what theyāre going to be after. Or who knows, maybe itās exactly what they want.
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I think deal runs through March 2028, so really only two seasons.
If we are at 6 wins and retain him, thatās a really tough pill to swallow. The schedule will never be easier and then youāre committing roster money (with expected turnover) to a guy that clearly isnāt the answer just to play it out another year.
7 wins, I wouldnāt be happy but could maybe understand. Think then it comes down to passing because the right guy wasnāt available this cycle.
Youāre not judging him on this year, heās got a full body of work and a roster that turns completely over next year with an assuredly tougher schedule.
Suffer a loss against either Stanford or Washington State then we need to start the coaching search thread.
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Lanning has a double secret backdoor contract with Phil Knight where he gets a lot of Nike stock if he sticks around. Heād be interested, but itās reeeeeally expensive to make it worth his while, and the bama power brokers (rightly imo) picked the guy who had an undefeated record against Lanning with less resources at half the price.
Lanning was/is their dream guy though and the remaining side deal money becomes less every year and he may start to feel the walls close in a bit if he keeps running into a wall there.
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I thought I remembered I fiery Lanning presser talking about how he wasnāt walking on Oregon for the SEC, they believed in him enough to give him the job so he wouldnāt bolt without finishing what he wanted to build or something of that nature.
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I can see Dabo taking a close look. Clem does not have the resources of Bama and it is not for certain the Clem ends up in the SEC. Looks like Clem is eroding a bit and Dabo knows it. They could slide into Big 12.
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Youāre right on the contract length. I have no idea why I had it in my head that Elliott signed for 7 years and Pry signed for 6.
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I forgot Lanning was in consideration for the last round. I donāt see a reason for him to go to Bama outside of wanting to say he coached Bama. He has more money and resources at Oregon, an established brand and an a similar path to the CFB B1G vs. SEC.
I canāt imagine Dabo is up for leaving Clemson. Heās built his empire in his own image and Iām pretty sure he likes having that control.
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He cut a promo about staying pretty quickly. I think there was a conversation had though.
Bama admin is still mad at Lane for bailing before a playoff game, and a lot of them have no love for Dabo either.
Not sure I agree with the Oregon > Bama distinction. Geography matters less than it ever has but it still matters, and Bama is still Bama (for now). There is a reason they keep having guys leave for the southeast.
Before the season, I was really torn between 7-5 and 8-4. I felt like we needed to beat State for a realistic chance of 8 wins. Itās not impossible, especially since the schedule somehow looks even easier than it did a few weeks ago, but we really need to take care of business. It really stinks that we were literally one play, one bad decision away from a win Saturday. But itās a 60 minute game for a reason and a close loss counts the same as a blowout.
I feel very good about W&M, Stanford, WSU, and Wake. I think we can go 2-2 against UNC, Duke, Cal, VT. I expect us to lose to Louisville and FSU.
Thatās 7-5 right there and it doesnāt seem like much of a stretch. Take care of business and maybe steal a game from that 2-2 group or shock FSU and thatās your path to 8.
I kinda like that we get our two toughest games early in the season. Theyāre likely losses regardless and I feel like our depth has a better chance of having a real impact against UNC, Cal, Duke, and VT.
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Take off the fan hat, and put on the gambling hat and I think you nailed it with this breakdown.
The problem with the quest for 8 is thereās no room for error at this point. The State game was kinda the one allowable āoopsā
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Fun fact, we have 4 of the 8 worst P4 offenses remaining on our schedule (VT, UNC, WSU, Stanford).
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Yeah this is the thing. That was our mulligan. You can earn a new one by beating Louisville (doable!) or FSU (looks much less doable, but Friday night magic could be a thing). I just donāt have a ton of faith in our program to take care of business the rest of the way unfortunately.
The travel to Cal in between @ UNC and home against Wake makes me think weāre more likely to go 1-2 through that stretch than 3-0. Thatās the stretch that really worries me.
The schedule really is so bad though, and I think it might get even weaker as the season goes on if some of these programs continue on their current trend. There isnāt a ton of positive momentum for Stanford, VT, and UNC right now.
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