Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
After all the dust settled with the SEC firings and hirings, most would say that the majority of the league did pretty well with their head coaching vacancies. Kentucky got Mark Stoops, Arkansas pissed of the Big Ten, and Auburn re-hired Gus Malzahn while playing “Baby Come Back” over their stadium loudspeakers. Even the once-mighty Tennessee did pretty well, hiring Cincy’s Butch Jones away from the loving embrace of southern Ohio. I mean, really, there’s not even a Hofbrauhaus in Knoxville. So well done there.
But a name that never really popped up on the radar this year was Syracuse’s Doug Marrone. Marrone, who was hired by the Orange after a seven-year stretch of 26-57 (sub-33%), had a decent four-year run in New York, but never really gave the underachieving school a “break out” season, like Kansas State this year. In fact, he went exactly 50%, at 25-25. This year was pretty good, at 8-5 with a bowl win over the imploding WVU Mountaineers.
Why mention Doug Marrone? Because the struggling Buffalo Bills, home to Stevie Johnson, just hired him as their head coach after firing the last guy in December. Wait, what? A guy whose name wasn’t even mentioned all of a sudden gets an NFL job? That’s like the Charlotte Bobcats hiring the assistant coach of a struggling college team to be their head coach. Which they did. But Marrone goes from relatively anonymous Big East/ACC coach to suddenly well-paid professional coach, and he was never even mentioned in SEC searches.
So what makes Marrone good enough for a professional team? Plenty of schools can win half their games in a four-year span. He has some NFL experience as a coordinator, and is from New York, but four years of just “good” coaching at a BCS school, his first head coaching gig, don’t seem to make a super-solid resume.
All I’m saying is, if the Buffalo Bills hired a guy that was never even mentioned in Kentucky’s, or other SEC schools’, coaching search, we should consider ourselves lucky for getting a jump on things. Marrone is probably a good coach, or they wouldn’t have hired him, but it’s hard to imagine hiring a .500 NCAA guy to coach your professional ballclub. The coaching search is an arcane, confusing thing, and this is a lesson: I bet a lot of Kentucky fans, myself included, might have been disappointed if we’d hired Doug Marrone. Turns out, he’s good enough for an NFL team… or, you know, at least a shot with one.
For our part, though, we’re pretty happy with Stoops.
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January 7th, 2013 at 9:04 am
so what
January 7th, 2013 at 9:07 am
I have no idea what this writer ( and I use that term loosely) is trying to say.
January 7th, 2013 at 9:13 am
What did you guys say? I was distracted by the ad for nutrisystem.
January 7th, 2013 at 9:16 am
He was the OC of the Superbowl Champions New Orleans Saints. I would have liked the hire for Kentucky. Just saying…
January 7th, 2013 at 9:19 am
One of the worst posts I’ve ever read on KSR!! Who gives a sh!t about Doug Marrone?? If it doesn’t pertain to UK then I’m not interested.
January 7th, 2013 at 9:23 am
The only people Arkansas pissed off in the Big Ten were Wisconsin fans; everyone else thought Bielema was a douche. He’ll fit right in with the SEC!
January 7th, 2013 at 9:24 am
OK, I’m a Bills fan in Buffalo and I like this hire much more than hiring a retread coach. That being said, what does this post have to do with Kentucky sports at all? Chip Kelly wasn’t on Kentucky’s radar but I didn’t see an article about him before Stoops was hired.
January 7th, 2013 at 9:34 am
Mr. Nichols, I believe you have a very bright future in either the Food services of janitorial services industry… Luckily I don’t think there is any criminal liablity in impersinating a writer… Pleas stop wasting my time…
January 7th, 2013 at 9:43 am
why is everybody so cranky this morning?
January 7th, 2013 at 9:47 am
“Marrone is probably a good coach, or they wouldn’t have hired him” Or the other possibility….The Bills’ front office made a stupid hiring decision. His record shows nothing to warrant he is worthy of being called a good coach, much less being hired as a head coach in the NFL.
January 7th, 2013 at 9:47 am
Seriously Corey? Marrone?
January 7th, 2013 at 9:50 am
We either read this or we keep beating a dead horse on some other subject, news is slow lately, lighten up guys.
January 7th, 2013 at 10:01 am
Why is this a story we would care about? The Bills hired another bad coach, is this news?
January 7th, 2013 at 10:02 am
COREY NICHOLS SUCKS!!!
January 7th, 2013 at 10:18 am
Its readers like most of you who read a article and just complain or make stupid comments that are turning this into a site just like catspause….thats the reason I quit even going to that site
January 7th, 2013 at 10:29 am
“I didn’t read the article long enough and/or couldn’t navigate my own way to the point he was making, therefore Corey Nichols is a terrible writer.” – 90% of the commenters on this post
Be happy we got Stoops. Worse coaches are filling NFL vacancies. Thats the point he’s making.
January 7th, 2013 at 10:58 am
Remember Blanton Collier!!!!
January 7th, 2013 at 11:00 am
He was the OC for the Saints when they got good in 2006. That’s pretty impressive. He left the yr before they won the Super Bowl in 2009 to take the Syracuse job. I think NFL teams will always look for guys with professional experience first, unless of course they’re the next “genius” (Saban, Petrino, Spurrier)
January 7th, 2013 at 11:09 am
7 years nfl experience & 2 years sec experience. you’re prob right tho, marrone wouldnt have been that “homerun hire” bc of his (.500) record at syracuse.
good job, corey. this wasnt a terrible post
January 7th, 2013 at 11:43 am
I guess some days it is hard to come up with a post…
January 7th, 2013 at 11:57 am
Hopefully, he can get Stevie Johnson more touches — class act. As for UK –as a long time season ticket holder — I’m excited about Stoops and company — looking forward to coming years —
January 7th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
KSR New Year’s Resolutions Revealed by This Post:
A) Corey Nichols resolved to stop proofreading–altogether.
B) KSR resolved to pay writers by the typographical and grammatical error.
C) The Buffalo Bills resolved to save their franchise through cut-backs on the relocation budget rider of their new coach’s contract.
January 7th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Lay off the hate. Cory does a fine job.
Always enjoy his articles.
January 7th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
23 – It’s so kind of you to stop by! I’m happy to see Corey’s family supporting his lackluster attempts at writing. Who else would claim they “always enjoy his articles”?!
January 7th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
He has received high praise from the likes of Sean Payton and Bill Parcells..
January 7th, 2013 at 1:27 pm
WOW….You make BTI look like a genius.
January 7th, 2013 at 2:46 pm
@Bill Baker (#25) – High praise from former colleagues and 50 cents will get you a bad cup of coffee from a vending machine. What do you expect them to say, that he sucks? Bill Self and others also had high praise for Billy Cluelesspee. How did that work out?
January 7th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Hofbrauhaus is in Newport, Kentucky not Cincinnati