Well Riley hasn't ever won anything, won consistently or built a dynasty anywhereThere is no guarantee that Saban would have built a dynasty at MSU, is there?Will give you the assistant thing- even though No one is willing to admit an average coach did a better job at OSU than Riley even though its there in black and white, an inconvenient truthOr he could have been like Riley after he went 10-4, 9-4, 9-4, 8-5 and started falling off. If Riley bolted for Bama instead of staying at Oregon St, you could possibly be saying the same thing about him that you are saying about Les right now. And saying someone was a successful assistant coach doesn't necessarily translate to him being a successful head coach.Im not confident a 62 year old coach who hasnt won anything before in College football- will all of a sudden win something or that someone that hasnt consistently won - will consistently win. Especially when an average by most standards coach came right behind him and was able to do so.So, Erickson did good at some places and not good at others. What that tells me is that success at one place doesn't guarantee success at another. Not winning championships at one place doesn't mean he can't do it at another.
This is because every situation is different. Gene Chizik was 5-19 at ISU over two years with his second season being 2-10 with an 0-8 record in the conference. He actually got worse his second year there than his first. He jumps ship to Auburn and two years later he wins an NC.
In 4 years at OSU, Les Miles was 28-21 and the best he had done was 3rd in his division. His bowl record was 1-2. He had a .500 record in conference. He jumps ship to LSU and he wins an NC three years later.
The fact remains that there is a difference in programs and what can be done at those programs. There is a difference between situations coaches are in at various programs.
I will trust the decision making of people who know one hell of a lot more than anyone on an internet message board over if he is the right guy for the job since we have nothing to base anything else on other than speculation.
You arent looking at the complete resume when it comes to guys like Miles
Great run at Colorado during the MCCarney era
Nice 8 year run at Michigan
OSU was 5–6, 5–6, and 3–8. the 3 seasons before he got there. He upset top 4 OU in year 1, beat a top 3 OU in one of the subsequent years. his only losing season in 4 was year 1
Im guessing if he stayed he would have been consistently successful there- just like he was at the previous stops and LSU- very consistent
Look at Sean Es resume when it comes to hiring head football coaches, He is the one making the decsion- what is his track record there? He doesnt really have one
If MR has consistent success, SE is officially the smartest guy in the room- but he doesnt have a track record to go on either
Not all good assistants make good CEOs- but it doesnt hurt if the team you coached was successful or you had a chance to work for a very good Head Coach
There is no guarantee MIke Riley would have been Bamas savior right?
Bama wiffed on what 3 coaches before they finally hired Saban and he engineered the turnaround and dynasty that "hot" coaches like Shula, Franchione and Dubose couldnt do
Would Mike Riley been one of the 3 or 4 corpses or not? We will never know- his NU tenure might give us a bit of a clue
Saban has engineered 3 turnarounds, 3 consistent winners, 2 of those programs winning National Championships
So yeah kind of a track record with one guy Saban, not so much with the other
I don't think anyone would be betting their life savings that Saban wouldn't have taken that program to the top had he decided to stay past the last year of his 5 year plan 10 win season.