More Thoughts on Bobby

With Vandy HC Bobby Johnson interviewing in Joe Alleva's office today, I've given some thought to how good of a hire Johnson would be, and I'm skeptical about such a move for a few reasons.

To be honest, I'm not sure that Bobby Johnson is a significantly better coach than Ted Roof. I don't know if he has an offensive track record or not or what specifically he brings to the table, but I feel that if you're going to fire an incumbent coach (and one that had the fervent support of many of his players), you've got to bring in someone who either is a better coach, or who will bring about a sea change in terms of a program's culture.

I'm not sold that Johnson is that much of a better coach than Roof, even if he is coaching in the strongest conference in the nation. I just don't think you can pass off the hiring of a coach with a 20-50 record as an improvement to fans.

In the attitude area, It had become pretty clear to me by the end of the season that Duke football more or less had developed a losing culture. Wins weren't expected, and I could tell that both what I saw on the field on Saturdays and from what I heard from players after games and at the mid-week press conferences. I'm not alleging that players quit or gave up on the season, and Roof and his coaches certainly didn't, but it became pretty clear that his approach was taking the team nowhere.

That said, I've been a strong proponent of bringing in a coach that will bring an attitude shock to the program. I think the best example, and most relevant considering the circumstances of Duke as an academic institution, is Stanford's hiring of Jim Harbaugh. Before his team even strapped up their helmets for practice, Harbaugh made headlines calling out USC and Pete Carroll at the Pac-10 Media Day, and of course he backed up his rhetoric on the field when the Cardinal knocked off the Trojans 24-23 this season.

For a Duke football program that has been more or less a running national joke for the past decade, the swagger that a fresh attitude change would provide is, in my mind, imperative in a new hire . Honestly, I don't think the saintly, cursing-averse Johnson would provide enough of an attitude shift to merit his hiring.

Just my two cents. Feel free to comment/respond.

Moving on...Karl Dorrell

Now that the loss of Paul Johnson has sunk in a bit, here is some new news and a new name—former UCLA HC Karl Dorrell is now one of Duke's top targets.

This report is in line with what I've been hearing about Duke's next plans, and despite a rocky tenure at UCLA that saw only one great (10-2 last season) season and three mediocre ones, Dorrell by all accounts is a good coach. He has an NFL track record, and is an offensive-minded guy. Again, he has the experience—he just had the misfortune of coaching cross-town from Pete Carroll and USC.

The article also does say that Dorrell may want to get back into the NFL. He's a decendant of the Mike Shanahan coaching tree, so the Broncos or the Texans (with former Broncos OC Gary Kubiak as HC) are his most likely destinations there. Keep in mind that the Texans have just lost their OC (Mike Sherman to Texas A&M), so there may be an opening there for Dorrell.

Late Evening Update (12/5)

Here are some quick hitters...

-Report in the Monroe, LA paper discusses Grambling HC Rod Broadway's interview with Duke from his players' perspective.

-Frank Dascenzo's column in the Herald-Sun gives some nice personal perspective on how bad Duke's football hires have been in the past 30+ years.

-An absolutely ridiculous guest column in the Herald-Sun saying that Duke should model its football program after USC, and that we should make a big offer and try to lure Pete Carroll.

Sure thing, we can do that AFTER we win our own 11 National Titles and 7 Heismans. I can't even believe that a self-respecting newspaper would run this, mainly due to the ridiculous assertion that we should (or even could) go after Carroll.