PR-wise, where does this rank in worst hires of all time?
I mean, Lane Kiffin to USC was top five. This though may top it. Shit, in the past two days, we've seen two of the worst hires of all time in terms of appearance in the public eye.
Petrino to Louisville.
Kiffin to Bama as OC.
If I think about it...
5. Gene Chizik to Auburn
Auburn had just fired a long term and rather successful coach in Tommy Tuberville because it looked like he wasn't going to compete with a rising Alabama. Thinking that Auburn was going to make a big splashy hire with someone such as a hot name like Will Muschamp or even a far-fetched big dawg like Bill Cowher, the world was shocked to see the 5-19 man step off the airplane.
4. Todd Graham to Arizona State
Todd Graham was an up and comer and seemed to find a good home in Pittsburgh for a few years. Instead of building a resume and taking over a top flight program, he left just 11 months into the job for what was barely a step up in Arizona State. What makes this worse than Gene Chizik was that Graham for one didn't stay a whole year at Pitt and two, he sent his players a text message that said goodbye.
3. Bobby Petrino to Louisville
It's not that Petrino isn't going to win again at Louisville. It's that Petrino was rather shitty to the Cardinals when he was there. After one year on the job, he met secretly with Auburn trustees in an attempt to jump ship to Auburn. He also interviewed for multiple jobs before getting the Falcons gig. Then to add fuel to the fire, he bolted from the Falcons to the Razorbacks with three games remaining in the NFL season. Then he was hit with a huge scandal after he wrecked a motorcycle while giving his mistress a ride. Oh yeah, his mistress had been hired to a nice position in the athletic department. Oh and also, Petrino boldface lied to the athletic director about it all leading to a big press conference where the athletic director regurgitated those lies and then had to deal with the consequences of not investigating Petrino further. Arkansas is still in a state of dogshit after Petrino's fling with the tall blond chick.
2. Lane Kiffin to USC
So USC gets hit with severe sanctions due to widespread rule bending and breaking going on under Pete Carroll's watch. USC fought the NCAA as hard as they could and found themselves with scholarship reductions and a bowl ban. So what do they do in response to the NCAA's decisions? Hire Lane Kiffin as head coach. Lane Kiffin was a rabble rouser in the SEC while getting embarrassed on the field. He left their program in shambles. Oh, and he also was part of that big cheating thing going on, and so was Ed Orgeron, who Kiffin brought along with him back to Compton.
1. Lane Kiffin to Alabama
No, it's not really #1, but fuck Alabama. You have a machine running on very quiet cylinders. You have a head coach who is lauded as one of the greatest of all time. You bring in NFL prospects to go through a three year training camp while being a perennial title contender. And you decide that even though there are a plethora of average OCs out there that can run your boring ass offense and let your defense shine and win 11+ games a year, you take the risk to bring in a guy that was already near the top of this kind of a list?