He's been on the biggest stages possible.....
Just because he danced with MC Hammer that isn't a qualifier. If it is? Allow me to submit:
Gene Simmons
Elton John
Any member of BTS
Ozzy
Don Henley or
Britney Spears
Seriously, though? I still hate Deion from the FSU years. Never liked him as a Cowboy. I've been in the lockerroom with him when he was with the Reds and seen more of him than I ever wanted to. I don't think he's a bad guy, and maybe he turns into a great coach one day. He's not now.
The thing is, AU doesn't really need a coach. Nice to have, but today it's way more than that. The position requires an evaluator of talent, someone who can manage a staff, recruit, deal with media, deal with boosters, deal with alumni, make public appearances, and so on. That was where Gus fell off. He might be an innovative, amazing coach when that's all he has to do, but he never figured that out. Tried to do too much and ended up doing all of it poorly. You need rah-rah guys for sure, but your HC can't be that. His job is to put the pieces in place so that the team wins.
Deion's not there yet in my opinion. Neither is Carnell.
I love Carnell as a player, and as a human being. I watched the AU football review after both wins. He means well, but looks like he's being tortured. I don't want him to leave AU and hope whoever is hired realizes how valuable he is. Just not HC.