08-02-2022, 03:15 PM
Well it's not a long list, though that's part of the point - you have to really offer something to be a talked-about head coach candidate and our guys are pretty far off from there.
I do think it's been a shocking turn of events that Lance Anderson did not get a head coaching job somewhere, and that he doesn't have one speaks pretty clearly in my view to one or both of two things being the case. First, Shaw's loyalty/remuneration/etc. for Anderson is so disproportionate to performance that Anderson wouldn't dream to leave even for certain head coaching positions. Second, Anderson has squandered a tailor-made opportunity to get a head coaching gig because his resume has gotten less and less impressive every year. My thinking:
Fangio and Mason bequeathed Anderson one of the best situations any major college football coordinator has ever inherited. Our identity as one of the best defensive football teams in the nation was firmly established (Alabama, Florida State, Michigan State, and Stanford were the very clear preeminent defensive teams in America in that era). A decent case can be made that only Alabama returned better defensive talent than Stanford when Anderson took over. We also had a very strong culture of Party in the Backfield and Shannon Turley's maniacal motivation. All of that set him up for immense success and, indeed, two of his first three defenses were quite good and the one that wasn't played in the Rose Bowl. Add on top of that that he's one of the best men in America, one of the best recruiters in America, has deep LDS ties tailor-made for programs in several states as well as Georgia recruiting chops literally everybody would want to get their hands-on and academic chops that those with admissions standards could use, and he should have been quite a commodity. Yet, in recent years numerous jobs that would make sense for him have come open and he hasn't gotten any of them. At the major college football level, BYU came open in 2016, San Jose State came open in 2017, Oregon State came open in 2018, Rice came open in 2018 (as we know), San Diego State came open in 2020, UNLV came open in 2020, Washington State came open in 2020, Utah State came open in 2021, and Hawaii came open in 2022, and while not obvious fits Boston College came open in 2020 and Duke in 2022. At the lower level, Anderson's alma mater, Idaho State came open in 2022.
That Lance Anderson isn't coaching Idaho State or somewhere else right now tells me lower division places can't pay him like Shaw does/otherwise offer as cushy a situation (and to be fair keeping children in place for high school is part of the equation), or Anderson isn't sought after. If you told me in December 2016 that Lance Anderson would never have been hired for a head coaching job in the next half decade I wouldn't have believed you.
I do think it's been a shocking turn of events that Lance Anderson did not get a head coaching job somewhere, and that he doesn't have one speaks pretty clearly in my view to one or both of two things being the case. First, Shaw's loyalty/remuneration/etc. for Anderson is so disproportionate to performance that Anderson wouldn't dream to leave even for certain head coaching positions. Second, Anderson has squandered a tailor-made opportunity to get a head coaching gig because his resume has gotten less and less impressive every year. My thinking:
Fangio and Mason bequeathed Anderson one of the best situations any major college football coordinator has ever inherited. Our identity as one of the best defensive football teams in the nation was firmly established (Alabama, Florida State, Michigan State, and Stanford were the very clear preeminent defensive teams in America in that era). A decent case can be made that only Alabama returned better defensive talent than Stanford when Anderson took over. We also had a very strong culture of Party in the Backfield and Shannon Turley's maniacal motivation. All of that set him up for immense success and, indeed, two of his first three defenses were quite good and the one that wasn't played in the Rose Bowl. Add on top of that that he's one of the best men in America, one of the best recruiters in America, has deep LDS ties tailor-made for programs in several states as well as Georgia recruiting chops literally everybody would want to get their hands-on and academic chops that those with admissions standards could use, and he should have been quite a commodity. Yet, in recent years numerous jobs that would make sense for him have come open and he hasn't gotten any of them. At the major college football level, BYU came open in 2016, San Jose State came open in 2017, Oregon State came open in 2018, Rice came open in 2018 (as we know), San Diego State came open in 2020, UNLV came open in 2020, Washington State came open in 2020, Utah State came open in 2021, and Hawaii came open in 2022, and while not obvious fits Boston College came open in 2020 and Duke in 2022. At the lower level, Anderson's alma mater, Idaho State came open in 2022.
That Lance Anderson isn't coaching Idaho State or somewhere else right now tells me lower division places can't pay him like Shaw does/otherwise offer as cushy a situation (and to be fair keeping children in place for high school is part of the equation), or Anderson isn't sought after. If you told me in December 2016 that Lance Anderson would never have been hired for a head coaching job in the next half decade I wouldn't have believed you.