[NU Sports] Fitz tells Michigan he's not interested!

[Mike Nolan]

> > Michigan is supposed to be a "dream" job virtually any coach in the country would jump at.  Iinstead it is becoming another tawdry side show where the rest of the sporting world gets to watch as a whole series of coaches tell Michigan that they aren't interested.
 
> I suppose it is sad for Michigan, but they aren't the first "premiere 
> college football program" to learn the hard way that times have changed. 
> Notre Dame, USC, Nebraska, Miami (and I could go on) have all been 
> there. It's a symptom of what is otherwise a good thing: increased 
> competition in top-level college football.

The rule has been:  Don't be the man to follow a legend, be the man 
to follow the man who follows a legend.  However, more recently
it has taken teams at least two coaching changes to find their
new leader.  That's what happened at Alabama, Nebraska (after Osborne), 
Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Miami, Auburn and several other schools.  

How many coaches were there at Ohio State between Woody and Tressel?  Notre Dame is
still looking for someone to follow in the footsteps of Parseghian
and Holtz.  (Holtz, as I recall, was forced out lest he rack up more 
victories than Knute Rocke.)

Exceptions to the rule:  Osborne following Devaney at Nebraska.  Jimbo Fischer
is off to a good start following Bobby Bowden at Florida State, but the
final verdict won't be in for a few years.  
--
Mike Nolan




> 
> It may have started with scholarship restrictions, so the big programs 
> can't pad their depth chart with top athletes the way they used to -- 
> and now those athletes are playing against them week after week -- but 
> some ADs (and plenty of alumni) still act like it's 1975 and have the 
> same expectations. As a result, good coaches are fired, their 
> replacements generally don't do much better, and other coaches start to 
> wonder what the upside is to working at a place where "success" is now 
> virtually impossible.
> 
> There are other factors -- increased media attention, infusion of cash 
> and pressure, etc. -- but at the center lies a simple fact: the big 
> programs aren't what they used to be and never will be again. Schools 
> that refuse to adapt to this reality will suffer the way Michigan has 
> (and other schools have before them). For me, that's fine; I certainly 
> would prefer not to turn back the clock.
> 
> 
> Eric West
> e-west at northwestern.edu
> 
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