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Coaching Search News & Notes

By Nestor

Let’s get back to the coaching news and notes. And right off the bat a note for all of you don’t get all that distracted by the online campaign of the Walker freaks. We have laid out our arguments against Walker already. He is a shameless hack and an assistant coach who doesn’t have any head coaching experience and is not qualified to be the next head coach of UCLA. We have laid out the arguments dispelling his case numerous times. So let’s stick to those and not worry about giving attention to some silly website that is only rivaled by race baiting shills at the LA Times vying for attention in the interwebs by publishing silly blogs. So, if you really feel the need and urge to respond to some site, just do it over there but no need to bring attention to the Walker related trash over here. Again, if Dan Guerrero is stupid enough to hire Walker or bring in a combo of Chow/Walker, the target will become DG himself.

Speaking of assistant coaches with no head coaching experience, Music City Miracles, our SBN colleagues covering the Tennessee Titans are of course tracking Norm Chow. And let’s just say Titan fans are not all that impressed with Chow and sounds like they won’t be all that upset if he were to leave:

It is always a red flag to me when guys have interviewed at a bunch of different places but have never gotten a job. It is an even bigger red flag when it comes to Chow because, as mentioned above, he had an interview at Stanford, which should have been a slam dunk, and they didn't go with him, and NC State didn't even call him. There has to be a reason no one has given them a shot. I have the same feelings about Mike Leach, the head coach at Texas Tech. Every year he gets an interview from a school, but he never gets a job. There has to be a reason for that.

Last season Chow interviewed for the Arizona State head coaching job and the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job. I said in both instances that I hoped he would not leave because it would hurt Vince's development. I am no longer convinced that Chow leaving would hurt Vince.

Chow came in with the reputation for being a quarterback guru. He had developed guys like Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers and Matt Leinart in his time in college. That is an impressive list, but I am not sure that it translates to being the right guy for Vince. I have gotten the feeling this year that Chow is trying to make Vince fit his system instead of changing his system to Vince's strengths. Vince wasn't picked #3 overall because of his great pocket passing ability. He was picked there because of his play making ability. That is wasted pick if you don't take advantage of those abilities.
Contrast that to the sentiment of Texas Tech fans at Double T Nation, who are anxious and concerned about Leach possibly leaving for UCLA. The reaction of fans to their head coaches often tell us all we need to know about their qualities and qualifications to be a good coach. Texas Tech fans are worried about losing Leach, Titans fan don’t care much about Chow. Yet we have bunch of morons in our fan base willing to accept Chow in an arrange marriage scenario with a shameless hack like Walker.

But enough talking about a shameless hack like DeWayne. Let's get to more interesting news. We have our first official mention in the MSM of UCLA-Mendenhall (emphasis mine):
UCLA is also looking at former BYU, North Carolina State and USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, currently the coordinator for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. And today, ESPN reported the Bruins would like to talk to current Cougar coach Bronco Mendenhall about replacing fired Karl Dorrell.
I will simply not get my hopes up. Not going to do it.

Meanwhile, Terry Bowden, the former head coach at Auburn who put together an 11-0 season in his first year and left with a record of 47-17-1 is now openly campaigning for the job at UCLA:
"I made a decision about a year ago to formally get back into coaching," Bowden said Wednesday from Nebraska, where he had a speaking engagement. "UCLA is obviously a great job. If the right person goes in there, it's a place you'd expect to contend for a conference championship and national championship. You'd be in a talent-rich area. They've shown glimpses of outstanding football the last few years."

Sources said the interest is mutual as there has been contact between UCLA and Bowden's camp.

Bowden, the son of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, is an animated coach. He coached at Salem College and Samford University before landing the Auburn job. He has successful head coaching experience, but he's been out of the business for the better part of a decade.

He recently interviewed for the Georgia Tech opening, although Paul Johnson was hired.

Bowden was adamant that returning to coaching after a long layoff is right.

"I'm 51 with a fire I had when I was 30," Bowden said.

UCLA has to compete with USC in its backyard, a daunting prospect, but Bowden didn't seem fazed by the rivalry with the Trojans.

"There's no reason you can't (compete with them)," Bowden said.

"You've got the best of both worlds, which is very much like Auburn and Alabama. It's hard to be the best in your own state, but if you can be the best in your own state, you can be as good as anyone in the country."
So much for the UCLA job not being attractive to coaches around the country. I am undecided on Bowden right now. I am really not sure what to think of him but I do like his comments regarding Southern Cal.

I will take him over Walker or combination of Chow/Walker. Hopefully though DG as we have said all along is playing it close to vest and has a surprise in store for all us. We can only hope.

GO BRUINS.

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