A couple of thoughts

by Domer99, John Wesley Powell's Expedition Island, Monday, December 13, 2010, 09:10 (5617 days ago) @ KGB

Part of my criteria included the appeal factor. In my mind, the fact that Meyer was being publicly courted by: 1) the most historic college program and 2) one of the more recently successful elites, trumped Kelly's interest. I think the other offers Kelly had were Washington and Tennessee. The perception was the Meyer was a very wanted man.

But the other factor, and one you mention, is that Ron McBride was let go. Yes, he had an 8-4 season the season before being fired but he sandwiched that in between a 4-7 season and a 5-6 one. McBride was a let down for Utah, especially because the other sports coach Utah hired (Rick Majerus) was leading the men's basketball team to a national title appearance. The program really had no trajectory, other than a middling program in a mildly competitive non-BCS MWC.

Cincy looked to be a nice stepping stone job. D'antonio was hired away by a Big 10 school, not fired by a MWC one. Now, that said, I kind of think Mark's stint in Cincy was a little overhyped, but there was some momentum.

I also tried to think about in terms of ND's desired target. I don't know all of the underlying rationale but we seemingly fired Willingham because we had an opportunity for Meyer. We fired Weis, talked to Stoops, then ended up with the best available candidate. I don't know that Swarbrick would have ever canned Weis simply because of what Kelly might have done. Maybe I am wrong, and extrapolating too much but that's my uneducated vantage point.

As an aside, I really wanted Meyer back then but as time has gone by, I am so happy we didn't. I have serious issues with his character that I can't get over, even if he were to make ND a winner.