Shannon came in as a great example of the good things associated with the Miami football dynasty. However, he could ultimately be remembered as a key contributor to bringing it down.
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (7-6): Dantonio is the type of coach that can make guys like Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Jack Mollenkopf, and Duffy Daugherty proud. Michigan State is a school foaming at the mouth to embrace a gridiron winner. They may have found one in Dantonio.
Tim Brewster, Minnesota (1-11): When Minnesota opens $288.5-million TCF Bank Stadium in 2009, there is a real risk they could lose their opener (opponent TBA). Brewster could be credited with being the biggest waste of taxpayer dollars. I can see Glen Mason's white teeth now. In what could have been the rebirth of a football dynasty, Brewster will work against much of the positive energy the stadium will bring.
He may have lucked out in having his defensive coordinator, Everett Withers (119th in total defense), hired away this off season (UNC). While he recruited well, his first season was perhaps the worst the Big Ten has seen since the pre-Gary Barnett Northwestern days.
Butch Davis, North Carolina (4-8): Davis is a solid football coach that finds himself competing against some pretty solid coaches the ACC has acquired in recent years. We'll likely see a few more years of a bunch of .500-type teams in that conference. Will someone break from the pack? Davis has as good a shot as anyone.
Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State (5-7): O'Brien is a very solid coach. He's very much in the quagmire that is the ACC. Despite having a statistically inept year, O'Brien almost snuck into a bowl game. Similar to Chzik, there were some high points in an otherwise tough year.
Todd Dodge, North Texas (2-10): The Dodgeball era of football got off to a rough start, but there is hope. He managed to score 27 or more points in a losing effort seven times, including a 74-62 loss to Navy. He kicked his high school pal defensive coordinator to the curb. Things will get better in Denton.
David Bailiff, Rice (3-9): Rice football saw a lot of points scored last season—unfortunately, on both sides of the ball. In a short period of time Rice has moved very far away from the prodding wishbone days of the Ken Hatfield era. Bailiff will be competitive in C-USA, but don't expect big things.
Jim Harbaugh, Stanford (4-8): Despite his prolific playing career, Harbaugh comes for a coaching family. He had some pretty nice moments in year one, most notably beating USC and Cal. It was expected that Harbaugh would need to learn on the job. He appears to be on the right track, but it could take a while.
Bob Toledo, Tulane (4-8): Toledo rode talented running back Matt Forte all he could, but still saw only moderate results. The hire is similar to Erickson's at ASU and Dick Tomey's at San Jose State, but this one likely won't have nearly the success of those moves.
Todd Graham, Tulsa (10-4): Graham often gets mentioned as a rising star destined to take over a BCS program—not so fast. While he has had success at his two C-USA head coaching gigs, the defensive-minded Graham did so despite woeful performances on defense. His Rice team had the 112th best defense and his Tulsa team was 108th.
His success at both places has been due largely to his offensive coordinators, Major Applewhite and Gus Malzahn respectively. Proceed with caution, BCS programs.
Neil Callaway, UAB (2-10): This discussion should have been about a solid season by Jimbo Fisher, but for political reasons its about a 2-10 Callaway season. UAB has bigger problems than simply who their head ball coach is. Nonetheless, Callaway certainly isn't the guy.
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