Hiring a College Football Coach Is Like Buying Tires: New, Used, or Retreads

For all the programs who are sore that everything isn't lovely at the home campus and are all calling for the head of the coach in charge, the question is New, Used, or Retread.

New coaches are those who are called up from the assistant ranks.  There are always a list of names floating around, like Muschamp and others. 

Then there are the used. These are coaches that didn't need a retread but have only won in small schools or different divisions.  Here, think coaches like Tulsa's Todd Graham or Texas Tech's Mike Leach.

Then there are the retreads—coaches who got worn out, kicked out, or just left after they felt it was time to try something else, but some feel could be "fixed" by allowing them to be retreaded somewhere else.

Here think of Steve Spurrier: worn out and ready to try the NFL but never quite making it back to where he was.

Hey, I could see Fulmer packing up and going to Hawaii to live off his Vol dollars and coaching that team for say a million a year.  They'd be happy to have him, and it would be like semi-retirement for him.  He'd get even fatter on poi and seafood, but his family would love it!

Unfortunately, not all coaches burn bright their whole career and then retire after a National Championship to the eternal admiration and love of their schools.  Most peak and slide, such as Tommy Tuberville.

Even if JoePa takes Penn State the whole way this year and retires, there will always be those who remember the 2003 3-9 campaign and 2004's 4-7 misery.  So old Joe proved that you can come back, but you can't shine all the time.

You have to admire how Penn State stayed with Paterno through those lean years and even more how Joe has paid them back once again for that loyalty.  Not many schools these days would let a coach dip that far down and keep him. 

They realized he was a used tire with a little more good mileage in it.  Whatever Paterno did to patch his tire is certainly holding up well after such a bad blowout.  

If you think that new is the only way to go, please realize that most don't make it. Here you can think of Shula.  You wouldn't think of new as being risky, but a new untested tire on a rough road may not have what it takes.

With turnover happening faster every year, it seems, the pool is drying up at a much faster rate.  Schools with the deep pockets will almost always come out ahead.  Think Nick Saban at Alabama here.  Those will flatter wallets have to go with a cheaper new one, as Miami did with Randy Shannon, and hope they develop.

So for all you schools that think changing the tires on the old jalopy is the cure for all your ails, take a look around first at what's out there to replace them with.  One person's trash is another team's treasure—just like Houston Nutt.