What's the future hold for Tony Samuel?
It started out so promising, didn't it?
The 72-3 win over Quincy set records, ignited fans and started making us think Tony Samuel really is the best thing to happen to Southeast football since Tim Billings.
The high didn't last, and five weeks later Southeast is 1-5 and stumbling through its worst start in the four-year-but-seems-much-longer Samuel era. One more loss and the Redhawks are guaranteed a losing season — in that category, to his credit, Samuel is a perfect 3-0.
But Saturday's loss wasn't just another disappointment. It was a cold, brisk whoosh of cold air in the form of Austin Peay, which had kept company with Southeast at the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference standings before rallying with 21 straight points in the fourth quarter Saturday. And just like that, another loss.
They've been close, all of them (discounting the predictable 70-3 defeat at Cincinnati). Southeast's OVC losses have been by 6, 7, 9 and 10 points. It's the kind of scenario that leads coaches to insist that the program is turning the corner, and they need just one more year to make it all work out.
That's much like what Bobby Bowden is saying at Florida State, where he's fighting to keep his own job. "This dadgum team is so close to being 5-0," Bowden told reporters this week.
Samuel could say the same, but dadgum, how much longer does Southeast sit and wait?
3 comments:
Semo has to make the move this season, probably with a game or two left even. That way they can start the search a little earlier. They have to do it this year, or they have to extend him, as awful as that sounds.
You CANNOT let a coach get to 1-yr left on his contract in today's recruiting world, you just can't let that happen. About 75% of all 1A and 1AA Head Coaches that have been fired in the past 4 years had time left on their contract. Letting the coach go with a year or two isn't uncommon at all and here is why -- you won't be able to recruit his last year, or the new coaches first year -- and you simply cannot afford to go 2 years without successful recruiting. It kills programs. And letting a lame duck coach stay their last year means he won't sign anyone good - even if the player likes the coach, they know he will only be there for 1 year, and other recruiters will make sure the recruits know this too. No good player will come when they know they will be playing for a different coaching staff than the one recruiting them. Then, when you do fire the guy the next year, the new coach has very little time to recruit and now you've lost 2 years of recruiting. Simply can't let that happen in football when you sign upwards of 20 guys every year.
You either got to let Samuel go, or, gosh forbid, extend him for another 3 years so he can tell recruits and their parents he will be here for their time.
Both the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator have been head coaches, so you could let Samuel go with a one or even two games to go and they could handle the scheduling for practices and strength training, etc to keep the program afloat for the time being.
You gotta make a move one way or the other. Period.
Al
Since they are so terrible what about after the year they keep Samuel but he makes some personnel changes to his staff like firing the OC and the DC!
John Schaefer will need to make the call pretty soon. I'd say the ONLY thing that saves Samuel's job this year is a win against EKU, Jax State or SIU -- if they lose all 3 of those, Samuel is OUT.
Post a Comment