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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Chip Kelly Joins an Epic List of 2018 Coaching Carousel Class Failures

The 2018 coaching carousel goes to show there are no sure things.

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By Rock Westfall

The 2018 coaching carousel goes to show there are no sure things. In fact, the bigger the hype often means the bigger the fall. Chip Kelly is the latest failure from the doomed class of 2018 that teaches schools are often most at fault for coaching flops. 

Chip Kelly’s Departure was Bruin for Months

Leading up to its November 18 rivalry showdown against USC, reports blew up that UCLA would fire Chip Kelly. Instead, Kelly’s heroes destroyed the Trojans 38-20. But in Kelly-era fashion, the Bruins were routed at home in the regular season finale 33-7 by mediocre California. UCLA did redeem itself with a Gronk Bowl win over Boise State 35-22 to finish 8-5. That came on the heels of 8-4 (2021) and 9-4 (2022) campaigns. It was good but nowhere near great.

Since the bowl game, Kelly has been trying to escape Westwood by any means necessary. He publicly begged for NFL offensive coordinator jobs to no avail. Finally, his former pupil, Ryan Day, hired him as the Ohio State OC on Friday after Bill O’Brien returned home to become head coach of Boston College.

Chip Kelly never liked to recruit. He prefers to watch tape and whiteboard in a bunker. This trait was a known fact before he was hired.

Equally problematic is that snooty UCLA de-emphasized football over 20 years ago. It prefers to be a basketball and Olympic-sport school. Its NIL program is nothing, killing them on the portal. The athletic department is near bankruptcy. Los Angeles fans see this lack of football commitment and avoid games in droves.

UCLA never should have leaked a story about firing Kelly days before its biggest game. It also must be serious about investing in football in the way USC does. Kelly never forgave or forgot. Both uncommitted UCLA and Kelly, ill-fitted as a college HC, are to blame for this failure. 

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Great Scott Not – A Permanent Frosty End  

If ever there was a sure thing, it was the hiring of Nebraska’s favorite son, alum, and former national championship QB Scott Frost. Frost was a hot property after leading UCF to a 2017 perfect season and an argument for the national championship. Nattys were instantly anticipated in the Cornhusker State.

Instead, Frost never had a winning season and finished 16-31. Frost’s teams were notorious for sloppy fundamentals and terrible kicking units. His aura of entitlement and privilege was off-putting. He aloofly ignored and offended in-state high school coaches and recruits. His boast of making the Big Ten adjust to his offensive schemes became a punch line.

Scott Frost will go down as one of the biggest coaching disappointments in history. But Nebraska shares the blame for not holding him accountable until it was too late. 

Willie Taggart Was a Duck Out of Water  

Willie Taggart arrived for the 2018 season after Jimbo Fisher mailed in his final season at Florida State. Fisher later cut and ran before the campaign was over.

Taggart was known for his success as head coach of the South Florida Bulls. After a lackluster 7-5 single season at Oregon, Taggart arrived promising a renaissance. Instead, he went 9-12 at FSU and was fired after a 5-4 start that was not as good on the field as it was on paper. Like Frost, Taggart’s teams were poorly coached in all facets of the game. His organizational skills were abysmal. The arrival of Mike Norvell in 2020 proved to be a significant upgrade. 

Herm Edwards Had a Devil of a Time in the Valley of the Sun  

There was plenty of skepticism and laughing out loud when Arizona State hired Herm Edwards, who had not coached anything in ten years after being fired by the Kansas City Chiefs. He had not been in college coaching for three decades. But the theory was that Edwards was known as an NFL TV personality that would serve as a recruiting magnet. Also, the Sun Devils were going to experiment with an NFL-style management structure.

Edwards actually did better than expected, although nowhere near great, going 26-20 with three bowl games. However, a COVID protocol recruiting violation was a bridge too far.

Arkansas’ Babe in the SEC Jungle – Chad Morris

Chad Morris was a well-regarded offensive wizard from his days as a coordinator with the Clemson Tigers under Dabo Swinney. His connections to the Texas high schools and coaches were legendary. Theoretically, those contacts were thought to be recruiting gold.  After Bret Bielema ran out of gas as head coach of Arkansas, the hiring of Morris was a breath of fresh air.

Morris proved woefully unprepared for the SEC jungle, where he had zero experience in any capacity. The transition from Bielema’s systems was too extreme. And after a 2-8 start to the 2019 season that followed a 2-10 campaign, the Morris era was mercy killed. 

Florida Still Mullen a Mistake 

Dan Mullen was a renowned hire by the Florida Gators, where he previously served as offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer in its national championship days of power. Mullen matriculated to Mississippi State and became its coaching GOAT. Thus, this seemed a can’t-miss hire.

Mullen started strong with records of 10-3 and 11-2, with final rankings of 7th and 6th. In 2020, he finished 8-4 and nearly upset Alabama in the SEC championship game to finish 13th in the land. In 2021, Mullen had another near miss against Alabama, but the losses started to accumulate after that. Mullen was fired after a 5-6 start, including 2-6 in the SEC.

Mullen came off as less than fully committed to recruiting. And while that may have been more perception than reality, it’s a deadly perception in the SEC. Florida itself deserves a lot of the blame for falling behind its rivals in facilities and its football commitment.

These days, Florida’s program is in peril with the struggling Billy Napier. Mullen is looking better by the hour.

Mullen’s replacement at Mississippi State was Joe Moorhead, another 2018 class causality.  The northeastern Moorehead had no southern roots, and it showed. His 14-12 record was well below Mullen’s standards, and he was fired after two seasons. It was a bad fit from the start for both parties, but Mississippi State should have easily seen that before the hire. 

https://twitter.com/FifthQuarterSEC/status/1213134387916742657

A Jimbo Sized Flop 

In 2017, Jimbo Fisher quit Florida State in frustration over what he believed was a lack of commitment to keeping up with facilities and championship football. Fisher won a 2013 national championship at FSU and had serious looks at two more. But Fisher let his team split over the preferential treatment of QB Jameis Winston. Finally, his work commitment became zero during a 5-6 final campaign that ended with his resignation.

Texas A&M was coming off a disappointing end to the Kevin Sumlin era. As always, the Aggies were desperate to become nationally relevant. Texas A&M willfully put on blinders and ignored Fisher’s ugly ending at Florida State. Fisher was hired and touted as the Aggie coaching GOAT before he set foot on Kyle Field. At Fisher’s first press conference, Texas A&M presented Fisher with a national championship trophy on the come, as the Aggies dreamed of multiple nattys.

Jimbo peaked at 9-1 in his third season with a final national ranking of 4th. National recruiting rankings had his classes ranked consistently near the top, with one class celebrated as history’s best.

However, Fisher failed to develop his talent, which may have been overrated. His teams were slow and plodding. His offense seemed to be prehistoric in concept. Finally, he was fired with a final record of 45-25.

Texas A&M deserves most of the blame for this failure. There were plenty of warning signs about Fisher. Yet they made the desperation name-brand buy anyway. 

McDonald’s Employees Unqualified as SEC HCs

And then there was the unfortunate tale of Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee. The Vols went through Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, and Butch Jones after firing fading Phil Fulmer in 2008. Jones crashed and burned in 2016 after consecutive 9-4 seasons. Vol Nation was becoming apathetic and demanded a winner.

Initially, Tennessee was going to hire Greg Schiano as head coach. But media personality Clay Travis led an internet rebellion that caused a firestorm of historic proportions, and Tennessee had to rescind. Then-athletic director John Currie was in transit to hire Washington State head coach Mike Leach. Currie was in the red zone for the hire before being called home to get the axe.

Instead, Fulmer took over the search and hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. The theory was that Pruitt learned under the master, Nick Saban, and saw the blueprint of college football’s best program.

The Pruitt era was a catastrophe from the start. He went 5-7, 8-5, and 3-7 before getting canned for cause. Pruitt was nailed for handing out McDonald’s bags full of cash before it was basically legalized. He did not get his buyout.

During his time, Pruitt came off as a southern good ol’ boy. Nashville’s college football radio icon Bill King called him “Skoal Can.” It was perfectly apropos.

The Pruitt hiring was Tennessee’s fault. How could they not have seen what he was in the interview process? Pruitt is now back where he belongs, working as a high school gym teacher and perhaps at McDonald’s for a side hustle. 

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