What are the top coaching questions and storylines in 2015? Here are a few of the most intriguing.
CAN BUTCH JONES CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM AT TENNESSEE?
The Vols improved from 2-6 to 3-5 in the SEC in Jones’ second year in Knoxville. After winning a bowl game, adding yet another strong recruiting class and having an entire offseason to develop quarterback Josh Dobbs, expectations at Tennessee will be higher than they’ve been in quite some time.
Vols fans have been thrilled with the progress under Jones to this point, as he’s done a good job of steady, incremental improvement. What will it take to meet that in 2015? A 5-3 record in the SEC and a Top 25 finish?
Jones has rallied the boosters and fans and replenished the team’s talent, but this is a critical year. Will the team make the final leap back to national relevance, or will his brick-by-brick construction stall before the final walls are built?
WHAT WILL McELWAIN DO?
Athletic director Jeremy Foley set up Jim McElwain as well as he could by moving deliberately but decisively in the coaching search. Now McElwain has a real chance to finish this recruiting cycle with a flurry and start to replenish the team’s talent, especially on offense.
Gators fans may joke about winning the national title in 2015 — I’ve heard a few already — but McElwain will have a grace period this season provided he does two things: 1) avoid an embarrassing loss to a school like Vanderbilt or Charleston Southern and 2) give the Florida family reason to expect a much-improved offense going forward.
Can McElwain maintain a defense that was so strong under coach Will Muschamp? Will he be able to identify a quarterback good enough to run an efficient, capable offense? And will he help propel a down SEC East back to the forefront of college football?
URBAN MEYER’S MOMENTUM, BIG TEN EXCITEMENT
Thanks to what he’s done in three years at Ohio State, many college football minds now view Meyer as the preeminent coach in the game, ahead of Alabama’s Nick Saban.
The Big Ten is chock full of interesting storylines this year, not the least of which is due to the recent influx of coaches. Jim Harbaugh has won everywhere he’s been, and pretty immediately. How long will it take Michigan to return to being a perennial Top 15 program?
Mark Dantonio’s Michigan State team has provided fierce competition for a while. But with James Franklin at Penn State, Meyer cooking at Ohio State, Harbaugh taking over at Michigan and Mike Riley and Paul Chryst trying to lead resurgences at Nebraska and Wisconsin, respectively, recruiting and developing a conference championship team isn’t as easy as it has been the last few years.
But Meyer already has secured a national title, and will remain a playoff contender next season. We saw the Buckeyes are legitimately three-deep at quarterback — any of the three could become a Heisman finalist in 2015 — and Ohio State is stacked with talent two and three deep at every other position as well. If this is an arms race, Meyer and the Buckeyes got a full lap head start.
Great coaches make the programs around them better out of desperation to keep up. (We saw it with Saban when he arrived at Alabama.) I expect Meyer and Harbaugh to do the same in the Big Ten, but can the Wolverines make any headway in 2015, or will Meyer hold every bit of his sizable advantage?
PRESSURE-PACKED SEASON IN COLLEGE STATION
Kevin Sumlin gets paid like one of the best coaches in college football at $5 million per season. Dragged down by a faulty defense the last two years, A&M now boasts former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis (also for a hefty pricetag) and some young talent on that side of the ball that should grow on Feb. 4.
The Aggies are paying him like a championship-winning coach, and he’s reeled in a trophy room collection of five-star talent the last several years. But the second half of last year, with the exception of the bowl win, represented a near disaster. This team can’t be scrapping to squeak into a bowl game this fall.
The offense went through a transition period last season, especially at quarterback. But with an entire offseason as the unquestioned starter, Kyle Allen should be ready to rock. But we already know Sumlin is a great offensive coordinator and recruiter. This is a “prove it” year for him as a head coach, and if it doesn’t go well, he’s going to start shouldering responsibility.
THE YEAR A.J. AT FLORIDA STATE
Jimbo Fisher has put together three consecutive Top 10 finishes in the Associated Press poll, including a national championship in 2013 and a spot in the College Football Playoff last season.
Now the Seminoles must face the year A.J., or after Jameis (Winston). If Fisher can return FSU to Top 5 or 10 status in 2015, he cements himself as one of the 10 best coaches in college football.
Losing a transcendent quarterback isn’t easy — just ask Meyer about the year after Tim Tebow left — but the Semionles retain a wealth of talent at other positions. How far will the team fall with a near-certain regression at quarterback?
WHICH SECOND-YEAR COACH WILL EXPERIENCE THE MOST SUCCESS?
USC’s Steve Sarkisian finished his first season in Los Angeles at 9-4 with a nice bowl win and a filthy offense. But with QB Cody Kessler returning, the Trojans will face some lofty expectations in 2015. The last time that happened, in 2012, Lane Kiffin’s USC tanked worse than an NBA team desperate for a lottery pick.
At Texas, Charlie Strong spent most of the year toughening up the program and instilling discipline, weeding out bad seeds and raising the expectation level of how the team goes about its business. But Mack Brown’s downfall was the inability to recruit and develop a star quarterback. The Longhorns still didn’t have one last season, and Brown just lost a four-star commitment at the position to Michigan. With Baylor and TCU prepared to defend the top rung of the Big 12, how much closer can Texas get this year?
Franklin guided Penn State to an improbable bowl game — the Nittany Lions were ineligible for postseason play when the season started — and oversaw one of the nation’s best defenses. But QB Christian Hackenberg and the offense took a major step back. Will Franklin get PSU into the thick of the Big Ten resurrection or will the program serve as window dressing for the conference?
All three big-time programs with second-year coaches will keep us plenty entertained.
OTHERS
South Carolina: What will Steve Spurrier’s exit look like, and when will it happen? If the Gamecocks endure another season of mediocrity, will he be motivated enough to return for 2016? How, if at all, will the ending affect his lasting legacy at South Carolina and in the SEC?
Oregon: Similar to Fisher, it will be interesting to see how Mark Helfrich handles life without Marcus Mariota. He’s got a team of track stars on offense, but the Ducks lose a plethora of talent along the line, at quarterback and on defense. Can he prove his mettle in his third year as head man?
Oklahoma: Bob Stoops teased Sooners fans with a strong close to 2013 and a lofty early-season ranking, then came nowhere near making the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma still is a good program, but it’s not national championship good. Will OU have a limited ceiling for the rest of his tenure?
Vanderbilt: Derek Mason got baptized by fire in the SEC in his first-ever season as a head coach. He made wholesale staff changes and learned his personnel, but the Commodores languished on the field. Can Mason improve on the fly?
Alabama: The SEC went through so many coordinator changes this offseason, but the one that didn’t change in Tuscaloosa may be the most important in offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. The Crimson Tide have remained in the national championship picture every year but one under Nick Saban since 2008, but the team’s intimidation factor and week-to-week dominance has slipped. Is the Tide coming back to the pack?
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
