Bellotti is my #1 choice if the Gophers go with one of the guys out of a job simply because of his ability to hire future coaches. Who is from the Fullmer tree?
David Cutcliffe the current HC at Duke. That is all I got.
I did find this piece (obviously from a Bama fan) interesting though:
At this point, simply put, becoming a member of a coaching staff led by Nick Saban almost guarantees an upward move in the coaching ranks.
But it does not have to be that way. Some people hold onto the notion that a natural byproduct of winning is raided coaching staffs, but history tells a slightly different story. Some programs do experience that, to be sure, but many others do not.
Take Phil Fulmer, for example, and his run at Tennessee. For all of the success that program had during its peak in the late 1990's and early 2000's -- complete with a national championship and a literal NFL factory in the locker room -- few outside programs began poaching the Knoxville area looking for coaches. At the time many of those who imbibed the puke orange kool-aid wrote that off as a seemingly amazing ability of Fulmer to retain his assistants, but in hindsight what it was really telling us was that the Vols were a poorly coached team that was really just getting by mostly on raw talent. Of course, Tennessee fans eventually learned that bitter lesson the hard way, beginning with Nick Saban's upset of ungodly-talented Volunteers in the 2001 SEC Championship Game.
Simply put, some coaches win for a while, fizzle out, and fade into oblivion. Others, however, spin off countless proteges who use the lessons they learned to forge their own successful coaching careers and to carry on the influence of their mentors. Saban clearly belongs in the latter group, not the former. As his coaching tree continues to blossom, Saban's legacy and impact on the college game will only grow further.
I personally agree with this line of thinking. I view Fulmer then the same way I view Les Miles now. A good recruiter that is a poor coach. Miles got lucky by hiring Pelini to coach his defense but since Pelini left they haven't been the same and they show traits of poorly coached teams. Fulmer and Tennessee always seemed that way to me too. More talent than opponents (which he would struggle to get here) with inferior coaching.
