SD Union Tribune: Hoke would be wise to stay with Aztecs

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What this article and many others fail to mention is the pressure at a "dream job." People say don't coach at MN, IN or NW because the competition's too tough. Well, what about the pressure and expectations at MI, OSU, FL or any of the other "dream jobs?"

The one time in my life I've agreed with Maturi is when he said if you win a Rose Bowl at MN you'll be revered. The U might put a statue of you outside the stadium. If you win a Rose bowl at OSU or MI their fans might say, "good job. Now where's the national championship?"
 

This is a typical homerish column, which is fine. And he does have some good points such as the discussion regarding a young, up-and-comer being burried somewhere in the Big Ten race. Of course, he fails to address the paradise of a coaching stop that San Diego State has been over the years. And oh yeah, playing in the national power conference that is the MWC is also way more enticing. At least he stopped just short of using the perennially overused "It's Minnesota and it's cold up there!" line...
 

I guess he was so busy researching how Minnesota and Indiana have done, he forgot to research how other "doormats" such as Wisconsin and Iowa did after they finally found the right guys.
 


stevedave23 said:
What this article and many others fail to mention is the pressure at a "dream job." People say don't coach at MN, IN or NW because the competition's too tough. Well, what about the pressure and expectations at MI, OSU, FL or any of the other "dream jobs?"

The one time in my life I've agreed with Maturi is when he said if you win a Rose Bowl at MN you'll be revered. The U might put a statue of you outside the stadium. If you win a Rose bowl at OSU or MI their fans might say, "good job. Now where's the national championship?"
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+1 The pressure to win at the "dream jobs" is far greater than it is here. The article talks about Iowa and Wisconsin in the same level as Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska. I'm not bashing Iowa or Wisconsin (at least not now :D ), but people that it wasn't all that long ago that there wasn't much difference between Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The difference? Hiring the right coaches. People tend to assume that the world doesn't change, that everything will always be the same as it is today. But teams rise and fall, there's no particularly good reason to think that Minnesota won't do well in the future. In 17 years, we could be talking about the Gophers success as being the result of the hire made this month.

I want a coach who thinks he can win here. If he doesn't think he can win here, then he probably can't.
 

MRJ said:
This is a typical homerish column, which is fine. And he does have some good points such as the discussion regarding a young, up-and-comer being burried somewhere in the Big Ten race. Of course, he fails to address the paradise of a coaching stop that San Diego State has been over the years. And oh yeah, playing in the national power conference that is the MWC is also way more enticing. At least he stopped just short of using the perennially overused "It's Minnesota and it's cold up there!" line...
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My exact feelings.
 

RodentRampage said:
+1 The pressure to win at the "dream jobs" is far greater than it is here. The article talks about Iowa and Wisconsin in the same level as Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska. I'm not bashing Iowa or Wisconsin (at least not now :D ), but people that it wasn't all that long ago that there wasn't much difference between Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The difference? Hiring the right coaches. People tend to assume that the world doesn't change, that everything will always be the same as it is today. But teams rise and fall, there's no particularly good reason to think that Minnesota won't do well in the future. In 17 years, we could be talking about the Gophers success as being the result of the hire made this month.

I want a coach who thinks he can win here. If he doesn't think he can win here, then he probably can't.
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Exactly.
 

If Hoke isn't sold that he can compete and win here, I doubt that he would have met with Maturi in the first place. And even if he is moderately successful, he will make a lot of money for a long time. Heck, Glen Mason beat up on a cupcake NC schedule and was below .500 in conference play for 10 years, all the while making a pretty good living.
 



Hoke's stock seems to be high now. There is no guarantee that it will remain high if he stays at SDSU another year or two. It's likely that it will, but you never know. Passing up lucrative offers from Minnesota or Indiana with the idea that he can hold out for future openings at better Big Ten schools in future years would be a gamble that he may or may not be willing to make.
 

I have to agree, winning a conference title would make a coach a legend here.
 

rosevillegopher said:
Hoke's stock seems to be high now. There is no guarantee that it will remain high if he stays at SDSU another year or two. It's likely that it will, but you never know. Passing up lucrative offers from Minnesota or Indiana with the idea that he can hold out for future openings at better Big Ten schools in future years would be a gamble that he may or may not be willing to make.
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A perfect example of this is Schiano. His stock is nowhere near what it was a couple of years ago.
 




And I find it annoying when someone writes an article like this and cherry picks facts - his statement that we haven't won an outright Big Ten title since 1941 is true, but it ignores our NATIONAL TITLE in 1960 where we tied with Iowa for the Big Ten title and we had whipped them head-to-head. Frankly, I think his point would have sounded better if he had just said that we haven't won a Big Ten title of any kind since our shared one in 1967. That sounds almost as ancient as 1941 for all practical purposes and he could have avoided using "outright title" - using that terminology just makes it sound like he's being misleading. Which he is.
 

The danger of Hoke waiting is if his team turns in a mediocre season in the next few years, that could cost him some millions. Can you control injuries etc.
 

Schnauzer said:
Exactly.
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+1
If the "game atmosphere" means anything to a coach (and I believe it does), why would he stay there? If you have a great team and no one comes to see you, what's the point? Nothing like the atmosphere @ TCF at the end of the Iowa game!

IMO, he was all set to come and then this donor throws the money on the table with the hint of more to come. So he may wait for a "better opening" but that has it's risks too. And one wonders what kind of strings are attached to the money. It can't be a "free lunch".

(And frankly I resent the author's hint that we are a COLD INDIANA).

Go Gophers!
 

Author is a homer. He could have said "no" to SDSU for all of the same reasons when he was a coach in the MAC.
 

As an aside, I believe the wisest thing any coach could do in this situation would be to not listen to what the media thinks is the wisest thing. We've all seen how "wise" the media is when it comes to coaching searches, and, well, you get the drift....
 

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