What’s Going On Builds Blog Around Poultry Pun

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: December 31, 2015

Purdue chickens out

In a year where there looked to be a ton of coaching positions open, it’s probably not a good idea to fire a guy who’s pretty good. The best case scenario there is overpaying for a top guy. A more realistic scenario there is overplaying for a guy who’s, at best, as good as the guy you fired. So, when LSU reversed their original decision and decided to keep Les Miles, I thought that was a good idea, and no, not just because he’s a Michigan Man.

Georgia went the other direction here, parting ways with Mark Richt. Richt is a perennial underachiever. This is just about the most accurate thing I’ve ever seen written about him.

But, like, he’s still pretty good. (Don’t worry, Miami fans, he is at the very least still an upgrade over Al Golden. Pretty much anybody would be an improvement over him. Just not a great fit there.)

I also understand schools like Illinois and Minnesota retaining meh coaches while they wait for things to stabilize. Neither school has an AD right now, extending Cubit and Claeys, respectively, is essentially an extension of the “interim” title. Illinois interim AD Paul Kowalczyk basically said so.

But, Purdue, what are you even doing? What could you possibly think you’re going to accomplish by giving Darrell Hazell another year? He’s won six games the last three. No, not six each year, six total. Like I said, I understand not wanting to fire a guy if you’re not sure you’ll be able to find someone better. But, Purdue, it’s almost impossible to not find someone better than Hazell. Why not fire him and take a shot at landing Dino Babers (now at Syracuse, you snooze, you lose, Boilers), or Matt Campbell (now at Iowa State, again, snooze = lose), or PJ Fleck? If you miss on those guys, throw a dart at the rest of the MAC, and whoever you hit’s probably still a better option than Hazell. This looks like it came down to money, and Purdue was unwilling to pay Hazell’s $6.6 million buyout. (Side note: How in the world does a guy like Hazell get that kind of a buyout in his contract? He had a whole two years of head coaching experience before getting the Purdue job and both were at Kent State and only one of those was a winning season.) So, to save some money now, Purdue’s going to continue to let their football program go downhill and made it even harder to recover later.

Also: Purdue Santa Makes No Promises (EDSBS)

Eagles kick Kelly out of the nest

The Eagles fired Chip Kelly Tuesday. Yes, the Tuesday, before the last game of the year. No, I don’t have any idea why then. I mean, I guess they might want to take a look at Pat Shurmur, but if that was the case, why not fire Kelly Saturday night, or Sunday? This won’t end well for Philly. Not only do they need to find a coach, they need to find a GM, and whoever gets that job has the task of attempting to undo what Kelly did to the roster. Kelly is saying he wants to stay in the NFL; the Titans need a coach and have a QB who fits the style Kelly wants to play. The 49ers should be in the market for a coach, considering coach Carl Brutananadilewski is an idiot. Then again, Jed York is an idiot, too, so maybe Coach Carl stays. Meanwhile, there are only two FBS head coach jobs open at the moment: Ball State and Texas State. So, yeah, maybe USC took the interim tag off Clay Helton a little early.

tWWL can’t follow directions

tWWL sent this out, plugging an interview with Will Smith about his new movie Concussion: