Kansas has their new man, Charlie Weis. Texas A&M has their man, Kevin Sumlin. On the surface, the hires don't have much to do with each other. After all, the two schools are in very different situations that won't even be playing in the same conference next season.
It may be worth examining, however, the two coaching hires and why one school would make a decision (Kansas) that has rarely worked in similar situations and another would take a completely different route (Texas A&M) than it did just four seasons ago.
Let's take a look at the Kansas situation first. The Jayhawks were 5-19 during Turner Gill's two seasons in Lawrence, certainly not what KU fans had in mind following some of the success they experienced under Mark Mangino.
If there were any positives to take away from Gill's short tenure, it might be that the one recruiting class he was able to call his own looks to be solid. In numbers at least, Kansas' roster is loaded with young players. The freshman that played this past season should be big contributors in the seasons to come.
One major question facing the Kansas hire, is Charlie Weis the guy that can develop them? I'll do my best not to beat a dead horse here, but NFL guy's don't exactly have a great track record of doing that with college players, and make no mistake, Charlie Weis is an NFL guy. He may not have been a head coach in the NFL as the some of the other pro coaches that failed in the college game before him, but that is what he knows. That's where his roots are and it's not something you can easily change.
So why did Kansas goes this route? Kansas athletic director, Sheahon Zenger, talked about Weis' tireless hard work and attention to detail as being what he found first when looking at Weis. That sounds a lot like most coaches in the business, actually. It's not all that often you hear about a Division I head coach working the straight 9-5. There has to be more, right?
Let's hope the decision wasn't along the lines of, well, it's worth a shot - after all, it can't get much worse, can it? Zenger seems like a smart guy though, and it's not likely he's just blindly throwing darts hoping one hits the board.
It is surprising Zenger didn't look to the situation at Texas A&M as a possible road map on which way to go when making his hire or at least consider the recent failings of Sherman, Bill Callahan, Chan Gailey, or heck even Weis himself when making the hire. Or maybe he did.
Granted the situations in College Station and Kansas are much different, but what each school is after is the same - wins. Sherman didn't get enough of them and it stands to reason there's a good chance he'll head right back to where he came from, the NFL.
One aspect that makes Weis' hiring unique is that he's being given a second chance. Few if any of his NFL predecessors that have failed in the college ranks have gotten or even wanted a second chance. It's entirely reasonable to think that Weis will do better this time around because of his failings at Notre Dame. “I have knowledge that I didn’t have last time,” Weis said, “which makes things a lot easier going forward.” Let's hope for Kansas' sake he's able to put that newfound knowledge to use.
As for Texas A&M, there was little to no chance they were going to go back to the NFL route. Been there, done that. They went the exact opposite route in hiring Kevin Sumlin who has never stepped foot in the NFL as a coach. He's been a position coach, coordinator, and head coach, all at the college level including two seasons as an Aggie assistant under R.C. Slocum.
He'll inherit a much different situation than Weis at Kansas. Sherman laid a solid foundation in College Station that Sumlin will be able to continue building. He'll be able to turn his focus right to figuring out why A&M has lost so many close games over the last several seasons all while trying to assess what his roster needs to play in the stacked SEC west.
Looking at it from that perspective, maybe that's exactly what Zenger is looking for in Weis; to build a solid foundation. Weis will at a minimum get people talking about Kansas football and should land a few big-time recruits that would not have otherwise considered Kansas. If Weis can accomplish that in itself, wins are more than likely secondary at this point.
That being said, there's a lot that goes into building a solid foundation. If you were able to witness or hear any of Sherman's final press conference, you know he went about things the right way with straight class. That makes Weis' hiring all the more interesting (risky) as Weis has a reputation of not exactly treating people the right way.
Now, I've never met the guy so I say that with some hesitation, but if you hear it enough, maybe there is something to it. Weis has sure heard it and he even spent some time during his introductory press conference having to answer questions about it.
Weis talked a good game when it came to finishing his career at Kansas, but let's be real here, does anyone expect Weis to still be in Lawrence in five years? There's a lot to consider there, namely his family considerations, his health, not to mention his ability to get accomplished what he hopes to in Lawrence.
But if all Zenger and Kansas get is three years from Weis, odds are decent he'll at least leave a roster better suited to play in the Big 12 than the one he'll be inheriting. At that point, Kansas will be in a different situation than they are today and may then look at how things are working out for their friends down in College Station.
On the surface, these two coaching decisions look at be on polar opposite ends of the spectrum. But when you consider these are two teams at two different crossroads at two different stages of building their programs, maybe the decisions aren't all that different.
