Souvenir City

With college football just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to take a look at the only head coaching jobs in college football that are legitimately destination jobs.  Our definition of a destination job is includes several criteria.  First of all, there must be a tradition of winning.  Along with that comes a large paycheck.  In addition, a true destination job must be able to get any candidate they want, whenever they want them.  A close relative of that provision is the fact that in order to qualify as a destination job, the current head coach would not leave for another head coaching position in college football.  After the jump, get to know the only five true destination jobs in college football.

University of Southern California – Let’s start with the easy stuff.  It’s in Los Angeles.  It’s a private school, so the university budget isn’t subject to public review.  Recruiting is a snap.  The salary is quite large, even though we don’t know exactly what the figure is.  In the nation’s largest market that doesn’t have a pro football team, the head coach at USC is the king of the city.  The AD at USC can literally have his choice from among the finest football minds in the country.  Trojan nation can also rest easy knowing that their head coach will never see greener pastures anywhere else in the college game.  This one’s a no-brainer.

Ohio State University – The only school pretentious and insistent enough to put a “the” at the beginning of their name also happens to reside in a coaching hotbed.  Just taking a quick look at coaches from the state of Ohio will give you a good idea how seriously they take their football in the Buckeye state.  Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Les Miles, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian, Paul Brown, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and newcomers Bo Pelini and Gary Pinkel all hail from Ohio.  Nick Saban and Pete Carroll have Ohio connections as well, with Saban playing his college ball at Kent State and coaching at Toledo, and Carroll being an assistant at Ohio State.  Paul Brown was famously unanimously rejected by the athletic board when he attempted to return as head coach in 1951.  If successful pro coaches want to take the job, and are denied, you know this is a choice gig.  In addition to the legendary coaching pedigree, Ohio State has plenty of top shelf football talent easily within reach.  Ohio and Pennsylvania produce an embarrassing amount of quality players, and Ohio State has enough cachet to nab just about any of them.  It has been said that the head football coach at Ohio State is the most important man in Ohio, and we tend to agree.  Another no-brainer.

University of Florida – This job is a relative newcomer to the list.  20 years ago, it wouldn’t have made the list.  Steve Spurrier changed all of that.  Not only did he vault the program to new heights, he changed the landscape of SEC football forever.  Spurrier was followed by Ron Zook, which may seem a bit odd, until you consider the fact that no school is going to hire someone that would overshadow the most important person in the history of their program as his successor.  After Zook’s departure (which followed a fairly decent stint, even if it didn’t live up to Spurrier’s reign), Urban Meyer was hired as the head man, and in taking the job, he left more than a few folks at what he considered his dream job in South Bend feeling a little jilted.  Recent success aside, the state of Florida produces a ridiculous amount of talent, and it’s difficult to imagine any of them telling the University of Florida “no thanks”.  Gainesville’s close proximity to the Georgia border is another huge plus.  Any of the top notch players that do escape the siren’s call of Gainesville are more than made up for by players from Georgia, as well as around the nation.  Currently, Meyer is the highest paid coach at a public university in the country.  What coach wouldn’t want this job?

Florida State University – Just a short jaunt away from Gainesville, you’ll find the domain of one of the most successful head coaches in college football history.  When Bobby Bowden arrived in 1976, no head coach in Florida State history had won more than 62 games during their tenure.  Bowden has won 300, and counting.  The Seminoles are perennially stocked with talent for the same reasons as their chief rival, Florida.  To go along with that, there has to be something in the water in Tallahassee.  Every coach that passes through remains loyal to the program, and feel the need to keep the door open to return, with the exception of current defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews.  He never left, even though he could have certainly taken various head coaching positions at one point or another.  Chuck Amato recently returned as an assistant after a tumultuous, and sometimes successful, stint as the head man at NC State.  The head coach at the University of Georgia, Mark Richt, a former Bowden assistant, has a very lucrative contract of his own, and the buyout is in the neighborhood of $2 million.  Rumors persist (unfounded as they may be) that should Florida State come calling, Richt’s buyout is significantly smaller.  We’ve heard from a former member of the FSU training staff (and again, this is hearsay) that the reduced buyout could be as little as $150,000.  That even such a rumor could persist tells you all you need to know about the desirability of this job.  The fact that offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher left the same job at LSU after winning a national championship to be named coach-in-waiting is just icing on the cake.

University of Alabama – Don’t be fooled by the recent list of underwhelming head coaches here.  Ever since Paul “Bear” Bryant felt the call to come home and save his alma mater, this has been possibly the biggest job in the country.  Bryant left Texas A&M after the 1957 season, and embarked on a campaign in Tuscaloosa that resulted in 232 wins and 6 national championships.  Since Bryant’s retirement Alabama has largely ignored the fact that they could hire anyone they wanted, in favor of hiring a coach that would to things “Bear’s way”.  It seems that the recent surge by in-state rival Auburn has changed that way of thinking.  In January of 2007, Nick Saban was announced as the new head coach, certainly a coup for a number of reasons.  First of all, Saban had led division rival LSU to a recent national title.  Second, and more importantly, Saban was hired away from the Miami Dolphins.  As we mentioned when discussing Ohio State, if a pro football coach wants in on the action, then you know it’s a plum job.  Saban’s contract at Alabama is for 8 years, and worth somewhere near $32 million.  In September of 2008, Saban appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine, and was dubbed “Sports’ most powerful coach”.  Now, for just a little bit of fun, try on your best Keith Jackson voice, and say “Aaaaaalaaabaaamaaa”.  Say that a few times.  Then try out “Antonio Langham”.  You can almost see Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta and his less than stellar effort in the 1993 Sugar Bowl.

Just Missed – Here are some schools that just miss the cut for one reason or another.  University of Michigan, University of Miami, Notre Dame University, University of Texas, and Oklahoma University are all home to very fine head coaching jobs.  However, in our view, they don’t quite match up with the five above.

We’re sure you have your own opinions, and we’d love to hear them in the comments.  Until next time, so long, everybody.

Tags: Alabama, Bear Bryant, Bo Schembechler, Bob Stoops, Bobby Bowden, College Football, College Football Coaches, Florida, Florida State, Jim Tressel, Jimbo Fisher, Mark Richt, Miami, Michigan, Nick Saban, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Paul Brown, Steve Spurrier, Texas, Urban Meyer, USC, Woody Hayes