Football Expert Picks – First-Year College Football Coaches Who Will Fail

With the college football season right around the corner, here are three head coaches who are going to fail in their first year.

Football Expert Picks
First Year Failure: Dan Enos, Central Michigan

Central Michigan is Dan Enos’ first head coaching job.  He coached quarterbacks and running backs at his alma mater, Michigan State, from 2006-09.  Enos was Michigan State’s starting quarterback in 1989 and 1990, leading the Spartans to consecutive bowl games before taking his first coaching position, as a graduate assistant under George Perles.

Enos also worked under John L. Smith and Mark Dantonio in East Lansing, so even though he is a rookie head coach, he’s different from most; he hasn’t been on the same staff for years.  He has seen different approaches to running a program.  This makes him similar to Jones, who spent two highly successful years at West Virginia under Rich Rodriguez before coming back to Central Michigan.

The bottom line on Enos is… well… unrelated to anything about Enos himself. This is a coach who is set up to fail because he lacks Dan LeFevour under center. LeFevour is simply the best quarterback Central Michigan’s ever had, and one of the foremost legends in the history of the Mid-American Conference. Without its very special quarterback, Central Michigan should struggle, and that will handicap Mr. Enos going forward.

Football Expert Picks
First Year Failure: Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech
 
Another first-year head coach who should encounter tough sledding is Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville. For a solid decade, the Red Raiders have employed – and thrived as a result of – coach Mike Leach’s mad scientist methods. A pass-happy approach and a devil-may-care attitude on 4th and 5 situations have enabled Tech to thrive in the shadow of Texas and Oklahoma. Now, the program is being asked to abruptly change its methods in the wake of Leach’s controversial ouster, a pre-bowl game bombshell last December that was precipitated by a nasty incident involving wide receiver Adam James and his father, Craig, an ESPN broadcaster. Tuberville is very different from Leach, in temperament and methodology, so Tech figures to have a brutal 2010 season. The Red Raiders will most certainly get worse before they get better. That statement is very difficult to refute. Even if Tech plays really hard, the personnel on hand in Lubbock simply doesn’t match the brand of ball Tubs likes to play. It’s a recipe for first-season frustration.

Football Expert Picks
First Year Failure: Turner Gill, Kansas Jayhawks

A third new boss who will likely struggle on Saturdays this fall is Turner Gill of Kansas. Not only is star quarterback Todd Reesing gone due to graduation, but the Jayhawks have lost two starting offensive linemen to injury in the offseason. Gill is a really good coach – he worked wonders at Buffalo and gave the Bulls their first bowl win in program history – but he’s going to be incredibly shorthanded in Lawrence in 2010. Depth is an essential aspect of football success, and that really shows up on the front lines. The depleted nature of Kansas’ offensive line will kill the Jayhawks this year, much as the same problem destroyed the 2009 Oklahoma Sooners. Timing and luck are very much part of the equation, but the reality remains that Turner Gill is simply not in a good position to succeed.  

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