The Rushies: Worst C-USA Coaching Performance
by Adrian Mac on Dec 8, 2010 3:00 AM MST
in UTEP Miners Football
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PrintYesterday, we voted on the C-USA coach who had the best season and it looks like George O'Leary at UCF is deservedly getting some love from Miner fans. Today, it's time to take a look at the other end of the spectrum and determine who did the least with the most. Amazingly, no C-USA coaches have been fired or resigned. There is still no official word from UTEP as to whether or not Mike Price will be back. Tulane and UAB have both decided to bring back Bob Toledo and Neil Callaway in 2011; though Callaway was forced to show his defensive coordinator the door. Without further ado, the nominees are....
1. Bob Toledo (Tulane)
Four years into the Toledo era and it hasn't been pretty.
Arguments For: The numbers frankly speak for themself. Toledo's record is a horrendous 13-25 at Tulane. In C-USA play he boasts a paltry 0.28% winning percentage (7-25). Toledo has not won more than four games in a single season. This season, Toledo's squad had a miraculous pattern of winning a game and then following it up by losing two in a row. Seriously. That pattern held true through the entire season with incredible consistency. Toledo's worst loss was probably against Marshall to close the season.
Arguments Against: Tulane didn't win a lot of games but they were (mostly) competitive and their losses were all to teams with superior talent (Ole Miss, Houston, Army, Tulsa, SMU, USM, UCF, Marshall). Toledo did have a nice win at Rutgers and beat Rice in a 54-49 shootout. Toledo was forced to play several freshman. Quarterback Ryan Griffin, who started as a freshman last season, showed improvement across the board in his second year running the offense. Toledo also found a certifiable stud in running back Orleans Darkwa. Darkwa rushed for more than 100 yards in 5 of the last 6 games of the season including a stunning 29 carry, 193 yard performance against SMU.
2. Larry Porter (Memphis)
Porters first season in Memphis was anything but memorable. The Tigers finished 0-8 in C-USA play and 1-11 overall. Their only win came against the Sun Belt's Middle Tennessee State.
Arguments For: Porter was the first Memphis coach to lose 11 games in a season. Generally, a first year coach will get a pass from an award like this but the reports out of Memphis forced me to put Porter up for this award. After the Tigers season ending loss, the Commercial Appeal's Geoff Calkins asked Memphis player Greg Ray if he "believed" in Larry Porter. The answer? "No comment."
The media has turned on Porter and quickly. Read this article to get a sense of why the Memphis community is not at all optimistic about the future of the football program under Larry Porter.
Arguments Against: Hey, it was his first season! Give him a two years at least, right? The only good I can find from Porter's first season was inspired play (at times) by Ryan Williams. Williams is a 6'5 true freshman QB who looks the part of a big time college quarterback. Williams had a few really nice moments as a Tiger. In the Tigers 16-13 loss at UTEP, I was impressed with Williams poise in the pocket and arm strength. He's going to be a good one if Porter can figure out how to use him.
3. David Bailiff (Rice)
10-3 and the Texas Bowl berth was a long time ago...
Arguments For: Bailiff suffered through a second straight losing season at Rice and his record now stands at 19-30 in four seasons in Houston (15-17 in C-USA). The Owls looked largely horrendous through the first six games of the season. They did manage to beat North Texas 32-31 but then they went on a four game losing streak before stunning a Case Keenumless Houston squad. Rice's defense was one of the worst in the nation and ranked 114th in scoring defense by allowing a staggering 38.5 points per game. Bailiff's been a mainstay on Pre-Snap Reads "Please Fire My Coach" rankings throughout the season.
Arguments Against: The Owls won their rivalry game against Houston and also won two straight to close the season including a stunning 62-38 blowout of East Carolina (the other win was against UAB). The Owls have found a good player in freshman running back Jeremy Eddington who complements Sam McGuffie. McGuffie had a good but not mesmerizing first season at Rice. Over he last 6 weeks of the season Rice finally started throwing the ball to their much hyped sophomore tight end Vance McDonald who caught 8 touchdowns including three in one game against Tulane. Rice was hampered by up and down QB play by Nick Fanuzzi. If Taylor McHargue or Taylor Cook can get it going and replace Fanuzzi the Owls have some reason for optimism next season.
4. Neil Callaway (UAB)
Four years into the Callaway era, his record now stands at 15-33 with the Blazers and 11-21 in C-USA play. Callaway had no problem raising expectations over the summer by constantly saying that the time to win was now at UAB. The winning never came but at least UAB was close.
Arguments For: The UAB administration has been more than patient with Callaway. He was allowed to keep his OC and DC from year one through this season but still couldn't seem to hit his stride. Callaway opened up the season intent on running QB David Isabelle on just about every down. It took an Isabelle injury for him to realize that he actually had running backs on the roster who weren't too bad (see Pat Shed) and that Bryan Ellis' superior passing ability could open up the field for UAB receivers. Also don't forget his inconsistency. Callaway would lose to 4-8 Florida Atlantic and then take a ranked Mississippi State squad to the wire on the road. This team would beat Southern Miss and lose to Marshall and Rice.
Arguments Against: Well, he did beat Southern Miss and Troy (albeit in controversial fashion). He also took Tennessee to double overtime and played MSU tough as I mentioned. Callaway is essentially getting another year in Birmingham because of what he almost did in 2010. To be fair, UAB was only really blown out by SMU (28-7) and UCF (42-7) who both played in the C-USA title game.
5. Mike Price (UTEP)
I hate to do it, but if with so many Miner fans divided on Coach Price's tenure at UTEP it's only fair to have him up for the vote.
Arguments For: 13-29. That is Mike Price's record in the final 6 games of each of his seven seasons at UTEP. UTEP raced to a 5-1 record this season before another Price team suffered another late season meltdown. In 2006 the Miners lost 5 of their last 6. In 2007, the Miners lost 6 straight to end the season. in 2008, the Miners lost 4 of their last 6., In 2009, the Miners lost 4 of their last 6. In 2010, the Miners lost 5 of their last 6. That's more than a random statistical anomaly my friends. The other statistic that Mike Price couldn't shake was his teams inability to win a C-USA game on the road. UTEP hasn't won a C-USA road game since October 4, 2008.
Price is also still guilty of letting winnable games slip past his grasp and often times coaching decisions directly lead to losses. I'm not just talking about the infamous Marshall meltdown. UTEP could have won the Tulane and UAB games as well.
Arguments Against: We're going bowling, dammit. The last time a UTEP coach took the Miners to three bowl games in his tenure was Mike Brumbelow in 1956. Price is now 40-44 through seven season at UTEP which is pretty good considering the guy he replaced won 6 games in the last three seasons he had in El Paso (combined).
I've downplayed the effect injuries had on the win/loss record but there's no denying that mounting injuries impacted this UTEP team moreso than others in the past. UTEP lost their best offensive player (Donald Buckram) and defensive player (Braxton Amy) for most of the season with knee injuries and Trevor Vittatoe was hampered by a nagging ankle injury for the last half of the season.
Also, note that Price rectified a prior blunder by firing Osia Lewis and finding a solid replacement in DC Andre Patterson. UTEP's defense was miles ahead of where it was last year.
Honorable Mention:
1. Doc Holliday: When Marshall was sitting at 1-6 midway through the season, Holliday looked like a guy that maybe would never really be able to become a head coach, a career assistant in over his head. Then, after the UTEP slop fest the Herd woke up and won four of their last five games. Marshall played good football down the stretch and ended up one win away from bowl eligibility. Holliday ended the season the way he needed to, with Marshall getting better every week.
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Wow really tough call but my vote goes to...
Porter just slightly over Price because that team was so horrendous. They were terrible on offense and defense and have essentially cost Memphis any current chance to get into the Big East. If that program was halfway decent, then I would have to believe they would have been considered over TCU because the Bball is a given and they have a powerful booster in Fred Smith with FedEx. That guy was essentially going to give Coach Cal 2 mill himself to stay at Memphis and his kid plays at Memphis so you know things are bad when he is even turning his back on the Tigers program.
AMac— u did a nice job of swaying me against Price because I honestly had forgotten about Amy’s injury (dont know how) and ur right, DBuck was never right this year. Plus eventhough I will never forget that dumb Marshall game, the team rallied and beat SMU who lost only 2 conf games during the reg season. Plus we were competitive against a tough Tulsa team in the finale and I dont think its all Price’s fault TV couldn’t come up clutch at all this year. Sometimes u need ur QB to bail u out and TV was not up to the challenge this year. And the defense was a major improvement from last year, but that damn Marshall game, ugh, can’t get it out of my head…
And if I may, i’d like to throw in a candidate who was actually on ur list of top coaches this year…Ruffin McNeil…I totally get ur argument why he should be considered for COY, the seniors they lost and the transition to the air raid offense was fun, but IMO they still had studs (Harris, J-Williams) all over the field and regressed big time from Holtz tenure. Didn’t Holtz build that program by playing hard nosed defense, running the ball and getting smart QB play? They were atrocious this year on defense…u mentioned the Rice game, but 76 points given up at home to NAVY? That’s insane! They absolutely tanked at the end of the season…I find it hard to believe Holtz left the kitchen that bare. They are also making a push for the Big East w/their stadium renovations and I was a little surprised when he was hired in the first place, but i’ll be more surprised if he isn’t gone in a few years. Maybe i’m wrong, but I don’t see it with ol’ Ruffy.
BTW off topic, but maybe it’s just me but i’m not too impressed w Memphis bball yet…it’s still early and maybe they are still trying to mesh all their new guys together, but I think we got a good shot to repeat this year. Just an off topic thought.
Good points on McNeill-
I included him in the best coaching performance category based largely on how ECU looked early on- with the nice win vs NC State adn they played Va Tech well. But a good coach should have his team playing better each week and ECU didn’t exactly do that, did they?
As for Price, I hadn’t planned on including any coach that took his team to a bowl but the statistics I noted make it impossible to not include him- there is something fundamentally wrong with UTEP’s road game preparation. Also, there is no denying that late season implosions are the norm now not a freak occurrence.
I was stunned when I read today that Larry Porter made $750k this season (Price made just under $400k). A vote for him just got a lot easier for me.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
wow guys
Mike Price, the worst coach huh? I mean, I understand the disappointment in many miner fans over this season, myself included, but we are 6-6 and headed to a bowl game. There is a coach on that list that won 1 game this year, something Mike Price has never done.
Yeah, Mike Price definitely did not have the worst coaching performance.
I realize people in El Paso are getting higher expectations now, but seriously 6-6 and a bowl game is a hell of a lot better than 1-11. Another thing people need to consider is that Price makes less money than a majority of college coaches, and he has the tough job of recruiting to El Paso.
Am I satisfied with our Record this year? No.
Am I glad we have Mike Price instead of Bob Toledo or Larry Porter? Hell Yes.
This is a difficult call on a number of different levels.....
There’s no doubt in my mind that Larry Porter takes the prize….1 and 11 says it all…first year as coach or not, this really is horrendous a la UNM lobos.
I definetly understand CMP being on this list given all the senior laden experience and talent he had coming back, including one of the top rushers in the nation from last season. This said, one could argue that he may have had one of his best coaching years to date given the patch-work unit sets he had to employ secondary to the number of injuries our squad incurred. Do I suggest that he should be considered for COY? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But I don’t believe he should be anywhere near the top of consideration for Worst Coaching Performances either; though it is difficult to blindly remove the memories of the coaching fiascoes of the Marshall and Tulane games.
On a bitter/sweet note, I’m glad to see that Miner Nation has come to a point where greater expectations for our football program are now the norm. One thing that can’t be understated is how difficult it must be to recruit to El Paso versus all other programs in the conference….especially when you aren’t winning regularly. This has always been the challenge. Regardless, one thing that has been mentioned that is also noteworthy is the lack of prepartion and intensity CMP’s teams regularly appear to illustrate away from home. This needs to change immeditately!
Absolutely
Why can’t we expect more? We didn’t come into 2010 asking for 10-2. We had very reasonable expectations here. I don’t think its unreasonable to want UTEP to beat Marshall and Tulane who both had one win when we played them- same with UAB. Obviously in college football upsets will happen. Teams will lose games they maybe shouldn’t. But, the self inflicted stupidity at the end of some of these games shouldn’t be swept under the rug. That’s why we’re here.
Good point on recruiting too- it is hard no doubt to get a lot of kids to want to go to El Paso. We may know that EP is safe but I don’t blame parents for being concerned about their 18 year old kids living a stones throw from one of the deadiest cities in the world.
I credit Stull for dramatically improving UTEP’s facilities to a point where they are as nice or nicer than everybody else in the league. That helps no doubt.
Price has done a good job of raising the talent level in El Paso- and the satellite camps in CenTex show that. Still nothing will help recruiting more than WINNING- as you point out. That’s why its so frustrating to continue to see winnable games fall by the wayside. UTEP easily could have been 7-5 last season and 8-4 this year. That’s a lot easier to sell to a kid- the chance to be 1-2 wins away from a C-USA title and all that.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
We shouldn't make excuses
But you can’t deny the fact that we have been beat up all season. Donald Buckram yes, was a top rb in the nation last year, but didn’t even make it through spring ball. He missed the first 4 games or so and missed others here and there throughout the season. He was never really here this year. TV told me early in the season that basically it was amazing Buck didn’t automatically miss the whole season after the injury he suffered…We lost our best player on the defensive side in Braxton Amy early on, Trevor’s ankle was completely torn apart from the midway point on. I mean those are tough things to overcome. That’s not even mentioning the other dozen injuries that had major impact also.
Point is, although we should have finished this season AT LEAST a game or two better, its a credit to MP that we didn’t finish a game or two worse. We easily could’ve. It’s kinda sad that people in EP actually are voting MP as the worst coach in C-USA. It makes no sense.
Seriously, we make it to a couple bowl games, then a couple years later we’re saying how bad this coach is cause he is 6-6. How quickly we forget all those 2-10 seasons that we had before MP. Since he has been here we’ve had two seasons with 4 wins, two with 5, two with 8, and we can still get to 7 this year. That’s a hell of a lot better than where we used to be. I’ll take that any day.
One more point
In his 7 years we’ve gone to 3 bowl games. In the the twenty years before him we went to 2.
Yup- an amazing stat
I think Price has taken this program to a new level of success- and now that progress is causing a lot of people to get restless for more. That’s a good thing though in my opinion because this program will only advance if the city and students start to follow it the way they need to and keep Stull and Price on their toes.
I do agree with you- I think Price deserved to be on this list but I didn’t expect him to be the top vote getter- not with Toledo and Bailiff and Porter there. We’ll see as more votes come in.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
He's been blown out in 1 and blew a 4th quarter lead in the other.
Not very good.
by TooLegitToQuit on Dec 8, 2010 11:08 PM MST up reply actions
True- and that Colorado game still haunts me
But is it better to be in and lose then not to be in at all? Sadly that was the reality before Price. I’m not a Price apologist in the least but he has done more than anybody else despite his obvious shortcomings (like the late season implosions time and time again).
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
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