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JoeDelaney's avatar

Right. The Harsin family balance sheet is $20MM+ larger for taking the Auburn job, and suffering the indignities that came with it, but is his family happier than if he'd stayed put at Boise? (And, yes, I know things were less perfect than they appeared.)

Special situations like Dickert and Smith are facing come about organically, and if you give one up, you're highly unlikely to get another shot. You're just another coach with a lake house and a beach house and a healthy family limited partnership that you hope doesn't negatively impact the character development of your kids, who will forever struggle to define the location of 'home.'

If paradise for Smith/Dickert is somewhere east of the Rockies, then it seems inevitable they'll make a move eventually, much like Mike Leach did. But there is absolutely nothing that requires us to treat it as a fait accompli, or to view a decision to stay as taking on a lesser challenge.

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Brian M's avatar

We know that Coach Smith is still very friendly with Mike Riley. We also know that Mike Riley, Corvallis HS football star when I was in junior high school in Albany (we all heard about him), kept grabbing for the golden ring, maybe because he was exposed to big time football at Alabama and OSU never seemed quite good enough. Who knows. But it never worked out for Riley. Every time he left Oregon State, it blew up on him. Left OSU in 1999 for NFL San Diego Chargers and that did not pan out. Came back to Corvallis in 2003. Left OSU again for Nebraska in 2015. Back to Corvallis again in 2018 uprooting his family each time. I wonder if Riley and Smith have conversations about the downside of job hopping.

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The Real Rich's avatar

It actually did work out for Riley. He's had a great life - personal and professional. He's one of the great coaches in OSU history. Like a lot of other very good coaches, the NFL wasn't a fit - nor was it a fit for Lou Holtz and Nick Saban and others. But he came back to Oregon State and did some wonderful things for the Beavers in difficult circumstances. Nebraska, a storied program, went looking for Riley when they needed help. Oregon State's administration and boosters were putting heat on Riley because OSU wasn't Oregon - he jumped at a school that was absolutely a step above OSU. It didn't pan out for Riley, as he believed it would, but Nebraska was a bigger mess than Oregon State and nobody realized it at the time. Scott Frost, Nebraska's golden boy, found out the same thing.

Riley was a great coach at Oregon State and has had a wonderful career.

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Brian M's avatar

Not saying Mike Riley didn't do well, financially or that there is anything wrong with him personally. I like him. But I have always said he wasn't aggressive enough for my tastes, especially on D. He did not have the killer gene that Dennis Erickson does (and that Jonathan Smith also displays). Riley was also a good recruiter and I don't take that away from him. What I am saying is that Riley likely found that the Grass is not always Greener. He could have done just as well staying at OSU and hiring more aggressive coordinators since that is his weakness at all levels (just having the name "Nebraska" behind your program does not solve the issues with your coaching style). Had he done that, Riley would be in line to be the "hero coach" that Smith will eventually become (if not already there). The single element of coaching that I can isolate that separates the good from the great is "aggressiveness" in scheme, in execution, in fundamentals like tackling technique and leverage, and in accountability. Smith, with Bray as his coordinator, checks all those boxes. What are some other coaches who do? You named Saban and Holtz. Both do (I got to see Holtz up close when he was at Minnesota for two years). Erickson did as well, though accountability for players off the field was an issue. Pete Carroll? Succeeds at every level because of aggressiveness and accountability. Tom Osborne at Nebraska? It is what separates him from those who followed. Jim Harbaugh was aggressive but lacked accountability until the past 2-3 years. He has apparently solved that problem and his team record shows the results. Look at any coach in America present or past, and the great ones all had those two factors locked down.

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Jonathan Weaver's avatar

Mike Riley was an abysmal manager of his own career.

In ‘88, UCLA wanted him, but Riley was dallying around with Alabama, and missed out on both.

He left Oregon State before getting a winning season for literally the worst job in the NFL — the lowest Head Coach salary in the league, with an overbearing GM and no voice regarding player personnel. He ended up with Ryan Leaf.

Had he stuck around and gotten OSU over the top, the offers would have better in quality and quantity.

When he returned to OSU, his loyalty to Mark Banker (who couldn’t develop a scheme to defend the RPO) led to his feet being held to the fire after several seasons of decline, so he left for Nebraska.

He could never decide if he was head Coach or offensive coordinator, which led to moments like the LSU game, a classic big-picture/little picture blunder.

With the Rose Bowl on the line, he played a quarterback with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder who got intercepted all game long.

Good person, good coach, utterly unaware of his weaknesses, and a terrible manager of his own career.

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Brian M's avatar

well said....and again, everything I know about Riley, and the one time I met him face to face, he is a great guy! But too loyal and not a killer

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