Mizzou Football: Head coaching job among best vacancies

The least attractive job of the Power Five openings comes from the northeast where Boston College is looking to replace Steve Addazio after seven seasons that really define mediocrity. In his tenure with the Eagles, Addazio had a record of 44-44, which includes a 1-3 mark in bowl games.

Boston College hasn’t won eight games since 2009 and hasn’t reached a double-digit win total since 2007. What also hurts B.C. is that, while it’s in the crappy ACC, it’s in the ACC Atlantic alongside the only recently good team in the conference: Clemson. This is going to be a tough place to break through, and quite honestly, it may not even be as good of a job as is South Florida.

Now the three SEC teams.

Some may accuse me of being bias here, but honestly, the rivalry, such as it is, between Missouri and Arkansas is fake. (Frivalry?) It doesn’t exist. Of all the SEC teams, I’m rather indifferent about the Razorbacks. If Missouri isn’t facing them and they aren’t in the middle of a head-coaching search, I really don’t think about Arkansas.

Now, yes, they’re loaded financially due to some incredible boosters, chief among them Jerry Jones. Money isn’t–or shouldn’t be–much of a factor for Arkansas, but it still seems like a mediocre program to me.

Is it a destination job? Doesn’t feel like it. The Hogs last won at least ten games in 2011 under Bobby Petrino. Bret Bielema topped out by going 8-5 in 2015. The Chad Morris Era was an unmitigated disaster. (Who knew hiring a guy who went 14-23 in three seasons at SMU would go so poorly?)

The last steady hand Arkansas had belonged to Houston Nutt, and they fired him at the end of 2007, a dozen years ago. This job isn’t it’s all hyped to be–but that doesn’t mean the school won’t land a big name. But it’s going to be tough for the next hire to turn things around. And the Arkansas brass is going to have a lot more patience with the next guy than they had with Morris.

And then there was Ole Miss. Why do I have the Rebels as a less desirable job than Missouri? Easy answer there: while Mizzou plays in the SEC East with solid squads like Florida and Georgia, Ole Miss is in the SEC West with beasts such as Alabama and LSU, not to mention Auburn, Texas A&M, and the fire hydrant to Ole Miss’ dog, Mississippi State.

Like Mizzou, Ole Miss just fired an alum. And like Mizzou, Ole Miss didn’t conduct the broadest of coaching searches when it named said alum as the team’s head coach. Matt Luke showed up to salvage the wreckage of the Rebels program after it got hit hard by Hurricane Hugh Freeze. But Luke kept trending the wrong way as he went 6-6 (3-5) his first season before going 5-7 (1-7) last year and dropping to 4-8 (2-6) in 2019.

Another tough barrier for Ole Miss to overcome: the overall buyout of Luke’s staff. In the offseason, the Rebels added former West Virginia, Michigan, and Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez as the team’s offensive coordinator while hiring former Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre as defensive coordinator. Canning those guys will take some dough, which should come directly from the fund to hire the next head coach. (At least it should.)