I think the bottom line here is Coach Lanning has an eye for choosing some really solid assistant coaches. Says pretty good things about the future of the program in Eugene under Lanning no matter who stays or goes.
Lose your OC who becomes the youngest HC for a Power 5 program (ASU).
Lose your safeties coach who becomes DC at a Power 5 program (Baylor).
Lose your OL coach who doesn't want to leave Oregon but an NFL team makes him an offer he can't refuse (NE Patriots).
LOL! You Trojans crack me up! Great entertainment for no cost! Love it!!
Let's take a deeper dive into "Stepping Stone U" and what I'm calling "Fired on the Tarmac U".
I'm only going back to the late 1970s since that's when I became an Oregon Duck and who cares what happened in college football before then? Ancient history. LOL (Cannot wait for the replies to that lil' nugget 😝)
FIRED ON THE TARMAC U
John Robinson I - Left for NFL
Ted Tollner - FIRED
Larry Smith - FIRED
John Robinson II - FIRED
Paul Hackett - FIRED
Pete Carroll - Left for NFL
Lane Kiffin - FIRED
Ed Orgeron - FIRED
Steve Sarkesian - FIRED
Clay Helton - FIRED
Lincoln Riley - TBD
Extra credit if you know which of those 8 coaches were in fact "fired on the tarmac"! Maybe all were? We don't really know....nor should we...adds to the allure... 😉
STEPPING STONE U
Rich Brooks - Left for NFL
Mike Bellotti - Left to become AD at Oregon
Chip Kelly - Left for NFL
Mark Helfrich - FIRED
Willie Taggart - Left for FSU
Mario Cristobal - Left for Miami
Dan Lanning - TBD
What we can see is that USC coaches are fired compared to Oregon's 8-1. Both are 2-2 in coaches moving on to the NFL. And, yes, Oregon is 2-0 in losing coaches to another college team. Stuff happens. An aberration, not a trend.
Bottom line, you can't really compare Oregon and USC. Duh. Coaches stay at USC until they are fired. It's a shorter leash at USC than Oregon, and obviously so, as until recently expectations were quite different.
Interesting that both programs have only had 2 coaches move on to the NFL after their stint at their respective school in the past 45+ years. Who'd a thunk?
But Mora didn't have the greatest track record with assistant coaches. The good ones bailed on him, and he chose a LOT of shitty ones. Mora's swan dive was his own fault.
I have a little Mora story. Barr’s senior season. UCLA had their Spring finale at the Rose Bowl and the fans went on the field afterward to meet the coaches and players. Anyway, I was walking around and saw Mora. He had a crowd around him and one of onlookers standing about 8 feet away from him was a really good-looking blonde in her late 30s to early 40s.She was a Bo Derek level gal. It definitely wasn’t his wife. He was signing posters and she had the look of admiration in her eyes and seemed to be waiting on him to finish. Not hard to see that they had some going on. I walked away and thought to myself - this season is over. Mora’s mind wasn’t on the team like it was when he first arrived.
This is why players want their NIL, ability to transfer. Coaches leave on a whim, break their word. Dog eat dog world
Trust no one.
Not many people willing to stoop to his depths back in the day. Now he’s tame. Time to go get paid.
I think the bottom line here is Coach Lanning has an eye for choosing some really solid assistant coaches. Says pretty good things about the future of the program in Eugene under Lanning no matter who stays or goes.
Lose your OC who becomes the youngest HC for a Power 5 program (ASU).
Lose your safeties coach who becomes DC at a Power 5 program (Baylor).
Lose your OL coach who doesn't want to leave Oregon but an NFL team makes him an offer he can't refuse (NE Patriots).
All are better positions than they had before.
Lanning will keep on picking good ones, no doubt.
RAH!! 🤣
That dude was absolutely filthy. Probably one of the biggest reasons for Mora's short reign of recruiting success in Westwood.