Stanford Coach Walt Harris was fired today after finishing 1-11, the worst season in four decades at the school. Harris, who rebuilt Pittsburgh into a BCS contender a few years ago, was in year two of a five-year contract with the Cardinal. Harris had a 6-17 record overall. Harris follows John L. Smith, fired from Michigan State, both of whom left the Big East to find greener pastures elsewhere. Smith left behind a Louisville program that surpassed all expectations in recent years, won the Big East and has become a perennial Top Ten program. Harris' Panthers stuttered under new coach Dave Wandstedt but remains competitive at least.
All of this comes on the heels of two coaching decisions. Cincinnati's Mike Dantonio took his success in the Big East as a chance to move up in the world as he replaced Smith at Michigan State. His task is nothing hard...return Michigan State to glory while beating Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State on a yearly basis and contending for the Big Ten title.
Then there's Greg Schiano. A few weeks back there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that Schiano would jump ship to Miami when the season was over. That's what you do, right? You get a few fluke winning seasons out of a lesser program and use that to jump over to an established program where you carry on the legacy.
Schiano has the good sense to see how good he's got it. There's no bar set for him. There's nothing to live up to other than what he makes of it. He's getting a salary bump. He's getting stadium improvements. Sky's the limit right now for Rutgers who could seriously become a yearly contender for the Big East title. (Man, if only Syracuse were still playing football...they could learn something).
Best of luck to Dantonio. Who knows, he could get Michigan State back on track. Couple 8 or 9 win seasons in there. But chances are he'll join Harris and Smith on the unemployment line soon enough, wondering why in the world he left a cushy gig in an peaking conference to be a cog in the machine somewhere else.