I think both places will recognize that he's a pretty good recruiter and think he'll do better given their situations as compared to Penn State.
How they rationalize their way past his poor in game coaching is something we'll just have to read about afterwards I guess.
Given the second chances that are thrown about these days, I have no doubt he could have one of those jobs if he wants to.
There are three programs out there that have deluded themselves into thinking they're still relevant, have a birthright to be perennial NC contenders and are *this close* to getting back on top. All three have considerable administrative handicaps that find them continually making terrible choices for head football coaches. All three have been off the national radar for over a decade.
scUM:
Last time relevant nationally: early to mid 2000s
Last NC: 1997 (shared)
Last consistent successful HC: Lllllloyd Carr (retired 2007)
Hires since: Rich Rodriguez, Brady Hoke, Jim Harbaugh
Synopsis: Rodriguez was a TERRIBLE cultural fit and an unmitigated disaster. Hoke was a palette cleansing "_ichigan _an" who saw diminishing returns each season after a solid first year. Harbrau was a supposed "home run" hire who got off to a good start but has been largely mediocre since and has a disastrous record in big games.
Texas:
Last time nationally relevant: Late 2000s
Last NC: 2005
Last successful HC: Mack Brown ("resigned" following 2013)
Hires since: Charlie Strong, Tom Herman, Steve Sarkisian
Synopsis: Brown fell off a cliff after playing for a NC following the 2009 season. They brought in Strong who was coming off a nice couple of seasons in Louisville and was a huge flop. Tom Herman was the hot name when he was hired following a strong couple seasons at Houston but could only get them back to the level of Mack's last four years. Sarkisian is a career < .600 coach upon his hire and is .500 in year one. There is zero indication he's an upgrade over his predecessors.
USC:
Last time nationally relevant: Late 2000s
Last NC: 2004*
Last successful HC: Pete Carroll* (left for the NFL after 2009 with the NCAA bearing down)
Hires since: Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Clay Helton
Synopsis: All of the success of the Carroll era comes with an asterisk. After Petie left, they would stick to his coaching tree for their next two hires. Kiffin was coming off of a disastrous stint in the NFL and a 7-6 season at Tennessee. He would have some success in his second season, but as expectations swelled, he got worse. They fired him a couple of weeks into year four. Next they went with Sarkisian who was very "meh" and drank himself out of a job early in year two. Instead of doing a search, they stuck with the status quo and hired interim Clay Helton in a very lazy hire. Helton had some success early in a watered-down PAC 12, but couldn't maintain the success and was fired early this season.
Both scUM and Tejas made a hire (Harbrau, Herman) that was widely praised, but neither coach has fulfilled the considerable expectations. Herman lasted four years, Harbrau is in year seven, but probably should have been let go after 2020 and may have been if anybody else wanted him. USC has made three underwhelming hires and received underwhelming returns. None of these programs appear anywhere near returning to elite and with the people charged with making the hires at these schools, I see no reason to think it's getting better anytime soon. Fuck all of them.
