As an AD, which fictional head coach would you hire?
Here's the situation. You're an athletic director (high school or college...your choice) looking to make a home run hire.
The kicker is you've got the ability to hire a fictional figure to be your real life head coach. Be it a coach of your favorite football movie or TV show, you've got the power to hand him the reigns of your program. Who would you choose?
Since the coaching profession is full of guys from all different backgrounds and eras, I've done my best to come up with a list of eight candidates suitable for everyone.
Take a look at the choices (or feel free draw from you own memory of anyone I haven't listed), and let me know who you'd choose and why at doug@footballscoop.com or @CoachSamz. I'll tally up the votes, including the top reasons why you'd choose that coaching legend, and update later today.
Hayden Fox
TV Show: "Coach" (1989-1997 on CBS)
Coach Fox should definitely get some nostalgic votes. His greatest accomplishment might be putting up with guys like Luther, and Dauber. That alone proves that coach Fox has what it takes to win games regardless of who his assistants are. After all, he did make it with the MSU Screaming Eagles six seasons before moving on to coach the Orlando Breakers.
Herman Boone
Movie: Remember the Titans (2000)
Facing more adversity than most of us have faced our entire coaching careers, coach Boone united a team, a community and not only won games, but taught his players lessons that will last a lifetime.
Tony D'Amato
Movie: Any Given Sunday (1999)
If you're looking for a motivator, look no further. Coach D'Amato's "Inches" speech has been played a million times by coaches and players everywhere in locker rooms, and on iPods since the movie came out, and will forever go down in movie history as one of the greatest sports speeches of all time.
Bud Kilmer
Movie: Varsity Blues
Coach Kilmer may not have always been the most popular in the locker room, and has made some (very) questionable decisions, but he had no problem winning games.
Eric Taylor
TV Show: Friday Night Lights (2006-2011 on NBC)
Winning big at Dillon high school was impressive, but then coach Taylor took over the East Dillon team and won even bigger. The man can coach, is capable of making unpopular decisions with the greater good of the program in mind, can deal with pressure from super-boosters (Buddy Garrity), and most importantly, he cares deeply about his players and goes above and beyond the call of duty of a coach on the field. Coach Taylor gets my vote (and not just because he has a smoking hot TV wife). Clear eyes...full hearts...CAN'T LOSE!
Kevin and Danny O'Shea
Movie: Little Giants (1994)
Just for fun, I thought I'd throw this out there as a packaged deal. One is a gas station owner turned youth coach (Danny), the other is a former Heisman winner and legend in the community (Kevin). Danny would bring some innovation and ingenuity to the program, and Kevin would bring immediate star power. A lot of programs have co-coordinators, why not go with co-head coaches?
Sam Winters
Movie: The Program (1993)
Coach Winters seems like a middle of the road coach, with no idea of what's going on in the locker room and inside of his own program, judging from my possibly my favorite football movie of all time. Him and his staff were able to develop a Heisman hopeful QB and a star freshman RB though, so take that for what it's worth.
Jimmy McGinty
Movie: The Replacements (2000)
If you've got a group of ragtag, middle of the road guys, coach Ginty might be the perfect fit. He doesn't deal well with the superstar personalities, but has a great knack for bringing out the best in players that most coaches have discarded.
