Mike Riley To Interview For Wisconsin Job

Sounds like Alvarez has targeted Riley as a possible fit.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.co ... n-vacancy/

“Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis says he has heard nothing about Riley interviewing for Wisconsin job.”

“Kind of funny report since it’s inaccurate,” tweeted Cliff Kirkpatrick of the Corvallis Gazette-Times said in regards to the initial report."

Any OSU fans hearing anything more about this report?

Riley is like 60 years old. Why would he want to leave at this point? He tried that once and realized he belonged at Oregon State. They need each other. They have been consistently competitive with Mike at the helm and he's been consistently happy when he was in the low pressure bubble of Corvallis. Stay Mike Stay! Retire a Beaver and go down as a legend.

I remember when at about the same age the Detroit Lions offered full control of their organization to Lavell Edwards. This would have been 1985 I guess as BYU had won the national title the year before. Lavell thought about it for a day and then just said (paraphrased), "I'd rather stay here for better or worse and be loyal to this program that gave me my shot and stuck with me year after year, than go somewhere else for more money and fame, and be sitting on a hotseat every day I was on the thankless job. Coaching here is fun."

I think Mike would find coaching in Madison a lot less enjoyable than coaching in Corvallis. I've been to Madison and spent a lot of time there. It is one of the all time great sports towns. Coolest college campus area I've ever seen. The hill from the state capitol down to the stadium full of these amazing little shops and just cool places to hang out and tailgate and such is an epic place and what college football is all about... but with that comes a pressure cooker that burns people out very quickly. Alvarez was the most successful coach they'd had in a generation and he had to get out and sit in an office. Bielema was trying to get out early this year which is obvious from the release of the note he sent to Arkansas' AD in September basically trying to brown-nose his way into that job, and even with a Rose Bowl season the fans were angry so he hitched a ride on the first plane out of town, even though everybody thought he'd be a lifer at Wisconsin.

I think Mike Riley as a person deserves better than to go to that environment where he's one bad loss against a conference opponent from getting called in and told the boosters are mad and I'm fighting like hell for your job Mike, but we have to win by 30+ points this weekend against Iowa or I might not be able to give you a vote of confidence. That is a football crazy place. A wonderful place. But if you're close to retirement and in a place that is a perfect fit for you and your family, then by all means.... do not leave. The grass ISN'T always greener.

The local press is saying that Wisconsin did indeed reach out to Riley but that Riley had no interest. He said today that he plans on retiring at Oregon State. Most coaches i would not believe, but as corny as it sounds, i'm not sure that Mike Riley is capable of lying. He's a genuine good dude.

The funny thing is almost every single Beaver fan i know wanted Riley fired at the end of last year after 5 and then 3 win seasons, now all of a sudden he's a good coach again. Although Oregon State recruiting is still dreadful, currently behind Washington State, Utah and even Colorado in the pac 12.

Robert Smith from ESPN brought up a point I hadn't heard before. Something to the effect that Winsconsin Assistant Coaches are capped on how much they can make. It had something to do with Wisconsin as a state having some kind of laws about it. That was one of the things Beliema said about the job. He said he was tired of losing Assistant Coaches due to the limitations of salaries.

I like Riley at OSU myself, and I agree with you Shark about him staying put. I think I read that he is the all time winningest coach in OSU history. I didn't know OSU was so hard to recruit at J. My understanding is that its within a half hour of UO.

Riley wouldn't leave OSU for anything I think, that is one of the most loyal and genuinely really good guys in sports period.

SEC FAN":2trqi0y2 said:

I didn't know OSU was so hard to recruit at J. My understanding is that its within a half hour of UO.

Click to expand...

Its slightly less then an hour away. But its just a completely different feel as far as culture, resources and sizzle compared to what Oregon has. I'm not trying to bash Oregon State because after Oregon I always root for them but really they just dont have anything that would be highly desirable for a big time high school player.

Luckily for Oregon they have the Nike influence and some other big time donors who are willing to spend a lot of money on their facilities and on building the national image of the Ducks, or else they'd be in pretty much the same place.

Gary Andersen to Wisconsin: Coach to take entire Utah State staff with him

http://www.mwcconnection.com/2012/1...-to-wisconsin-coach-to-take-entire-utah-state

Yeah, I talked about that in the bowl game post. It's pretty darn disheartening. Gary talked a good game about being 100% committed to Utah State. He got them to promise to expand the stadium and facilities and so on, as he promised a winning program. Now he's up and leaving just like that. Utah State has a very storied history, and he could have restored that. He is a total Urban Meyer. He always acted like Kyle Whittingham was his mentor and he kind of distanced himself from Urban, but then at his first opportunity he "pulled an Urban". More power to him I guess, but I just don't like it. It feels wrong.

I believe Kilani Sitake from Utah will end up with the job ironically. Kilani is Utah's defensive coordinator, and he replaced..... Gary Andersen when he left the DC position at Utah to become the head coach at Utah State. Kilani was a running back and fullback at BYU. Kind of funny if it works out this way. Kilani will have played offense at BYU, coached defense at Utah, and then ends up the head coach at Utah State. He'll have all 3 of the major programs in Utah covered. Kind of strange... but these things happen.

I think if Utah State were smart they'd bring back the best offensive coordinator they had in many years and the man who helped get the program moving in the right direction. Mr. Jim Zorn. Zorn got his first real break as a coach at Utah State and then moved on to the NFL. I think he'd be terrific running the show at Utah State. He'd work well with Chuckie Keeton and he could become like June Jones and Pete Carroll who have gone to the college ranks from the NFL and been very successful. I hope they at least look at Jim.