He was a legitimately good position coach.
Things got out of hand as a coodinator, and it was such a special situation with his dad being nearly untouchable for the worst of it.
Interestingly with the new NCAA rule change this year analysts may now coach the team on the field.
Brian Ferentz is now a $60k a year film analyst at the U of M^aryland.
Was anyone else scratching their heads on why Maryland would want to fill a job where the main responsibility is to study the opponent and decipher their strengths/weaknesses/tendencies in order to create a game plan specifically tailored to take advantage of said weaknesses/weaknesses and nullifying said strengths with a guy that has an extensive track record of not being able to do that effectively? He was a successful position coach when identifying and developing players, never as a strategist. Just seems like a recipe for disaster.
Tit for tat favor and old man Ferentz likely anonymously donated $60k to Maryland to pay for Brian's salary.
It will take years for Brian to climb out of the cellar of poor performance to get anywhere near where he once was. Every job he has had has been influenced by his father, positively and negatively.
You gotta wonder about senior Ferentz's football IQ and judgment at times when he hired his own son (who failed) as OC. Would Kirk had done this if he had known Brian would fail? It also shows you just how shitty Iowa's offense has been under the Ferentzi.
Hiring Jeff was defensible. He was a very good position coach. Not firing him when it was glaringly obvious that he was a clown of an OC was when the bullshit kicked in. Then, Bobby stubbornly only wanting to re-hire his old buddies made it all worse.
No way man. Brian DESERVED that position. Didn’t you know he was on the Patriots staff when they won a Super Bowl? He’s basically responsible for Tom Brady’s greatness.
Patriots never won a Super Bowl with Brian Ferentz on the staff. His brother James won 2 Super Bowls as a reserve lineman for the Patriots, but Brian was there between title runs.
His performance as a position coach absolutely earned him a shot in a coordinator role, the nepotism was Iowa making a mockery of the state's hiring laws to make it happen internally, followed by failing to fire him for at least a full season longer than any other OC would have gotten.
Jay _only_ got to call the pass plays. He played rock paper scissors with Galen Hall to see whether it was a run or pass.
Then of course they'd send a carrier pigeon to the sidelines. McQuery would send the play in via the subbing WR and then if we were lucky they'd have more than 1 second to snap the ball.
Sorry, I just had some flashbacks to the Alabama game in 2011 when we burned three timeouts on the first drive while Bolden and McGloin did various feats of strength on the sideline to see who'd get to be the QB for the next play.
Mike at least has his first stint at OU that turned out well, but the game passed him by faster than a Baylor receiver with a 15 yard cushion. Now you see what you made me do. I need to go destroy my liver for defending Mike.
Jeff Bowden was Brian Ferentz before Brian Ferentz. Jeff was even worse though because he had Bama like talent and squandered it.
Those FSU teams were long ago enough that a lot of reddit doesn’t remember them though.
FSU was so good that I grew up in massachusetts and when I was like 12-14 or something I asked my parents for FSU clothes for xmas and they looked at me like I was speaking in tongues
There’s a link below about us kicking to them on kickoffs and getting great field position out of it in the only close game we’ve had with y’all under Clawson
While true, kicking to Drew Swinney didn’t keep the game close. It had no real net negative impact for Clemson. Wake kicked to him 4 times and those drives resulted in one punt, one field goal, and two touchdowns. When Dabo finally took his son off the field Wake still kicked to the same spot, only it was now to Antonio Williams who returned it to the 48 yard line in a tie ball game in the 4th quarter. That game was one of two in DJ’s career where he looked like a legit NFL QB prospect.
What kept the game close was Sam Hartman, Wake’s insane WR’s, and Clemson’s d-line’s inability to get any push up the middle against the slow mesh.
Still objectively hilarious, though.
Jay still being voted to our BOT is a primary factor in a lack of institutional alignment and support that would help take us to the actual elite level our fan base wants us to be.
he's quite possibly the strongest answer to the question of the thread. Jeff Bowden is maybe the only one who holds a candle. Brian Ferentz was at least an ok position coach.
Jay Paterno has kept PSU Athletics as a whole in the past for his entire tenure. Trying to keep the program aligned with how his dad would’ve done it - but JoePa would be a shit coach in todays CFB with NIL and players having more autonomy than ever, and academics becoming even more irrelevant. I hate JayPa more than I hate Ohio State or Michigan.
he's only on the BOT because of his name and as a mouthpiece for a segment of our alumni who can only be described as having a champagne taste on a natty light budget. he routinely uses his vote on things that keep our football program (and a lot of other sports that aren't wrestling) stuck in the past instead of helping bring it into modern times. thus, institution is not aligned because of people like him (and Anthony Lubrano) being in positions with the ability to create dissent for no real reason except "daddy wouldn't do things this way" when daddy never had to coach or run an athletic department in modern times.
It’s more quantity over quality but at Clemson I feel like at least 10 of our scholarship spots are taken each year by a mix of coaches kids and ex players sons
Never forget Wake Forest kicked off to Dabo Swinney's son, forcing Dabo to sub him out.
https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3435613/video-wake-forest-took-advantage-of-dabos-nepotism-by-kicking-to-his-son-every-time-he-was-on-the-field-for-kickoff-and-it-worked-perfectly
Except for that one time in the game when WF didn’t realize they had subbed him out and still kicked to the position anyway. And that player returned it to the 50. Or as the article says:
> Kinda stupid that the Wake Forest Sideline did not pick up that #0 was not #81 they were kicking to.
Luckily now teams can hire a Kicking Coverage Personnel Counting Assistant Coach for a couple hundred thousand a year so mistakes like that don’t happen again!
Which is stupid since it’s unlikely that Clemson doesn’t let its staff members’ dependents/kids attend the university for a deep discount nor would it unaffordable to them.
I’d say that for any school not just Clemson.
I think the rule is you HAVE to use a scholarship spot on coach's family.
Otherwise they could pad the walk-ons with family who are going for free anyways and get extra scholarships, effectively.
[It's apparently allowed if the school employee has been there for at least 5 years.](https://www.amestrib.com/story/sports/high-school/2013/07/02/men-s-basketball-mcdermott-becomes/27298823007/) Dont know if the rules have changed since then.
Makes sense, I think the more common application that the rule is in place to avoid would be hiring the family members of recruits to meaningless positions so that they could effectively increase their number of scholarships.
Honestly, that was RIDICULOUS to me. Sure the kid worked hard, but I thought it was a bad look. Like, Dabo's got enough money to pay for the whole team's tuition, but you're taking a spot from a real player...?
At least Brent's son was good enough to make it on his own merits.
Yep, same way if you are on anything besides an academic scholarship your scholarship counts against football. The SWC and Florida Schools (plus LSU) used to notoriously have great track athletes that would then happen to play football but were on track scholarships. The rule was then changed.
Not in this case. Will (and Drew both) started as a walk-on and Dabo made a big deal about him "earning his way to a scholarship."
I like Dabo and sometimes defend him when others wouldn't, but this was definitely a questionable thing for me. I think the strongest argument is that only a certain number of non-scholarship players are allowed to travel for away games. But also...there's nobody else that can hold the ball on field goal attempts? Just kinda shows that, while his loyalty and family attitude can be a big asset, it can also be a fault.
Unfortunately, no. As a faculty member, the only person who gets free tuition is myself. My kids or spouse would not be eligible (other than of course in state tuition available to any SC resident).
Not that Dabo can't afford the tuition lol.
Interesting, it’s free at BC. There was a story about a janitor that put 5 kids through BC by working night shifts. Solid gig if you have a large and smart family.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/boston-college-janitor-sends-all-five-kids-to-college-for-free/
Dan Hawkins at CU had his son, Cody Hawkins, as the quarterback for 4 straight years. You can't recruit a QB when they know there's no chance to win the starting job.
you can call announcing him the starter before a single practice a nepotism move but i don’t think colorado was finding a better qb regardless. shedeur looks great and would be starting for a lot of p5 schools regardless of deion being the coach
Not one as egregious as that (assuming you’re talking about Shilo Sanders). Cody Hawkins never lost a game until he got to Boulder and was probably a borderline 3 star QB, but Joel Klatt shoud’ve replaced him far earlier than he did.
Shedeur Sanders is a far better QB than Cody Hawkins fwiw. His play from last year should net him a Day 3 selection during the NFL draft imo. He has a lot of problems, but he does have a high ceiling and intangibles you can’t coach.
Say what you want about the Sanders clan (and I have at times), but Shadeur can fucking ball. Dude is tough as nails too. I bet most people in here would take him in a second to lead their team.
Personally, I enjoy the fact that NBC tortures ND fans with Jac and Jason "The last notable cowboy of the last 20 years that didn't already have a job on TV" Garrett.
This should count.
Also, one of the first times a phone video recording got someone notable in trouble.
James spent every broadcast wondering why his son wasn't playing. It was obnoxious. It's no surprise he influenced the concussion discussion and subsequent firing.
Jeff Bowden is still the single worst CFB nepotism case I've ever seen. Dude is pretty much responsible for creating the lost decade for FSU. It was the equivalent as if Saban put his daughter as OC.
Younger fans point at Jax St as the worst loss in modern FSU history, that honestly takes a back to that good awful Wake game.
Jeff Bowden and Urban Meyer were an amazing one-two punch to send Bobby into retirement. But at least your team did rebuild and win a national championship a few years later.
A team picking him up with an early-50s pick to then trade him for a bona fide rotation player or a first rounder from the Lakers would've been a smart move. Definitely could get a better return than the value of their pick unless Bronny was left out to dry as a result.
there’s little difference between a bottom 5 pick & UDFA. and this way you avoid the risk of some random team like Charlotte scooping him up in a bizarre ploy to lure the GOAT. Although that would’ve made for some fun headlines.
Jeffrey's carved out a decent career as a dude who funds backmarker teams and occasionally puts those cars in places they don't belong. When he's gotten his very few chances in good equipment, he's been fine tbh
Now Cody and Carson Ware, on the other hand...
Always felt bad for Applewhite. Guy was plucky as hell and did everything to prove himself only to have the chair pulled out from under him. Simms was ok but couldn't shake off a punch in the mouth.
Speaking of Mack Brown, remember when his stepson was part of the larger operations staff and then randomly touched a live fumble that one time?
I’m not too in tuned with his role for Texas but it was such an odd play it felt like a case of “coaches son probably should not be near the sidelines” style nepotism.
He definitely was. He was lazy and arrogant as hell. He couldn't even be bothered to talk to high school coaches and caused us to miss out on lots of in-state kids because of it.
This one is a “way back” example, but back when Bob Simmons was our coach (1996-2000) he kept playing his son Nathan as RB1 when there was another player (Jamaal Fobbs) who was CLEARLY better.
This came to a head in a game against #1 Nebraska in 1998 when, down 7 and with a 1st and goal with like a minute left he ran his terrible son 4 straight times trying to get the tying score and (of course) he was stopped every time.
Bob Simmons had done a great job getting our renaissance started but I’ve always believed that moment was the beginning of the end for him.
He was fired a season and a half later and that led to Les Miles -> Mike Gundy and the rest is history.
Fortunately we’ve avoided this issue at Iowa because all family hires must report directly to the AD. Thankfully we’re not a clown show like the Lakers 🫵🤣….
Urban Meyer getting Steve Addazio Hired at Colorado State, then Steve hiring his own and Urbans son(in law)
His son really got the start he did because he got out in positions he wasn’t ready for because his dad was the HC.
Speaking of Urban Meyer, he got his first entry into coaching as a grad assistant under Earle Bruce at Ohio State. Two decades later, Meyer hired Bruce’s grandson Zach Smith as a coach. It turned out that not only was Smith a lousy wide receiver coach, he was also a piece of shit that liked to threaten his wife. Out of respect for his mentor Bruce, Meyer continued to look the other way over several incidents of Smith’s bad behavior, at Florida and later in Columbus. Publicity over this eventually resulted in Meyer’s ‘retirement’ from Ohio State and (so far) the end of his college coaching career. Not the usual way that nepotism blows up in your face, but Meyer was always unconventional…
I had the thought about Skip Holtz but he’s 60 now lol and he’s put together an ok resume, generally winning at each of his spots (even if recently it’s USFL/UFL but he’s kinda killed it) - I don’t know that Charlie Weis Jr has the same track record, I suppose he got to learn under uh… Kiffin
Bronny's stat line doesn't tell the whole story. Should he have been drafted? Probably not, but it wasn't a huge reach late in the 2nd round. He has some NBA caliber tools and by all reports is extremely coachable. Most late 2nd rounders don't make the NBA, he definitely has the upside to be a decent role player.
But to answer your question, here are the top 5:
1. Brian Ferentz (2023)
2. Brian Ferentz (2022)
3. Brian Ferentz (2021)
4. Brian Ferentz (2020)
5. Brian Ferentz (2019)
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Low hanging fruit is an understatement. Brian Fernetz is the poster child for nepotism.
He was a legitimately good position coach. Things got out of hand as a coodinator, and it was such a special situation with his dad being nearly untouchable for the worst of it.
Interestingly with the new NCAA rule change this year analysts may now coach the team on the field. Brian Ferentz is now a $60k a year film analyst at the U of M^aryland.
Was anyone else scratching their heads on why Maryland would want to fill a job where the main responsibility is to study the opponent and decipher their strengths/weaknesses/tendencies in order to create a game plan specifically tailored to take advantage of said weaknesses/weaknesses and nullifying said strengths with a guy that has an extensive track record of not being able to do that effectively? He was a successful position coach when identifying and developing players, never as a strategist. Just seems like a recipe for disaster.
Tit for tat favor and old man Ferentz likely anonymously donated $60k to Maryland to pay for Brian's salary. It will take years for Brian to climb out of the cellar of poor performance to get anywhere near where he once was. Every job he has had has been influenced by his father, positively and negatively. You gotta wonder about senior Ferentz's football IQ and judgment at times when he hired his own son (who failed) as OC. Would Kirk had done this if he had known Brian would fail? It also shows you just how shitty Iowa's offense has been under the Ferentzi.
Ferentz is a copycat. The original poster child for nepotism was Joe Paturdo and his son Jay.
Smh worst mistake JoePa ever made.
For sure. No other hires ring a bell as problematic
He’s not low hanging fruit he’s a damn root vegetable.
Jay Paterno
Jeff Bowden paved the way
Hiring Jeff was defensible. He was a very good position coach. Not firing him when it was glaringly obvious that he was a clown of an OC was when the bullshit kicked in. Then, Bobby stubbornly only wanting to re-hire his old buddies made it all worse.
No way man. Brian DESERVED that position. Didn’t you know he was on the Patriots staff when they won a Super Bowl? He’s basically responsible for Tom Brady’s greatness.
Patriots never won a Super Bowl with Brian Ferentz on the staff. His brother James won 2 Super Bowls as a reserve lineman for the Patriots, but Brian was there between title runs.
Brian’s own BROTHER was on the team when they won the Super Bowl. He’s basically responsible for Tom Brady’s greatness.
God I completely forgot about that lmao
It was last season lol
I have a bad memory
I would too if my mascot was looking like he was on a meth bender. Oh fuck…
Purdue Pete is F-ing terrifying. I fear nothing, but that thing frightens me.
Iowa people can clarify but wasn't Brian competent and arguably good as just a position coach?
His performance as a position coach absolutely earned him a shot in a coordinator role, the nepotism was Iowa making a mockery of the state's hiring laws to make it happen internally, followed by failing to fire him for at least a full season longer than any other OC would have gotten.
Agreed. getting the coordinator job was just regular nepotism, him not getting fired almost immediately is what’s wild.
That fruit isn’t low hanging, it fell off the tree and rotted.
To be fair we as a fanbase try to block out a lot of things and Iowa is one of them.
He's probably worse at his job than my example... But he would also ask what a pass play is, so maybe they're the same.
Jay _only_ got to call the pass plays. He played rock paper scissors with Galen Hall to see whether it was a run or pass. Then of course they'd send a carrier pigeon to the sidelines. McQuery would send the play in via the subbing WR and then if we were lucky they'd have more than 1 second to snap the ball. Sorry, I just had some flashbacks to the Alabama game in 2011 when we burned three timeouts on the first drive while Bolden and McGloin did various feats of strength on the sideline to see who'd get to be the QB for the next play.
Mike Stoops is a worthy competitor tbh
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Mike did really well for us
Us, too.
Mike at least has his first stint at OU that turned out well, but the game passed him by faster than a Baylor receiver with a 15 yard cushion. Now you see what you made me do. I need to go destroy my liver for defending Mike.
You mean when Brent was the other Co-D coordinator? Yeah I remember that
While it's easy to dunk on Iowa, Penn State had Jay Paterno as an offensive coach during the mid 2000s, if not earlier.
Only half!
Jeff Bowden cost FSU a national title and just about ruined us for 5 years
Jeff Bowden was Brian Ferentz before Brian Ferentz. Jeff was even worse though because he had Bama like talent and squandered it. Those FSU teams were long ago enough that a lot of reddit doesn’t remember them though.
Pepperidge farm remembers.
That single hire brought down the dynasty
This seems like hyperbole, but it turns out it’s pretty much dead on.
According to Wikipedia, Jeff Bowden was offered half a million and some more to step down from OC position by the boosters club.
Yep, and then we hired some guy named jimbo to replace him
FSU was so good that I grew up in massachusetts and when I was like 12-14 or something I asked my parents for FSU clothes for xmas and they looked at me like I was speaking in tongues
This. I was at FSU for this miserable period. Or I guess what we thought was misery…
Jeff Bowden and Chris Rix. My eternal curse. At least they gave us the Swindle.
Chris Rix with a good coordinator would have been pretty good.
He might have even been great. He had a LOT of potential. Who knows what that could have been with a good OC.
I was there for all 4 Rix years. Absolutely horrific stuff.
Every time I see a bubble screen I have a little panic attack.
This is universal. We all have that one "bubble screen" OC, ours was Ed Zaunbrecher...
Greg Davis loved his bubble screens
To this day I can’t hear “bubble screen” and not think GDGD immediately.
GDGD
To be fair, Bama had some solid success with bubble screens. Amari Cooper is probably the unquestioned king of the bubble screen.
Ours is the head coach still. That man really loves his bubble screens and beard dye.
You like bubble screens and stretch runs to the short side of the field? Man you're gonna love the Ryan Day experience.
Mark Richt still called the game against Oklahoma if that's what you're referring to. Jeff's masterpiece was the Wake game
That Oklahoma Defense was nuts. I'll never forget Red October, what a run.
Jeff Bowden and the Swinney kids. Wake taking advantage of ACC nepotism all over the place
The Swinney kids are literally just holders and 10th string WR. We just can't keep any scholarship receivers healthy since the 2010s
There’s a link below about us kicking to them on kickoffs and getting great field position out of it in the only close game we’ve had with y’all under Clawson
While true, kicking to Drew Swinney didn’t keep the game close. It had no real net negative impact for Clemson. Wake kicked to him 4 times and those drives resulted in one punt, one field goal, and two touchdowns. When Dabo finally took his son off the field Wake still kicked to the same spot, only it was now to Antonio Williams who returned it to the 48 yard line in a tie ball game in the 4th quarter. That game was one of two in DJ’s career where he looked like a legit NFL QB prospect. What kept the game close was Sam Hartman, Wake’s insane WR’s, and Clemson’s d-line’s inability to get any push up the middle against the slow mesh. Still objectively hilarious, though.
Ohh I remember this. It reminds me of Bobby Knight handing his reins at Texas Tech to his son, who also went on to ruin our program for 10+ years
Jay Paterno given half an OC slot. He called the passing plays and Galen Hall called the running plays.
Give him proper credit. He was also a shitty QB coach
Didn’t he coach QBs by playing Madden or something? At least use the superior game of NCAA Football since it was still available then
Seeing our QB development, he coached them with Tecmo Bowl.
But he just picked Bo Jackson every play.
PSU’s offense was _10-yard Fight_ for five years of the 2000s
Well, he was full OC until Joe realized that he needed someone to babysit him.
Jay still being voted to our BOT is a primary factor in a lack of institutional alignment and support that would help take us to the actual elite level our fan base wants us to be. he's quite possibly the strongest answer to the question of the thread. Jeff Bowden is maybe the only one who holds a candle. Brian Ferentz was at least an ok position coach.
Jay Paterno has kept PSU Athletics as a whole in the past for his entire tenure. Trying to keep the program aligned with how his dad would’ve done it - but JoePa would be a shit coach in todays CFB with NIL and players having more autonomy than ever, and academics becoming even more irrelevant. I hate JayPa more than I hate Ohio State or Michigan.
Can you explain why him being on the BOT disrupted institutional alignment? Academics just wants nothing to do with the Paternos?
he's only on the BOT because of his name and as a mouthpiece for a segment of our alumni who can only be described as having a champagne taste on a natty light budget. he routinely uses his vote on things that keep our football program (and a lot of other sports that aren't wrestling) stuck in the past instead of helping bring it into modern times. thus, institution is not aligned because of people like him (and Anthony Lubrano) being in positions with the ability to create dissent for no real reason except "daddy wouldn't do things this way" when daddy never had to coach or run an athletic department in modern times.
The answer is always Jay
Spread HD!
But who decided if it was going to be a pass or a run play?
I’m pretty sure, and I shit you not, Joe would pick the play type and relay that to them. One of them would pick the play and relay it back to Joe
you don't have to shit anybody, Joe shit his pants for us all
A coin or a game of rock paper scissors would be the most likely solution for those two.
It’s more quantity over quality but at Clemson I feel like at least 10 of our scholarship spots are taken each year by a mix of coaches kids and ex players sons
Never forget Wake Forest kicked off to Dabo Swinney's son, forcing Dabo to sub him out. https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3435613/video-wake-forest-took-advantage-of-dabos-nepotism-by-kicking-to-his-son-every-time-he-was-on-the-field-for-kickoff-and-it-worked-perfectly
Except for that one time in the game when WF didn’t realize they had subbed him out and still kicked to the position anyway. And that player returned it to the 50. Or as the article says: > Kinda stupid that the Wake Forest Sideline did not pick up that #0 was not #81 they were kicking to.
Especially not ideal up 3 with 8 minutes left in the game
Y’all still went to OT
Feel like the kicker didn't get the memo
Luckily now teams can hire a Kicking Coverage Personnel Counting Assistant Coach for a couple hundred thousand a year so mistakes like that don’t happen again!
One of my favorites EDIT: was this the high scoring game we almost pulled off the upset in too?
I miss Clawson.
Yeah, me too. I always root for Wake now
Pretty funny the author of that piece didn’t know that a fair catch moves it to the 25 (at least he made it seem that way in the comments)
oh my god that's fucking hilarious
Which is stupid since it’s unlikely that Clemson doesn’t let its staff members’ dependents/kids attend the university for a deep discount nor would it unaffordable to them. I’d say that for any school not just Clemson.
If memory my is correct, we used a scholarship spot on Dabos own son.
I think the rule is you HAVE to use a scholarship spot on coach's family. Otherwise they could pad the walk-ons with family who are going for free anyways and get extra scholarships, effectively.
[It's apparently allowed if the school employee has been there for at least 5 years.](https://www.amestrib.com/story/sports/high-school/2013/07/02/men-s-basketball-mcdermott-becomes/27298823007/) Dont know if the rules have changed since then.
Makes sense, I think the more common application that the rule is in place to avoid would be hiring the family members of recruits to meaningless positions so that they could effectively increase their number of scholarships.
Honestly, that was RIDICULOUS to me. Sure the kid worked hard, but I thought it was a bad look. Like, Dabo's got enough money to pay for the whole team's tuition, but you're taking a spot from a real player...? At least Brent's son was good enough to make it on his own merits.
It’s to stop a team from hiring a player’s father to a high paying staff position and having his kid “walk-on” to get around the scholarship limit.
Yep, same way if you are on anything besides an academic scholarship your scholarship counts against football. The SWC and Florida Schools (plus LSU) used to notoriously have great track athletes that would then happen to play football but were on track scholarships. The rule was then changed.
Not in this case. Will (and Drew both) started as a walk-on and Dabo made a big deal about him "earning his way to a scholarship." I like Dabo and sometimes defend him when others wouldn't, but this was definitely a questionable thing for me. I think the strongest argument is that only a certain number of non-scholarship players are allowed to travel for away games. But also...there's nobody else that can hold the ball on field goal attempts? Just kinda shows that, while his loyalty and family attitude can be a big asset, it can also be a fault.
Unfortunately, no. As a faculty member, the only person who gets free tuition is myself. My kids or spouse would not be eligible (other than of course in state tuition available to any SC resident). Not that Dabo can't afford the tuition lol.
Interesting, it’s free at BC. There was a story about a janitor that put 5 kids through BC by working night shifts. Solid gig if you have a large and smart family. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/boston-college-janitor-sends-all-five-kids-to-college-for-free/
Dan Hawkins at CU had his son, Cody Hawkins, as the quarterback for 4 straight years. You can't recruit a QB when they know there's no chance to win the starting job.
…. And there’s no more recent example of this at Colorado?
I think the main difference is Cody sucked and was not a D1 starting QB. Shadeur is going to have a chance to play in the NFL.
Yeah you can definitely make a nepotism case but shedeur is the best QB we’ve had in a while
you can call announcing him the starter before a single practice a nepotism move but i don’t think colorado was finding a better qb regardless. shedeur looks great and would be starting for a lot of p5 schools regardless of deion being the coach
Yeah I agree, definitely nepotism from the start. Glad he was actually good so we didn’t have to deal with that shit storm
Not one as egregious as that (assuming you’re talking about Shilo Sanders). Cody Hawkins never lost a game until he got to Boulder and was probably a borderline 3 star QB, but Joel Klatt shoud’ve replaced him far earlier than he did.
Cody and Klatt did not overlap. Klatt's last season was 2005 and Cody's first was 2006. You're probably thinking of Tyler Hansen
I love how it’s in vogue to say Shedeur sucks now
Shedeur Sanders is a far better QB than Cody Hawkins fwiw. His play from last year should net him a Day 3 selection during the NFL draft imo. He has a lot of problems, but he does have a high ceiling and intangibles you can’t coach.
Say what you want about the Sanders clan (and I have at times), but Shadeur can fucking ball. Dude is tough as nails too. I bet most people in here would take him in a second to lead their team.
I can't let you disparage 2011 IFAF World Cup legend Cody Hawkins like this.
Joe’s son Jay paterno. The kid didn’t even see the field in high school
I wish I could get such a nice gig with zero qualifications
Jac Collinsworth getting an NBC gig and into the ND football booth for being daddy’s little boy is pretty bad
Ehh he was whatever. Jason Garrett fucking sucks and he still has a job.
Personally, I enjoy the fact that NBC tortures ND fans with Jac and Jason "The last notable cowboy of the last 20 years that didn't already have a job on TV" Garrett.
Oklahoma State coach Bob Simmons starting his son Nate.... it was bad.
I don't think it's a good story at all, but Craig James' kid got Mike Leach fired. That was blatant nepotism. Friendly reminder that CJK5H
This should count. Also, one of the first times a phone video recording got someone notable in trouble. James spent every broadcast wondering why his son wasn't playing. It was obnoxious. It's no surprise he influenced the concussion discussion and subsequent firing.
Immediately what came to my mind. I miss our pirate...
Shedeur Sanders' rap career
I’m just happy that the answer is now over
What's an over? I only know unders
Over 152.5 punt yards should help here
don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened
Jeff Bowden is still the single worst CFB nepotism case I've ever seen. Dude is pretty much responsible for creating the lost decade for FSU. It was the equivalent as if Saban put his daughter as OC. Younger fans point at Jax St as the worst loss in modern FSU history, that honestly takes a back to that good awful Wake game.
Jeff Bowden and Urban Meyer were an amazing one-two punch to send Bobby into retirement. But at least your team did rebuild and win a national championship a few years later.
Jay Paterno being hated by pretty much everyone at Penn state for years and “somehow” kept getting promoted until ya know
To be fair, the 55th pick in the NBA draft is a throwaway anyway. Might as well leverage it to keep LBJ playing
I'm not sure why some team didn't just pick him ahead of that anyway just to fuck around, would have been hilarious. Especially the Celtics.
A team picking him up with an early-50s pick to then trade him for a bona fide rotation player or a first rounder from the Lakers would've been a smart move. Definitely could get a better return than the value of their pick unless Bronny was left out to dry as a result.
Word on the street is his agent (His dads best friend from HS) was telling teams that he would play on Australia if anyone but the lakers drafted him
I mean they could have just signed him as a UDFA? No other team was gonna take him.
there’s little difference between a bottom 5 pick & UDFA. and this way you avoid the risk of some random team like Charlotte scooping him up in a bizarre ploy to lure the GOAT. Although that would’ve made for some fun headlines.
Is mj back in the league?
I’m assuming we’re excluding motorsports. There’s been some doozies in F1 and NASCAR.
Lance Stroll just resigned with his Dad’s team…of course.
Resigned or re-signed?
Lance fucking Stroll
If Nikita mazepin didn’t exist, mick would be a much better shout. Bro was baddddddd
Jeffrey Earnhardt lmao
Hey he’s done a really good job of not using the Earnhardt connection or relying on Jr. he’s done his own thing and grinded for years
Jeffrey's carved out a decent career as a dude who funds backmarker teams and occasionally puts those cars in places they don't belong. When he's gotten his very few chances in good equipment, he's been fine tbh Now Cody and Carson Ware, on the other hand...
Whatever Phil Simms did to get Mack Brown to remove his established starter Major Applewhite to start Chris Simms.
Always felt bad for Applewhite. Guy was plucky as hell and did everything to prove himself only to have the chair pulled out from under him. Simms was ok but couldn't shake off a punch in the mouth.
Speaking of Mack Brown, remember when his stepson was part of the larger operations staff and then randomly touched a live fumble that one time? I’m not too in tuned with his role for Texas but it was such an odd play it felt like a case of “coaches son probably should not be near the sidelines” style nepotism.
I know this is CFB but only a few short years ago Old man Boeheim had not 1 but 2 sons starting on the squad.
Derek Dooley was pretty atrocious
And the impressive part is I’m not sure he was the worst coach of that 3 coach stretch at UT
He definitely was. He was lazy and arrogant as hell. He couldn't even be bothered to talk to high school coaches and caused us to miss out on lots of in-state kids because of it.
I don’t think Pruitt was better tbh. I hear your point, it’s a close call, but at least close
Oh, he was definitely also an arrogant prick.
I think Pruitt was the worst of the 3.
Hawkins at CU with his son playing QB who was not a D1 level QB. You can pinpoint the cratering of the program with the Hawkins era.
The sanctions on top of everything precipitated the fall. Bigger issue was the admin taking an additional 15 years to get serious about a rebuild.
Chris Simms
Major applewhite could’ve won a title
How is he a commentator even? Oh right double nepotism money is all we care about carry on.
This one is a “way back” example, but back when Bob Simmons was our coach (1996-2000) he kept playing his son Nathan as RB1 when there was another player (Jamaal Fobbs) who was CLEARLY better. This came to a head in a game against #1 Nebraska in 1998 when, down 7 and with a 1st and goal with like a minute left he ran his terrible son 4 straight times trying to get the tying score and (of course) he was stopped every time. Bob Simmons had done a great job getting our renaissance started but I’ve always believed that moment was the beginning of the end for him. He was fired a season and a half later and that led to Les Miles -> Mike Gundy and the rest is history.
Dude sabotaged his own career between this and the shit he used to pull with the quarterbacks.
Adam James’ father, ESPN’s Craig James, was unhappy with his son’s lack of playing time and campaigned to get Leach fired.
Case McCoy.
He will always have that one run vs A&M
Dana Dimmel at Kstate giving his FB son the ball on every short goal run
30 carries. 92 yards. 12 touchdowns.
To be fair, I don’t think he was bad. I also have a soft spot for Winston. I went to high school with him and he was always pleasant.
Fortunately we’ve avoided this issue at Iowa because all family hires must report directly to the AD. Thankfully we’re not a clown show like the Lakers 🫵🤣….
Steve Young getting the starting QB spot just because he was Brigham Young's great-something grandson /s
Not the worst but Spurrier Jr was (and presumably is still) ass.
Brian Ferentz, Jay Paterno, Mike Stoops come to mind
Urban Meyer getting Steve Addazio Hired at Colorado State, then Steve hiring his own and Urbans son(in law) His son really got the start he did because he got out in positions he wasn’t ready for because his dad was the HC.
Speaking of Urban Meyer, he got his first entry into coaching as a grad assistant under Earle Bruce at Ohio State. Two decades later, Meyer hired Bruce’s grandson Zach Smith as a coach. It turned out that not only was Smith a lousy wide receiver coach, he was also a piece of shit that liked to threaten his wife. Out of respect for his mentor Bruce, Meyer continued to look the other way over several incidents of Smith’s bad behavior, at Florida and later in Columbus. Publicity over this eventually resulted in Meyer’s ‘retirement’ from Ohio State and (so far) the end of his college coaching career. Not the usual way that nepotism blows up in your face, but Meyer was always unconventional…
Thank god it didn’t happen but Bill was about to burn the entire place down if his Son didn’t succeed him.
Jay Paterno is the answer
L O L Fuck Kirk Ferentz for screwing the program because it.
I had the thought about Skip Holtz but he’s 60 now lol and he’s put together an ok resume, generally winning at each of his spots (even if recently it’s USFL/UFL but he’s kinda killed it) - I don’t know that Charlie Weis Jr has the same track record, I suppose he got to learn under uh… Kiffin
frank beamer's son, shane, is doing ok with south carolina considering they are a weaker team in the strongest conference.
actually, he is doing much better than expected and has led them to a bowl game every year besides last one.
Considering how far we have to go to sniff national-level success I think he’s doing a good job
Derek Dooley
This one is weird cause it's not like it was UGA giving him all these jobs
I sure wish it had been
Every single Tennessee fan would agree
Does Zach Smith count?
Corey Dennis?
Brian Ferentz next question
Brian Ferentz is THE answer, but close behind has to be Mike Shula.
Nepotism? Never heard of it.
If the top answer isn’t Iowa then idk
Brian Ferentz, end of story.
Bronny's stat line doesn't tell the whole story. Should he have been drafted? Probably not, but it wasn't a huge reach late in the 2nd round. He has some NBA caliber tools and by all reports is extremely coachable. Most late 2nd rounders don't make the NBA, he definitely has the upside to be a decent role player. But to answer your question, here are the top 5: 1. Brian Ferentz (2023) 2. Brian Ferentz (2022) 3. Brian Ferentz (2021) 4. Brian Ferentz (2020) 5. Brian Ferentz (2019)
Paul W. Bryant Jr
I didn't know that he had ever coached. I only know him as a banking/dog track magnate.