Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports ranks the coaching hires in college football, and places Kentucky’s choice of Mark Stoops No. 15 out of 26.
Dodd tabs Arkansas’ choice of former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema as the top coaching hire. But he puts Western Kentucky’s pick of Bobby Petrino at No. 2. “Western Kentucky needed relevance. Bobby Petrino needed a job,” writes Dodd.
As for Stoops, Dodd says the only drawback is that Stoops doesn’t have any head coaching experience, which could be a drawback in the SEC. It hasn’t been a drawback for Vanderbilt’s James Franklin or Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, however.
My confidence level in Dennis Dodd is not high. As you noted, hiring a head coach in the SEC with no previous head coaching experience has worked out rather well for Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. Some would say it also has gone fairly well for Mark Richt and Georgia, and Will Muschamp and Florida.