College football mailbag: Is Texas A&M an elite gig? Where does Boise State go from here?

We went 10 weeks deep without a single coach getting fired for performance-related reasons. Then we got to Week 11, and two guys who won on Saturday — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Boise State’s Andy Avalos — both got canned, as did two coaches from the same game (Fisher and Mississippi State’s Zach Arnett).

The coaching carousel has officially entered the conversation.

Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Is Texas A&M an elite job? The school has all the things you could possibly want: money, facilities, talent-rich state and conference. It clearly will give coaches incredible contracts. But it seems like it never, ever works, no matter who’s the coach or how much money Texas A&M spends. Is it a job just waiting to finally get the right guy, or is it a place that nobody can win at and whoever gets the job will have a golden parachute in about five years? — Brian F., Mt Pleasant, Mich.

In some ways, joining the SEC was both a blessing and a curse for Texas A&M. I don’t recall there being such stratospheric expectations around that program when it was in the Big 12. Winning nine games and finishing in the Top 25 was a successful season. But then the school got into The Big Leagues, the boosters got an immediate taste of glory with that 2012 Johnny Manziel season, and it was off to the races. The Aggies announced a nearly $500 million Kyle Field renovation seemingly overnight, followed a few years later by the Jimbo Fisher contract. They were also among the first, if not the first, to figure out how to leverage NIL in recruiting.

Clearly, money is no object in College Station.

A&M is a good job, but it may never again be as desirable as it was for the past decade. A&M’s recruiting cachet went up considerably when it could sell being the only SEC program in the state of Texas. That’s going away. And Oklahoma coming in adds yet another blue blood to a conference already teeming with them. No one would consider A&M to be in the same prestige tier as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma and, yes, Texas. It’s going to be challenging for anyone outside that group (and even a few in it) to be consistently elite. We may see a bunch of Auburn-type programs that swing wildly from year to year based on the coach, the quarterback, the schedule, etc.

But remember, the 12-team Playoff changes things for everybody. A&M might not be a regular, but it can certainly rise up and make the field every so often. It would have qualified in both 2012 and 2020. There’s no reason it has to wait another eight years for its next top-10 season. The next coach needs to do better than Jimbo, but I don’t know that he has to win national championships to have a satisfying tenure.

As a Penn State fan, I have plenty of complaints about James Franklin’s game management decisions. However, am I crazy in noticing that it seems like he takes a ton of heat and criticism in the media (particularly on social media) when compared with his peers? Penn State is on track for its fifth double-digit win season in the past eight years, and Franklin is 3-1 in New Year’s Six bowl games. There are tons of coaches out there who don’t have that resume, but I don’t see them getting near the criticism he gets. — Kevin R.

Congratulations, Kevin, one being the one measured fan out of 106,000 people at Beaver Stadium on any given Saturday.

I did start noticing several years ago that Franklin was already getting a lot of criticism relative to his resume then — though more locally than nationally. The guy was the most successful Vanderbilt coach since the 1940s. He then took over a Penn State program decimated by NCAA sanctions and led it to a Big Ten title in just his third season. But it felt like that was all forgotten fairly quickly, and the game-management decisions, the lack of a CFP season and the constant speculation as to whether he might leave for another job really started wearing on Penn State fans.

But at this point, the angst has gone national, and count me as one of the critics. I’ve reached “fool me once …” territory. Yes, he’s won a lot of games, but it feels like empty calories. A 3-17 record against top-10 teams would be understandable were he the coach at Purdue or Minnesota, but Penn State itself is considered a top 10-15 program. It’s fair to expect better. He’s also paid like a guy who should be contending for national championships — he got a 10-year, $85 million contract in 2021. He makes slightly more than Jim Harbaugh, against whom he is 3-6.

I’m not saying Penn State should kick him to the curb, because winning 10 games a year at any program is not to be taken lightly. He’s not that far from the top of the Big Ten, as much as it feels that way after those Ohio State and Michigan games. I’d be concerned, though, that his job is only going to get harder with Big Ten expansion. The past two seasons, Franklin has basically had a two-game schedule. But next year, the Nittany Lions face UCLA, USC, Ohio State and Washington. The year after? At Iowa, at Ohio State, at UCLA and a matchup with Oregon at home. Those 10-2 records could easily become 8-4 if he doesn’t start beating comparable or more talented teams.

LSU QB Jayden Daniels was already in the Heisman talk, but did the Gators help hand him the trophy? If you voted today who is getting your vote? — Jeff H.

Daniels would definitely have my vote today. His historic night against Florida, in which he became the first FBS player to throw for 350 yards and run for 200 in the same game, became his new signature moment, but he’s been carrying that team all season. Statistically, he’s the highest-rated passer in the country, his 11.6 yards per attempt a full yard higher than the next-closest player, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe. On top of throwing for 3,164 yards and 30 TDs, he’s closing in on 1,000 rushing yards to go with another eight TDs.

There’s only one problem, though: He doesn’t have a “big” win to date (though winning a shootout at Missouri looks more impressive now than it did then), and he’s not going to get one. All 7-3 LSU has left is Georgia State and 6-4 Texas A&M. Meanwhile, there are three other extremely impressive candidates who will be very much in the spotlight. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. has a season-defining opportunity at Michigan, and Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. will both have prime-time games against No. 11 Oregon State the next two weeks before possibly squaring off against each other in Las Vegas.

While I’d like to think I won’t get caught up in recency bias … realistically, I absolutely will. And it’s not like Nix (No. 3 passer rating, 3,135 yards, 29 TDs, 2 INTs) or Penix (No. 9 passer rating, 3,533 yards, 28 TDs, 7 INTs) are far behind Daniels to begin with. If they do end up playing in Las Vegas with a Playoff berth on the line for both, I believe the winning QB will win the trophy.

Which is frankly remarkable to think about — a Pac-12 QB beating out an SEC QB and Ohio State’s best player. Nix and Penix must be benefitting from their conference’s amazing TV deal.

Imagine that The Athletic decided to pay you $77 million to never work for them again. What would you do next — Jonathan, Fletcher, N.C.

I’m probably supposed to say retire to Bora Bora, but I’m someone who needs structure and a purpose or I’ll lose my mind.

That’s why I’d move to Maui, work two hours a day handing out towels at a resort’s pool and do whatever the heck I wanted to for the rest.

What’s Michigan president Santa Ono’s angle? He’s smart enough to know Michigan cheated. So is all this maneuvering just to delay the inevitable and toss a bone to the fan base? He’s not giving a good impression of the mythical Michigan Man who leads first with integrity, but seems more like the seedy politician pandering to his base. How does this end for him? I’m genuinely perplexed why a university president would chain himself to a coach he already suspended this season. — David, Orlando, Fla.

You know how people often lament how backward it is that the football coach at a university makes more than the university president? Well, there’s a reason for it. The students, fans and alumni presumably consider Jim Harbaugh far more valuable than Santa Ono. And I’m sure he realizes that.

Still, it has been absolutely astounding to watch the leadership at that school morph into a Michigan message board since last week.

I expect the hostility and whataboutism from angry fans. But AD Warde Manuel’s blistering statement Saturday morning after it became official that Harbaugh would miss the Penn State game was so over-the-top you would think he was an unhinged Little League parent, not an esteemed CFP selection committee member. He referred to the disciplinary process as “an assault on the rights of everyone,” pouted that the Big Ten coaches and ADs can “rejoice today that someone was ‘held accountable,’” and began his closing statement with “You may have removed him from the sidelines today, but Jim Harbaugh is our head football coach.”

Well yeah, we know, he’s still coaching the team for all but 3.5 hours a week.

But what really put it over the top for me was President Ono’s tweet on Sunday that began, “Countless members of the University of Michigan family have reached out to me over the weekend and I wanted to express my appreciation. Like any community, we face our share of challenges and adversity.”

Countless members of the University of Michigan family have reached out to me over the weekend and I wanted to express my appreciation. Like any community, we face our share of challenges and adversity. There have been many such moments in our history. But as our team showed so…

— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) November 12, 2023

If you weren’t a sports fan and saw that tweet, you might guess that some awful tragedy occurred on campus that weekend, not that their football coach got suspended over a firmly documented case of cheating by one of his staff members. I get defending your coach. I get expressing disappointment with the decision. But with all the bellyaching about “due process,” you would think this is a murder trial.

Guys, they have the spreadsheet. They have the videos. Even if they waited to interview all the relevant parties before reaching a decision, what do you think they could find to change the basic facts of the case? If anything, they may find out something worse with more digging.

Whatever becomes of this suspension, I’m flabbergasted the extent to which Michigan has blowtorched its relationship with the conference over it. Manuel is going to have to sit in regular business meetings with commissioner Tony Petitti and his fellow ADs. Ditto Ono and his fellow presidents. How awkward will those be? I don’t know that there’s any downside to Ono for “chaining himself to a coach he’s already suspended this season,” other than feeling betrayed if/when Harbaugh is coaching the Chicago Bears next season.

If Oregon State and Washington State gain control of the Pac-12, would it really be that crazy for them to take all of the TV payout money in 2023-2024 for themselves if they have the power to do it? — Kacy, Seattle

Note, Kacy sent this question before Washington Superior Court Judge Gary Libey’s decision Tuesday to grant those schools their preliminary injunction and be recognized as sole governing members of the Pac-12 board. That decision will not go into effect until at least Monday, with the 10 remaining members planning to appeal, but based on Libey’s conclusion that “the court finds the plaintiffs likely to prevail,” I assume the “Pac-2″ will take control at some point, be it through a settlement or following final resolution of the appeal.

I don’t think they would take all the TV money, nor do I think the judge will allow it. He made clear while reading his decision that the two will not be allowed to “take advantage” of the other 10, and if they do, he’d intervene. Oregon State and Washington State are primarily seeking to keep for themselves all of the conference’s other assets — CFP revenue, bowl revenue, NCAA Tournament units, etc. — and potentially use them to buy out schools from other conferences. San Diego State can’t afford to pay the Mountain West’s $17 million exit fee, but perhaps it could make it work if the “Pac-12″ can cover half of it. That is, assuming it wants to come.

I’m fascinated to see what those two ultimately do. The idea of a “reverse merger” with the Mountain West may come into play now. It seems implausible that they could convince those schools to leave their stable conference and begin play in the Pac-12 nine months from now without having any idea what a media rights deal might look like. But I also don’t think Oregon State and Washington State would be waiting out this court case if their most likely course of action is to suck it up and join the MWC.

I’m wondering what your “big picture” opinion about Boise State is. I realize that the Kellen Moore era would be dang near impossible to repeat, but they seemed poised to be near the top of the G5 every year. What do you think went wrong this year, and what can they do moving forward? — Danny A.

I was caught completely flat-footed by Boise’s struggles this year. Avalos seemed to be building momentum, going 8-2 down the stretch last season and finding the Broncos’ quarterback of the future in Taylen Green. But Green took a step backward as passer this season, though not as drastically as Boise’s defense, which went from No. 7 to No. 78 nationally. I’m a bit surprised AD Jeremiah Dickey pulled the plug when he did — the Broncos are 5-5 overall, but 4-2 in league play, still technically alive for a second straight Mountain West title game berth — but clearly his mind was made up. He thinks he can do better.

Boise is now a decade removed from the Chris Petersen era, and the shine has worn off. While certainly still an attractive G5 job, it comes with challenges. Given its location, it’s almost entirely reliant on going into California, Texas, etc., and finding guys that the P5 schools have overlooked. Petersen was obviously exceptional at it, and Bryan Harsin had his share of success, too. But if I’m a coach, I would still rather be at San Diego State or Fresno State given their proximity to talent. It’s unfortunate timing that the Aztecs job is also open. It could be a similar candidate pool.

But the 12-team Playoff could be a boon for the Broncos. Win the league, and you could be that fifth highest-ranked conference champ. Which would help restore some of the national visibility they have lost over the past few years.

I’m curious to see who Dickey goes after. There’s been thought to bringing back Harsin, who went 69-19 with three conference championships in his seven seasons. But I see Dickey aiming for someone on the rise. Could he convince Ryan Grubb to leave his $2 million-a-year job at Washington? Would he perhaps be interested in Colorado’s Sean Lewis, who got head coaching experience at Kent State and will surely be leaving Boulder after Deion demoted him?

And while I don’t see Moore, currently the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, returning to his alma mater when he’s seemingly close to getting an NFL head-coaching job, his brother Kirby is kicking butt as Missouri’s OC right now. Any or all of the above would be intriguing.

Notre Dame visits Stanford next week on the “Pac-12 Network.” I did not know this network even existed until today when the broadcast details were announced. You can’t tell me that ESPN or Fox would give up a chance to televise Notre Dame on a holiday weekend for. . . Cal-UCLA? What is truly going on here? — D.E.

You’re telling me you follow college football yet have not even heard of the Pac-12 Network anytime in the past dozen years? Even if they’ve never seen it, I assumed people in all 50 states are at least aware that it never got on DirecTV.

Anyway, welcome to the club. Believe it or not, ND-Stanford is going to be the very last football game ever shown on Pac-12 Network. You missed having to never play the “Why can’t I find Pac-12 Network” game by one week.

I don’t know what the exact draft order was among the networks, but the fact that Colorado–Utah is still TBD tells me ESPN and/or Fox is more interested in that game than the Irish’s.

Sorry for that kick in the teeth.

— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.