It occurred to me early in the third quarter of the Fiesta Bowl that Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones was going nowhere…and I was okay with that.
In light of severe emotional reactions of pretty much everyone in the state of West Virginia in regards to the departure of Rich Rodriguez to Michigan, you could sense the upswell of team and public support for Bill Stewart-interim coach of the Mountaineers-growing throughout the domination of the Oklahoma Sooners under the desert sky.
Now, honestly, I normally don’t really care who is coaching at West Virginia or any other Big East Conference team. However, Jones had somehow become a serious contender for the job in Morgantown thanks to his own team’s performance in the Motor City Bowl, which showed him rally his team to outscore Purdue 35-17 in the second half, only to lose on a 40-yard field goal as time expired. In the only game televised nationally that evening, football fans all over Appalachia and the rest of the nation watched the Chippewas run all over the field with an offense not too unfamiliar to those who follow Mountaineer football, all under the guidance of the West Virginia wide receivers coach of just one season ago.
If you’re unfamiliar with Chippewa football, you might think the entire fan base was holding its breath in fear of losing the coach of a repeat conference champion. However, after a 1-3 start in which the defense had yielded an average of 44 points-including a 44-14 home loss to FCS team North Dakota State University-left doubt in many observers’ minds even after the post-Christmas performance at Ford Field.
Suddenly, Michigan’s home loss to Appalachian State wasn’t quite as funny.
Detractors need to balance the fact that this team needs, more than anything right now, some stability. The offensive talent level is at a historical high for the program. There are some good reasons to be concerned about a defense that struggled all season, including the the loss of leader ‘Red’ Keith to graduation. You cannot give a coach all the credit for taking over a program in as good a position as this team was, which means you should also not put his feet to the fire for all the deficiencies, either.
But brace yourselves, should Jones make some improvements with the defense next season and the offense continues to put up gaudy numbers, schools will come sniffing around again next season. Despite the claims of happiness where he is and and today’s announcement of an extension, it might take more than a feel-good bowl victory by a suitor’s interim solution to keep this potential star from rising beyond the limits of what a non-BCS school can offer.
And we’ll be okay with that, too.
