Why I am rooting for Coach Jody Sears.

I am certain that most of my readers are familiar with the coaching situation at Weber State this year.  It is well known that Weber State originally named John L. Smith to replace the retiring Ron McBride.  It seemed to make a lot of sense at the time.  Smith was in the same mold as McBride.  He was a successful coach who had run aground at the FBS level, looking for one last gig before he retired, and his Alma Mater-Weber State appeared to be the place.

Smith would also be a tie to a successful era at Weber State, the late 1960s to early 1970s when Sark Arslanian patrolled the sidelines of the old stadium.  Old Sark, who is still coaching a junior high-level team somewhere in St. George, was the most successful coach in Weber State's history.  And John L. was one of his players.  Smith would coach rival Idaho, nearby Utah State and at Louisville before running aground at Michigan State.  He ended up on the Arkansas Coaching staff as an assistant under Bobby Petrino when he was hired at Weber State.  At the time, it did not seem like a head coaching position would open at Arkansas any time soon, as Petrino had the Razaorbacks on the verge of a SEC championship.  It appeared that Petrino would have the job as long as he wished to have it.

Smith conducted recruiting and spring ball.  He built up a spirit of optimism, then things got all messed up.  In April, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino was in a motorcycle accident, and he was with his mistress.  The Bobby Petrino era at Arkansas was over just like that.  John L. Smith, after determining that his meager pay at WSU would not pay his real-estate debt, bolted his alma mater for a 1 season gig at Arkansas.

Three days later, rather than conduct a new coaching search when the players were all on summer break, AD Jerry Bovee named defensive coordinator Jody Sears interim head coach.  Sears was the defensive coordinator at Washington State and before that Eastern Washington.  If he had not followed Paul Wulff to Washington State, he may have been a candidate to for the job at Weber State at this time.  Jerry Graybeal was the defensive coordinator at Eastern Washington before becoming the head coach at Weber State.  There is precedent for Weber State taking the assistant coach from a rival.

Sears is not a bad selection for the Head Coach at Weber State, he has the resume and talent to take over.  The bad news is the timing and how it all came down.  No one wants to become the head coach of a football team the way that it happened for Jody Sears.  Sears never applied to be the head coach, never asked for the job after Smith left.  He has not had the opportunity to recruit his own class.  And he has not been through a spring practice with his team.  This is not his team, yet.

The schedule did him no favors either.  Many Big Sky Conference teams began the season with 2 FBS opponents, and some have even won.  Sacramento State has defeated a team from the PAC-12 for 2 consecutive seasons.  Weber had to begin with Fresno State, who put 60 points on the same Colorado team that Sacramento State defeated.  Then they took a short bus ride to Provo to take on FBS power BYU.  Weber States next two games are not all that much easier, two FCS ranked teams McNeese State and Eastern Washington.  Eastern Washington and McNeese State also have wins over FBS teams.  EWU defeated Idaho and McNeese State defeated Middle Tennessee.

Weber State is now 0-3 and has not had much offense.  They played good defense for the first half in all 3 games, only to be worn down late by the opposition.  To their credit, if you are looking at things the same way the NCAA committees do, Weber gave Fresno State a tougher game than Colorado did.  Weber gave BYU's defense more problems than Washington State did.  Weber State's defense looked tired and worn down against McNeese State for much of the game.  One has to ask the question, other than the payday, what benefit did Weber State gain by playing these games?  They should get credit for a challenging schedule, but they began 0-3.  One loss in conference play and the only path to the playoffs is to get the automatic bid.  Considering breaking in a new coach who did not get a spring practice with his team, the schedule seemed impossible this year.

Looking ahead to the conference schedule, one has to ask, is that automatic bid to the playoffs within grasp of the Wildcats?  One could say that the conference schedule is kind to WSU.  Weber does not play everyone in the conference this year.  WSU will not hook up with conference favorite and long-time rival Montana State.  They get three other tough conference opponents, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly and Montana at home.  Plus, Montana comes to Ogden after Weber State's bye week.  However, a tired defense may not be able to stop the EWU attack or slow down Poly's Andre Broadus.  The tough non-conference schedule may be a disadvantage to Weber State if they can't figure out how to bring energy to Stewart Stadium.

Wildcat fans should be rooting for Jody Sears to succeed, in spite of the difficulty of the schedule.  If Sears can't string together some victories, his title of Interim Head Coach will never change to Permanent Head Coach.  Think of what lasting damage having four different head coaches in 12 months could do.  And Weber State is on that precipice.  It could signal a return to the Dick Gwinn/Pete Riehlman era where the best the Wildcats could come up with was a 4-7 season.  There is a chance that the final head coach could be good, but there will be at least one more wasted season and at least one poor recruiting class. 

The hiring of Smith came about because the Weber State boosters wanted another Ron McBride, someone who would be a Cat until he retired.  That is not likely to happen at an FCS school not matter who is hired.  If Sears succeeds, he could ending up eventually leaving WSU for a higher profile job.  This is not as bad as it sounds.  Montana and Eastern Washington have been suffering from this revolving door, but they still put a quality team on the field year after year.  How many head coaches has Montana had since Don Read retired in 1995?  (The answer is 5)  How many conference championships have they won in the meantime?  (The answer is 14 plus 1 National Championship)  Wouldn't it be better for WSU to have another Mike Price than another Dick Gwinn?  At the FCS level, seeing a head coach leave for more prestige is a good thing and a sign of success.

Seeing coach Sears succeed would also help WSU win over some recruits.  Kids don't settle for a scholarship at WSU.  If that is happening, then the program is suffering.  An athlete that chooses Weber State still has other options, like trying to walk on at an FBS school or taking a scholarship at another FCS school or at a Division II school.  Stability in the head coaching office will help these young people, and their parents, feel good about Weber State.

Therefore, if Jody Sears has his eye on the job at his Alma Mater or simply wishes to coach at any school that is more prestigious than Weber State, more power to him.  Why not help him in his goals and see him succeed at Weber State?  All Weber State fans should be rooting for Jody Sears.  Maybe he did not want the job, but we should wish him all the best anyway.

Whatever happens, thanks to Smith, Sears will not go down as the worst coach in WSU history...as long as he gets at least 1 win at Weber State.  If he can get 4 wins this season, he should get the job permanently.  There may or may not be 4 winnable games left of the schedule.

Weber State's remaining 2012 schedule

September 22--Eastern Washington
September  29--@ UC Davis
October 5 (Friday)--Cal Poly
October 13--@ Sacramento State
October 20--@ Southern Utah
October 27--(BYE)
November 3--Montana
November 10--Northern Colorado
November 17--@ Idaho State


Weber State Head Coaches by Record from Best to Worst

1.  Sark Arslenian...50-26-2...Left to become the head coach at Colorado State...currently coaching a Jr. High-level team in the St. George area.
2.  Ron McBride...43-38...Retired and living in the Salt Lake City area.  Served as an assistant coach to the AFL's Utah Blaze last year.
3.  Dave Arslenian...53-47...Son of Sark, Weber State alum, played while his father was head coach...left to become the head coach at Utah State.  Currently out of coaching and running a school for troubled teens in the St. George area.
4.  Mike Price...46-44...Left to become the head coach at Washington State...currently at UTEP.
5.  Wally Nadler...13-13...Retired...but stayed at Weber State as a professor of Physical Education.  Passed away in 2010.
6.  Jerry Graybeal...32-46...In final years, was both head coach and athletic director...surrendered head coaching duties after a 1-10 season.  Stepped aside as athletic director in 2009 and is currently the VP for Administrative Services at Weber State.
7.  Pete Riehlman...15-28...Fired...Was inducted into the Chico State athletics hall of fame in 1998 where he coached before landing at Weber State.  He spent the 1980s and most of the 1990s coaching football in Italy and Germany.  Have found no information on his whereabouts since his 1998 induction.
9.  Dick Gwinn...10-33-1...Fired...can't find any information about Dick since he left Weber State.
10.  John L. Smith...0-0...Weber State alum...never coached a game at WSU, took the job at Arkansas after Spring Practice in 2012.
11.  Jody Sears...0-3...current interim head coach.

BTW--Smith's Razorbacks are 1-2 right now, having just suffered a crushing 52-0 defeat to Alabama.

Sources:
Ogden Standard Examiner
WeberStateSports.com
College Football Data Warehouse
Chico State Athletics.