What a difference a year makes. He could have had some much higher profile gigs after last year, but upped for more money at Auburn.
Now? He is reportedly taking a $500K haircut a year to get HC experience.
Strange move if you ask me.
Report: Arkansas State hires Gus Malzahn - CBSSports.com
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As recently as last year, Malzahn also reportedly turned down offers from both Vanderbilt and Maryland, the former to have allegedly paid him in the ballpark of $3 million per season. So why bolt for a program that until this year had been to all of one bowl game as a full Division I member?
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Does seem strange but then who coached at VU or UMD and went anywhere? Both schools are in conferences with football factories teams and they aren't one of them. Sloan, Brown, DiNardo, Dowhower, Widenhofer, Johnson went where after VU? DiNardo was the only one I can think of the got a better job and quickly lost that. Claiborne, Ross, and Friedgen had success (60-67%) there but nobody has been upwardly mobile from there since Bryant in '45 and he only stayed a year.
Arkansas St is a small school, in a small conference, in a small state. Malzahn knows everybody in the stae but if you're a baller you want to be a Hog not a Red Wolf. Malzahn could blossom quickly there like Freeze without the scrutiny of the SEC or ACC press. Who covers the Sun Belt anyway?
He needs to make sure Mrs. Mustain still doesn't have him on speed dial. Considering that fiasco and long seated haterd in small towns I'd have jumped on the VU or UMD jobs.