When searching for a new head football coach, schools have been showing more willingness to hire an up-and-comer like Tom Herman or P.J. Fleck, rather than a veteran with a long track record of success such as Les Miles.The average age of the head coaches hired by FBS teams last season was 43.2 years old, the youngest it has been in the past six years. Eight of the 26 new hires were under 40 at the time they accepted the job.In 2010 and 2011, the average age of the 48 coaches hired by FBS schools was a touch over 47, with a total of eight under the age of 40.People in the business of hiring coaches are hesitant to call anything a trend. Each school comes to the marketplace with different needs and criteria.The current climate leaves Western Michigans 35-year-old Fleck and Houstons 41-year-old Herman better positioned to land a major job than a potential Hall of Famer such as Miles. The 62-year-old former LSU coach won 77 percent of his games and a national title in 11-plus seasons with the Tigers before being fired in September.Daniel Parker, the vice president and managing director of sports for Parker Executive Search based in Atlanta, said potential is often more appealing to those hiring a coach than a long resume.Bringing in somebody thats got a lot of energy, thats going to change the program, recruit really well, work really hard, that does something for the fan base. It re-energizes the athletics department. Re-energizes the fans, Parker said.Miles told Sports Illustrated last week he has 10 or 12 years left in me. An out-of-date offense was a big part of why Miles was ousted, but he says he is willing to change and evolve his philosophies.Recent history suggests the demand for Miles could be limited.In 2010 and 11, four coaches who were at least 60 were hired by FBS teams, two each season. Since, Mike Riley, who went from Oregon State to Nebraska after the 2014 season, is the only 60-or-older coach to be hired as an FBS head coach.I think its going to be up to Les as to what hes interested in doing, said Jed Hughes, of executive search firm Korn Ferry. Hes been at a powerful school. Does he think he wants to be at that level or will he be satisfied with something a little less that would allow him to stay in a Power Five school but not have the same kind of aura and tradition that LSU did?Mack Brown was 62 when he was pushed out at Texas after the 2013 season. He also has Hall of Fame-worthy credentials, but his last few years with the Longhorns when he went 30-21 overshadowed his string of nine straight double-digit victory seasons and a national title at Texas. Former coaches such as Brown and Phillip Fulmer, who was pushed out by Tennessee after the 2008 season at age 58, end up being defined by their awkward exits instead of their long runs of success. Fans rarely want the coach some other school just discarded.Brown said he still has not ruled out coaching again, but he is not actively pursuing jobs.I do think so many of the athletic directors and presidents have to listen to their boosters and a lot of their boosters want whatever the hot name is not only this year but this week, Brown said.The job of major college football coach is increasingly becoming a 365-day per year gig. Recruiting never really takes a break. Recently proposed NCAA reforms to the recruiting calendar were made to acknowledge that schools are routinely offering scholarships to high school well before their senior seasons.I remember specifically one (older coach) said, `Dont hire me. Toledo athletic director Mike OBrien said. Meaning, dont hire someone of my age because I cant handle the 24/7 business of college football.The last hiring cycle also had the highest percentage of college coordinators and assistants with no head-coaching experience to become head coaches at Power Five schools since 2010.Five of the 12 Power Five openings went to assistants and none was older than 43. Most notably, Georgia hired 40-year-old Kirby Smart, the former longtime Alabama defensive coordinator and Georgia alum, and USC promoted former Trojans offensive Clay Helton, 43, after he served as interim coach.There are plenty of examples of these types of hires working out just fine. Bob Stoops was a 39-year-old defensive coordinator when Oklahoma hired him in 1999, and Mark Richt was 41 with no head-coaching experience when he became Georgias coach in 2001.Hughes said being a head coach has become more complicated since then because of the size and scope of the most prominent programs.I would make the argument that a Power Five high-profile program, hiring an assistant coach thats not a proven head coach is a major risk, Hughes said.Rick Chryst, the brother of Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst and former Mid-American Conference commissioner, said hiring younger head coaches is a byproduct of a different trend: Less patience by schools in a rush for success.You got some really good coaches who have cycled through once and are young enough to have another head job in them, Chryst said.One bad stint as a head coach is often hard to overcome.I had an AD tell me its all about brokering hope, said former Colorado and Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, who is working for ESPN and about to turn 56. If you go hire a guy thats never been a head coach he is a blank slate. So the fans and the media are all enamored with that.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP Supply NFL Jerseys . The FA rejected Wilsheres appeal that the length of his punishment was "clearly excessive" and said Thursday his suspension begins with immediate effect. He will miss league matches against Chelsea on Monday and West Ham on Dec. Cheap NFL Jerseys Shop . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. http://www.wholesalechinajerseys.net/ . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Wholesale Jerseys Authenitc . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Wholesale Basketball Jerseys Authentic . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. I made my Test debut in the same match as Graham Gooch. He got a pair.I was at midwicket when Jeff Thomson bounced Zaheer Abbas once. Zaheer spooned it up into the leg side and both myself and Thommo went for the catch. We got there at the same time and somehow our arms got locked together as we fell. He got a popped shoulder; I got knocked out.Sam Trimble was Queenslands leading run scorer before Stuart Law. And he was born in New South Wales. That still sends shivers down my spine. Im a New South Welshman and would never play for anyone else.I rejected the WSC offer after I found that these matches would be played in direct opposition to the Australian Cricket Board matches that were being sponsored by British American Tobacco, the company that had employed me since 1969. I felt I couldnt turn my back on a company that had supported me in cricket for nearly ten years, and by then I wasnt really enjoying playing cricket for a living.Some joker calling himself Michael Angelow ran naked across the Oval pitch, jumped the stumps at both ends and when two police officers escorted him off, one put his helmet over his backside the other over the blokes nether regions.In 1975, the NSW players were being paid A$8 per day. The guy at the SCG gate got $30 per day.Before the 1975 World Cup, apart from England and a lot of the West Indies players, who had been playing county cricket in England, there wasnt much one-day experience. Australia had only played a handful of one-day internationals.Rod Marsh once said, I bet that Im the tallest in the team sitting down. He threw down ten bucks on the table and ran a book on it. Rod mustve got his information from somewhere, because it turned out he was right. Short legs but a long upper body.In my first Test England captain Mike Denness won the toss at Edgbaston, put Australia in, we scored 359, and then it rained. Wickets were left uncovered back then, only the bowlers run-ups were covered. Australia won by an innings. Denness never played another Test for England.Geoff Boycott, Englands best batsman, made himself unavailable in 1975. No matter what the excuse, it was clear that he did not want to engage with Lillee and Thomson.Tony Greig brought an intensity to the England team which made them more competitive.Our first World Cup match, at Leeds against Pakistan, was my first appearance for Australia. I helped get us off to a fast start with 46.Against Kent in the 1975 tour game, Ian Chappell declared at lunch on the last day with Australia 354-odd ahead. I sat near Ian and Colin Cowdrey at lunch. Colin told Ian that he believed himself to be a little beyond first-class cricket and that he was contemplating retirement. After lunch Kent lost an early wicket. Enter one MC Cowdrey, to face Dennis Lillee, Alan Hurst, Gary Gilmour and the rest. Fifteen minutes before the end, Cowdrey walked off with 151 runs and a four-wicket win for Kent. He played another year after that. I scored 156 in the first innings.During the 1980s and early 90s, I managed Benson and Hedges sponsorships, including cricket.I was not selected for the 1977 England tour. McCosker was still not fit for the Jubilee Test at Lords, and second wicketkeeper Richie Robinson opened the batting with Ian Davis.Greg Chappell took over the captaincy from Ia, in 1976, and while he wasnt quite the leader that his brother was, he led mostly with his bat. To say that Greg was a great player at that point in time was an understatement.I underestimated the toughness of an Ashes battle. It was a lot more intense than I imagined, and I failed to distinguish myself with the bat.The Australian cricket administration failed to acknowledge the growing unsettledness of the players and ignored their approaches for greater remuneration. Cricket was becoming a business, and historically, businesses that subjugate their workers more often than not end up with industrial action.I only ever had two overs in first-class cricket, both at John Edrich and Geoff Boycott, when NSW played the MCC in 1970-71. After one over, Boycott said, Im not going to face any more of that. I asked him whether he was scared of my bowling.The World Cup final was an epic event at Lords. Clive Lloyd played a masterful innings.It was my first tour, 1975 to England, so I thought Id see if I could room with my friend Gary Gilmour, who was on his first tour too. Ian Chappell said, No way, hes rooming with Max Walker and youre rooming with Ross Edwards, so you can both learn something.I played my last Test in Auckland in February 1977 and was dropped for the Centenary Test. We had three openers: myself, Rick McCosker and Ian Davis, and the selectors wanted to find room for David Hookes in the middle order. While we were in New Zealand, Hookes had scored five consecutive Sheffield Shield centuries. That demanded his selection for the Centenary Test.My career with British American Tobacco Australia lasted 43 years, during which I had management roles in finance and accounting, sales, marketing, and supply chain.By 1973, Australian cricket was sponsored and television money had started to flow into the game. Players received little more than what they had received since the 60s. The cricket administration was na?ve and shortsighted not to recognise the playeers right to share in this situation.dddddddddddd. The administrators created a situation whereby a breakaway tournament like World Series Cricket was possible.On day one [of the Centenary Test], McCoskers jaw was broken by a bouncer from Bob Willis and I was asked to get my gear flown to Melbourne. The Queen was to attend again on day five, and if the match finished early, there would have been a one-day game, in which I was to play.At one point I was Ranwick Cricket Clubs first grade captain and president. So I ran the team and the board.As a senior player you have an obligation to young players to make sure they have fulfilled their potential.During the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan in Melbourne in 1976, a number of personal, one-on-one discussions took place between the players and an anonymous representative of an Australian businessman, which later, of course, turned out to be Kerry Packer.I saw Tom Graveney play for Queensland. He was in his forties by then, but still made batting look easy, just nudged it around, no fanfare. He had 50 on the board almost before you realised he was out there.I played junior cricket with Jeff Thomson in NSW. He played a couple of games for us before he went up to Queensland and then I had to play against him for the rest of my life.We were told that WSC would cover three years. Money was discussed and agreed on the condition that no one said anything. Secrecy was imperative.Before the 1975 Ashes, we went on a ten-day development tour of Canada. Ian Chappell had some connections out there. Matches were played on coir matting stretched over rolled mud. Wed never played on this surface and struggled with the pace, spin and bounce. We won most of our games but lost one to a Toronto team, containing a lot of former West Indian first-class players.No one said much to me before my first Test. You were an Australian, youd got there because you could play, and you were expected to man up.I scored a hundred before lunch against Sri Lanka at The Oval in 1975. This was the first one-day international century scored by an Australian.If I walked into a Test match dressing room today, youd have trouble finding a place to put your backside down to sit, because theyve got so many hangers-on, coaches for that, mentors for this. We had a manager who managed all the off-field stuff and a captain who managed the on-field stuff. The senior players were your mentors.Today youd be rooming with your wife. When my wife came to see me on that [1975] England tour, I had to move out of the team hotel. Doug Walters wife was the only one who travelled around with us, but even she wasnt allowed on the bus. She had to travel on the baggage cart.By the end of the 1975-76 season, Australia were the best side in the world, but on their day West Indies could beat anyone. We beat them 5-1, but the one Test they won, in Perth, in four days, was the most convincing victory in the series.That Australian team was very committed to each other and to the cause. There were no divisions. Viv Richards ran me out in the World Cup final, but I thought I had made my ground. After looking at the replays, Ian Chappell agreed with me. If it werent for Vivs three run-outs, wed have won that game.I walked into the NSW dressing room for the first time aged 18 and someone asked me my name. I said Alan Turner. And someone replied: Well call you Fitteran [A fitter and turner manufactures mechanical parts and assembles those parts together to manufacture a mechanical device.] The nickname stuck.It was so windy during the 1977 tour match in Wellington that we had to play without bails and trust the batsmans honour that theyd walk off if the ball hit the stumps.We were having breakfast in our hotel just north of Leeds before the start of the last day of the 1975 Ashes Test, when someone from Headingley arrived and asked Ian Chappell and our manager, Fred Bennett, to go down to the ground for a meeting. When the rest of us arrived an hour later, we found that vandals, supporters of convicted murderer George Davis, had dug holes in the wicket and also poured oil on it.During the 1975 World Cup, 60 overs per team made for a long day and a three-day turnaround between matches meant players had to focus on recovery, particularly the bowlers.John Snow was every bit the excellent bowler and fierce competitor that I imagined he was after seeing him in Australia in 1970-71, when hed bowled England to victory.Ian Chappell was a tremendous captain. He put his heart and soul into every match, he backed his players to the hilt. His leadership was exemplary and his strategy spot on. He was probably the best captain that I ever played under.I was chairman of the Benson and Hedges Company between 1991 and 1994. When Mike Whitney got 11 wickets against India in Perth in 1992, I gave him the Man-of-the-Match award. That was nice for both of us, as Id been Mikes captain when he started playing first-grade cricket at Randwick Cricket Club. I got to the WACA just after lunchtime, went up to have lunch, and then Michael cleaned up the tail, so I had to rush down to the presentation. He still owes me lunch. ' ' '
