Column: Cool it with hot seat talk, coaching football is hard

Korbin McDonald | Vandal Nation Manager

It’s easy to be the head coach of a college football program — really, anyone could do it.

Just go pick up EA Sport’s NCAA Football 2014, because a video game is close enough to the real thing, right? It provides people with the opportunity to experience almost exactly what it’s like to become a successful college football coach.

For the purpose of — um — journalism, I decided to pop in the game and see just how hard Idaho coach Paul Petrino’s job really is. I jumped into the game’s dynasty mode, dressed up my coach (he’s looking sharp with a black suit, by the way) and accepted the job at University of Idaho.

The first year was a breeze. The Vandals cruised to an 8-4 record, which was capped off with a victory over Fresno State in the Idaho Potato Bowl on that awful blue turf.

If my coaching prowess on the field wasn’t impressive enough, my ability to recruit top talent was the stuff of legends. The class was ranked in the top 15 and included the top ranked quarterback and a five-star wide receiver.

Long story short, the Vandals were hoisting up the national championship trophy the next year.

It was too easy — which is why I hope nobody takes all the above seriously.

Petrino actually has a really tough job. Prior to last season, Athlon Sports ranked Idaho as the second hardest job in the nation. To make matters worse, Petrino took over a program that was incapable of an “easy fix.”

Petrino’s stern coaching style was the complete opposite of former coach Robb Akey’s fun approach to coaching. Players had to either adjust or leave.

It’s been a tough two seasons for the Petrino-era of Vandal football, as the coach is a miserable 2-21 — a record many coaches, even in the video game world, would get fired for.

But should Petrino be put on the hot seat entering this season? What’s the number of wins he needs to stay off the hot seat, or worse, get fired?

Petrino has done an unbelievable job changing the program’s culture. The APR sanctions, which were from players Petrino never even coached, are now gone and show no signs of coming back.

He’s in his third year, and is one season away from having a team entirely made up of players he recruited and who chose to join the culture he’s set. When this happens, when he’s had four years to set a complete foundation with all of his players, then it would be fair to judge Petrino’s success.

Until then, all that should be expected is progress. He’s done it so far with multiple games coming down to the fourth quarter last season, which is more than the team could say in previous seasons.

Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @KorbinMcD_VN