That sounds an awful lot like what I was saying a week or two ago about the barn's situation regarding whether or not they should fire Chizik.
I thought they would have been better off to keep Chizik for one more year. That would give them the chance to sell an "improving" team - they couldn't be worse next year than this year - instead of one that's sinking like a rock. That would most likely give them a whole season - or more - to look for and court a new head coach. That would likely give them some resolution to the current NCAA investigation, rather than having it as an unknown hanging up in the air. That would give them another (likely losing) year between the National Championship and the firing of Chizik, making the firing look less hasty. That would also almost certainly give them less competition for the "best" coaches available than they'll have this year.
Yes, they would be sacrificing next year. However, they would be sacrificing next year in order to be able to hire a much better coach a year from now than they will be able to hire right now. If you follow the "the team fully buys into the system of a good coach in the third year" theory, then that 'should' give the barn a good shot at the 10-win season - and legitimately competing for the SEC West - in four years.
I don't think that, right now, they'll be able to hire a coach that will be able to turn the barn into a top-tier team in the SEC West - much less a team capable of actually winning the SEC - over the next four years. Given the seemingly and, I think, realistically highly unrealistic expectations of both the barn's fans as well as the administration, I think that they've got about a 75% chance of being right back in a similar situation as the one they're in now: not really competing in the SEC West, unhappy with the progress of their team, and looking for a new coach.
I honestly think that the barn would have been able to have a legitimate shot a being a 10-win team in 4-5 years if they waited a year to find, court, and hire a good coach that is a good fit for their program. By firing Chizik now, while having to at least rush a little bit through the hiring process due to the other coaching searches going on the the SEC and the South, I honestly believe that they have sentenced themselves to at least 7-8 years of mediocrity.
Not that I'm complaining. :biggrin: