Re: Should he stay, change or go?
I voted stay another year with coordinator change. And when we're 9-3, even 8-4, next year I'll be the first one in line saying "Next year will be even better." (Anything less than that and THEN we'll be justified in screaming for his head, but right now it's too early--let me explain
. True, he's GOT to make some changes, but if he does, all this speculation will be proven to be what it is--conjecture by a grumpy mob that's dissatisfied by a crappy season that we knew would be crappy five years ago. Just because we went 10-2 last year doesn't result in automatic success this year; bear with me for a minute because I feel like I'm a lone voice of reason in this, no matter what
Finebum says.
I remember when Dubose was HC and everyone complained when he wasn't doing well that he should wear earphones/headset during the games. I mean, there was genuine outrage over this simple little "problem." And now, everyone wants to suggest that Shula "looks like he doesn't know what's going on" or "looks dumbfounded" based on a snap judgement from a video or photo, not on personal knowledge.
I won't dispute that changes need to be made; this is big-time college football and that's what coaches do when they're in it for the long haul, they analyze their performance and that of their coaches, and then they make the changes they believe will put them in a position to succeed. CMS made a mistake, a lot of people believe, by hiring Rader in the first place (--and I agree it was a "friend hire"), and the OL coaching appears to be non-existant. True, Capps sucks and it seems like it took the whole year for them to take him out, but the OL is going to be better next year, as will the D, as will the QB...
If we start changing now, AGAIN, we're putting ourselves in the backseat of big-time football AGAIN. Come on, folks, this is the year everyone pegged five years ago to be a struggle; I know he's won some ugly games and lost some we should have won, all coaches go through that. That 0-20 line when losing in the 4th qtr is a telling statistic, true, but it tells a story of a team that's had no depth for YEARS. Now that we're getting depth back, with a string of (better than) top 20 recruiting classes, we'll soon be in reload mode rather than struggling to get through the 4th quarter. I don't want to fire a loyal, competitive, competent (--no matter what he looks like when he's thinking, he's competent or he wouldn't have gotten the job in the first place) HC when his best years could be right ahead of him. Even if we do a fire an hire, there's no guaranteeing we'll get someone who has the passion for this program that CMS has, or even that we'll get someone who'll be a winner like we need, and potentially already have. CMS was hired for that potential, and he's just now getting the depth in place to be able to make a good run at greatness.
Truth: You can't lose the talent we lost last year and expect greatness--period. If CMS makes the necessary changes, and learns from his mistakes these past four years--and he will--then the Tide will Roll next year and the next. After that it's reload time, whereas over the past 6 years it's just been struggle to get enough people on the field to compete.
/rant
, I think the poor wins tend to reflect worse on CMS than the losses do and you cant really blame the coaches for the Ark loss.
