Nothing wrong with your take. I would hope you and others would see that this is not a "black-white" issue, as if we are electing a POTUS and it is mainly choosing the lesser of two evils. What many of us are postulating isn't so much "boo, we did not win enough for a bowl game" as much as "how can we be 'all-in' in two games with a rabid home base and look so fundamentally unsound (and SPITTING!!!) this late in the season with a HC who claims he demands accountability and fundamentals?" There is a VERY real disconnect from what he claims is his mantra and what we are seeing. As I posted, UF is NOT a more resourceful Louisiana. It...just...ISN'T. This will NOT work. And if you and others think that the competition is just going to sit there and let him acquire Top 5 recruiting classes and transfers because "he is just plain good for major college football", well you all are living in La La Land. That is NOT the way it works. Do I and others have our pitchforks and torches out? Most of us do not. But we DO know how the game works and right now, he is playing catchup and time is running out. If he chooses to not have a sense of urgency then he is either unprepared for this job or he can't change and is stubborn, a la Dumbo and Mus-take.
Here’s the thing that has let me lose confidence in his rebuild, he’s slow to react and is not proactive. 1. Playcalling was a problem all last year, but he insists on calling plays again this year. The numbers went up but there were key moments in multiple games where the playcalling was obviously the problem. 2. Defense was in shambles, he waits until Toney bolts and then hires someone very raw. I like Armstrong, but he needed more experience before coming here. 3. Lack of talent on the roster last year. The portal is there for you to fix that. He keys in on a few pieces, but the overall effect comparatively is lackluster. Fast forward to today, we are still having problems with playcalling, defense, and overall talent level. Seems like a wasted year.
I know this is out there, but at times it feels like he is confident he has several years to rebuild, so the urgency doesn't seem to be there. When you think about the (lets be honest-it's unwarranted) contract he has it makes you wonder. You'd think if he has a crappy year next year he will be canned, but I don't think so with a pretty extensive buyout still in place. Just my opinion.
It isn't questionable. It is fact. If you think we aren't young because our guys enrolled early.... Guess what? It happens on other teams too. I've responded to a couple of posts here where people are coming up with obtuse suppositions to suggest we aren't young. And those suppositions aren't backed by any objective data. Look, you can believe that Napier must go now. That's fine. we have underperformed "relative" to our talent. But it doesn't change the fact that we are incredibly young and the problems that go with it.
I agree 100%. He can afford to take his time if he wanted to. He’s got a crapload of guaranteed money. Still, I’d imagine he’s prideful enough to give it his best shot in 2024. Hoping so, anyway.
Please help me out with the 'learning on the job' bit. I've failed to observe any evidence of this. ...perhaps I missed it...
I hope you’re right, and this was my take at the start. However, the Arkansas game was a killer, and our disciplined and unimaginative play is not all about youth. He can still do it, but his margin for error is getting very small due to two losing seasons.
If he and the rest of the coaching staff coach like they did this year, I don't want to give them a year 4.
Exactly. Since Spurrier, we are on our 6th coach: Zook, Meyer, Muschamp, McElwain, Mullen, Napier. Average years per coach: 3.66. Not going to be successful with that.
Also, we're not going to be successful hanging on to folks that can't coach their way out of a wet paper bag.
Should we have hung on to Muschamp? McElwain? Mullin? Which one of these coaching gurus do you figure would have figured things out, and turned out to be successful had we hung on to them long enough?
It is as though some people just don't understand SEC football. It was clear that the oline this year was going to be rough at best. Losing tarquin, braun and white was not good. Of course we would have lost white anyway. But keep the other two and our oline would have been much better, with better depth. That could have made a couple games difference right there. SEC is a LOS league, as the saying goes.
The last two years have been frustrating. We have come up short in a lot of close games. The personnel issues have been somewhat glaring at times. As someone previously posted, given the performance of the offensive line against FSU, what possible offense was going to work? They certainly made A LOT of mistakes this year, but the players always came out and played hard until the end of the game. As long as that is the case, I, like 98% of the people posting on this site, will keep watching. I am optimistic about what Billy is building.
When you only have a few upperclassman playing on your team, you are young regardless of what happened with another coach.
