First of all, I don’t trust Blake, Frenk, or our administration to make a good or smart hire. For that to happen, I think we need to “luck” into someone really wanting to come here. The ACC is winnable and our team has some excellent young talent but given the lack of success over the last two decades and the carousel of coaches we’ve had in that time, I’m not sure there’s any proven coaches that want to come here.
Which leads me to my second point…I don’t want him fired UNLESS we have someone already lined up. Every time we have a coaching search, we have these big names being floated (Gruden anyone?) and yet end up with a Plan C guy. There’s only a handful of coaches on my list. I’d be ecstatic with Kiffin. I’d be happy with Leach. I could probably get onboard with Coach O. But Kiffin supposedly is pursuing the LSU job. Leach is going to come with some growing pains (expect a mass of transfers). Coach O would come with some massive baggage. I’m struggling to think of any other names that would be able to recruit South Florida well and really know what it takes to win here. Some of the sheen has worn off Matt Campbell but he’s still a great coach, I’m just not sure he’d be successful here nor do I think he wants to come here. Butch hasn’t been good at FIU and is even older now. Honestly, who else is there? Who else would the fan base accept?
Ultimately I think we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. We very well could be 5-3 or even 6-2 but we’re not and 4-4 is unacceptable given the current state of the conference. At the same time the team has responded nicely and clearly fights hard for Manny; seriously, the Miami teams of the last ~15 years would probably be 2-6 right now.
The future can be very bright. But another miss in the coaching search and I don’t know how we recover given how CFB is moving. I’m sure this post will get flamed but, I think if you’re objective, no move may be the right move.
Which leads me to my second point…I don’t want him fired UNLESS we have someone already lined up. Every time we have a coaching search, we have these big names being floated (Gruden anyone?) and yet end up with a Plan C guy. There’s only a handful of coaches on my list. I’d be ecstatic with Kiffin. I’d be happy with Leach. I could probably get onboard with Coach O. But Kiffin supposedly is pursuing the LSU job. Leach is going to come with some growing pains (expect a mass of transfers). Coach O would come with some massive baggage. I’m struggling to think of any other names that would be able to recruit South Florida well and really know what it takes to win here. Some of the sheen has worn off Matt Campbell but he’s still a great coach, I’m just not sure he’d be successful here nor do I think he wants to come here. Butch hasn’t been good at FIU and is even older now. Honestly, who else is there? Who else would the fan base accept?
Ultimately I think we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. We very well could be 5-3 or even 6-2 but we’re not and 4-4 is unacceptable given the current state of the conference. At the same time the team has responded nicely and clearly fights hard for Manny; seriously, the Miami teams of the last ~15 years would probably be 2-6 right now.
The future can be very bright. But another miss in the coaching search and I don’t know how we recover given how CFB is moving. I’m sure this post will get flamed but, I think if you’re objective, no move may be the right move.
