I know it seems "early", like I'm one of those fairweather fans that flips from support to panic in the course of a few games--but way I see it, it's a matter of not fooling ourselves: There's starting to be enough performance and observable results to focus in, at the very least ask the right questions--and act on the answers, not run from them.
I WAS gonna call this thread "Master of the Obvious"--referring to myself, 'cause the key point I'm about to make is obvious to all of us:
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO RECRUITING
...and our Coach and staff gotta get it right, BIGTIME, no-doubt-about-it/top-of-everyone's-list right from here on. Starting NOW, in order to be retained.
I am saying this calmly, without anger. I'm not calling for his head.
I am being as straight forward, unequivically serious about this as I can be.
I am not going to go on one of my rants here, not even gonna go on in lengthy analysis. No, gonna TRY and keep it simple--'cause in the final analysis, it really IS. This is what it takes, in my view--anything less just prolongs the agony of mediocrity and self-delusion.
In truth, I believe there are in fact THREE areas in which an incoming Head Coach can affect change and real success in the kind of time frame required at modern major college programs who have known relatively recent top-rung success from which they have precipatingly fallen.
Coach Mac I think HAS (1) the people and football skills that can build, motivate and run a team of talented young men.
It's the other two that are still open to question: Can he (2) recognize and gather together a group of talented, dedicated group of specialists in all areas of coaching, and engender among them the chemistry that produces that aura of seeming inevitability from which a program annually challenging for Championships seems to emerge?
And even more important (because the rest is for naught nowadays without it), can he and they together (3) consistently bring in TOP-level talent--not the "2nd choice", the almost-as-good, etc. but the very BEST, at least "the best fit" for what they envision doing, everywhere on the field--young high schoolers out there in our supposedly wide and fertile "traditional recruiting territories"?
It does not appear EITHER , #s (2) or (3), have been accomplished so far.
I don't wanna hear anymore excuses, reasons why it hasn't, (mainly having to do with "the short period of time since he arrived", "the down state of our program when he got here", "parrity in every area, from scholarship limits to facilities across the whole college football world")...Yes, all true--but others somehow face the same and pull it off. He's SUPPOSED to be one of THOSE guys!
So ok, excuse-time has elapsed: Show what you got, go out and GET IT DONE NOW--or I truly believe it will be time once again to begin thinking about who CAN, along with once again beginning our plot as to HOW and WHEN we can get them. If Mac's NOT the guy, then we are clearly doing even THIS improperly. Maybe that next AD is a more crucial decision, grab and hire than has been admitted or generally considered so far.
So back to "simple"...But how can we tell if that's what's happening if not to "trust him, wait a few more years and see..."?
Back to the original premise up top:
We MUST have what amount to "inarguably among the 2 or 3 best recruiting classes" on an annual basis, starting NOW. That's how the teams coming back into ATtention and CONtention now have managed it. That's how Urban Meyer got it done at UF, then Ohio State, how Saban has and continues to do so with the Tide on and on and blah blah blah. Yeah, you're damn RIGHT I'm stating the obvious, telling you what we all already know...so take the next step with me in reasoning this through: Either our Coach starts getting it done here and now, next chance he gets and repeatedly thereafter, get "SUCCESS" in the pipeline--or y'all buy the excuses and we get stuck here at "almost good", "week-to-week" and "maybe next year" until the wheel finally turns, enough folks get sick and tired of THIS version of "disappointment and frayed hopes"--and meanwhile we're further away and behind than ever.
While the rest of this season will likely further reveal the problems and weaknesses among his staff that have already begun to show, right along with our needs all over the field, both sides of the ball, and how our Head Coach deals with that will answer most of the rest of these questions, the next recruiting class will truly tell our future, maybe even more than is always the case anyway.
It will make or break his tenure here--and well it should. Either we ARE "about to rise", or it's PAST time to start thinking how, when and where to cut off the slow death--scrap it, tear it down and start again.
The cry has always been, "LETS GET THIS RIGHT!" Either we have, or we still need to. If we're not on track to be the best, lets talk about, more important lets DO, whatever we need to to get there.
Lets NOT go on fooling ourselves, no matter what.
I WAS gonna call this thread "Master of the Obvious"--referring to myself, 'cause the key point I'm about to make is obvious to all of us:
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO RECRUITING
...and our Coach and staff gotta get it right, BIGTIME, no-doubt-about-it/top-of-everyone's-list right from here on. Starting NOW, in order to be retained.
I am saying this calmly, without anger. I'm not calling for his head.
I am being as straight forward, unequivically serious about this as I can be.
I am not going to go on one of my rants here, not even gonna go on in lengthy analysis. No, gonna TRY and keep it simple--'cause in the final analysis, it really IS. This is what it takes, in my view--anything less just prolongs the agony of mediocrity and self-delusion.
In truth, I believe there are in fact THREE areas in which an incoming Head Coach can affect change and real success in the kind of time frame required at modern major college programs who have known relatively recent top-rung success from which they have precipatingly fallen.
Coach Mac I think HAS (1) the people and football skills that can build, motivate and run a team of talented young men.
It's the other two that are still open to question: Can he (2) recognize and gather together a group of talented, dedicated group of specialists in all areas of coaching, and engender among them the chemistry that produces that aura of seeming inevitability from which a program annually challenging for Championships seems to emerge?
And even more important (because the rest is for naught nowadays without it), can he and they together (3) consistently bring in TOP-level talent--not the "2nd choice", the almost-as-good, etc. but the very BEST, at least "the best fit" for what they envision doing, everywhere on the field--young high schoolers out there in our supposedly wide and fertile "traditional recruiting territories"?
It does not appear EITHER , #s (2) or (3), have been accomplished so far.
I don't wanna hear anymore excuses, reasons why it hasn't, (mainly having to do with "the short period of time since he arrived", "the down state of our program when he got here", "parrity in every area, from scholarship limits to facilities across the whole college football world")...Yes, all true--but others somehow face the same and pull it off. He's SUPPOSED to be one of THOSE guys!
So ok, excuse-time has elapsed: Show what you got, go out and GET IT DONE NOW--or I truly believe it will be time once again to begin thinking about who CAN, along with once again beginning our plot as to HOW and WHEN we can get them. If Mac's NOT the guy, then we are clearly doing even THIS improperly. Maybe that next AD is a more crucial decision, grab and hire than has been admitted or generally considered so far.
So back to "simple"...But how can we tell if that's what's happening if not to "trust him, wait a few more years and see..."?
Back to the original premise up top:
We MUST have what amount to "inarguably among the 2 or 3 best recruiting classes" on an annual basis, starting NOW. That's how the teams coming back into ATtention and CONtention now have managed it. That's how Urban Meyer got it done at UF, then Ohio State, how Saban has and continues to do so with the Tide on and on and blah blah blah. Yeah, you're damn RIGHT I'm stating the obvious, telling you what we all already know...so take the next step with me in reasoning this through: Either our Coach starts getting it done here and now, next chance he gets and repeatedly thereafter, get "SUCCESS" in the pipeline--or y'all buy the excuses and we get stuck here at "almost good", "week-to-week" and "maybe next year" until the wheel finally turns, enough folks get sick and tired of THIS version of "disappointment and frayed hopes"--and meanwhile we're further away and behind than ever.
While the rest of this season will likely further reveal the problems and weaknesses among his staff that have already begun to show, right along with our needs all over the field, both sides of the ball, and how our Head Coach deals with that will answer most of the rest of these questions, the next recruiting class will truly tell our future, maybe even more than is always the case anyway.
It will make or break his tenure here--and well it should. Either we ARE "about to rise", or it's PAST time to start thinking how, when and where to cut off the slow death--scrap it, tear it down and start again.
The cry has always been, "LETS GET THIS RIGHT!" Either we have, or we still need to. If we're not on track to be the best, lets talk about, more important lets DO, whatever we need to to get there.
Lets NOT go on fooling ourselves, no matter what.