I am by no means a Charlie Weis apologist, but he did what he could with small scat backs, a couple quarterbacks that moved to tight end, and a broken quarterback. By the way, Weis' body could not handle the heat and humidity on the sidelines. The spirit of Knute Rockne himself could only do so much with this group of players. Will Muschamp knows that he is no Urban Meyer--he is not going to convert athletes. He wants high school players that can learn an NFL offense, not high school players that move to new positions just to win college games that do not look like professional games.
A LOT of information AND opinion in that short paragraph, E-, much of it implied "between-the-lines"...
First, I think we can agree that Weis got a little TOO attached to the speed he thought he had in those "small scat-backs"--and used them like he wanted it both ways, smash-mouth into-the-line, AND break-away speed once they got to the secondary. We all saw the results: they got banged up, USED up way too quickly, were losing their speed-edge to small injuries early on, and then it got worse and worse as the season went on and our patchwork O-line became the walking wounded, no-one-at-their-natural-position, second-and-third-string offensive line...and STILL no real adaptation to the power runners we DID have over there on the sidelines. OK, maybe both little guys weren't out at the same time, but at some point maybe you try to ADAPT, use what you've GOT? Never mind "the spirit of Knute Rockne", what about just old-fashioned, basic "good coaching"? I'm sorry, but for an "offense-master-mind", this guy left a WHOLE lot to be desired...and the idea that he was somehow distracted and held back by his discomfort at the heat and humidity, well, there's a lot I could say to THAT, but this question should suffice: "Is this some sort of bad JOKE, or an actual excuse that supposedly explains the problem, or any PART of it?!!" If the latter is the case in ANY measure, then let THIS be Weis' epitaph for his time here: "The Fat Man just couldn't hack it--the heat and humidity got to him." Classy guy.
On the last point, "Will Muschamp is no Urban Meyer", I'm hoping here that you, like me, consider this a GOOD thing, long term at least. I don't WANT him trying to recreate Meyer's version of short-term success--I want a loyal, long term Gator mentor and visionary, who builds a winner kids want to come and play in and for. The jury's still out on this, obviously, but impatient nay-sayers and freak-out cases to the contrary, there's no sign yet that he WON'T be that man and leader--indeed, with all that has been stacked and continued to have developed AGAINST him and us in the last year (actually THREE years, if you count the previous couple of years of distracted screwing around Meyer and The Nameless One spent completely bolloxing our program before Coach Boom even GOT here), with us on the verge of a great recruiting cycle, PLUS the right hire at OC THIS time COULD put him (and us) right back on the fast track to SEC contention and national-level success once more. He won't have as much time to prove it as maybe he should have had, but that's just the way it is...all the more reason Coach Will HAS to be realistic and aggressively ambitious--in everything from who he goes after in staff (ESPECIALLY in this OC-hire), players, and perfection in every facet of the game.
