In typical GE fashion, I'm gonna throw a possible "dire concern" out there for argument's sake:
I know all about "normal timing and accepted procedures"--but why the HELL would we give a DAMN about any of that now?
The only acceptable reason why we'd npw appear to drag our feet, slow down and let everyone ELSE catch up as far as grabbing our next Coach, the "Guy We Want", is because we don't HAVE ONE, or found we couldn't GET the person we held in far and away highest esteem. In which case we'd presumably have backed off, considered our remaining alternatives while seeing what our "Interim Coach" Randy Shannon could do. To me, only that would logically explain the latest apparent shift to "not so fast"/"we're thinking" vibe, and the self-enforced limbo that "The Search" has seemed to have slipped into.
Along with his talent and virtues as a coach, Shannon is a heckuva recruiter, knows Florida, is well-liked and respected among prep players and Coaches. He was already key in that roll for us under MacEllwaine--and if he can additionally bring a calm consistency back through these last few games, along with continuing to seemingly reignite the spirit, hope and general sense of TEAM to the current squad, well, maybe then this all makes sense: We let him have the room and time to do all that while we at least do our best to make sure we get "The Right Guy" in this time. There are even a few (in and out of the program) who think Randy himself could even be that person--or at least grow into it. Whether it's a matter of not knowing WHO it is, or having a pretty good idea but (for whatever reason) not yet being able to get him, it's certainly looking as if for the moment at least, we could do worse than Mr. Shannon.
But taking our time because "that's how it's done" and "that's what's expected", and/or some sort of "cover our asses"/"play negotiation hardball"/"this way they can't say we didn't think it through or rush into it this time" kinds of reasoning would be exceedingly stupid: knowing what had to be done, getting it done and "our chosen man" in to begin the rebuild/reboot going now, all in advance of everyone else who'll soon be doing their own supposed version of same is one of the few advantages we had in a bad situation to all intents "still mid-SEASON".
In which latter case, then, silly me for thinking those "behind-the-scenes power-Gators" purposefully made their move when they did, in a sense jumping on an OPPORTUNITY to get things moving when they did.
Still hope it's some version of the former set of possibilities, that there's a long range plan being enacted, maybe even another "shoe that will be dropped" eventually...
I know all about "normal timing and accepted procedures"--but why the HELL would we give a DAMN about any of that now?
The only acceptable reason why we'd npw appear to drag our feet, slow down and let everyone ELSE catch up as far as grabbing our next Coach, the "Guy We Want", is because we don't HAVE ONE, or found we couldn't GET the person we held in far and away highest esteem. In which case we'd presumably have backed off, considered our remaining alternatives while seeing what our "Interim Coach" Randy Shannon could do. To me, only that would logically explain the latest apparent shift to "not so fast"/"we're thinking" vibe, and the self-enforced limbo that "The Search" has seemed to have slipped into.
Along with his talent and virtues as a coach, Shannon is a heckuva recruiter, knows Florida, is well-liked and respected among prep players and Coaches. He was already key in that roll for us under MacEllwaine--and if he can additionally bring a calm consistency back through these last few games, along with continuing to seemingly reignite the spirit, hope and general sense of TEAM to the current squad, well, maybe then this all makes sense: We let him have the room and time to do all that while we at least do our best to make sure we get "The Right Guy" in this time. There are even a few (in and out of the program) who think Randy himself could even be that person--or at least grow into it. Whether it's a matter of not knowing WHO it is, or having a pretty good idea but (for whatever reason) not yet being able to get him, it's certainly looking as if for the moment at least, we could do worse than Mr. Shannon.
But taking our time because "that's how it's done" and "that's what's expected", and/or some sort of "cover our asses"/"play negotiation hardball"/"this way they can't say we didn't think it through or rush into it this time" kinds of reasoning would be exceedingly stupid: knowing what had to be done, getting it done and "our chosen man" in to begin the rebuild/reboot going now, all in advance of everyone else who'll soon be doing their own supposed version of same is one of the few advantages we had in a bad situation to all intents "still mid-SEASON".
In which latter case, then, silly me for thinking those "behind-the-scenes power-Gators" purposefully made their move when they did, in a sense jumping on an OPPORTUNITY to get things moving when they did.
Still hope it's some version of the former set of possibilities, that there's a long range plan being enacted, maybe even another "shoe that will be dropped" eventually...