12-16-2016, 11:02 AM
To be fair, as well, I think Charlie Strong didn't have a bulletproof resume -- it was probably worse than Urban Meyer's when he was hired by Florida, or Jim Harbaugh's at Michigan. But you rarely get those opportunities, even though fans of big-time schools seem to want them every time they fire a coach. (NDNation wants to fire Brian Kelly and simultaneously rejects almost every plausible candidate to replace him as insufficiently qualified. Bob Stoops is always the guy they settle on. Sometimes they grudgingly concede Shaw fits their elaborate requirements.)
Anyway, so I get being slightly disappointed by Strong. What I don't get is being over-the-top about it (see McCombs), or, for that matter, being super-excited about Herman but somewhat less so about Strong. Oman may have a sharper memory than I, but I recall the reaction to Strong varying from "seems like a solid hire, we'll give him a shot" to "OMG this sucks." Whereas the Herman reaction is more like "THE BEST!" to "seems like a solid hire..." Personally, I would've gone "seems like a solid hire..." for both, but that's because of my skepticism regarding coaching hires. They're hard, and involve a lot of luck.
Anyway, so I get being slightly disappointed by Strong. What I don't get is being over-the-top about it (see McCombs), or, for that matter, being super-excited about Herman but somewhat less so about Strong. Oman may have a sharper memory than I, but I recall the reaction to Strong varying from "seems like a solid hire, we'll give him a shot" to "OMG this sucks." Whereas the Herman reaction is more like "THE BEST!" to "seems like a solid hire..." Personally, I would've gone "seems like a solid hire..." for both, but that's because of my skepticism regarding coaching hires. They're hard, and involve a lot of luck.