10-21-2024, 02:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2024, 02:46 PM by CardinalSagehen.)
Interesting stuff, jack3ree. Three years does seem like the ideal timeframe in most cases, including TT's.
In the current case, I'd be in favor of canning TT after this season under ANY of the following conditions:
- the team fails to win another game.
- the team fails to look competitive in all but one or two of the remaining games against easier teams.
- credible player outcry and obvious "giving up," the likes of which we haven't seen yet.
I hope and expect that the team will look somewhat better down the stretch. However, even if it doesn't, I don't think TT would be sacked (so to speak) after this season due to the following factors, all of which I disagree with:
- Buyout cost. I'm guessing $4M+, at a time when Athletics is already being floated $25M/year due to the move to the ACC. It might be easier for Muir to ask for player money than buyout money at this time.
- Alternative options. We had a much better chance of pulling a great, proven coach 2-4 years ago than now. We'll probably have to speculate on an unproven head coach at the FBS P4 level, as we did with TT.
- Explaining away bad performance due to the new landscape of college football. This has some validity, but it's moot - either we're playing the game at the FBS level or we're not. P4 coaches don't earn millions per year to make excuses. (To TT's credit, he does not make many excuses.)
- Saving face (optics). Muir is in self-preservation mode. This is too much failure, too soon.
- Lack of urgency. It just matters less here.
To be clear, these would all be bad reasons not to fire TT if the team continues to look as bad as it has.
I think the team will turn things around to some degree against weaker competition, and we'll end up with at least three years to evaluate TT, for better or worse. In this case, I'd take the would-be buyout money and spend it on several experienced players in the trenches (as others suggested above) and possibly at QB, depending on what we see from Brown. I'd also force TT to reassess and replace his offensive assistants.
In the current case, I'd be in favor of canning TT after this season under ANY of the following conditions:
- the team fails to win another game.
- the team fails to look competitive in all but one or two of the remaining games against easier teams.
- credible player outcry and obvious "giving up," the likes of which we haven't seen yet.
I hope and expect that the team will look somewhat better down the stretch. However, even if it doesn't, I don't think TT would be sacked (so to speak) after this season due to the following factors, all of which I disagree with:
- Buyout cost. I'm guessing $4M+, at a time when Athletics is already being floated $25M/year due to the move to the ACC. It might be easier for Muir to ask for player money than buyout money at this time.
- Alternative options. We had a much better chance of pulling a great, proven coach 2-4 years ago than now. We'll probably have to speculate on an unproven head coach at the FBS P4 level, as we did with TT.
- Explaining away bad performance due to the new landscape of college football. This has some validity, but it's moot - either we're playing the game at the FBS level or we're not. P4 coaches don't earn millions per year to make excuses. (To TT's credit, he does not make many excuses.)
- Saving face (optics). Muir is in self-preservation mode. This is too much failure, too soon.
- Lack of urgency. It just matters less here.
To be clear, these would all be bad reasons not to fire TT if the team continues to look as bad as it has.
I think the team will turn things around to some degree against weaker competition, and we'll end up with at least three years to evaluate TT, for better or worse. In this case, I'd take the would-be buyout money and spend it on several experienced players in the trenches (as others suggested above) and possibly at QB, depending on what we see from Brown. I'd also force TT to reassess and replace his offensive assistants.