(09-12-2017 12:35 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  What I don't get was why they would fire an HC who had 8 to 10 win bowl seasons 3 of the previous 4 years, with an overall winning record over 6 seasons (42-34), and hire a 37 year old with zero head coaching experience. McNeill at ECU:
2010 6-7 (lost bowl game)
2011 5-7
2012 8-5 (lost bowl game)
2013 10-3 (won bowl game)
2014 8-5 (lost bowl game)
2015 5-7

They replace the above with 37 (now 39) year old disaster who was 3-9 last season and is probably going to finish 2-10 or 1-11 this season, and will be fired, the question is only when..

MD did similar when they fired Friedgen. Just like ECU, they had an old, fat, successful HC who they fired, and replaced with an absolute disaster. Friedgen was coming off 4 bowl games in his last 5 seasons at MD, with his final season going 9-4 & being named ACC Coach of the Year before he was fired. 7 of 10 seasons went to bowls and 75-50 overall- as good as you're going to get at MD. MD then turns around and hires an absolute disaster in Randy Edsal, who went 22-34 4+ seasons before being fired mid season in 2015.

Its mind boggling that ADs do such stupid firings & hirings. Moral of the story should be short of being a perennial major powerhouse P5, don't fire old, fat, successful head coaches, replacing them with younger, disasterous, skinnier ones..

ECU did it once before too with firing Steve Logan. And Southern Miss did the same with Jeff Bower. Both were the most successful coaches at their school. Impatient boosters acting like petulant children demanded change, not recognizing that they could do a LOT worse than the guys they were firing.

I'd even go a step further. Sometimes administrators just have to recognize the limitations of your program. As long as ECU was/is on the outside looking in (conference-wise), they are going to have some losing seasons. A 5-6 season is not the end of the world. If you insist on playing OOCs against P5 teams, the odds are stacked against you. You are probably going to lose more games against them than you'll win. P5 schools simply get better recruits. It takes exceptional coaching to overcome that disadvantage. Personally, I could live with only beating VT or UVA once every three times. Put me on even footing with them and perhaps I would demand more. It's called being realistic.