(05-10-2017 11:30 AM)10thMountain Wrote: (05-10-2017 08:52 AM)murrdcu Wrote: (05-10-2017 07:12 AM)10thMountain Wrote: We have big holes on D and will start a freshman QB
We will struggle to be bowl eligible this year and it will probably be Sumlins last year.
If Sumlin gets the axe, who is the front runner for the job?
The answer to that is the reason why A&M can't ever get its **** together in FB despite having nearly every advantage one could want.
Our FB HC hiring is always a proxy battle for the eternal dick measuring contest between the Dallas Big Cigar Ags and the Houston Big Cigars Ags
Sumlin was the choice of the Houston BCAs
Now the Dallas BCAs want THEIR guy (SMUs Chad Morris) to be his replacement
It's why our "national coaching searches" are a complete joke and why well probably never live up to our full potential because to do that, they'd have put their egos aside and come together and say "Alright, you are our AD, go out and get us the best coach you can and the two of us groups will get behind you and come up with the money for it!"
That's not the only issue. The biggest issue affects us all. Most of the recent instant splashes have been H.S. coaches who run the spread. Once the conference adapted to it its magic was gone. Also having a Heisman candidate running the offense contributes mightily as well and those are once a decade recruits.
The simple answer is that the finest coaches out there are defensively minded, fundamentals teaching, old guys who played when the game was much more disciplined, who coached under extremely disciplined head coaches when they were assistants and are smart enough to hang onto old virtues, but still keep an open mind to innovation. We have 3 to 5 of those in Division I. Texas may have hired one in the making but he has a lot to prove yet as does Smart at Georgia. I'd say the best coach off of the radar in the Southeast is Peterson at Washington. Chris however doesn't like to move. He has a special needs child and craves atmospheres where the college PR demands aren't as high profile as those in the SEC. I suspect Washington is the perfect fit for him.
I see the Malzahns and Freezes as gimmick coaches whose time will quickly pass. Tubberville lost his fire, D'antonio is getting long in the tooth, and Urban and Saban will retire out of their present positions.
Fundamentals were once taught in High School and in the South there were far more boys desiring to play 40 to 50 years ago % wise than there are today. I find most H.S. coaches today to be lazy. They don't even try to develop talent, but rather they stick the best athlete at QB the fastest skinny kid at WR and the fastest strong kid at Tailback. Fat kids play the O line and their blocking technique is to obstruct or delay the defender rather than to move him, and the athletic big kids play DT.
So when these kids get to college they need remedial Football 100 to catch up no matter how athletic, fast, or large they are. Teachers who have great communication skills and great intuition for hiring subordinates make the best Head Coaches (CEO's) for our programs. We are way overpaying for coaches who don't have those skill sets and can't pay enough for those who do.
So if you fire Sumlin or we finally lose Malzahn, or Ole Miss is required to release Freeze good luck to us all because the odds are we will land a flash in the pan. IMO that's why Pinkel was such a loss. If his cancer is in remission A&M might look there.