1-3 isn't successful... but he took over a team that was 3-5-1 mid-season. It's really hard to evaluate him....

My point was more the venom that a few guys have spewed...

Cowhert actually said... REGARDLESS OF HOW IT WORKS OUT, this is a slap in the face.

In addition to Coastal, you could throw Berkman into that conversation... also Coach Prime... and a few more... I'm not going to bother creating a list... just because I'm lazy. How about Larry Dierker?

My point is, they're clearly not following the book... so why must we? We're supposed to be innovators and 'do things right'...

Well, MAYBE part of doing things right means that we don't follow the same path that others do... that involves a lot of the things that have gotten us to the point where a successful coach makes $5-10mm/yr and some of the players do as well... and that being a great academic school doesn't have a lot of value etc etc etc... and mostly, that success at Rice leads to that guy we took a chance on being hired away and we are back looking to replace them again.... rinse and repeat ad infinitum. There can still be plenty of guys like that on the staff... but at the top, perhaps we need someone who can REALLY sell Rice... who can SPEAK Rice... who can CONNECT to Rice... who can connect to the professors, the students, the alumni, the community... and NOT just to 'football fans'.

Nick Saban is going to 'die' at Alabama because they can match whatever anyone else would pay... or whatever 'advantage' anyone else can come up with to be competitive... and he's now been there so long that it is 'his'. He IS Alabama football. WG was that for us... which is why it was such a travesty. IDK how many branches his coaching tree had, but it was a lot and at a very high level, just like Saban. We need an OG for basketball and football.... and its not going to come from being able to match everyone else's price tag. It's going to come from that person bleeding blue/grey... and personally, I'm more interested in them being able to attract kids to Rice specifically... and to sell our mission and what it means... and to connect with alums AND the campus... and to hire guys who are slightly below the radar great coaches, and replace them when their talents are put on display and they get hired away, just like OG and Saban did.