Looks like we dodged a Bullet
- Thread starter StateJCP
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Napier was 40-12 before FL, inherited Mullen's leftovers (who everybody around here said was reason to pardon Slow Joe when he got here), he beat #7 Utah, lost to a #11 and a #20, now should handle Eastern WA and Mizzou in next 2 weeks to bring him to 4-2 w/ losses to a #11 and a #20. Damn you're right he's a bust
Even if Leach gets fired in the next years or two, he will always go down as a good hire. He's had decades of positives results, for once we didn't reach for a hire.
I certainly wouldn't put a dagger in Napier yet, he's three games in and has a good track record at a lower level. As far a Judge, many a coach who eventually became very successful failed in his first NFL job, so he'll likely get a chance to redeem himself. I don't know what to make about Sark, he's a head scratcher for sure.
Everybody just assumes every rumor put out there by an agent is true when it comes to MSU. It's possible he snubbed us. But there have also been rumors that "everybody knew were true" that were pretty baseless.
Who the 17 said that? JoMo burned through a **** ton of goodwill his first year wasting a relatively loaded roster. Some people were giving him the benefit of the doubt for not having the right QB for his offense (which is somewhat laughable at this point), and people recognized that his second year was impacted by not having a good DL group and not being able to fix it in one year, but he still got fired after two years and an overall winning record. That doesn't happen if people think he inherited bad talent or a bad locker room situation.
Agree with the rest of it. But it's not like he was left with **** players. Mullen's team was fine last year through four games and then fell off a cliff because of whatever dysfunction. Napier may have inherited a locker room issue (I would guess it was more the players rebelling against Mullen's discipline knowing that he didn't have the support of the administration, not a truly dysfunctional locker room like Jo Mo left Leach), but he inherited some good talent.
Sark is only in his second season and Texas looks improved from last year. Ewers getting hurt against Bama was tough, they likely would’ve won that game.
Napier is only 4 games in and has a win over a top 10 team.
Nobody but Arkansas would have hired Pittman. Heupel and Kiffin are fair comparisons. I don't think Kiffin would have been a fit for us. Heupel should have been a legitimate target we looked at. Didn't have much of a track record as head coach at that point with just two years taking over a UCF team that was already rolling. But certainly worthy of looking at.
Agree with other poster here. Sark is nowhere close to a bust. He was able to get two number 1 QBs in the nation to come. Ewers is hurt and when he comes back they likely run the table this year.
I remember the rumor at one point was that Napier was ready to come here, but JoMo fooled around and won the Egg Bowl, so we kept him and left Napier in the lurch and by the time we fired JoMo after the Gator Bowl, Napier was like 'nah' and we ended up with Leach.
Heupel was in year 2 at UCF and was 22-4 heading into 2020. We likely put out feelers, but there’s a good chance he shunned us knowing he’d get a bigger offer somewhere else, and he did. At the time, I can’t recall a single source that ever mentioned him as a serious candidate….and that’s even with us having to scrape the bottom of the barrel for all potential interest since we were hiring in mid-January.
Kiffin had already been hired by OM before we even fired JoMo….so it’s not really even worth discussing him, unless you just want to lay blame at Keenum’s feet for us not firing him after the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss would have outbid us for him anyway.
Pittman was a joke of a hire on paper that has turned out well for Arkansas. Credit to them for identifying a guy they had history with and finding a good fit from under the radar. Easy to say we should have made a hire like that in hindsight….much more difficult to see the future in the moment.
Overall, I’d say we still did pretty well with our hire.
If we beat Arkansas next Saturday, Leach would take the lead in the "who has been the better hire?" race vs. Pittman.
Keenum is the one that balked on the Moorhead firing until the Gay-Shrader fight. That forced his hand. Whatever happens as a result of that decision to delay the inevitable (good or bad) is on Keenum and no one else. Boosters were ready to pull the trigger.
Incredible to think that Huepel is going to be the successful ex-UCF coach and not Frost. I am having a hard time coming to terms with how poorly Frost did at Nebraska. I thought he was a lock to get them back towards legitimacy (not national power or anything, but 8-9 wins regularly).
I still think I would take Sark. Napier jury is still out. I still think he is similar to Mullen just may end up being a better recruiter but not this year snd then Mullen is a far better qb coach.
Judge should have never been in the conversation to start with. Didn't have the experience.
Leach the jury is still out on his tenure in Starkville. This is still only his second real year. Year three overall. I've seen some improvement with things. Just want to see a season where things come together 70 percent of the games.
Judge should have never been in the conversation to start with. Didn't have the experience.
Leach the jury is still out on his tenure in Starkville. This is still only his second real year. Year three overall. I've seen some improvement with things. Just want to see a season where things come together 70 percent of the games.
this is the correct perspective...the two head to head losses vs Arky are the difference in records and in fact Leach has wins over better teams than Pittman
And we would have won at Arkansas last year if not for missing three field goals and a bad defensive holding call on fourth down.
I think people just underestimate how easy it is to win at some places and how hard it is to win at others. UCF is in a very populous state with a lot of good talent where you can put together a pretty good team just with leftovers. You play 10 games where you outmatch people with resources and then have one where it's relatively close and one where you're outmatched. You're players are going to come out pumped for the two big matchups. You just keep them from brain farting away a should win, and you can get to 10-2 without doing anything that special.
Go to Nebraska where all the sudden you have fewer people in your state than were in just the Orlando MSA, and you're competing with schools that have as many or more resources than you 9 or 10 games a year, and it shouldn't be that surprising that a coach that wins at UCF doesn't at Nebraska.
I just find giving coaches credit for top 10 or 25 wins based on preseason rankings, which suck, is highly ridiculous.
I think Napier will be fine though.
I agree with those who say it is way premature to call Sark a bust at Texas. While the Tech game raises a question (away game lost in overtime due to a fumble on Texas’ first play in OT), the Ala game with Ewers shows promise (Texas was playing a couple of freshmen on its o line and youth all over the field). His recruiting success (Ewers and Arch) would suggest at least they have a solid chance to fix their problems.
I haven’t seen enough to rule Napier a bust. Tenn is the new darling, and I didn’t see the game, but wasn’t Fla in the game but got beat by a slightly better team?
I haven’t seen enough to rule Napier a bust. Tenn is the new darling, and I didn’t see the game, but wasn’t Fla in the game but got beat by a slightly better team?
Judge was not a college coach fit (apparently he's not an NFL fit either) so he really doesn't count. Sark and Napier are still learning the job so they aren't bust quite yet. Not yet. They both could end up with better careers than Leach but only if Leach is a complete bust at State.
17n awful call... if not the worst defensive call in college football since DICK PACE.
Napier is wayyy too early to call. They beat a very good Utah team week 1. The others have busted quickly.
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