Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
A distinct possibility. It was always a possible outcome.
But he's made 2 OC hires and both were significant risks. Heupel has to be seen as a success, Dooley sure looks like a failure. Do you fire a 'defensive guy' because he failed on an OC hire?
That's a hell of a bar, is it not? Especially when I think we can categorically state that his defensive bonafides are legit. This team has fielded a few different 'styles' of defense in his tenure and they've all ben pretty successful, especially after he fired the woefully overmatched Demontie Cross.
I'm not saying that you don't look for improvement or that he's the absolute best we can do. But I don't think you fire him just to fire him at this point. This defense has battled its ass off all year - that's on him. He's developed that attitude in them and they play hard for him. That's not nothing.
And your hope is that, like Pinkel, he would develop/adapt as an offensive coach. Look at it this way - Gary Pinkel had Dave Christensen as his OC for sixteen years. He trusted the hell out of that guy and when Christensen worked to convince him of the possibilities w/ a spread offense, things took off a bit. BO simply hasn't had that guy he can toss the keys to and say "alright man - run that O..."
And when you have a defensive guy who's a young HC and has little/no experience in running an offense of his own, that's what he really needs...
Wait a minute now. Hear me out. Dave Christensen is the !@#$ing OL coach at Arizona State....
....are we SURE that's a bad idea?
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The defense
does play its ass off for him. It's a good unit. What I'm more concerned about are the macro signs of a guy in over his head: penalties, game management, regression.
Given the NCAA ruling, I think you have to ride Odom out now, lest we end up hiring Dave Steckel as his replacement.
I think we all are in agreement that the Dooley hire ended as one would have expected from a guy whose entire career was an example of who his daddy was in the good-ol' boy network: abject failure. I think we're also in agreement that Kelly Bryant is Matt Cassel more than Jimmy G: a replacement-level QB completely elevated by his surrounding talent.
Bryant is the most disappointing Mizzou QB that I can remember, but part of that is because he isn't who I thought he was. I thought he could be Franklin-esque, but with a dolt of an OC, and a coaching/recruiting staff whose OL and WR talent has decayed like a banana, I guess it shouldn't be as surprising as it was.