Harbaugh Formula = Investigation/Suspension?

Zook was also fired because our AD was proactive and saw an opportunity to hire
Urban Meyer, who at the time was undefeated with Alex Smith and the Utes.

 

That's pretty creative I have to say. 6-6 = 0-10-1

BTW, Pell wasn't .500 in year 2, he won 8 games as I recall. Also, it is now easier to retool given the portal and NIL.

 

Bob was a sophomore in 1980. Dr. O did not start the whole season. Tim Groves and Tyrone Young were ahead of him. Young really wasn’t a passer but he was a hell of an athlete.

You still haven’t addressed a Defense that had David Little, Robin Fisher, and David Galloway.

 

You don't want to understand what I'm saying.

Times are different but the circumstance is similar. Our program has to be rebuilt.
That's what is happening now. We are essentially at rock bottom, by our standards.

 

Im aware of all of the above, doesnt change anything. The QB position, which is the most important position on the team was simply put, terrible. You just dont seem to want to admit it.

Sure there were a couple of good players on D, but only a couple. I could say the same about the current D. Ventrell may not be Little, but has been a solid MLB.

How about the O line, hopefully, you dont think that was better in 79?

As for addressing questions, you didnt address the fact that a very good coach didn't win a single game with that roster? Speaks volumes for me.

 

I understand your point, and agree as to a rebuild, just don't agree as to your specific comparison, pretty simple. 0-10-1 is the bottom in my book, nothing else is really that close. I was around in 78/79 and it seemed pretty hopeless.

Further, the fix, no matter how bad the roster is/was should be a lot easier for Napier than it was for Pell given the portal/NIL.

 

I tend to agree that other than the 6-6 record, Napier's situation is similar to Pell's in 1979. Look beyond the win-loss record and recruiting ranking and look at facilities, booster relations, national brand identity, profits and losses, etc. Urban Meyer was the last head coach to successfully address those issues as well as the the things that we can see on the field and the recruiting rankings. Muschamp, McElwain, and Mullen for whatever reason allowed the program to fall behind in those other aspects of the program even when they were having a good year in terms of 10-win seasons, SEC East "championships", and top-10 recruiting rankings. Pell started from scratch after about 10 years of neglect in basically all aspects of the program, and he basically pioneered NIL before NIL was cool...and legal, but I digress.

Napier is rebuilding from scratch after 13 years of neglect, incompetence, apathy, or under-performance as Pell had to do 43 years ago after 10 years of neglect. Getting lost in the 0-10-1 record vs the 6-6 record is just a distraction--look at everything else going on that Napier is addressing behind the scenes.

 

This fantasy narrative that Napier is starting from scratch, Mullen destroyed the program, etc etc etc. We won two P6 bowl games in 2018 and 2029 and took Bama to the wire in the 2020 SECCG. I am sure there was a lot of sunshine pumping during those years too. Jury is still out in Napier, but at this stage, he’s never had a winning season at a P5 school, so forgive me if I’m hesitant to call him our savior and guiding light.

 

The question is, has the Gator faithful gotten worn down enough to just stop caring enough to give a Napier enough time to get things moving his way? Methinks not yet, but we shall see.

 

How can we know he isn't just another one-hit wonder, like the last three coaches? If he is smart, he won't win that many games in Year 2. THAT is the formula to flaming out.

Billy, if you are reading this, please go 6-6, or even worse, next year. We can't handle another "close to great" season in Year 2.

 

We do not know if Napier is like his three predecessors until year 3, but we can observe that his approach to building his team looks more like Pell’s and less like the three Ms. Something about doing the same thing over again and expecting different results—Napier is not doing that…so far.

 

Hopefully the university doesn't give them a choice but to wait. We can't keep doing what we've been doing, time to go ahead and say "we'll revisit this in 5 years"

 

I guess I just dont buy your last paragraph. Hopefully, all that "behind the scenes" stuff that we are taking for granted pays off, but at this point it's all on faith.
As for comparisons, I could just as easily compare the current situation to the shit shows that Mc/Mullen inherited. Muschamp had 2 crappy seasons including a loss to Ga Southern that Mc inherited. Mc had a 4 win season prior to Mullen. Nobody gave either Mc or Mullen a pass or compared them to what Pell inherited.

Finally, given the portal/NIL any comparison to the past is apples/oranges comparison in my book. It should be far easier to rebuild than ever before.

 

I am comparing multiple metrics rather than focusing on wins/losses or recruiting rankings only.

NIL certainly helps with all of these sub factors of recruiting:
1. Class rankings year over year
2. Recruiting depth
3. Class attrition
4. Class balance
5. Blue chip ratio

NIL does not help with subfactors under wins and losses:
1. Beat the primary SEC rivals more often than not over a span of several years
2. Beat the other rivals more often than not over span of several years
3. Steal at least one win per season that was not expected (obviously win the ones we are supposed to win)
4. Get at least one signature win per season
5. Win championships and bowl games

NIL does not help with facilities and infrastructure, but booster relations do help:
1. Keep up with the Joneses with facilities
2. Improve key football and non-football facilities
3. Add new features to draw talent
4. Do not be stingy with investments
5. Maintain positive revenue stream

NIL might help with national branding:
1. Win recruiting battles in the Sunshine State
2. Maintain strong relationships with key powerhouse and reliable feeder high school programs
3. Win recruiting battles with rivals
4. Avoid NCAA issues
5. Avoid negative publicity

In many cases, Champ, Mac, and Mullen only addressed a portion of each metric—just enough to make it look as if they were making a difference. Each year they neglected a part, the further down the hole they dug. Only Pell and Napier pay attention to detail and address all aspects of building a program—not just the high level aspects that keep fans off their backs in year 1 and 2. Look up examples of high school coaches turning away Champ and Mac but inviting Harbaugh, Saban, and Dabo. That is something that cannot be measured in wins and losses nor fixed with NIL alone. Look up the number of times Mac failed to get facilities upgraded or win over boosters. Before Napier arrived most of us never heard of Hugh Hathcock, so it is apparent that Napier found a way to draw big name boosters out of hiding. Mullen did not have good relationships with boosters nor did he have a viable NIL strategy. We already know of his recruiting woes. The point is that Napier is addressing a lot of issues behind the scenes, and it will take time to see the results.

 

I think that so long as the fan base is able to see clear progress there will be some patience. Come the end of next season, if there has not been measurable progress by the D and it has been a THIRD straight season of stinky D, there will be some call for him to
Replace Toney. We will see how he handles that. But if Billy can get us back to being a consistent threat to go to/ win in ATL , then I’m willing to give him upwards of 4 more seasons to show it. Now 5 or 6 ??? Not so sure.

 

Some of you argue about the silliest stuff.

 

People are funny. We live in the Now generation, it seems.

Instant everything.

No one has patience.

The Alabama fans go after Nick Saban every time he loses.

You cannot be much more successful than him but fans want to win all the time.

Because they do not like to look bad in the office Monday morning after a game or lose their bets!

People take their gambling losses very seriously. And it is always the coaches' fault when they lose.

 

You can’t watch failure for five years. It should be evident that he is making progress. Recruit, discipline, players playing hard, repcing coxhes as needed. We can all see it. We sometimes don’t want to admit it but we watched the last three train wrecks and we knew it was bad long before the guys actually got canned.

 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh expected to be suspended four games for false statements to NCAA, per reports

 

Nice formula lol