I have long thought here are two types of college football coaches. 1. The “Process” Coach. Slow rebuild. Focus on culture, HS recruits, building a strong foundation. Saban, Smart, Dabo, Stoops Takes longer to get to winning/successful season but easier to maintain that success. 2. Hot Flash coach. Quick exciting turn around. Recruits anyone that can play. Worried less about culture because players won’t be there long. May have early success but harder to maintain. More ups and downs. Kiffin, Deion, Norvell, I believe the new transfer rules, NIL rules, tampering, etc… makes being a Process coach just starting out at a school almost impossible. Good players will leave for more money, more wins before the coach can build a foundation of success. This isn’t to say Napier CANT build a successful program… just that it’s going to be harder than it would have been even 5 years ago.
Unless the process is excellence, most process guys ultimately suffer from lack of adaptability as true believers often do. Now it is just much worse
Just knew this thread was coming, it was inevitable. Billy’s process needs to find some wins next year, badly, and they look scarce, right now. The portal machine is his best friend, desperately need some quality plug-n-play starters. He’s got to grab another gear and speed this up. Another .500 or less season will spell doomsday for him, imho. At the end of the “process” if we’re approaching Bama & UGA, everyone will be thrilled. What if we’re Kentucky, you gonna be good with that? I hope like heck that’s not the case.
Agree 100%. College football as we knew it 10 years ago is done. Everything is evolving quickly and so muat whatever “process” a coach has in place. Billy made it clear after the Arkansas loss that he was to remain process-oriented regardless of wins and losses. Unless several things change in a drastic way, his way of thinking will he his undoing.
At this point if a program doesn’t have the depth to compete then they won’t have more than a single season of success. Unless you’re the unquestioned champion of portal kombat then you won’t slip into the playoff, much less as have a chance in the 12 team playoff, as those who who established great depth prior to the NIL / transfer portal era.
What's hurting him most is the perception of disorganization and incompetence. If he could simply coach a game that is well executed in all three phases, there wouldn't be so much wailing and gnashing of teeth. If we're losing games because of talent, then that's easier to deal with as that can be improved on. The problems is that at the end of year two, there has been regression and the same mistakes being made over and over again.
No argument there. Billy MAY not be in over his head as a HC, but he is clearly in over his head as both HC and playcaller. He must hire a competent OC immediately. He must hire a competent, dedicated ST coach immediately. He must fix the OL disaster immediately.
By the way, IMO “Stricklin” hired a “process” coach on purpose. He is delaying his own firing as long as possible. He knows he doesn’t have what it takes to find and hire a championship-caliber football coach.
Certainly the buyout that was negotiated protects Stricklin. I think he needs to go for a lot of reasons, football hirings only being one of them. I hope Sasse pulls the plug on him after spring semester.
Year 2 looks a lot like year 1 with respect to simple in game plays and decisions. The lack of expedience getting plays in, same ole same ole. I got a mini ban year 1 for calling these simple things out, the going things was give him time. Welp, 2 seasons later not really any change. I want the guy to be great, the alternative is another fire-hire cycle, the sample from the last two years isn’t lining up a favorable outcome.
Absolutely, if there was clear progress then it would be acceptable and the class would be holding together. Even the biggest sunshine pumpers aren't seeing progress other than the fact that we've got a lot of young guys. We were a 40+ yard field goal and 4th and 17 stop away from showing that progress but neither happened, I'd argue both due to coaching errors that are easy to point out. It doesn't help that he claims to obsess over details but we continually make errors that detail focused coaches would fix in practice.
I like the old saying "trust...but verify." What happens too many times is that someone sells a "concept" and shows you what you can have if you spend enough money. In complex projects like IT in major corporations, the "concept" has no face until it is unveiled. And then it can look like a masterpiece or it can look like a lemon. And if it is a lemon, by that time you are already both WAY behind and less wealthy. But if you are wise, you set up a system where you demand step-by-step feedback as to what is being built and showing how each component is going to work in the interim. And if there are circumstances that make a viable component no longer viable, there HAS to be a darn good explanation as to why it is no longer viable and how to make the correct changes. Now, that does not mean that you get a fully built sports car, but you DO see the shape and the components you have built...and HOW they were built. And that builds confidence. And this may be happening behind the scenes. But it does not feel as if it is. It feels like a 3-year "Ta-DA" kind of unveiling. Like the Wright brothers, it won't be perfect but it DOES work. But this isn't a car (or the first airplane), it is plainly in the social and not technical arena. What is the optic is a HUGE part of the product. And so, if you don't implicitly get this, I am afraid the "Ta-DA" will never happen. Too much head scratching about how things are evolving and not enough sense of urgency. It is entirely plausible that Napier is a master chess player playing in the MMA arena. And the optics say he is going to get his clock cleaned. But we shall see.
There is simply no way Napier is a master chess player, or a master at anything. To me the following quotes proved it: “You gotta remain process-oriented regardless of wins and losses.” “You all weren’t asking these questions when we beat Tennessee.” “You all ain’t gonna like the process.”
