I think the philosophical differences here are largely because some want to win it all, and now, while others are just done losing and would prefer steadying the ship, returning respectability and then hoping that ultimately leads something better. Neither is necessarily wrong. I'm more in the camp that we couldn't role the dice on an unproven guy. That's one of the signature reasons we're in this predicament in the first place. But as such, and based on the availability at the time, I don't think either of the last two hires were terrible on paper. Whether they both turn out to be bad remains to be seen. The only thing I think we did, without question, is over pay. That said, if by chance he's successful here, we could argue that Stricklin made the right decision to keep us from a ut-type search nightmare. But again, I think some of that was because he allowed things to become public too much, and it looked like we were shot down for lesser programs by our first two targets.
I think we underestimate the timing element of things. Imagine if Darnell had done just enough to warrant a shot after 1989 and Spurrier goes elsewhere. Or we wait until after the 2004 season to make a move from Zook, and the fsu win keeps him here another season. Our entire history looks a lot different. We've been fortunate in that respect, because I don't know of anyone other than SS and UM that would've accomplished what they did. Where the story turns south, is that's exactly the opposite of what we did in 2013, when a guy like Franklin was available. Even Strong, I think, could've stepped in at that point and kept us from completely falling over the edge. As it is, the wasted search time in 2010, the failure to take decisive action in 2013, and the window that we left ourselves with in 2014 are the reasons we're here. So considering that, I'm still ok with the hire, namely because while I'm not sure he's the right guy, I'm equally confident he's not the wrong guy.
