To me, unless they take over horrific train wrecks, good coaches simply don't start at a school at 12-20. The fact is his mediocre predecessors had better records. Your record is what you are.
Do you think Saban or Meyer would be 12-20 in the same situation? The guy just isn't that great of a coach.
I agree. I do still think 78's point is valid that he could've possibly done some good things here with the type of talent we can(should) attract. But his reasons for spurning the best opportunity where he could win to please a handful of family or fans also says a lot about his true desire to win. To your last question, Saban or Meyer would've never put themselves in that position because they'd recognize that they'd be losing a ton of games and couldn't stomach it. The fact that Frost parlayed an undefeated season at Ucf and the national acclaim that followed, into taking over a disaster, outdated program that doesn't even have an identity within its own conference, has to be one of the worst moves of all time. Some of us said at the time that he was being dragged to Lincoln kicking and screaming, completely aware that it was the wrong move. But he didn't have the stones to simply say no. Sometimes you have to be a man and go with your gut. He didn't.
To be fair on the "can't stand losing" aspect, you could make an argument against Mullen in that regard as well. Going to Starkville is one thing. Staying as long as he did, knowing at best he's staring at 4 losses a year, is something else. Still think he was the smartest hire of those we considered, but that's another story.
Honestly, that looks like it's the case with all three of our targets in 2017. We went after a TV Guide list of who was best rather than doing our own research to find a next great coach that would fit UF. If Norvell does well this year, that will still be, imo, the real miss by this admin.