There's been a lot gnashing of teeth about CEO versus coordinator types on here. Well give me a CEO any day. I've had enough of coach-coordinators. We've had Mullen for offense and Muschamp for defense. I'm still trying to figure out what McElwain was. The last successful coach-coordinator was SOS and yes he neglected defense. The fact that Zook was his defensive coordinator should say something about SOS attention to defense. And I'd forgotten that Zook would have been our defensive coordinator in "95 if he had not taken the NFL job.
As others have said, our program is in shambles. That's what 2 coach-coordinators and a charlatan will get you. (Yes I figured out McElwain.) We need a program builder/CEO that can:
- Create a team identity and personality. Don't discount this. It will take some time to get the smell out of the place and instill a "I aint got time to bleed" attitude.
- Hire and develop great assistants/staff. Yes develop. The best way to maintain that identity is to have a succession plan in place as staff leave. You need new blood, every organization does, but you have to be strategic about it. By the way, that's what Saban did with Kiffin.
- Manage the administration and the media. Manage up!
- Recruit, recruit, recruit!!!
Undoubtedly somebody will ask, why can't a head coach do all of that and also coach offense/defense. And the answer should be obvious, limited time, limited focus. Limited time in a week, only so many things a human being can truly focus on. If a coordinator position is a full time job on most teams, and your head coach is one of your coordinators, what's he neglecting from the list above?
Regarding Napier, I admit to being underwhelmed. And that's mostly because, as others have said, that while his accomplishments at UL are commendable, that's a pretty low bar. I don't know that Napier is the guy, but his program building approach, yeah. I know this, if he is our guy, Stricklin better tell him that a ball control, 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense won't fly here.
Regarding Kiffin, pardon my French, but "HE$$ NO". Kiffin strikes me a s "me first" sort of character. Not someone to put the program, the staff, or players above his own needs. And if you watched the egg bowl, you saw that he went for it on 4th down from their own 34 yard line on the opening drive, score 0-0. It was stupid, no reason to do something like that at this point of the game. Such a selfish, "look at me the great play caller" move. That one play pretty much sealed it for me. (By the way, I had similar one play moment with Dan Mullen when he punted on 4th and 2 from about Bama's 40 with just a few minutes left in the game and a small lead. Mullen blinked and State lost.)