Kyle Whittingham and his Utah program compete for the same level of recruits as Cal, meaning they sign up a bunch of 3-stars with the occasional 4-star sprinkled in the mix. And every year, Utah outperforms Cal with the hardest hitting defense in the league and a run-first offense that routinely produces star running backs and 1,000 yard seasons.
That's just getting out coached, folks. It reminds me of what Bruce Snyder was able to accomplish at Cal in a short period of time. He told the world before the 1990 season started that his team was going to play a smash mouth offense, and lo, the team produced not one, but two, 1,000 yard running backs in Russell White and Anthony Wallace. It's time for Justin Wilcox to step up and do something similar.
Maybe we're upgrading the Toyota Tercel? Drop a turbo in, chip it, get some 19" wheels, add a NOS button. We'll be living a quarter-mile at a time soon!
I think it must be something having to do with the lopsidedness of talent, whether offensive the first few years of defensive lately. We've only recently regained our offensive mojo, sort of.
"Wilcox and his coaching staff very much have the reputation of wringing everything out of the talent on the roster"
Defensively, yes, as evidenced by the immediate turnaround.. but offensively, Baldwin (who appeared to be the right hire at the time) was a bust and I think we would have had more wins over that time with a better offensive coordinator, and thus would've ranked hire and the sentiment about Wilcox would be less open for debate.
We give Wilcox a pass on Baldwin, but his success as a head coach, in terms of winning with the talent he has, is still TBD and on the hook and perhaps is in Musgrave's hands, as some of those coach rankings suggest.
I'm happy to give him a longer runway than is the norm nationally these days too.
Kyle Whittingham and his Utah program compete for the same level of recruits as Cal, meaning they sign up a bunch of 3-stars with the occasional 4-star sprinkled in the mix. And every year, Utah outperforms Cal with the hardest hitting defense in the league and a run-first offense that routinely produces star running backs and 1,000 yard seasons.
That's just getting out coached, folks. It reminds me of what Bruce Snyder was able to accomplish at Cal in a short period of time. He told the world before the 1990 season started that his team was going to play a smash mouth offense, and lo, the team produced not one, but two, 1,000 yard running backs in Russell White and Anthony Wallace. It's time for Justin Wilcox to step up and do something similar.
Maybe we're upgrading the Toyota Tercel? Drop a turbo in, chip it, get some 19" wheels, add a NOS button. We'll be living a quarter-mile at a time soon!
I think it must be something having to do with the lopsidedness of talent, whether offensive the first few years of defensive lately. We've only recently regained our offensive mojo, sort of.
Might be missing something, but given that data, should Arizona state be placed as an over achiever?
"Wilcox and his coaching staff very much have the reputation of wringing everything out of the talent on the roster"
Defensively, yes, as evidenced by the immediate turnaround.. but offensively, Baldwin (who appeared to be the right hire at the time) was a bust and I think we would have had more wins over that time with a better offensive coordinator, and thus would've ranked hire and the sentiment about Wilcox would be less open for debate.
We give Wilcox a pass on Baldwin, but his success as a head coach, in terms of winning with the talent he has, is still TBD and on the hook and perhaps is in Musgrave's hands, as some of those coach rankings suggest.
I'm happy to give him a longer runway than is the norm nationally these days too.
And we are not 8 weeks from football, if I read that right. We are a few weeks from Fall camp, and that gets my happy spirit going again!
Go Bears!
For my first "read" this morning this was not only pretty interesting but somewhat hopeful too.