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[QUOTE="RF2044, post: 2641231, member: 40"]
Great summary.

Shafer was a rush hire -- a guy who wasn't qualified, but who was promoted in lieu of conducting a more thorough candidate search ostensibly to maintain program continuity after our impressive bowl win against WVU.

Right, wrong, or indifferent--no judgement--Marrone then proceeded to pilfer the staff, so there was not much "continuity" to carry forward, and the entire purpose behind Gross hiring Shafer in the first place quickly went away.  Shafer filled those vacancies with a bunch of his buddies and got the band back together -- some of who weren't qualified for their roles.

I was dead set against Shafer being the guy to replace Marrone -- and remember remarking at the time that his tenure would be defined by how the guy he hired to be his OC performed [there's a reason that McDonald was a career WR coach -- OC was a huge stretch role for him].  We all know how that turned out.

It was exciting when that staff overcame a poor start in year 1 and performed pretty well against peer programs to get back to a bowl, but they came crashing down to earth in year 2 when the Peter Principle exposed their limitations.

Great guy, I think he had a big heart, and he's a decent enough DC.  But not everyone has the chops to be head coaching material, and Shafer was "Exhibit A" of that phenomenon.
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