It's fun being able to weed out the Shafer loyalist's. There are only a handful or 2, but it's pretty obvious. I just don't get what everyone is all upset about? Because he didn't get year 4 in what was becoming a complete disaster? There was nothing that we saw in years 1-3 that would give any glimmer of hope that the man could handle being an ACC HC, let alone a HC at any level. All year 4 would have done was extend the inevitable.
Just because you brought it up in the other thread, Shafer's recruiting was atrocious. Part of the problem with this years team is there is no quality depth with the upperclassmen. There is no offensive line and 1 offensive playmaker. Once you got past the top 5 recruits in each class we were basically looking at FCS level talent. Dino's 2017 recruiting class was exceptional and his 2018 class is shaping up to be the best class since the early 2000's.
When it came to game planning there wasn't 1 game he coached the team to a win over a better opponent. In fact, most of the time we got brought out behind the woodshed for a beat down. Everyone gets on Marrone, but there were several times he schemed a win, and he very rarely got blown out with piss poor talent. In 14 games at least Dino has already proven he came win a game he isn't expected to.
Moving on. When it comes to style Shafer never had a defined identity. You tell me what those teams were? HardNosed? Hell no. Those teams were soft as charmin. At first they were supposed to be the Baylor of the north with this up tempo offense. I don't need to mention that was an utter failure. The defense had the identity of a kamikaze blitzing that would get beat over te top with any sort of play action or pump fake. But basically his whole tenure there was no identity. With Babers you know what you are getting, or at least you know what he ultimately wants to do once he gets his guys in here. He's going to spread you out, speed you up, and eventually run the ball right down your throat. Defensively it's Tampa 2 and that's what they are recruiting too. The defense needed to be over hauled more than anything. Wwith the collection of peewee sized db's, that was the exact opposite of what was needed. They got hammered defensively last year, but you can already see massive improvements once he has the type of player in that better fits that style. I truly beloeve the same will eventually happen with the offense. There is no changing of strategy from recruiting class to recruiting class like with Shafer. He is targeting the type of recruit that will excel in his style and it will eventually show on the field.
Now am I happy with Saturday's result? Absolutely not. Losing to MTSU under any circumstance is unacceptable and Babers should be held responsible. The only difference I feel with this loss is that I believe things are going in the right direction. I saw enough adjustments that were made that I was satisfied, but ultimately the kids need to make the plays.
