Here's the irony, the two guys who were pulling for Marrone

[RF2044]

to get hired aren't all that worked up about it.

The folks who thought he a bad choice, was a meathead, sucked, couldn't recruit, wanted him gone after two years, in October, thought he still wasn't "the guy" as late as December are some of the most upset and outraged.

What's up with that? What do you think the state of the program would be if he got fired at the end of the season?

Is this disruptive, damn straight. It's TGD's job to manage that. Would it have been better if he stayed? Yep, but he didn't, so suck it up and move on.

It's not a step back, it's not turning back four years of progress, it's a hiccup, as long as the school addresses the underlying issues that were part of Marrone's disillusionment.

I wish I shared your optimisim, Go--I'm a tad nervous about how this will play out. Obviously, hiring a new coach is a bit of a crapshoot no matter who you bring in. Sometimes even experienced guys with solid track records taking over good situations don't pan out [see: Louisville, Kragthorpe].

I agree with most of your post. I'd be a lot more optimistic if we had two more years of Marrone continuing to build on the foundation that he reestablished from scratch. But there's no question that the program is in a better position now than when he came on board--its just that the tough climb we've made back to respectability is still precarious, we're teetering on the precipice and it could go either way.

Agree 100% about the meathead, he sucked, can't recruit crowd not having a clue.