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Message: [QUOTE="cuseinchina, post: 1155453, member: 3079"] I think the answer to your second question may be a big fat yes. One gets the sense that he has been valued as a recruiter rather than as a coach for his entire career. He came to his buddy Shafer by way of some meaningful on paper positions at big programs, and I'm sure he was promised a lot of control and leeway in running the offense and influencing the game planning and recruiting priorities etc. Last year when Lester joined him upstairs, you could see the raw frustration and embarrassment in his interviews. He couldn't stand it. He looked dejected, hurt, and sounded pretty passive aggressive. He reminded me of kids I don't like coaching on youth travel soccer teams - the ones who sit in the front and wait to score a goal which they do well against teams with inferior talent but then can't get it done against teams who have any size or speed or ability - and then they sit and pout when you take them out of the game and put someone in who is going to be aggressive in fall facets of the game and will help defend. Not super skilled, looking for respect and glory, and at the end of the day just lazy and whiny. That was always my impression of McDonald. He also tries so hard to not look dumb that he ends up looking even dumber - too many trick plays, too many instances of trying to do the unexpected when the unexpected is just plain stupid. Shafer had come from a couple years of watching Marrone work incredibly hard with inferior talent getting them to exceed expectations and perform on an average division 1 level with below average division 1 players. Shafer I think couldn't see getting to the next level without upgrading talent and so he got McD in to rectify that. The plan was to replicate Hackett's offense. But he gave too much control to George and let him go out and start creating his own offensive vision - so they scrapped what was working and George probably said he'd just recruit all the players he needed to run his vision. Shafer let him do it. Now we are a team with an offensive identity that doesn't work, a team that is trying to be something it's not. Hopefully Lester is smart enough to fix that. Hopefully McD, despite his recruiting connections, takes the fast train back down south. [/QUOTE]

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