Fair point. I just think there are a ton of unknowns as we debate these things. And my guess is that DM is confident he can be a Payton-esque type NFL coach. Will that happen? Who knows, but my guess is that's at least what he *thinks* he's capable of. I feel like he may also have been looking at it as potentially his only opportunity to test his mettle at the next level. If it works, awesome. If not he went for it and it didn't work out. Take the next step from there -- NFL coordinator, college coach, something outside of football.
Maybe he'll be run out of the league in a few years and in a deep state of depression when one of his assistants will say, "what were you doing? You should have stayed at Syracuse!" And he'll grab him by the collar of his shirt and scream "I HAD A SHOT AND I TOOK IT!" It'll be just like the scene from top gun. Then he can throw his NFL coaching credentials into the river and return home to Syracuse. I'm going to start working on this script now.
