My somewhat hindsight criticisms of Dino are mostly mentioned. As adversity set in, I thought he often felt attacked, made excuses, and used an endless array of sales pitches, some new and some recycled (hearing belief without evidence again might make me vomit).
I think he also operated under even more paranoia than the average college football coach. To the point where it seemed like stealth was his edge that he thought would help win. It's not how you win football games though.
That said, I will stop trampling upon the grave. He's a good guy who ran a clean program, graduated kids (at least you never hear of anyone failing out). I wish him the best.
Need to remember, as IB just mentioned above, this was an opening press conference. They are always a day of excitement, new beginnings. I'll agree with so many of you that this one felt different. It did. But the key is how Brown reacts to adversity.
We all say a million times, the press here is a cake walk compared to the big cities or the big programs. But when the team loses, it really doesn't matter how. If it's competitive, people second guess your decisions. If it's a blowout, people ask why your team looked so unprepared. When you're a competitive coach, and the media starts poking with these questions like mosquitos, how do you react?
Brown hasn't faced that yet. He's never been the one leading the presser. For the past two years, he's been at a program whose toughest question from the media was why did you only win by 17. We will lose games. I think we'll have more talent, be a better team, but it won't happen overnight and we'll lose. We'll have injuries that will derail things. How does he react to that?
I think he'll do fine, he strikes me as a guy who's well grounded and will work through it knowing that he will be building great depth thru recruiting. The media questions stuff ate up Shafer, made Robinson age in dog years. Even got to Marrone, who had some kind of falling out with Donnie Webb that I can't recall the details of. Brown has a great story of how he got here, but if he brings it up too much after losses, it won't resonate.
That said, I'm really excited about the hire. Sure, I have concerns about Xs and Os, like everyone else (specifically on offense). But this feels like a leader who will energize recruiting, energize the players on gameday, energize the fanbase, and has rolled out the welcome mat to the football alums. Felt like a new day, and I'm just hoping I don't look back and say opening presser got me again! Don't think I will.
end soapbox. Go Orange.
