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Message: [QUOTE="nzm136, post: 3545910, member: 2531"] SS - Agreed on the time thing. He never really had a shot. The guy was a brilliant football mind. His days as a DC proved a nuanced understanding of the game, and he did bring in some good talent. Sure, he was far from perfect on the recruiting front, especially with some big bets, but he’s responsible for many of our best players since P, and he wasn’t working with great facilities. he also didn’t have many people around him who could carry their weight. IMHO, a huge difference between SEC schools and the rest of college football is assistant coaches. High quality assistant coaches are the difference between going to the next level or not. Look at how big coaching/consulting/advisory/specialist staffs are at big schools (see Clemson), and look at how many position coaches from SU’s glory days went on to do great things. Eddie O, Saban, Coughlin, and Sweater Vest all served time in the 315. SS wasn’t given budget or time to hire a great staff. (SS was hired late in the cycle with a limited budget, and DM took his staff, so SS had to reach back to his MAC days and hire his friends. He then went bowling in year 1, so he couldn’t let them go until the end of year 2, when patience was wearing thin, so he had to hire replacements and implement changes while on the hot seat.) It would have been interesting to see what he could have done if he wasn’t relying on MAC-level assistants to help him. IMHO Lester was turning the offense around (he’s a 3rd year head coach at WMU now with a winning record), and SS was clearly capable of fielding a good defensive team and understanding defenses. Could SS have combined the pieces if given a real opportunity? Maybe, maybe not, but there’s a chance that he could have, and he was as loyal to SU as the day was long. He was let go too early. [/QUOTE]

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