So hear me out.
In any other job or profession in the world, you get old enough and either retire, are forced to retire, or are kindly told to retire rather than being fired. At some point, you can no longer perform the daily tasks that your job requires of you. But for some reason, it seems like head coaches always get a pass and legends are able to go out on their own terms even though they have a lack of success at the end of their tenure (bobby bowden, frank beamer, etc)
What Jim has done for the University and the City as a whole is incredible and should be applauded and celebrated. He has won a championship, brought the city and university a ton of success and notoriety that it would not get otherwise, and is a Hall of Fame coach. What he has achieved in his career is unbeleivable and almost unfathomable. I have enjoyed what he has done in my short 32 years, and absolutely adore him. I will be thankful and always remember what he did for the city, the team, and the fun and enjoyment he gave me as a fan. He will always be remembered as a legend in the Syracuse community.
BUT...
If this was any other profession, he would be fired or forced into retirement due to his lack of success. There still needs to be a level of accountability, Jim should not be above this review. He is essentialy being held on to due to his past success and accomplishments, and I am not sure why this is the norm? Past success does not guarentee future success. It would be one thing if this was a year or two situation, but that is not the case. As I believe Alasc's posted the other day Jimmy is closing in on 7 straight 13 loss seasons, and as I mentioned later in the article that he had only 4 such seasons from 1969-2014 when this streak started.
I ask why has nothing changed? Do I think it is time for the university to step in and move on? Yes, I do. But besides my believe, why has nothing changed in this seven year run? No change in recruiting philosophy, no change in assistants, no pressure from the athletic department or university? I guess I just do not understand why past history makes someone invincible. If this was football for example, coordinators would be changed, head coaches would be changed, facilities would be altered, etc.
Maybe the bottom line is I am not a nostalgic person. But I am also not a fly by the seat of your pants type of guy either. I feel like Jim has had plenty of time to right the ship, but it just has not happened. I didn't start to believe he should be forced out until the end of last year up until this past week. But as many others here have stated I have started to become ambivalent on game days. I used to get overjoyed, and that feeling is just missing now because I continue to see the same stuff occur over and over again, which leads to many loses.
I guess the whole point of this post was to wonder aloud and see what you guys think, why are legends given too much leeway after several continuos poor years of success? What have people seen over the last 7 years that tell you we are trending in the right direction? (and yes, Im very aware we went to the final four in 2016, but we still barely made the tournament. I believe Regular season wins and losses is more indicative of how good a team is. A lot of teams have made runs in the tournament, getting hot at the right time, playing well together. But as history shows, you are more likely to have sucess in the tournament if you have a good regular season record, higher probability of winning).
