How did we get here? (Long post)

[OldWiseCock]

From 2005-2015 we had a HOF coach who took us where we had never been before (Yes, Will Muschamp, we have been there.) and got us excited about football. We had a businessman AD and an academic (PhD) school President. They did their jobs and there were very few missteps. Those that occurred were handled diplomatically and confidently. We had 3 consecutive 11 win seasons and were considered by many as a "hot program." (At least we were in the news a lot.)

When our experienced AD left for another school we hired a baseball coach with 2 National Championships to replace him. Meanwhile, our HOF coach was approaching 70. He was not as engaged in recruiting, coaching and hiring, and things began to grind a bit. For reasons that are probably best explained by inexperience, this new AD did not see the age of our HC as an issue so instead of planning for a graceful exit (retirement) he encouraged the coach to stay. In a press conference in early 2014 our HOF coach famously said, "2 or 3 more years". Then very next year, when it was clear the team had fallen on hard times said HOF coach resigned mid-season. (Doing what he had wanted to do the year before.)

An interim coach was appointed and that team ended the year 3-9 losing to the Citadel.

Meanwhile, the coaching search began and seemed to be going well. Names like Tom Herman, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart were on the tip of everyone's tongue. Then things came unraveled, and names like Rich Rodriguez and Will Muschamp emerged in the discussion. So we hired a guy who had been fired 1 year before by a division rival and tried to claim he was always considered a top choice. (when everyone knew he was fall back) We explained his failure at UF by claiming (1) Florida fired him too soon; and (2) his problems on offense were due to interference by the school; and (3) He has learned from his mistakes.

That head coach then hired a QC coach from the Cleveland Browns as OC and an inexperienced and young DB coach as DC. (Instead of hiring the best and most experienced coordinators he could find.) So much for learning from mistakes.

Then the much respected University President decided to retire. A search was launched for his replacement. The University faculty and student organizations rightfully demanded a say in the hire for University President. (A reasonable and appropriate thing to do in a public university.)

Over the objections of those organizations one of the candidates for President was strong armed into the job raising questions undue and inappropriate political influence in a decision that should have been entirely based on ability and experience. This raised the spectre of a review by SACS which tainted the hire.

Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million. This made a coach with an average record the 5th highest paid coach in the SEC.

Now, at the end of this coach's 4th season that record has dropped to 4-7 and will probably be 4-8 a week from Saturday. Public and fan sentiment has shifted from support of this coaching to staff to against it. (not scientific polling I know, but that's the way it feels)

As that sentiment has shifted the following has also happened.

• One or more members of the BOT have had contact with a former player serving as AD at another school and possibly one other candidate for AD.
• The University President and the current AD have made what most consider to be statements which point to equivocal (lukewarm) support of the football coach
• The University President publicly stated that the AD had contacted another school to ask how a large buyout for their football coach was handled.
• The University President (through a press release) denied making that statement.
• The two media outlets have now said they stand by their statements and that the President did in fact say that the AD had contacted this other school about the buyout.

So here is where we stand. We have a football coach who will finish his 4th season with a losing record (just after getting a raise) and has lost the support of many (if not most) fans. That coach may now have lost the support of school officials. Those same school officials have made public statements which undermine that coach. At least one of them denies making the statement but there is actual proof that he did make the statement.

I'd say we have quite a mess and the people who would normally sort it out have actually made it worse.

 

[LazyIslander]

Pretty accurate summation, I think.
But what now? What's the next step needed to work toward cleaning up the mess?

 

[world famous 3rd base hecklers]

From 2005-2015 we had a HOF coach who took us where we had never been before (Yes, Will Muschamp, we have been there.) and got us excited about football. We had a businessman AD and an academic (PhD) school President. They did their jobs and there were very few missteps. Those that occurred were handled diplomatically and confidently. We had 3 consecutive 11 win seasons and were considered by many as a "hot program." (At least we were in the news a lot.)

When our experienced AD left for another school we hired a baseball coach with 2 National Championships to replace him. Meanwhile, our HOF coach was approaching 70. He was not as engaged in recruiting, coaching and hiring, and things began to grind a bit. For reasons that are probably best explained by inexperience, this new AD did not see the age of our HC as an issue so instead of planning for a graceful exit (retirement) he encouraged the coach to stay. In a press conference in early 2014 our HOF coach famously said, "2 or 3 more years". Then very next year, when it was clear the team had fallen on hard times said HOF coach resigned mid-season. (Doing what he had wanted to do the year before.)

An interim coach was appointed and that team ended the year 3-9 losing to the Citadel.

Meanwhile, the coaching search began and seemed to be going well. Names like Tom Herman, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart were on the tip of everyone's tongue. Then things came unraveled, and names like Rich Rodriguez and Will Muschamp emerged in the discussion. So we hired a guy who had been fired 1 year before by a division rival and tried to claim he was always considered a top choice. (when everyone knew he was fall back) We explained his failure at UF by claiming (1) Florida fired him too soon; and (2) his problems on offense were due to interference by the school; and (3) He has learned from his mistakes.

That head coach then hired a QC coach from the Cleveland Browns as OC and an inexperienced and young DB coach as DC. (Instead of hiring the best and most experienced coordinators he could find.) So much for learning from mistakes.

Then the much respected University President decided to retire. A search was launched for his replacement. The University faculty and student organizations rightfully demanded a say in the hire for University President. (A reasonable and appropriate thing to do in a public university.)

Over the objections of those organizations one of the candidates for President was strong armed into the job raising questions undue and inappropriate political influence in a decision that should have been entirely based on ability and experience. This raised the spectre of a review by SACS which tainted the hire.

Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million. This made a coach with an average record the 5th highest paid coach in the SEC.

Now, at the end of this coach's 4th season that record has dropped to 4-7 and will probably be 4-8 a week from Saturday. Public and fan sentiment has shifted from support of this coaching to staff to against it. (not scientific polling I know, but that's the way it feels)

As that sentiment has shifted the following has also happened.

• One or more members of the BOT have had contact with a former player serving as AD at another school and possibly one other candidate for AD.
• The University President and the current AD have made what most consider to be statements which point to equivocal (lukewarm) support of the football coach
• The University President publicly stated that the AD had contacted another school to ask how a large buyout for their football coach was handled.
• The University President (through a press release) denied making that statement.
• The two media outlets have now said they stand by their statements and that the President did in fact say that the AD had contacted this other school about the buyout.

So here is where we stand. We have a football coach who will finish his 4th season with a losing record (just after getting a raise) and has lost the support of many (if not most) fans. That coach may now have lost the support of school officials. Those same school officials have made public statements which undermine that coach. At least one of them denies making the statement but there is actual proof that he did make the statement.

I'd say we have quite a mess and the people who would normally sort it out have actually made it worse.

Wait!...

"Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million."

We did this after the Belk Bowl????

 

[OldWiseCock]

Wait!...

"Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million."

We did this after the Belk Bowl????

I may have that wrong. But it was done in 2018. Maybe negotiations started after the 9-4 season??

 

[OldWiseCock]

Pretty accurate summation, I think.
But what now? What's the next step needed to work toward cleaning up the mess?

It can be fixed. But everyone needs to zip it. I like Caslen - I think he will do a good job for a few years. But this is a public University and the athletic programs are scrutinized by the media.

Just do what you said. Review after the season and make appropriate changes. Or do it now. But stop talking about it.

 

[B.Springs Cock]

That head coach then hired a QC coach from the Cleveland Browns as OC and an inexperienced and young DB coach as DC. (Instead of hiring the best and most experienced coordinators he could find.) So much for learning from mistakes.

This can't be said enough. Muschamp's biggest failure as a HC is gambling on coordinators. Even after Roper he still gambled on BMac, when at a bare minimum he could have made Werner OC, who has a long track record of success in that role.

 

[world famous 3rd base hecklers]

I may have that wrong. But it was done in 2018. Maybe negotiations started after the 9-4 season??

I was wondering if we're that dumb to extend the contract after that botched bowl game without Deebo....

 

[USC75Grad]

This can't be said enough. Muschamp's biggest failure as a HC is gambling on coordinators. Even after Roper he still gambled on BMac, when at a bare minimum he could have made Werner OC, who has a long track record of success in that role.

Muschamp never became a head coach. He is an assistant and nothing more. He can't manage people.

"Managing assistant coaches is just like managing employees in a business. The same management tactics work. In a business, you document procedures for an employee. You define expectations and roles for that employee. You have regularly scheduled meetings with that employee to review goals, expectations, metrics, performance, and progress. You hold that employee accountable and communicate with them."

 

[KatFanDrew]

Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million. This made a coach with an average record the 5th highest paid coach in the SEC.

Always try and look for motives when people take a stance or position, it's worked out well for raising kids, etc...
Is it possible that Tanner did this because Muschamp made gestures indicating that he wanted to move on down the road?
There is no evidence that this happened, merely speculation.
Pretty sure there was not a better offer on the horizon for CWM, perhaps it was a consideration for health reasons?
He always looks pretty stressed out.
Leaving after a winning or 50% season wouldn't be the worse thing to take to a lower division school on a resume.
How much was he making per year before the contract re-negotiation?
Again, this is purely speculative while attempting to search for a motive.

 

[fowl_mood]

From 2005-2015 we had a HOF coach who took us where we had never been before (Yes, Will Muschamp, we have been there.) and got us excited about football. We had a businessman AD and an academic (PhD) school President. They did their jobs and there were very few missteps. Those that occurred were handled diplomatically and confidently. We had 3 consecutive 11 win seasons and were considered by many as a "hot program." (At least we were in the news a lot.)

When our experienced AD left for another school we hired a baseball coach with 2 National Championships to replace him. Meanwhile, our HOF coach was approaching 70. He was not as engaged in recruiting, coaching and hiring, and things began to grind a bit. For reasons that are probably best explained by inexperience, this new AD did not see the age of our HC as an issue so instead of planning for a graceful exit (retirement) he encouraged the coach to stay. In a press conference in early 2014 our HOF coach famously said, "2 or 3 more years". Then very next year, when it was clear the team had fallen on hard times said HOF coach resigned mid-season. (Doing what he had wanted to do the year before.)

An interim coach was appointed and that team ended the year 3-9 losing to the Citadel.

Meanwhile, the coaching search began and seemed to be going well. Names like Tom Herman, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart were on the tip of everyone's tongue. Then things came unraveled, and names like Rich Rodriguez and Will Muschamp emerged in the discussion. So we hired a guy who had been fired 1 year before by a division rival and tried to claim he was always considered a top choice. (when everyone knew he was fall back) We explained his failure at UF by claiming (1) Florida fired him too soon; and (2) his problems on offense were due to interference by the school; and (3) He has learned from his mistakes.

That head coach then hired a QC coach from the Cleveland Browns as OC and an inexperienced and young DB coach as DC. (Instead of hiring the best and most experienced coordinators he could find.) So much for learning from mistakes.

Then the much respected University President decided to retire. A search was launched for his replacement. The University faculty and student organizations rightfully demanded a say in the hire for University President. (A reasonable and appropriate thing to do in a public university.)

Over the objections of those organizations one of the candidates for President was strong armed into the job raising questions undue and inappropriate political influence in a decision that should have been entirely based on ability and experience. This raised the spectre of a review by SACS which tainted the hire.

Meanwhile, back to the football program. After a 7-6 season in 2018, which included an embarrassing 28-0 loss to UVA in the Belk Bowl, the AD saw fit to extend the contract of the football coach until 2024 and included a raise and a buyout which at the time was 25.2 million. This made a coach with an average record the 5th highest paid coach in the SEC.

Now, at the end of this coach's 4th season that record has dropped to 4-7 and will probably be 4-8 a week from Saturday. Public and fan sentiment has shifted from support of this coaching to staff to against it. (not scientific polling I know, but that's the way it feels)

As that sentiment has shifted the following has also happened.

• One or more members of the BOT have had contact with a former player serving as AD at another school and possibly one other candidate for AD.
• The University President and the current AD have made what most consider to be statements which point to equivocal (lukewarm) support of the football coach
• The University President publicly stated that the AD had contacted another school to ask how a large buyout for their football coach was handled.
• The University President (through a press release) denied making that statement.
• The two media outlets have now said they stand by their statements and that the President did in fact say that the AD had contacted this other school about the buyout.

So here is where we stand. We have a football coach who will finish his 4th season with a losing record (just after getting a raise) and has lost the support of many (if not most) fans. That coach may now have lost the support of school officials. Those same school officials have made public statements which undermine that coach. At least one of them denies making the statement but there is actual proof that he did make the statement.

I'd say we have quite a mess and the people who would normally sort it out have actually made it worse.

Nice review, but not a Pastides fan. He and his cronies were silly enough to get caught up in a public email scandal that was bush league at best. He mostly played on Twitter and pal'd around with the students. Then he hired Tanner as AD, and as you so clearly point out, he bungled the succession in football because he's a baseball coach, not an Athletic director. You are right, all of them have contributed to our decline. Caslen now has his big screwup; we will see if there is a method to this madness that might actually bring about positive results. It's a real shame, but in our society today, apparently the results justify the means.

 

[bucketdad]

Kinda feel like both our HOF coaches can be linked together as one being one paved the way for the other. Take those two away, and we're right back where we started... a screwed up mess. You might ask how did we get here. I'm not sure we ever left. Just took a break to be good for a while. But I'll keep hoping we can get it right next time... like I always do.

 

[OldWiseCock]

Nice review, but not a Pastides fan. He and his cronies were silly enough to get caught up in a public email scandal that was bush league at best. He mostly played on Twitter and pal'd around with the students. Then he hired Tanner as AD, and as you so clearly point out, he bungled the succession in football because he's a baseball coach, not an Athletic director. You are right, all of them have contributed to our decline. Caslen now has his big screwup; we will see if there is a method to this madness that might actually bring about positive results. It's a real shame, but in our society today, apparently the results justify the means.

I was not a big fan either. I think the BOT hired Tanner. Not sure Pastides had anything to do with that.

 

[OldWiseCock]

Always try and look for motives when people take a stance or position, it's worked out well for raising kids, etc...
Is it possible that Tanner did this because Muschamp made gestures indicating that he wanted to move on down the road?
There is no evidence that this happened, merely speculation.
Pretty sure there was not a better offer on the horizon for CWM, perhaps it was a consideration for health reasons?
He always looks pretty stressed out.
Leaving after a winning or 50% season wouldn't be the worse thing to take to a lower division school on a resume.
How much was he making per year before the contract re-negotiation?
Again, this is purely speculative while attempting to search for a motive.

There was no chance he was going to be hired away and no one had asked to talk to him. But in retrospect, I think I had the chronology wrong. They signed the extension in 2018 but before the season had begun - or maybe early in the season. I would have to look it up.

We ended 2017 on a high note by beating Michigan in a bowl game. That may have been the catalyst for a raise and buyout. But it would have taken another big season (9 or 10 wins) before anyone came calling. That's when you extend a contract. At least that's how other schools do it.

 

[OldWiseCock]

Kinda feel like both our HOF coaches can be linked together as one being one paved the way for the other. Take those two away, and we're right back where we started... a screwed up mess. You might ask how did we get here. I'm not sure we ever left. Just took a break to be good for a while. But I'll keep hoping we can get it right next time... like I always do.

Good point. Maybe we just took a brief hiatus from our norm. We sure seem to have regressed to the mean.

 

[johncockroach]

This can't be said enough. Muschamp's biggest failure as a HC is gambling on coordinators. Even after Roper he still gambled on BMac, when at a bare minimum he could have made Werner OC, who has a long track record of success in that role.

I hoped someone on the message boards would have some insider info on Muschamp's rationale behind his OC decisions, Roper and BMac were head-scratchers, who else did we interview? Would the administration not pony up more $$ to get a top notch OC? Wasn't it clear CWM was a good defensive coach, good recruiter, but just needed that top guy he could completely hand the offense to, and he shouldn't be trusted to make decisions regarding the offense? Did we try and get top guys and they refused to work with CWM? Or did CWM really think they were the best candidates? Does Santa even exist?

Someone please answer my questions because the incompetence regarding hiring the OC's doesn't make any sense. I at least know the narrative OldWiseCock laid out regarding how we went from the golden days to the crapper, but this specifically is a black box.

 

[bucketdad]

Good point. Maybe we just took a brief hiatus from our norm. We sure seem to have regressed to the mean.

If memory serves, Holtz had just about everything to do with Spurrier coming here. He was well respected by Spurrier and he had Steve convinced he could come in here and win in spite of our history. Makes me wonder if it is that easy a sell now with the rise of the taters and the crap Muschamp has dragged us through. That's kinda why I'd like to see us go with a young hungry energetic type guy with the world ahead of him this time. Question for me is would a once bitten type administration take that kind of chance. I kinda think not.

 

[lexgamecock]

I've got no problem with what Caslen said. I would have said more. Anyone making 4mil and has failed as miserably as Muschamp should have pressure put on him.

 

[slufstuff]

I may have that wrong. But it was done in 2018. Maybe negotiations started after the 9-4 season??

The extension was signed in December 2018. I think what is throwing everybody off is it was a TWO year extension giving Muschamp a 6 year contract at that time. Plus the then $25+ million buyout.

 

[sclawman77]

I've got no problem with what Caslen said. I would have said more. Anyone making 4mil and has failed as miserably as Muschamp should have pressure put on him.

Yeah if Muschamp resigns (he won't) over feeling lack of support from the administration because of Caslens comments then consider that a positive thing.

 

[onebigdude]

...and after everything was said and done, the Skipper removed his hat and hit Gilligan over the head with it.