He has never been a head coach:
there is no substitute for actually being a head coach
paying your dues, experiencing the pressures of the job
making decisions under difficult circumstances, navigating
the swing of mommentum in game situations ang making the correct calls.
It takes a couple of years to learn the ropes as a head coach;
we have seen a long list of position coaches from the college
and the pro level, who excelled as coordinators/position coaches
became head coaches and who failed miserably.
One thing that was evident from this year's carolina team - there
was gaping holes in coordinating the offense. This should probably not come
as a big surprise; even though individual position coaches had many
years of experience , no one individual had coordinator experience
to draw on in difficult situations when it counted. Once again the
issue of experience shows up.
Do we really want to spend a couple of years training a position
coach (while paying him a top level salary), without some guarantee
of a high probability of success.
Some look to Kirby Smart as our recruiting savior based on his
success at Alabama. Alabama has a very good defense, but much of that
success is do to Saban who is regarded as one the best 'one man' recruiting
machines, It's a big leap to go from that to saying Smart will be a great
recruiter for Carolina in the absence of saban and alabama.
His ties to the Georgia recruiting base has been referenced, but
he hardly has a monopoly on that experience.
Carolina needs to significantly upgrade the recruiting game.
We needs a 'smart' recruiting system, not a one man wonder;
certainly the head coach is a big part of that - but you need outstanding
recruiters at all coaching positions.
Perhaps, Tanner should shoulder a bigger part of the responsibility
for the recruiting success or lack thereof. Perhaps Tanner should focus on
developing a better recruiting system and developing coaches such that
you turn average coaches into above average performers.
Smart may turn out to be good enough head coach material, but at the
very least you are paying, not for Smart's past success, but for his
performance by association with the school/coach he works for. Smart might
be a better fit for Georgia that seems to have an easier job recruiting
The question is, does Tanner have the evidence/confidence to hire Smart - to make
that call ?.
there is no substitute for actually being a head coach
paying your dues, experiencing the pressures of the job
making decisions under difficult circumstances, navigating
the swing of mommentum in game situations ang making the correct calls.
It takes a couple of years to learn the ropes as a head coach;
we have seen a long list of position coaches from the college
and the pro level, who excelled as coordinators/position coaches
became head coaches and who failed miserably.
One thing that was evident from this year's carolina team - there
was gaping holes in coordinating the offense. This should probably not come
as a big surprise; even though individual position coaches had many
years of experience , no one individual had coordinator experience
to draw on in difficult situations when it counted. Once again the
issue of experience shows up.
Do we really want to spend a couple of years training a position
coach (while paying him a top level salary), without some guarantee
of a high probability of success.
Some look to Kirby Smart as our recruiting savior based on his
success at Alabama. Alabama has a very good defense, but much of that
success is do to Saban who is regarded as one the best 'one man' recruiting
machines, It's a big leap to go from that to saying Smart will be a great
recruiter for Carolina in the absence of saban and alabama.
His ties to the Georgia recruiting base has been referenced, but
he hardly has a monopoly on that experience.
Carolina needs to significantly upgrade the recruiting game.
We needs a 'smart' recruiting system, not a one man wonder;
certainly the head coach is a big part of that - but you need outstanding
recruiters at all coaching positions.
Perhaps, Tanner should shoulder a bigger part of the responsibility
for the recruiting success or lack thereof. Perhaps Tanner should focus on
developing a better recruiting system and developing coaches such that
you turn average coaches into above average performers.
Smart may turn out to be good enough head coach material, but at the
very least you are paying, not for Smart's past success, but for his
performance by association with the school/coach he works for. Smart might
be a better fit for Georgia that seems to have an easier job recruiting
The question is, does Tanner have the evidence/confidence to hire Smart - to make
that call ?.
