re: Oc targets

quote:

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I doubt saban, sarkisian and kiffin (twice) hired this guy bc of his name

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He was 22 when he worked for Saban, a coach who hires "offensive analysts" out of professional courtesy every single season, and he was younger than the majority of the roster when working for Sark at the Falcons, which was an unmitigated disaster. It is very difficult to imagine he would've had either of these opportunities but for the fact he's a notable coach's kid.

I trust Lane, but we did just hire a dude who very likely would not have had much job security at USF this year without some significant improvement. He's still only 28, and his work at USF has been bad to say the least, albeit with some program issues, QB issues, and the general obstacles of COVID. Still, CWJ's offenses at USF have yet to average more than 23.2 points per game, have yet to average more than 6.6 yards per pass or 4 yards per rush, and have yet to crack the top 100 offensive ratings. There's not much reason to doubt Lane, but CWJ is preposterously unproven for a guy who's now an offensive coordinator in the most difficult division in the entire sport. It's also kinda hard not to see the sighs of relief USF fans have after us hiring him away as anything other than a bit of a red flag.

Of course, none of this matters if it works, but it's hard to view this hire as CWJ earning this promotion purely on merit. Like, I feel it is completely fair to ask, "What has CWJ proven?" It seems like CWJ has already skipped multiple steps along the proverbial cursus honorum traditionally necessary in order to rise to the ranks of coordinator in the SECW, while faltering at the last step before getting here to boot. There's a lot more money and a lot less margin for error involved at this level too.

I really do trust Lane, and I imagine he probably sees some of himself in CWJ as well as kids who immediately followed in their fathers' coaching footsteps, but it's also fine to be a bit skeptical of us hiring a dude USF would've probably fired in 2022 without some marked improvement. On its face, it is not a hire you would expect a program paying a coach top 10 money to make, nor was CWJ a name that was getting floated around seemingly anywhere while so many major programs were reshuffling their staffs. I'm not really sure how to spin this as something other than a risky hire by a coach who enjoys taking risks