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View Full Version : Great anology by Manny Diaz about coaching tenures



ShotgunDawg
09-04-2013, 07:46 AM
Was listening to Bo Bounds this morning, and he re-ran an interview with Scott Stricklin in which Scott talked about something that Manny Diaz had told him this summer in a visit to Austin.

Manny said,

"Coach's tenures are like a kid growing into a man. The first 3 years, everything, including the mess-ups are cute and adorable. From years 4-6, a coach is like an awkward adolescent, people aren't sure how they feel about everything, and problems occur. Then once your past year 6 a coaching staff grows into maturity. At this point people trust the coaching staff, and the coaching staff has experimented and found what works and how to win at the school."


I thought this was a great quote and was very true. From a 30,000 feet view Dan is obviously in the awkward adolescent period of his tenure. Things are uncomfortable and we can't figure out why or where things are going, but at the end of the day, our program is still heading in the right direction. We are expanding the stadium, have been to 3 straight bowls, have a beautiful new football building, and have recruited better the last few years than we have in many.

I often wonder how things were back in the 1960's, 70's, and 80's when there weren't 24 hour news cycles, message boards, and coaches making hugh money. I wonder if this era of sports with all these things has created a knee jerk society where we react and blow small problems completely out of proportion?

To hammer home the point, I saw this tweet by Mike Bianchi this morning in response to a fan, which is short for fanatic:

Mike Bianchi ‏@BianchiWrites 2m
That's ridiculous RT @ChrisATLprayer: Muschamp should be fired if they do lose to Miami plain and simple.

Anyway, there are obviously some issues that we all hope and pray are improved upon over the next two weeks, but I thought Manny provided some solid perspective that was worth passing on.

Political Hack
09-04-2013, 07:57 AM
I agree completely. We are at a good spot. barring a massive screw job in scheduling this year, we would've had 4 straight bowl games. It's going to be tough now, but still very possible. If our defense can continue to play as well as they did Saturday and the offense finds any rhythm we could get to 6-7 wins.

Dan has taken the program to its highest level since the late 90's and given our basketball search, I really don't think a coaching search would end as well for us as it did last time (assuming its not just a plug and play with Hud.)

DownwardDawg
09-04-2013, 08:06 AM
[QUOTE=Political Hack;
and given our basketball search, I really don't think a coaching search would end as well for us as it did last time (assuming its not just a plug and play with Hud.)[/QUOTE]

If we didn't just hire Hud, I'd be nervous as hell to see who Strickland hired.

mic
09-04-2013, 08:23 AM
I agree completely. We are at a good spot. barring a massive screw job in scheduling this year, we would've had 4 straight bowl games. It's going to be tough now, but still very possible. If our defense can continue to play as well as they did Saturday and the offense finds any rhythm we could get to 6-7 wins.

Dan has taken the program to its highest level since the late 90's and given our basketball search, I really don't think a coaching search would end as well for us as it did last time (assuming its not just a plug and play with Hud.)

If our defense plays that way we WILL get to 7 wins..

mic
09-04-2013, 08:28 AM
If we didn't just hire Hud, I'd be nervous as hell to see who Strickland hired.

Well if it comes to that maybe he would raid Clemson again and hire the OC there Chad Morris... Very impressive..

Political Hack
09-04-2013, 08:38 AM
By the end of the season we will have played against five top ten teams. If we get to 7 wins its because we were perfect against similarly talented competition. CDM will have earned every penny of his paycheck if we sweep Arky, Auburn, UK, & OM. I think we can potentially beat A&M too. Bama will give us a good blue print to follow defensively.

In terms of who's the next man up, I'd be shocked if its not Hud. He's got the right backing for the position, if he still wants it.

Bo Darville
09-04-2013, 09:10 AM
I often wonder how things were back in the 1960's, 70's, and 80's when there weren't 24 hour news cycles, message boards, and coaches making hugh money. I wonder if this era of sports with all these things has created a knee jerk society where we react and blow small problems completely out of proportion?



Our game threads during baseball season on this board, and during the Oklahoma State game in football. Some of the things said were unreal and idiotic. Now, I'm all for reasonable and possible solutions to real problems (as many have discussed about our offense). I'm not for knee-jerk fixes to errors that inevitably happen. Only a message board would cut Adrian Peterson if he fumbles once, or cut Aaron Rodgers if he throws one interception. I was at a Saints game two years ago where Brees threw an interception. The guy behind me told his buddy that the Saints should trade Brees because of it. His buddy said it was a bad idea because with throws like that, no team would be willing to take Brees. They were serious (and intoxicated). People only remember the last throw sometimes. Our message boards benched Hunter Renfroe every time he failed at the plate (which happens about 2/3 of the time with good baseball players).

SignalToNoise
09-04-2013, 09:34 AM
During games people say things that are emotionally charged so I think little of it. After everyone calms down a day or two later if people make idiotic comments then that is a different story. I say things during games a lot that I'll b the first to admit are stupid.

In response to the original post, that is a really good analogy. "Cute/adorable" phase has worn off for sure. Things feel awkward and it's mostly because of the tools we are working with at QB. Going forward, with QB's like Dak, Williams, and Staley on the depth chart, there is no excuse for this bullshit half-assed offense. Once Mullen has a depth chart full of his preferred dual-threat QBs we should see the program take a solid direction and not deviate.