Saw this on the other board and in an article here. Pretty similar circumstances, a first-year head coach who was a D-coordinator taking over a solid winning program.
In Smart's first year, Georgia went 8-5 with a squeaker 26-24 win over Nicholls State, who finished 5-6 in FCS. Scored only 14, 16 and 10 points im losses to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Florida.
Those of you already definitively saying Marcus Freeman was the wrong hire need to keep in mind Georgia fans (I live in South Carolina and work in Savannah) were saying the exact same things about Smart, who had a very similar first year to what we're seeing with Freeman. (I've already mentioned several times the same happened to Swinney with Clemson.) And recruits didn't start to "jump ship." Georgia has the #3 class in 2017.
Freeman might turn out to be another Faust...or he might turn out to be another Smart. So all this talk that he's already run his course and we should bring in another coach after this year is just foolish. We'll have a better idea of what he can accomplish a year from now. Be patient.
Saban first year at Bama, 7-6. If you base your judgment of a coach on year one, good luck.
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to win his 4th when he left....
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year.
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looks bad.
I do agree with you though, other good programs hire coordinators like Riley and Smart. Here you need 10 years as a head coach to do it apparently. Like many players need be juniors before they get a chance. Crazy.
elly clearly felt he was above learning and should have been the PHD professor to all others. I tend to think Freeman is a man who reflects and changes for the better.
a real low basement due to inexperience. Hopefully the lift is headed up not down.