Not saying MF is Saban. But he's the best and had horrendous losses his first few years too.
It all depends on what MF learns from this first go. Remember, Saban was coaching for about 17 years before getting the LSU job. One would think he was past those embarrassing losses?
That said, slipping on a banana peel out of the gate, getting up, falling down again and then running the wrong way bodes ill.
Maybe he turns into something special, maybe not. One thing I do know is that the odds are against it. ND should've been smart enough not to be someone's training wheels, because it sure hasn't worked for them in the past.
That said, even after all this rubbish, I still am glad that purpleface is not at the helm.
The question is how much control Rees has over the offense. As a former big Rees promoter, I now recognize he simply doesn't understand how to maximize what he has. Continually calling plays that don't work out.
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And they're doing against anyone...whether they sustain or not is one thing but the system is there...and as you see if they do sustain they're winning like K St and TCU are which should be a good game this wknd.
there were and are some obvious issues. The recruiting was sub par and he immediately remedied that...faster than most could anticipate....Only imagine it getting better and that's a thought.
The players that are here...have some stain from BK and the previous regime and that's going to be hard to overcome or wipe away. Especially if you don't have the players to just sub-in. Which goes back
to the first issue. Then there's the whole issue of having a completely new staff and having to build rapport and chemistry and adopting to the culture, new players -- that's a lot.
So all in all, I know we want perfection out the gate, especially when you see how the players reacted to the announcement, then you hear Freeman talk, you see him recruit. But it still takes time.
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That all was many years ago. We can't justify the losses to Marshall and Stanford. Just can't. Not saying MF won't be successful. We just don't know.
The jury is obviously still out. But, the faster we move on from underperforming assistance and get achieving players PT the more we'll know. No reason to drag out the process.
Very inexperienced HC inherited a pretty darn good program.
Freeman made the mistake of trusting Rees too much. Or he was forced to trust. Who really knows. Ultimately it's on Freeman. I understand this.
But the point still stands. A tenured Saban lost games he shouldn't have lost while a first time HC in Freeman lost games he shouldn't have lost. I don't think anyone thought Freeman wouldn't make these mistakes. On the flip side, I don't think many thought Rees' offense would look this bad. Rees at least has more experience as an OC than MF has as a HC.