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Alonzo Highsmith was the guy we needed most

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ItsAUThing.com said:
I thought this for a while, until I really started looking at the age gap between someone like Highsmith and these current kids.

Most of these kids weren't even alive when Ed Reed and the 2001 Canes won it all.

Have a hard time believing this coddled generation would respond well to Highsmith's old school, hard *** way of thinking.

The best we could've hoped for in this position was Reed, who is an asset to Diaz and is much more present on game day than most were expecting—when calling this a PR stunt months back.
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Alonso would have been the chief executive, just an overseer with a competent AD, football ops department and a real HC. The guys he had in place were high level and had successes at their respective positions
 
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ItsAUThing.com said:
I thought this for a while, until I really started looking at the age gap between someone like Highsmith and these current kids.

Most of these kids weren't even alive when Ed Reed and the 2001 Canes won it all.

Have a hard time believing this coddled generation would respond well to Highsmith's old school, hard *** way of thinking.

The best we could've hoped for in this position was Reed, who is an asset to Diaz and is much more present on game day than most were expecting—when calling this a PR stunt months back.
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Kids these days respond to Saban. He’s a hard ***. Meyer was no cuddly players coach. And neither is Dabo, despite the ‘family’ atmosphere he projects. Kirby Smart is a Saban disciple.

I’d love to see video of Manny seriously getting in a player’s face.

Doesn’t exist, I’ll bet.
 
TemplarCane said:
Kids these days respond to Saban. He’s a hard ***. Meyer was no cuddly players coach. And neither is Dabo, despite the ‘family’ atmosphere he projects. Kirby Smart is a Saban disciple.

I’d love to see video of Manny seriously getting in a player’s face.

Doesn’t exist, I’ll bet.
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Do you know or have you ever spent time with any of them? Or are you just telling us what you think? Tell me about Lombardi and Belichick please
 
TemplarCane said:
Kids these days respond to Saban. He’s a hard ***. Meyer was no cuddly players coach. And neither is Dabo, despite the ‘family’ atmosphere he projects. Kirby Smart is a Saban disciple.

I’d love to see video of Manny seriously getting in a player’s face.

Doesn’t exist, I’ll bet.
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The difference is Saban is 3 or 4 deep with 5 stars at every position. Easy to say get it right or sit when you know you can be replaced with someone just as good. We don't have the depth to do that yet.
 
Bernie 2-0 said:
Alonso would have been the chief executive, just an overseer with a competent AD, football ops department and a real HC. The guys he had in place were high level and had successes at their respective positions
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Have you ever spent time with him? Tell me about his success please. Would you like him to make us as successful as his previous team?
 
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pass. no kid is sitting there saying lets go to miami bc a dude from 90 years ago is there. ed reed was a fine hire and can actually relate to and work w these kids.
 
TemplarCane said:
Butch’s last staff at Miami included three future NFL HCs and future college HCs. Any of Shannon’s, Golden’s, or Richt’s staff move on to bigger and better things?
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Do you actually think we’ll ever have another coach with the ability to find and get athletic and coaching talent at the level Butch did? Let me know if Urban wants to coach here. Outside of him, there isn’t another man alive and available that compares. Period
 
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Bernie 2-0 said:
Firstly he would not stand for a glorified high school staff or and AD that ran a ticket office. Have you ever seen the machine the elite schools operate? Our Athletic and football ops dept are a joke. Look at who we’ve hired in 20 years. Ever follow our assistants and where they’ve gone when the left here. I don’t care where he worked, the NFL is the NFL and he is respected by all. His access to coaches would easily surpass what we have on our sideline. His idea of a real AD would be a huge upgrade. What we’ve done over the last 20 years is a disgrace and I’ll listen to people that know what it takes to run a successful program before I listen to the CIS All Stars. You are watching Incompetent smoke and mirrors, not a football program on the rise. Reality is tough to deal with!
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He wouldn't stand for this or that. He wouldn't have the power to make those changes.

Yes, I'm aware of what the elite do. They bring more money into their program in one year than we do in five if I had to guess. It's time you and some others realize that we're a small university trying to compete with the national elites. What some of you seem to never understand or realize, we weren't ever supposed to do what we did back then and we sure aren't now. It's tougher now, we'll never have the financial backing of those schools. The money gap is much bigger than it ever was and still growing.

The coaches we've hired the last 20 years, no question, leave a lot to be desired. There aren't a lot of surefire hires in this game and beyond just the coaching staff, the elites are spending a fortune in support staff, facilities, etc. So even if a big name like Meyer, Venebles, or whomever becomes available, why are they coming here? We can't pay top salary for a head coach, let alone everything beyond that. We don't have the money to do so, so w have to look at coaches who are looking to cut their teeth. That or find those who just haven't been given a shot.

Highsmith, how respected is he? He wasn't able to land a parallel job after he was let go. He is a part of an organization, but nowhere near the top. I'm not going to smear his name, but you're overstating his standing.

We have greater access to anyone than he does. We call, they'll take the call. He may have some ideas, but so do a bunch of people. You act like him being a part of an NFL organization is some magic sauce. Guess what most NFL coaches have no experience with. They have never recruited. They have no connection with local coaches. They potentially have a hard time filling a staff, nevermind the hurdles we already have there. Just for fun, say Ed Reed calls (not his place) or Highsmith does, which one do they call back first.

Highsmith is a good man. I'm not going to disagree with you there. He hasn't done much of anything you've suggested and you for whatever reason think he would just come in and we're back. That's an opinion, not one based on actual evidence or job performance, but you're entitled to it, I just don't think he's what you're making him out to be.
 
Boarcane said:
Do you actually think we’ll ever have another coach with the ability to find and get athletic and coaching talent at the level Butch did? Let me know if Urban wants to coach here. Outside of him, there isn’t another man alive and available that compares. Period
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Not to mention there are so many changes between then and now, but the Botch fan brigade never admits that.
 
SayWhat said:
He wouldn't stand for this or that. He wouldn't have the power to make those changes.

Yes, I'm aware of what the elite do. They bring more money into their program in one year than we do in five if I had to guess. It's time you and some others realize that we're a small university trying to compete with the national elites. What some of you seem to never understand or realize, we weren't ever supposed to do what we did back then and we sure aren't now. It's tougher now, we'll never have the financial backing of those schools. The money gap is much bigger than it ever was and still growing.

The coaches we've hired the last 20 years, no question, leave a lot to be desired. There aren't a lot of surefire hires in this game and beyond just the coaching staff, the elites are spending a fortune in support staff, facilities, etc. So even if a big name like Meyer, Venebles, or whomever becomes available, why are they coming here? We can't pay top salary for a head coach, let alone everything beyond that. We don't have the money to do so, so w have to look at coaches who are looking to cut their teeth. That or find those who just haven't been given a shot.

Highsmith, how respected is he? He wasn't able to land a parallel job after he was let go. He is a part of an organization, but nowhere near the top. I'm not going to smear his name, but you're overstating his standing.

We have greater access to anyone than he does. We call, they'll take the call. He may have some ideas, but so do a bunch of people. You act like him being a part of an NFL organization is some magic sauce. Guess what most NFL coaches have no experience with. They have never recruited. They have no connection with local coaches. They potentially have a hard time filling a staff, nevermind the hurdles we already have there. Just for fun, say Ed Reed calls (not his place) or Highsmith does, which one do they call back first.

Highsmith is a good man. I'm not going to disagree with you there. He hasn't done much of anything you've suggested and you for whatever reason think he would just come in and we're back. That's an opinion, not one based on actual evidence or job performance, but you're entitled to it, I just don't think he's what you're making him out to be.
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bc you said venables, do you even trust him to come in and be the elite coach at his first coaching job as an HC in the p5 right away? youre still getting unproven coach on his first real HC job. similar to smart, where he has the backing of boosters to spend unlimited money to make up for where he lacks (coaching -- offense specifically). smart w better players than richt has been worse than richt in an easier SEC east.
 
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SayWhat said:
Not to mention there are so many changes between then and now, but the Botch fan brigade never admits that.
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i think it was liberty or go geta who said it best -- we will never be alabama. never. not going to happen. lebatard has been saying forever that the 80s canes were a shock to everyone bc we weren't supposed to do it. we caught lightning in a bottle for those 10 years till the rest of the country caught up. we can hope to have that LSU run imo or build it up the way clemson did. took a lot of down years and even average years where they lost and got blown out by the elite teams in big games, but kept winning consistently (9-10 games) till they landed the elite QB and built up their depth. now theyre a machine. we have to hope manny wins however he does it bc we need a strong season. you will never get good hiring and firing coaches every 3-5 years esp when you aren't hiring Urban Meyer, Saban, etc. even tom herman, the god send from a few years ago, is struggling at a place like UT where the money is unlimited.
 
Boarcane said:
Have you ever spent time with him? Tell me about his success please. Would you like him to make us as successful as his previous team?
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Just curios since you have all the answers. Would Bob Stoops be an upgrade from Manny Diaz? Does Pete Carroll know a little about successful programs and organizations ( FYI he hired Al in Seattle when Blake and Manny got scared), Alonso did ok with GB and the Browns and the NFL contacts he has would be a huge upgrade in building a program. I trust people in the league like the 9ers front office and their opinions more than most.
 
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coffeecane said:
The difference is Saban is 3 or 4 deep with 5 stars at every position. Easy to say get it right or sit when you know you can be replaced with someone just as good. We don't have the depth to do that yet.
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Even if we had the depth that you say, what real coaches are there to teach them? These HS stars aren’t going to come in and dominate. They need to be taught by real coaches... Saban has Sark on offense and has that chit buzzin’. And Lil Nicky doesn’t fvck around ... you mess up sit the pine! Manolo doesn’t have the cojones to do that.
 
We’ll need to ride with Manny until the program decides otherwise. The administration is going to be satisfied with 9-win seasons. Let’s hope we can keep incoming 5* players like Williams and Taylor, the freshmen grow, and momentum builds.

I don’t like this any more than anyone else but I am not willing to root for complete failure.
 
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Bernie 2-0 said:
Just curios since you have all the answers. Would Bob Stoops be an upgrade from Manny Diaz? Does Pete Carroll know a little about successful programs and organizations ( FYI he hired Al in Seattle when Blake and Manny got scared), Alonso did ok with GB and the Browns and the NFL contacts he has would be a huge upgrade in building a program. I trust people in the league like the 9ers front office and their opinions more than most.
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We’re in a good spot for now. Say whatever you will. Those two guys aren’t coming. He’s not responsible for either one of those guys and we both know it. However, Pete in his early years wasn’t exactly a college and pro football hall of game coach. Ed is the right guy at the right time like always. Manny is fine for now. It’s not happening overnight. No savior is coming. It’s going to take 85 great kids and that’s exactly what manny is doing correctly. If you can’t see that and understand how long it’s going to take, you’re wrong about more than Alonzo. He wouldn’t have been the worst choice, but what Ed brings in culture and recruiting Alonzo never could have by himself, without burning all down again. That’s the answer and the truth.
 
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