I posted this in another thread:
https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/ad-records.152455/#post-4240270
or here
https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/i-can’t-defend-manny.152274/page-31#post-4242454
[I apologize for the lack of brevity]
The following is an
analysis of the Blake James era as it pertains to
actual on the field performance from our football team. Although Blake James was appointed as interim athletic director in October, 2012, he wasn’t officially named athletic director until February, 2013.
I will not hold the results of the interim period against him, although they would further tarnish his tenure (we went 3-4 after he was appointed interim AD). In addition, since the 2019 season is hardly complete, I will not include those results in the following, although they would further tarnish his tenure. Discounting the interim period and this current season, we’re left with six full seasons to evaluate his performance.
The goal is to win more games. We’re not winning enough. I believe in accountability; I believe in logic and reasoning. I am using the actual results during his era and I am left at one conclusion. With that said, I am unclear how we arrived here or who is actually in charge.
- Position #1: Blake James has been fully in control since he was appointed athletic director; why would anyone consider allowing him to have more time?
- Position #2: Blake James doesn’t have control of the athletic department, if that is the case, what purpose does he serve? Why keep him?
Conclusion:
Regardless of whether Blake was/is in control or not, we need to bring in a passionate and competent athletic director. This person should have autonomy/full control of the athletic department. It is of my opinion that the results are unlikely to change until we bring in this person. My hope is to explain to you that it doesn’t take a lot to field a better on the field performance. It isn’t talent or money that is holding us back, it is simply poor, illogical and irrational decision making and a lack of accountability.
Please note that I am not saying that by simply replacing the athletic director, with those attributes, we will be Clemson. I am simply saying that by bringing in the right person, we will field a much better on the field performance and we will win a lot more games.
The Blake James Era: The results of 78 Games between 2013-2018
Since 2013, we’ve played 78 football games. During that span, we’ve essentially had two head coaches: (1) Al Golden and (2) Mark Richt.
The results of those 78 football games have been pretty “consistent”…
Total Games Played: 78
Overall Record: 49-29 (63%)
Average Overall Record 8.2 - 4.8
Total Conference Games Played: 48
Overall Conference Record: 29-19 (60%)
Average Overall Conference Record: 4.8 - 3.2
Average Finish/Place in the Coastal: 2.7
No matter who we play, we’ve lost ~ 40% of our games. We’ve consistently finished in the middle of the Coastal Division and this division features a subpar group of teams. I examined those 29 losses and I came up with the following:
- 15 (51.7%) were to teams who finished the season unranked.
- 8 (27.6%) were to teams who finished the season ranked in the top 10.
- Our average margin of loss was 15.4 PPG.
- 19 (65.5%) were lost by at least 10 points.
As logic dictates, the better the opponent, the more difficult it is to win. I understand it is difficult to beat top 10 opponents, I can easily discount those 8 losses (this doesn’t mean I find it acceptable to lose those games). With that said, I would like to focus on these 15 losses to unranked teams because that is the point of this analysis.
A competent coach is able to put their players in the best position to succeed. A competent coach is able to limit mistakes. A competent coach is able to out coach inferior coaches and inferior teams. A competent coach is able to perform better in those 15 games. We haven’t had a competent coach during this era. We haven’t had a competent coach in a long time.
At the very least, we should be able to bring in a competent coach. At the very least, a competent coach should be able to win 70% of those 15 games. If we won 11 of those 15 games, we’re looking at an overall record of 60-18 (76.9%). Obviously, a competent coach gives us a better chance to win games against ranked opponents, but that isn’t the point. I am simply pointing out that we’re consistently losing to subpar teams and it is easy to see how we arrived here.
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Everyone in the athletic department MUST go. This is the real and only relevant issue. Coaches don't hire and extend themselves. They're hired by admin. These two are "self-inflicted cancer" and worse than anything the NCAA could ever do to us.
