The idea that you need more than 3-4 years before you can start to see real results at a major program is complete and utter horse ****. One, let's not compare this to Butch Davis's situation, where he had to deal with 34 lost scholarship.
Two, let's look at some of the examples of how top coaches did early in their careers at their new schools. Jim Tressel won a title his second year at Ohio State. Bob Stoops won a title his second year at OU. Urban Meyer won a title his second year at UF. Nick Saban won a title his fourth at LSU. Pete Carroll had USC rolling by his second year. Jimbo Fisher won the ACC in third. Gus Malzahn took Auburn to the NC game in ONE year.
In fact, every national title winning coach during the BCS era has demonstrated very quickly (that is, within 4 years, and usually less) that they are capable of getting their team to play at a high level and win a ****load of games. Does that mean that Golden needed to win the national title by this year? No, but the chances of him ever doing anything of note here are extremely low. In four years, his best season is going to be 9-4. There's a common thread among the coaches who have reached the ultimate goal over the past ~two decades, and Golden doesn't have it. It does not take that long to put together a competent team in college football if you know what you're doing. Golden has proved this year that even when he has the players, he's still a loser.
Yet the Penn State cultists among our fan base will ignore that and be happy with a four loss season.
My Freshman year here was Golden's first year. After losing to Virginia on a Thursday night, and walking out of the stadium, my friend asked me how long I would give Golden? I said 4 years! Why? Because every coach had until their first recruiting class leaves. 4 years is all anyone should get to improve a program and achieve its goals.
4 years in, and we are at about the same position as we were 4 years ago. No improvement, despite there being more talent. It's disgusting. The Coastal was well in reach last year and this year. I would be willing to give Golden more time if we had won the Coastal last year and this year, because that is where this program should be. No excuses.
We're not where we should be, therefore it's clear changes need to be made. Why are we the fans, who don't get paid to make these decisions, the ones who see this?
