dont hire mario

[E1k]

Someone unban him, we need a real explanation on what is Alpha about lane lol

 

[S.CarolinaCane]

I've had some unfathomably incorrect takes on here but anyone claiming that they knew Mario would always eventually succeed here is wrong.

He CRIMINALLY underperformed his first 2 years and if he didn't pull Cam Ward at the last second, i really wonder if he'd be the coach here right now.

He's got the train on the tracks and its full steam ahead but we're not going to act like losing to MTSU and GT were necessary parts of the plan.

Lol
Theres dumb..and then theres...
Well you know

 

[canecrazy23]

If this program can get TEs figured out I can’t see where it’s weak. Oh and kicking. Taylor has improved a ton, Lewis is elite, Hetherman was a brilliant hire, DBs need to improve tackling but they always do.

QB should be elite. Fletcher is a stud. WR room will be improved.

Taylor is Elite and our best DL coach. Lewis is also very good and this year will prove to be one of the best interior coaches in college.

 

[canecrazy23]

At least this thread was pretty much shut down in 2023, e.g. pre-Ward.

@McGahee2TheHouse is at least consistent. There is something to be said about consistency.
@JustAFanHTX I’m surprised you went to strong in that anti-Mario direction. You aren’t a mope so you must have believed it.
[B]@cway313[/B] come on I’m surprised you could not see the future despite the weak results through 2023.

To his credit cway313 seems to be coming around on Mario.

 

[canecrazy23]

To be fair a lot of the criticism toward Mario was deserved leading up to the SMU loss. To his defense he made a lot of good offseason moves (Firing Gattis and Lance) and getting the right guys in here. I'd say about 80% of the board here were getting restless with the underwhelming results.

Agree but this thread was made right before Mario was hired.

 

[Ironmanfootball]

If this program can get TEs figured out I can’t see where it’s weak. Oh and kicking. Taylor has improved a ton, Lewis is elite, Hetherman was a brilliant hire, DBs need to improve tackling but they always do.

QB should be elite. Fletcher is a stud. WR room will be improved.

Taylor is Elite and our best DL coach. Lewis is also very good and this year will prove to be one of the best interior coaches in college.

This will be a great test for Taylor. No more 28yo Mesidor and elite Bain.

Wilson and Lightfoot aren’t as well rounded. If he can get them to set the edge and play the run I’ll have total faith.

Also development re Lowe and Blount has to happen.

 

[canecrazy23]

This will be a great test for Taylor. No more 28yo Mesidor and elite Bain.

Wilson and Lightfoot aren’t as well rounded. If he can get them to set the edge and play the run I’ll have total faith.

Also development re Lowe and Blount has to happen.

Lowe and Blount would start on most teams in the nation. I don't think you realize how incredile this line is going to be.

 

[Ironmanfootball]

This will be a great test for Taylor. No more 28yo Mesidor and elite Bain.

Wilson and Lightfoot aren’t as well rounded. If he can get them to set the edge and play the run I’ll have total faith.

Also development re Lowe and Blount has to happen.

Lowe and Blount would start on most teams in the nation. I don't think you realize how incredile this line is going to be.

I think Blount needs to start and play every run down. So I’m high on him. But potential in one hand and chit in the other ya know?

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

I generally think giving a coach about 3 years to fully judge them is fair to give the new guy a shot with his own players, but man, those first couple seasons under Mario were rough. But as the team changed from Manny's guys to Mario's recruits and transfers, you could see the improvement from year to year. Helps that he also is quick to fix coordinator issues as well.

UM carried a stench that had to be stripped down to the bolts and built back up to what it is now. I knew Mario wasnt some type of XOs magician so I never expected him to hit the ground running here with Manny players.

 

[supacane]

Someone unban him, we need a real explanation on what is Alpha about lane lol

2 coeds at the same time

 

[canecrazy23]

I think Blount needs to start and play every run down. So I’m high on him. But potential in one hand and chit in the other ya know?

Well Lowe at the end of Spring last year was the talk of the DL from both coaches and players. Now whether he's recovered fully is another question.

 

[DTP]

I present for your consideration: Coach Patrick Nix

Guys like Nix and Enos were both *** but neither inherited an offense that was good the year prior. Lashlee’s offense averaged 31 ppg against FBS opponents. The very next season Gattis’ offense averaged 19. The entire staff from 2022 was complete garbage

 

[Ironmanfootball]

I think Blount needs to start and play every run down. So I’m high on him. But potential in one hand and chit in the other ya know?

Well Lowe at the end of Spring last year was the talk of the DL from both coaches and players. Now whether he's recovered fully is another question.

So was Lofton.

 

[cway313]

At least this thread was pretty much shut down in 2023, e.g. pre-Ward.

@McGahee2TheHouse is at least consistent. There is something to be said about consistency.
@JustAFanHTX I’m surprised you went to strong in that anti-Mario direction. You aren’t a mope so you must have believed it.
@cway313 come on I’m surprised you could not see the future despite the weak results through 2023.

The failures with hiring coaching staffs the first few go arounds and the weak portal additions did not do much to inspire hope.

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

I've had some unfathomably incorrect takes on here but anyone claiming that they knew Mario would always eventually succeed here is wrong.

He CRIMINALLY underperformed his first 2 years and if he didn't pull Cam Ward at the last second, i really wonder if he'd be the coach here right now.

He's got the train on the tracks and its full steam ahead but we're not going to act like losing to MTSU and GT were necessary parts of the plan.

Tell that to those of us who were labeled MarioBRO & Slurper all the way up until we got that tenth seed........

 

[cookies]

I mean….i’d categorize the staffing hires as such below. Overall, I believe Mario has been pretty **** good in his hires and has gotten better as time went on.

Bad outcomes, not mad at the choice/reasoning why:

Kevin Steele—> hired at Alabama their DC then retired alongside Saban
Charlie Strong—> off-field job at Alabama; Bucs DLine coach last year; now a consultant at Memphis

Ultimately these guys were at the end of their careers although it didn’t look like that at the time. Mario hasn’t hired anyone older than him since these two moved on (Guidry is a year younger). Lesson learned.

One solid year, one bad year: Guidry. Moved on immediately and hit a home run with Hetherman who is the best Miami DC since Schiano aka in the 21st century. After working as a defensive assistant for LSU, Guidry is now the DC at Memphis.

Clear failures:

Frank Ponce. We came in second place for Nico Iamaleava and were distantly fifth or sixth for Dante Moore. He recruited Emory Williams who showed toughness and was a hard worker; besides that, not much else. Didn’t gel with Gattis. Jaden Rashada was committed to us for a bit.

Became OC for App State after leaving; now is the AHC/TE coach at FIU. Like Gattis, hasn’t done well since leaving. QBs were a mess in 2022 compared to where Lashalee left off.

Josh Gattis—> Maryland OC now Syracuse WRs coach. Clearly his recent accolades overshadowed how little responsibility he had for Michigan’s success. One of the two guys whose career has been getting progressively worse since he left.

Was hired after Bryan McClendon indicated he would be our WRs coach after Richt failed to get him down to Miami. McClendon had been at Oregon w/ Mario but left when his Alma mater UGA came calling. Current WRs coach for the Tampa bay buccaneers.

Mixed bag: Jahmile Addae. Championship coach at UGA who was T-Rob’s replacement when T-Rob went to Alabama after indicating he would stay on staff. Better on-field coaching than recruiting and rumors about being difficult to work for. Was hired by the Bills as their DB coach and is now the Dolphins DB coach. Has a son we are recruiting.

After Addae left to the Bills, Guidry and his vouched for hire in Chevis Jackson did ****-poor job with the DBs. Chevis Jackson had a solid year with Wake Forest as their DB coach and is still there.

held his own: Derek Nicholson. No complaints, did well during his two years here. At Missouri right now with some of the ‘canes who transferred out. Replaced Charlie strong.

Offensive rhythm humming:

Dawson was a slam dunk hire and we have things rolling.

The offensive staff has been pretty stable. Kevin Beard and Woodiel, who replaced Field, were hired around the same time. Beard has done well & shut the door on convos about his performance. Woodiel’s worst year was last year and he still got a promotion when leaving here; and had us in a prime position for Jaxson Dollar.

Have no worries about Upshaw and Viti. Everyone is excited about Terry Jefferson.

They are who we thought they were: A+ hires w/ Jason Taylor & Alex Mirabal

Another homerun hire in Will Harris. Coach Etheridge was a one and done hire who brought us Keointe Scott so how can he not be an excellent hire? Went to the NFL which is a sign of his success here.

Damione Lewis is coming into his own in his second year and doing very well imo. Our DTs kept getting better as the season progressed. Like Mario said about, he’s “an agent of change.”

Coach Joe Salave'a brought us SiSi and Kiko. Hard to overstate the importance of that. Mario moved on when the timing was right after three years and Jason Taylor’s rise in responsibility.

A Jason Taylor approved stopgap hire in Rod Wright who played at Texas and for the Miami Dolphins. After he left, he has consistently risen in organizational responsibility for the Houston Texans: assistant defensive line coach, defensive line coach, and now defensive run game coordinator + defensive line coach.

Tim Ice Harris: nothing notable about his tenure tbh. He recruited the Chris Weatley-Humphrey and Jordan Lyle RB class. He left Miami for a better job offer to be OC at UCF in their first year in the Big XII. Currently the OC at FSU. Before him was the one year run by Kevin Smith. Brought us Henry Parrish Jr. Went back to Ole Miss where we hired from. Now LSU’s RB coach.

Two great years from Matt Merrit. Helped sign three Armwood players including ultra-dynamic running back Girard Pringle who went in and out of the portal most recently. Took a NFL RBs job with the Cardinals. Success story.

Continuity:

Mike Rumph
Coach Field
Coach Stroud
Jorge Baez
Cooney before he left for a WR job then fell back at A&M.

Training:

Feld went to go live with his family lol. Hardly a messy breakup (unless there’s something i don’t know about). And we hired/promoted from within in addition to bringing back Young who was already here. Even the S&C/nutrition/sports science guys Mario brought in who left were only gone for a year or two; sometimes only for a few months. I’d say he did extremely well in this department.

 

[bdcane4eva]

Never a doubt.....

 

[JHallCanes]

The failures with hiring coaching staffs the first few go arounds and the weak portal additions did not do much to inspire hope.

2022-2023 recruiting classes were brutal as well

Granted we got Bain/Fletch/Mauigoa (hope Samson steps it up as well) in 23 but my goodness those classes hit rates are awful for depth charts

Getting a lot better very quickly though

 

[McGahee2TheHouse]

At least this thread was pretty much shut down in 2023, e.g. pre-Ward.

@McGahee2TheHouse is at least consistent. There is something to be said about consistency.
@JustAFanHTX I’m surprised you went to strong in that anti-Mario direction. You aren’t a mope so you must have believed it.
@cway313 come on I’m surprised you could not see the future despite the weak results through 2023.

I came around to Mario as soon as he started to show real results and honestly started drinking the kool-aid with Ward. I don’t think it was really that crazy to think in 2023 that our future didn’t look that great and Mario had made a series of missteps, most importantly with hiring bad coordinators. If anyone’s e-ego still needs it, I’ll spell it out and say I was wrong on Mario. Not sure what else some people want.

 

[kyle_schick]

There are many people who knew exactly that and a lot of them spoke up in 2018/2019 because they/we preferred Mario to Diaz. A lot of people who weren’t sold on Mario were 100% bought in after Oregon beat Ohio State.

What youre describing as "knowing" was blind hope. Dogmatic faith. You ended up being right, which I will never deny, but at the time (first few years), you were wrong. Mario had to have some serious "Come to Jesus" moments in order for things to work.

Now going back to the 2018/2019 timeframe, I cant speak to that. I wasn't paying attention to Mario then.

Either way, the last year and a half have been the best time to be a fan.