Here's the thing. Is there cause to fire Al Golden? Of course. But if we're being real, we know that's not going to happen. We've come up with eleventy billion different charts, graphs, and smoke signals illustrating how terrible he's been. His record sucks.
But he's not getting fired. Public opinion is back on his side. Supposedly some of the boosters that weren't happy have backed off (or at least don't have leverage now).
So basically we're left with hoping he's improving. There is SOME evidence to support.
In comparison, Randy was clearly trending down in 2010. We got absolutely demolished by FSU at home, then sleepwalked through the rest of the season. We were playing our worst football at the end of the year. And let's not forget that he completely quit on recruiting. We only had, what, four guys committed in December? That's ridiculous.
We've actually looked like a real football team for about a month now. Golden's ****ty record aside, we're undeniably playing better. Virginia Tech isn't good, but we did what you're supposed to do to inferior teams. We curb-stomped them. We were expecting UNC to light up the scoreboard on us. We completely dismantled their offense and **** all over them like we were supposed to. We went toe-to-toe with the defending champs, and were a couple fluke plays away from beating them (Karlos Williams's TD is the fakest thing I've ever seen).
Golden has sucked. It shouldn't have taken him so long to put together a quality team. But he's finally done it. We have a quality football team right now.
The question is can he sustain this?
Probably not, but at least it's something we can hang our hats on. Maybe we ****-kick UVA, Pitt, Notre Dame in a bowl game, then close with 4 or 5 stud recruits.
Got no choice.
Very well said.
Big difference (so far) between Golden's fourth year and Randy's fourth year.
The thing that pains me so much is that Golden clearly has been learning on the job, something that should not be acceptable here. If we could do it over again, I don't think Golden gets hired because of how many games he has cost us. But we are where we are, and to look back is just too painful.
Although we've played better these last four games, and even if we win out, Golden still has MAJOR WORK needed to be done.
1) He needs to fire several assistant coaches ( DNo would be a great fire but he doesn't have it in him) and he really needs to hit home runs on the new hires.
2) For as lauded as he's been recruiting wise, I think he's terribly overrated. He needs to land a big class this year ( something that needs a lot of work to be done) to get the number of studs up, depth properly stacked, and make a ******* statement that this is our territory.
And 3) He needs a BIG TIME win in the bowl game. With our record we will most likely play a severely under talented team, comparatively speaking, and he needs to beat their *** to get number 2 going in motion. Style points absolutely matter. And the only way he can do that, is if he coaches aggressively and for 60 minutes.
All those things need to happen for me to be excited for next season, and I truly think all those things are interconnected. They are so monumental to the future of this team that to me is hanging by a thread. If he fvcks up in any one of those things, then he's just not a big time coach and next year and 2016 will amount to no ACC titles or big time bowl wins.
We'll know by signing day if Golden is a changed coach.