I am not saying Mario is perfect. But I do think he deserves some credit for his willingness to adapt. Many coaches would have kept Guidry and called it a bad year. He fired him. Many coaches would have stuck with an offense that didn't work, Mario kicked Gattis to the curb and hired Dawson immediately. Many coaches would have relied on recruiting efforts and players in the building. Mario went out and hit a home run in the portal.
I think one thing that sets him apart from many other coaches is his willingness to embrace the new era of college football. We embraced the portal before most and it made a difference. He was a ready for the change and as a result, we were ahead of the curve instead of behind it (sup Clemson)
Lastly, this season in particular, Mario is a victim of his own success. If you asked before the season if we could skip the first six games and take these results, I am taking them 100 times out of 100. But once we started 5-0, the fanbase started pretending this team was supposed to be something it never was.
If he loses 2-3 more games that he shouldn't, okay, we can revisit his success here. But for now, I don't know how you can possibly be upset at where we are at today compared to where we were 3-4-5 years ago.