We should have wished him well at temple. His defenses are and always have been boom or bust. Very few defensive coaches can do what saban has done and maintain a standard of excellence defensively for over a decade. Saban has 2 Ls this year and people act like he forgot how to coach. That’s called setting a standard. His worst year is better than our best.
Anyway, Manny’s defensive never approached that level. Manny himself never earned a job like miami. The best HCs generally worked their way to those jobs grinding and building programs as they climbed the ladder (See Urban, Saban, and B Kelly).
Lincoln Riley is one of the top offensive minds in the game and he’s struggling putting together a perfect season because he’s a relative novice on CEOing a a Juggernaut program to a title.
We expect 10 plus win seasons but manny has the chops for 8 wins max. While super elite guys like Riley can learn on the job and win 11, manny has no shot of achieving this now or in the foreseeable future (If ever).