DaU83
Senior
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2011
- Messages
- 2,248
that completely disregards the 2.5 seasons of investigation, the end result of 9 scholarships does not accurately reflect the damage done recruiting. yes.. in a vacuum "9 scholarships" is nothing.. but that's not what "the cloud" is.. i hate the term, btw. regardless, the cloud isn't 9 scholarships it's the guys we lost because of the uncertainty of our future.What is the unreasonable part?
When you don't consider how bad randy was and the effects of "the cloud", that's unreasonable.
The effects of the cloud? 9 scholarships over 3 years, 7 of which we'll be able to take this year as a result of nothing more than attrition (Dortch, Hope) and a few players getting kicked out for misconduct (Figs, Blue, Olsen). That's nothing.
As for negative recruiting, coaches from rival schools will be able to do that more effectively if Golden stays than they ever could by mentioning looming NCAA sanctions. All they have to do is point to the highly-ranked players who haven't been developed properly, the passive defensive scheme that doesn't appeal whatsoever to many local studs like Tim Irvin, Golden throwing his own players under the bus to defend his coaching methods, his record against decent or better opposition, and his inability to win a division as pathetic as the ACC Coastal.
USC is dealing with legitimate sanctions. We got shut out on NSD last year on all of our late uncommitted targets well after the NCAA ruling was announced. Golden failing to reel in Dixon, JC Jackson, Valentine, Ross, etc. and losing Powell/Gibbons had nothing to do with any cloud.
247 class rankings
2012 - 10th
2013 - 14th
2014 - 12th
Even if the cloud prevented us from having top five classes, there is more than enough talent on the roster for us to beat the living s*** out of every team in the conference other than FSU and Clemson. And we're on our way to failing to win the atrocious ACC Coastal once again, which is inexcusable and an absolute embarrassment for this program.
The NCAA sanctions were announced exactly one year ago (October 22, 2013), yet this staff still coaches scared, still blames players for failing to execute rather than taking blame for their ineffective defense, still gets curbstomped in primetime by any opponent with a pulse, still doesn't help blue-chip talent come close to reaching their potential, and still makes egregious errors in recruiting by passing on local studs they believe are too small. And they'll inevitably still fall short of winning the Coastal and will get skullf***ed by FSU in a few weeks to fall to 0-4 against our most bitter rival.
The cloud is gone, but all of these issues remain. There are no excuses.
His first fully recruited class will be seniors, next year. That said, I still think the admin HAS to get him to hand the keys to the defense to someone else. If he does that, I give him until his first senior class gets to hit the field with no qualms. I will NOT be on board if we don't change the the defense and staff. Actually, I would only be on board if we miraculously won out, won the acc champ game, and the bowl. Not expecting that to be remotely possible.

