I'm not trying to bash the guy because i don't know him personally, but this comes across as totally underwhelming to me.
Here's my concern. I get that he's been in the business since 2011 - but every stop has been as a GA (2 years Incarnate Word, 2 years LATech, 1 year Miss St) before coming here as a QC guy and helping with the LBs. He's another "Manny" guy, ala Banda. If we want a bunch of "Manny" guys, then fine. But all these guys know is Manny's way. I want guys who have done it their way and been through the ringer, guys who can offer a different view at times and help improve. If anything, our LB play last year regressed.
Our current defensive staff is green as can be - Banda in his 1st true gig, Rumph in his 1st true gig and now Patke in his, to go along with Kool and Manny.
What this D Staff needed was either 1) stud coach to offset how green the back 7 coaches are, or 2) stud recruiter to help pick up where Kool, Rumph and Manny have struggled. Which is Patke?
The O staff has some similar deficiencies. Baby Richt has little experience. Hartley is showing up on the recruiting trail (which makes sense, he was recruiting coordinator at UGA) but this is only his second position gig after coaching 4 years at Marshall, 2 of which was coaching safeties. So when you look at just the numbers, 50% of our current staff (5 of 10) have less than 5 years experience coaching their current positions when you exclude time being a GA or QC guy.....4 in their 1st true coaching roles. Usually those guys all need to be stud recruiters or up-and-comer hot coaches with lots of buzz.
Experience is not everything in my book....i couldn't stand the Dline Jethro coached and he had more experience than anyone while Jeremy Pruitt jumped from HS to big time football and hasn't looked back since....but i pause with concern when i see deficiencies compounding without actions to offset them. It's not just this hire, it's things we see in recruiting (offering late, dropping communication, not branching out wide enough and when you miss, having significant roster issues) and last year's offensive gameplan as well. Obviously this staff has already done more in their tenure than previous staffs and i'm happy to have them, but that doesn't mean they are without faults and criticism.