I've already put it out there multiple times that I think Mario is the Cuban Butch and we should back the Brinks truck to his garage and bring him in after the bowls, but since that's not happening...
Here are the things he needs to do in order to not get fired a year from now:
- Be as ruthless this offseason with his own hires as he was with Richt's. This means most of the guys he hired (starting with Enos) is gone. Consistency in a staff is only an asset if they're good. Most should lose their jobs. Surprisingly, I'm not sure Butch (young OL coach, not you know who...) should lose his job. I saw the OL get better and then regress, but I feel like the regression was directly Enos related. Anyway, he can't be precious with his hirings this offseason. He blew it this offseason with his staff. Time to fix his mistakes.
- Manny MUST take over the D in a real and day to day way. He has no margin for error this coming season. He can't afford to **** away even one loss as he continues to "figure out his staff's strengths and weaknesses." He must definitively and without ambiguity officially and in all other ways take over the DC duties.
- He needs to hire a real ST's coach and make that a priority.
- He needs to bring in as many 1-2 year quality OL from the portal as he can. We need it.
- Assuming DJ is going pro, he needs to make sure Lingard doesn't transfer out and he needs to really use him this coming year.
- He should put a moratorium on celebratory jewelry until we are at least bowl eligible. I'm not suggesting (as some have) that we get rid of the TO chain and TD rings all together, but those things need to be earned and until our team shows that it deserves to do sideline celebrations, we should cool it for a while, and then bring them out once we show we deserve such things. Heck, we used to shave our freshmen's heads back in the day just to communicate that they ain't nuthin' yet and need to earn their keep. Bring back that mentality (don't care about the actual shaving thing).
- He might want to lead with Matouche(Sp?) and Van Dyke next year. Kosi has proven that he doesn't really have it to be the every down, every game guy and Jarren is a head case. We cannot afford to just have Jarren "lose it" a couple games a year. Start fresh and build from the ground up. True frosh QB's is the norm now.
- The Spread or Pro set? Here's the bottom line, we need to run a scheme that doesn't require all-pro blocking in order for it to work. We're 12 games into the season with an obviously **** poor OL and we're STILL doing 7 step drop backs. We should throw the ball quickly, roll the pocket, etc. We need an OC who will recognize our strengths and weaknesses and then devise an attacking scheme with those things in mind.
- IF Jeff Thomas comes back next year, we HAVE to feature him. According to one report, he dropped zero balls this season. We need to feature our game breakers.
- We need to figure out which one of our backs is like DJ (assuming he turns pro) and can run the wildcat well. Then RUN THE WILDCAT more often! Also, I actually like it when a school calls the wildcat some variation of that school's mascot (VT calls it the Wild Turkey, etc.). More times than not, the wildcat is successful for us, but we barely use it.
- Finally, NO MORE 3 man fronts on 3rd and long!!!!! I'm so sick of this! In theory, it gives us an extra man or two in coverage, but in reality, that isn't how it works out. Guys are still getting wide open and embarrassingly so! ALWAYS send at least 4 guys, if not more, on 3rd and long. Can't remember for sure, but I think on the infamous 4th and 17 against UNC, we were also rushing 3. A Canes D should ALWAYS be making the QB uncomfortable. ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!
Thoughts?
hUh.