I think you're devaluing Xs and Os and coaching ability a bit, though. Those "ballers" pushing the 5 stars can't ball if they're not asked to do things that fit with their attributes.
Didn't mean to devalue it. Just left it for others to discuss who are better suited to do so than me. Obviously, it's the biggest difference between Miami and Alabama and the other elite programs.
Ya, I edited my post. I realize you couldn't touch on every single deficient facet.
I just think it needs to be emphasized more. We don't have to be Xs and Os wizards, but being on an even playing field would be helpful, to say the least. I've beat this one to death, but so much of that is just simple attitude/aggression. And, some people will come on here and say "hey, we're not THAT bad in Xs and Os and the kids need to make more plays." Partly true. Have you ever played on a team where you feel you're always climbing uphill? I feel that's where our guys are. Our talented players shouldn't look worse than Virginia's or Nebraska's talented players.
My two cents on Xs and Os:
From a historical perspective, I can tell you that we have been at the forefront on both sides of the ball. Schnellenberger brought us the most current offensive pro system at the time, when much of college football was stuck in antiquated 3 back option based systems. Jimmy converted us from a 52 to a 43. He developed quarters coverage as we know it today. Erickson brought us the one back offense. We have had innovators come through here and win championships.
Butch was able to understand what our formula for success was. He was not an innovator, but he knew how to build a program around a system that had worked for us in the past. There is no data showing that AG can build what he is trying to build. He's trying a formula that has never worked here, and he's failing at it. If he were an innovator, then we would be having a different conversation. The formula for success is not easy to come by. It's fragile and elusive.
It deserves its own thread, probably, but I'll say here what I discussed last night and just text'd with D$ about.
While I'm typically focused on what we're doing in Xs and Os, that's typically just a symptom of one common denominator of every successful Miami coach:
They all had a chip on their shoulder. They all coached and acted as if they had something to prove. As you outlined, whether it was proving their [innovative] system could work or their theory of how to identify talent and develop it, every single one was aggressive. And, it wasn't aggression as an answer to situations or trying to "prove" it in instances. It was at their cores. All of their decisions flowed from that chip/attitude. Good and bad results aside, kind of like a guy like Mike Dantonio.
Like D$ said, instead of that, we now act like we're trying to protect something. That's just not going to work down here. I said it at the beginning of the season at the end of a long post, "A program once built on the cutting edge of aggression now operates on fear."
