Interesting topic... A few points I'd like to add. Sorry for the length!
About Jimmy... this guy was a brilliant psychologist. He had this unreal ability to get the most out of a person. I'm not going to say that he wasn't a good gameday coach, but Jimmy had the mindset that another person could teach a kid the exact speed, velocity, power and aiming point to effectively run through a wall and get on the other side. All of the correct science. JJ felt that all he needed was that kids ear for a few seconds and he'd guarantee to get him through that wall! People PLAYED FOR JIMMY! He also had a really good staff. Legend
About our last 3 coaches and this topic...
I think Larry really got star happy when it came to recruiting (even though I would like to think college coaches don't pay attention to rankings). Everyone and their mother wanted to come to the U during that period, and Cokers staffs didn't seem to really evaluate. Year in and year out they got top talent, as far as rankings, but the majority of those kids turned out to be bust. So maybe he was REALLY WEAK at player development. Don't get me started on his gameday adjustments as a head. (Where the name 'Clappy was born)
I think we can all agree that Randy had the right idea as far as trying to win sofla first as far as recruiting, but poor coordinator choices really killed him. Had to settle for Patrick Nix when he was CRAZY for Dirk Koetter (how many of us remember this?) Had his year of Whipple ball, which was exciting at times, but very high risk, turnoveresque, mostly due to Whipple trying to build a resume. Really wish he could've kept Bill Young around a little longer also. Game day decisions and player development were really bad areas for Randy as well.
And then there was Al. I think we all grew very tired right away of Als commitment to recruit the northeast. We all can agree that Miami built itself on getting some blue collar kids from that area, but early on, Al seemed to make it more of a priority to dominate that area then protect his own backyard. This 016 class proves he learned from the era of his ways, as the staff jumped on a lot of kids QUICK ( thanks to Ice, KB, Scott and Baez, even though Al does deserve the credit in hiring them and allowing them to do so), but can we hold on to this group is the question??? Al's gameday coaching is a little better than Cokers and Randy, just because of his experience over them, and he's done a fine job of developing players for the NEXT LEVEL, but using these players for our own scheme is where he's been absolutely atrocious. I feel this is 100% on his decision making of his coordinators. Give him credit, he did hire Fisch who's now with one of the best coach's in the country up in Michigan, but many still believe that Coley was more green than ready due to his experience of being in Jimbo's shadow at FSU, and we all know his biggest blunder has been his friendship hire at the DC position. Cringeworthy to hear people compare our defensive scheme to that of the Seattle Seahawks... Just stop!
All in all, I think to be successful at the U as a head coach, you have to be an excellent motivator with a solid, knowledgeable staff. The brand sales itself, the gameday x's and o's are a very minimal part of a head coaches job beleive it or not, and Al is proving that you can develop kids all you want, but if they're not being correctly utilized in your scheme, it means nothing but an interesting December when the older guys want to preserve their draft stock, and the younger guys still want to play for something.
