I don't know why but feel with all the chatter I need to state my position but hell, isn't that what message boards are for?
RichRod still has my support. I think he has a pretty healthy ego (probably an understatement) and it took him 4 years to realize that what he was doing recruiting wise wasn't working at Arizona. The early success that he had only helped feed his perception that players were going to come to Arizona because he was here. What I have seen the past year and a half with his efforts to reboot the program shows me that he finally took a hard look at the program and decided that he was going to have to make some difficult changes.
I think that Rich is loyal to a fault to both his coaches and players which has actually hurt him at Arizona. Loyalty, ego and the early success worked together to convince him that everything was moving in the right direction until after the PAC-12 South Championship year. The losses that year couldn't be replaced and he started to see it but it took a year for him to start to make changes.
I think that he is still a good, possibly great coach. If you look at the offensive scheme it is still there and works. Agreed, the personnel development (or lack of) is on him and the staff but that seems to have changed this past year and while we had some de-commits (like everyone else) the class as a whole has more promise than any class since Rich has been here based on the performance through the first four years. The defense seems to be coming along and making progress.
I understand the emotional need to ask for a change but why start over with someone who has to learn what it's like to recruit at Arizona and coach in the PAC-12? Try to imagine that Rich is a new coach (I know he isn't) that took over the program after last year and look at it from that perspective. At the start you tend to lose big which I think will happen in some games this year then you tend to lose close games (so far...) and then you start to win close games before finally starting to win big. No illusions here, we are a ways away from winning big this year but if the staff continues on the current path I think it can get there. The new coaches are all decent recruiters but my feeling is that they are better development coaches which is what coaching at Arizona has to be.
While it frustrates me I love the fact that he is showing loyalty to the players and specifically Dawkins. He would never air any issues with his QB or players publicly and as we all know he runs a tight ship in regards to those items. I am sure the reporters around the club like Matt get a lot of information that they can't share unless they want to have their access cut off but it looks to me like the future is finally trending up so why make a change now.
Rich has built programs before and I am hoping that he learned what the trick is at Arizona. Part of the problem, I feel, is that he was convinced that he couldn't win a National Championship at Arizona. I don't believe he is convinced of that now but he has a chance to build the program into something special with the new President and AD. The program has never had a better opportunity to start building into something similar to the basketball program, Rich is smart enough to see that and he is never going to get a better chance to build a legacy than now.
Then again, I could be wrong. Thanks for being the outlet for my thoughts everyone.
RichRod still has my support. I think he has a pretty healthy ego (probably an understatement) and it took him 4 years to realize that what he was doing recruiting wise wasn't working at Arizona. The early success that he had only helped feed his perception that players were going to come to Arizona because he was here. What I have seen the past year and a half with his efforts to reboot the program shows me that he finally took a hard look at the program and decided that he was going to have to make some difficult changes.
I think that Rich is loyal to a fault to both his coaches and players which has actually hurt him at Arizona. Loyalty, ego and the early success worked together to convince him that everything was moving in the right direction until after the PAC-12 South Championship year. The losses that year couldn't be replaced and he started to see it but it took a year for him to start to make changes.
I think that he is still a good, possibly great coach. If you look at the offensive scheme it is still there and works. Agreed, the personnel development (or lack of) is on him and the staff but that seems to have changed this past year and while we had some de-commits (like everyone else) the class as a whole has more promise than any class since Rich has been here based on the performance through the first four years. The defense seems to be coming along and making progress.
I understand the emotional need to ask for a change but why start over with someone who has to learn what it's like to recruit at Arizona and coach in the PAC-12? Try to imagine that Rich is a new coach (I know he isn't) that took over the program after last year and look at it from that perspective. At the start you tend to lose big which I think will happen in some games this year then you tend to lose close games (so far...) and then you start to win close games before finally starting to win big. No illusions here, we are a ways away from winning big this year but if the staff continues on the current path I think it can get there. The new coaches are all decent recruiters but my feeling is that they are better development coaches which is what coaching at Arizona has to be.
While it frustrates me I love the fact that he is showing loyalty to the players and specifically Dawkins. He would never air any issues with his QB or players publicly and as we all know he runs a tight ship in regards to those items. I am sure the reporters around the club like Matt get a lot of information that they can't share unless they want to have their access cut off but it looks to me like the future is finally trending up so why make a change now.
Rich has built programs before and I am hoping that he learned what the trick is at Arizona. Part of the problem, I feel, is that he was convinced that he couldn't win a National Championship at Arizona. I don't believe he is convinced of that now but he has a chance to build the program into something special with the new President and AD. The program has never had a better opportunity to start building into something similar to the basketball program, Rich is smart enough to see that and he is never going to get a better chance to build a legacy than now.
Then again, I could be wrong. Thanks for being the outlet for my thoughts everyone.
