When I was a young cub, a very wise man took me under his wings, and lesson number one centered around how pivotal managing expectations are to how you are perceived by customers, bosses, friends, peers, etc.
The expectations of the majority of the posters are simply not congruent with reality.
We are not even a year removed from the sanctions that impaired the program on and off the field. The current coaches have 1.25 worth of a recruiting class that fits their desired personnel scheme. They have a bunch Class of 2013/2014 recruits that were recruited by O'Brien and his staff for their pro-style scheme.
I am not defending the obviously poor play selection that was called on Saturday -- however I am not a staff member so I am not privy to what the reality is - all I am aware is of message board fodder, wishful thinking and the stream of posters who think that watching football on television qualifies them to second guess the coach of a historically top-flight Division I football program.
I played ball in the SEC. If Franklin could turn a perennial cellar-dwellar into a tough outing in the midst of a very loaded conference and defeat teams coached by Pinkel, Freeze, Richt, Chizik and Jones -- with the Rivals #61 (2010, #71 (2011), #29 (2012) recruiting classes, finishing in the AP and Coaches Top 25 in both '12 and '13....he can coach.
It wasn't a fluke. He can recruit, market, motivate and manage. Not all successful coaches have to be X's and O's (Belichik). I personally think Franklin should stick with Donovan until he can run his offense, with his players. McSorley/Stevens and Barkley are absolute perfect fit for QB/RB duo for what they apparently want to implement as the base offense.
O'Brien was the perfect Coach for Hackenberg -- and in all honestly, Hackenberg should have transferred after the Franklin hire. It would've made things easier for everyone. But how the hell do you bench a consensus future first rounder in favor of an unknown commodity? They've tried to patchwork an offense together to suit his needs but now that have a Frankenstein roster with Pro-Style and spread/option style players it's not optimal.
Give Franklin a year with his QB, RB, OC and schemes. Night and day.
The expectations of the majority of the posters are simply not congruent with reality.
We are not even a year removed from the sanctions that impaired the program on and off the field. The current coaches have 1.25 worth of a recruiting class that fits their desired personnel scheme. They have a bunch Class of 2013/2014 recruits that were recruited by O'Brien and his staff for their pro-style scheme.
I am not defending the obviously poor play selection that was called on Saturday -- however I am not a staff member so I am not privy to what the reality is - all I am aware is of message board fodder, wishful thinking and the stream of posters who think that watching football on television qualifies them to second guess the coach of a historically top-flight Division I football program.
I played ball in the SEC. If Franklin could turn a perennial cellar-dwellar into a tough outing in the midst of a very loaded conference and defeat teams coached by Pinkel, Freeze, Richt, Chizik and Jones -- with the Rivals #61 (2010, #71 (2011), #29 (2012) recruiting classes, finishing in the AP and Coaches Top 25 in both '12 and '13....he can coach.
It wasn't a fluke. He can recruit, market, motivate and manage. Not all successful coaches have to be X's and O's (Belichik). I personally think Franklin should stick with Donovan until he can run his offense, with his players. McSorley/Stevens and Barkley are absolute perfect fit for QB/RB duo for what they apparently want to implement as the base offense.
O'Brien was the perfect Coach for Hackenberg -- and in all honestly, Hackenberg should have transferred after the Franklin hire. It would've made things easier for everyone. But how the hell do you bench a consensus future first rounder in favor of an unknown commodity? They've tried to patchwork an offense together to suit his needs but now that have a Frankenstein roster with Pro-Style and spread/option style players it's not optimal.
Give Franklin a year with his QB, RB, OC and schemes. Night and day.
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