Not only that, he's seen what has happened to Sumlin. Taking the money and heading to A&M has led to his reputation as a coach being tarnished in just a few years. When they fire him he'll be back at square one trying to repair the damage done from taking that job.
He's an early enrollee and is already practicing with Alabama as scout team QB as they prepare for Clemson.
So.....Spavital 2.0?? According to UCLA fans, he's basically got 5 plays he runs, and he's terrible at in-game adjustments.
Look at what team offense was before he got to each school and after. There was immediate improvement. When he took over at UCLA, the offensive production went up by 10 points per game.
I will say this. The guy has experience. He's worked with some very good players. What I would like to know is what type of offense does Sumlin want to run? I thought Sumlin was supposed to know offense? Does Sumlin just recruit?
He comes off as a CEO. He had been dictating the offensive philosophy but I'm not sure it's necessarily a requirement for him. The OC's put their own stamp on the game. If he went to the NFL I would envision him abandoning a lot of his current principles. He played defense and I feel like his experience on offense is a bit overstated. Briles ran the show at UH, he had a co-OC at OU, Kingsbury ran the show, yada, yada.
When Sumlin became the OC mid season under RC Slocum at A&M, the offense improved. That said, I think that Sumlin hired an OC test matches his offensive philosophy and will let that OC run the show.
So we have two posters who like the new hire, and two who don't. It's hard to find a good OC - especially one who is basically inheriting instability at the QB position.
It's hard to find a good OC - especially one where there is instability at the QB position, questions about the HC's future, the AD was just fired(a new one has since been hired)...
Was there any reason to settle with Mazzone? Or were we that afraid that we couldn't find anyone? I mean, I know the whole situation is crap right now, but we're not some bottom feeder in a bad conference. We still have some respectability, I would think. lol
I don't know why they settled with Mazzone. Maybe because he's a SumBuddy? Or maybe he really was all they could get? Could have been disastrous if he turned them down. A "national search" yielded two candidates? Really? And I don't believe Meacham was ever coming so really, one candidate. And how about that: both Texas(Cumbie) and A&M(Meacham) went after the TCU coordinators and both stayed.
I don't know all that much about coaches and the hiring process of college football, but the timing just seems off to me. Seems awful quick to select an OC - why could we at least spend month or two evaluating our resources and getting our feelers out to other OCs? Spav was fired less than a week ago - surely the OC position at TAMU will generate interest from better programs than UCLA, etc.
The coaching convention? is coming up soon. Signing day is in a month. They had to get someone in here sooner rather than later. I'm surprised Spav stayed on as long as he did. Snyder was fired the day after the LSU game. Spavital stuck around, stuck around, stuck around, coached the bowl game, stayed on a day or two after and then was let go. I think the QB uncertainty was/is real and same for the Sumlin uncertainty, whether he'll be here long term, whether he's fired or whether he bolts for the NFL. Speaking of... The Eagles reportedly reached out to him again.
Ah, then I wonder if any UCLA commits that committed because of Mazzone, will jump ship and come here. (or if that's even allowed lol)
I interpret it as Sumlin fighting to keep Spavital or choosing to keep him around as long as possible out of spite, upset about people above him forcing the decision. Or perhaps he already had his buddy Mazzone verbally committed and gave him time to get things on his end in order. Just guesses. It's an upsetting hire to me because the firing has come a year too late. Spavital is young yet he hasn't improved as a play caller at any point. He gets worse. Looks like he hit a ceiling. Had we conducted this search a year ago we would have a lot more options. There's darkness looming over this coaching staff now. 2016 was supposed to be a year to prove something for Sumlin. And it still is, unfortunately he's fighting for his future with a knife instead of a tank. If Sumlin is gone in 16 (it's way too early to tell, all he has to do is win next year) I genuinely hope the new regime keeps Chavis (something that is all too rare in football). Hopefully Sumlin just wins though, because he can motivate and recruit.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SEC reports $527 mil in 1st year of CFP. Distributed $32.7 mill per team. Huge advantage <a href="https://twitter.com/JonSolomonCBS">@JonSolomonCBS</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y0pfzWJJPI">https://t.co/Y0pfzWJJPI</a></p>— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) <a href="https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/689540456594583552">January 19, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
