Tequilla
Active poster
As others have mentioned, nobody knows how a hire turns out and there are few sure things. As always LIPO is in effect here ...
But let's be very clear that there's way too much evidence out there that Kalen DeBoer wasn't our first target ... that was Matt Campbell
We song and danced Matt Campbell, tried to sell him on why UW was the right fit, and never closed the deal. Why? Who knows ... but what's clear is that we didn't get the job done.
At the start of the process Jen pronounced to the world that money would not be a limiting factor on the search ... we had resources
That comment doesn't match up to hiring the coach from Fresno St
Not only do we strike out on our top choice but the sleeping giant of the conference makes the splashiest of splash hires that has a 99% certainty of turning the sleeping giant into a future recruiting and on field powerhouse ...
Our response is to hire a coach from the Mountain West that is a middle of the conference recruiter there and expect all of a sudden that he and his staff are effectively going to recruit against USC and Oregon? Anybody got ocean front property in the Dakotas to sell me?
There were 2 primary criteria for this job given the state of the program and the damage that Jimmy Lake did:
1) Need a grown up HC (coordinators not an option) and someone capable of restoring a smooth running program
2) Provide a path forward to turn around the recruiting damage and neglect caused by Jimmy over the last 2 years
You can't really argue that DeBoer doesn't check the box on #1 ... winners win and he's won at all of his stops and has been a head coach long enough that the results aren't a complete fluke ... you don't get that kind of record without having clear expectations in place for what success looks like for the program
But on the recruiting side, as has been noted often, it's a complete wait and see which is concerning because as DeBoer ramps up to speed over the next 12 months (let's be clear, the 2022 class is largely a lost cause so it's on to 2023) you're going to have USC and Oregon sprinting while we're walking. That's not a recipe for success unless DeBoer is able to quickly uptick towards at least running.
The hire needed to be as risk free as possible ... this hire feels like one that has high volatility in its outcome. That's a huge concern. Instead of UW attaching itself to the top of the conference with USC and Oregon (which is where it should be), this hire feels like trying to keep our head above water and not fall back into the upper levels of mediocrity with UCLA, Arizona St, and Utah (big picture that's where Utah is and they'll fall off if/when Whittingham retires).
I'm not going to say that this is a Tyrone caliber hire ... but I will say that if you get the lower bounds of a return on this hire then you're effectively repeating the 2003-2008 time period and your ability to even think about attracting an elite coach with your next hire vanishes and you're back searching for the next version of Sark.
Hope this works out ...
And obviously it goes without saying, the sooner Jen is pushed out and the AD turned over the better. She has to own the fact that she didn't land the #1 target ... of course she'll sell this was the #1 target at all times (it of course wasn't)
But let's be very clear that there's way too much evidence out there that Kalen DeBoer wasn't our first target ... that was Matt Campbell
We song and danced Matt Campbell, tried to sell him on why UW was the right fit, and never closed the deal. Why? Who knows ... but what's clear is that we didn't get the job done.
At the start of the process Jen pronounced to the world that money would not be a limiting factor on the search ... we had resources
That comment doesn't match up to hiring the coach from Fresno St
Not only do we strike out on our top choice but the sleeping giant of the conference makes the splashiest of splash hires that has a 99% certainty of turning the sleeping giant into a future recruiting and on field powerhouse ...
Our response is to hire a coach from the Mountain West that is a middle of the conference recruiter there and expect all of a sudden that he and his staff are effectively going to recruit against USC and Oregon? Anybody got ocean front property in the Dakotas to sell me?
There were 2 primary criteria for this job given the state of the program and the damage that Jimmy Lake did:
1) Need a grown up HC (coordinators not an option) and someone capable of restoring a smooth running program
2) Provide a path forward to turn around the recruiting damage and neglect caused by Jimmy over the last 2 years
You can't really argue that DeBoer doesn't check the box on #1 ... winners win and he's won at all of his stops and has been a head coach long enough that the results aren't a complete fluke ... you don't get that kind of record without having clear expectations in place for what success looks like for the program
But on the recruiting side, as has been noted often, it's a complete wait and see which is concerning because as DeBoer ramps up to speed over the next 12 months (let's be clear, the 2022 class is largely a lost cause so it's on to 2023) you're going to have USC and Oregon sprinting while we're walking. That's not a recipe for success unless DeBoer is able to quickly uptick towards at least running.
The hire needed to be as risk free as possible ... this hire feels like one that has high volatility in its outcome. That's a huge concern. Instead of UW attaching itself to the top of the conference with USC and Oregon (which is where it should be), this hire feels like trying to keep our head above water and not fall back into the upper levels of mediocrity with UCLA, Arizona St, and Utah (big picture that's where Utah is and they'll fall off if/when Whittingham retires).
I'm not going to say that this is a Tyrone caliber hire ... but I will say that if you get the lower bounds of a return on this hire then you're effectively repeating the 2003-2008 time period and your ability to even think about attracting an elite coach with your next hire vanishes and you're back searching for the next version of Sark.
Hope this works out ...
And obviously it goes without saying, the sooner Jen is pushed out and the AD turned over the better. She has to own the fact that she didn't land the #1 target ... of course she'll sell this was the #1 target at all times (it of course wasn't)
