Lucking into some wins against other bad teams doesnāt mean we donāt have a culture problem within the athletic department. The AD, outside of a few non revenue programs, is rotten top to bottom.
We have never been run like a serious program. We are in the AC not because we deserved it. Just like we didnāt deserve an invite to cusa at the time. You canāt expect fbs results without fbs effort. We got in because of potential, but weāve never had leadership to capitalize on it. Optimistic that Hills abrupt firing is leadership finally waking up.
Next year will answer this question for me. We will have spent plenty of money on the roster, he will have had a regular window to assess talent and he has a year of experience with the aac.
This all seems really premature to me, but Iāll play.
I used to say, one has to give a coach four yearsā¦well, that timeline is radically reduced now. I am still optimistic about Albin, feel confident he knows what heās doing and can get the talent here necessary to (first) be competitive and (second) be competitive in the American. BY the end of year three, then my optimism is gone if first & second are a solid no. If by year three, we aināt bowlingā¦time to move on.
I give him 3 years. He got what talent (both coaches and players) he could find being late to this coaching position. On top of that, an incredible amount of injuries.
I have never been more disappointed in a season as I am this year. It was the least competitive team we have ever fielded, that is easily shown by our margin of defeat. We have got to be better next year; I donāt think we can sniff a bowl but the team must be better than it was. Thatās an extremely low bar but if we are comparable next year that will be tough to defend.
This is definitely the worst team we have ever put on the field. No doubt I have lost some confidence in Albin. I still believe he can get it done. I have to because we canāt continue to cycle through coaches. Changes have to be made. We did not score an offensive touchdown in our final 3 games. Not one. Just a kick return for TD against UTSA. Let that sink in. If offensive coordinator changes are not made I am VERY concerned moving forward. I am as loyal a Niner as there is but I canāt defend that offensive display.
I thought the defense was pretty good considering the positions it was put in all year long. It can be improved too but I can see potential. I need to see some sign of hope next season. I think Albin knows that. While it sucks being a Niner itās never boring except when our football and basketball team has the ball.
Iām not advocating firing him but the timing of his hire had nothing to do with it. 1-11 and being absolutely non competitive in conference games is a HUGE red flag. He has a ton of work to do and I saw nothing this year that gives me confidence heās the right guy.
If someone intentionally sabotaged an offense to be ineffective I donāt know if it could be worse than what I saw this season. Something got to give or I doubt we win a FBS game next season.
To be clear, the ālateā aspect of his hiring goes to the details. I think Albin made a last minute decision to move, and then, because Ohio quickly hired his OC as the replacement head coach and gave raises to his Assistants, Albin arrived alone. He had to build a new staff from scratch, which wasnāt completed until mid-January.
Albin has been in one place a long time, and doesnāt have a lot of experience job-hopping, and there is no doubt he could have done a better job with the transition. As I recall, he wasted a week or so making offers to all his former assistants, only a couple which were accepted. He probably should have said, hereās an offer, give me an answer within a day or two, and started looking for alternatives in the meantime.
Heās no longer in transition. Now he needs to do better, a lot better, next year.
Everyone is saying, āhe needs to do better next yearā I donāt like vague, unmeasured statements. What does ādo betterā next year mean to you?
Better is being competitive. Heās not winning 5. Heās going 1-3 OOC. If he goes 3-5 in conference itās a really good year. 4-8 and show competence
I donāt want to put a win total because if we lose several close games that would still be improvement. I think 3 though is a fair ask if we had to put a number on it. That being said if the margin of defeat is 24+ again even winning 3 would be discouraging.
How about 3 and a couple of losses by less than 10 points.