It would not be hard to find I was of the opinion that if we could not get a generally accepted homerun hire that we should go the Steele interim route while the NCAA dust settled and we could establish what a coach would be dealing with next cycle. I think we have had to enter the replacement market too late or danced to long with several of our hires and should have considered this option.
But like with every hire I will hope that we have selected wisely or plain old got lucky and the coach selected and the circumstances produce the results we hope for. I feared getting Kiffin off the Al Davis scrap heap, thought we were banking on heredity with Dooley, was hoping that Butch would continue to grow and progress like he did on his first two stops following his more successful mentor, and thought maybe just maybe Pruitt had paid attention to the methodologies of a string of bosses on top of his X's and O's expertise. They, somewhat like this guy, arrived with risk/reward issues. We know the rest.
Specifically on our new coach, I will be hoping, not counting on, that he has taken the best advantage of the learning opportunities he has had in the college game. It would also not be hard to find I have no love for the air that surrounds the Pirate. I like the results of his offensive strategies but his whole public demeanor not so much. The end of the MSU bowl game pretty much furthered my dislike for him as a face of a program. So I hope Josh absorbed the OC/QB coach elements, but passed on the rest of his attributes. On the other hand, though never a real fan of his HC and later boss Stoops, I remember hearing positive things about the way he put his staff together and how he required that they fulfill their family responsibilities as well as their coaching duties. In a lot of ways I think Oklahoma is a peer in the CFB world. He did it well and got out on his own terms much closer to the top of his game. Hope he took notes there. Not sure what he could have or should have picked up from his MO days, Odom seemed to be a class guy, so no bad habits maybe. He seems to have done reasonably well at UCF with the resources available and expect he has learned a few lessons at that level he can avoid at this level. Does it translate well? Can he grow to meet the demands of this level of CFB? Probably will depend on how he applies the lessons learned at each of those stops. There seems to be a progression. But at least there is a basis for having reasonable expectations of decent odds for him having success. Enough, fast enough? Only time will tell. But a pretty good starting point from where I sit.
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