OP if all of that happens I will be extremely happy.
Unfortunately, I'm with the others in the thread that think we're still a while off.
-If we can make a bowl this year, that's improvement enough for me. A win would be nice as well to make it over .500.
-I'd like to see Butch actually fill some holes on both sides of the ball with his first "all Butch" class.
-In his second year I'd like for us to get above .500 again, either with another bowl win, or 7-5 going into the bowl game.
-I think that Butch would have to prove with the next class that we're serious and making moves in the SEC. I don't even care about national recruiting rankings anymore because we could finish top 20 and still land in the bottom half of the SEC. If we finish #7 or higher in SEC recruiting rankings, I think that's making a statement that we're back on our way up.
-Butch should be able to compete in some games hopefully by year 3. 7-8 wins with a signature bowl win would go a long way.
-Again, another recruiting finish in the top 7 of the SEC would provide some consistency on the roster.
-By year 4 we should be back in the 8 wins range. We haven't seen what Butch can do with the team yet on the field, so I have no gauge to which I can associate his success. 8 wins in the regular season is good, 9 wins is great, add a bowl win or major upset and Butch is riding high.
I honestly think that the scenario that I just typed out is really high up there on the "Best Scenario Possible" scale. To think that we'll be BCS competitive within the next 3-4 years is stretching the possibilities of Butch and the team. Maybe it's time for fans to clip the wings on their expectations.
The next 2-3 years aren't going to be awesome, we'll have to find little things here and there to hang out hat on as the team improves.
Unfortunately, at this point, the more elite teams/coaches in the conference have more to do with how soon we'll come back. If Bama, LSU, UGA, SCar, Florida all start to fall off I think we can get a foothold in some of our recruiting areas that we've let slip away. If Clemson, VaTech, Ole Miss, and Auburn trend downwards it would only stand to help us as well.
It's frustrating but we've shot ourselves in the foot and dug a giant hole to climb out of.
