Fox is a proven winner.... He should be given at least three or four years...
Whether he's a proven winner or not, if you want to build a good program you have to be patient. Three years should be the default. I'd even lean four.
When you hire a new coach and coaching staff you also - must - change scheme and philosophy (the new staff can't be handicapped by the old staffs losing ways). That means a lot of the roster needs to change because many of the players were brought in due to scheme and personality fits. Teams that swap out rosters on a bi-annual basis have no foundation, the players have no real buy in save a paycheck, and the coaches aren't able to experiment and adjust like they need to.
The fact people are calling for HC and GM heads reinforces how stupid they are. Fans always want change and they support extreme decisions until they come to fruition and explode their new-found hope.
Coaching churn is bad for the team. You have to try to avoid it. You need to get the right people in and stuck with them. At the same time, if you have the wrong people, the best strategy is to cut your losses and make the changes quickly because all you do is stagnate at best with the wrong people. Most likely regress. You want to stop that as soon as you can.
Having said that, I am not sure if Fox is the wrong guy or not. He has made some positive changes. He has also proven (well... maybe not proven with only two games in) that he is not going to do a second year three-peat turnaround here.
I simply don't know what all the issues are. I do see a determination to make the team younger -- but I see that drive over ride keeping good productive players, so some decisions are good. Some decisions are bad. I do not see a terrorizing D unit, and I still see an inept O unit.
My fear is that we have a four year Lovie complacency take us over and we ride the Mediocrity bus for four more years. I balance this with pulling the plug on a productive coach who still needs more time and whos issues are elsewhere. Since I don;t have all the facts, I honestly do not know which side to be on.
Fox is a proven winner.... He should be given at least three or four years...
Whether he's a proven winner or not, if you want to build a good program you have to be patient. Three years should be the default. I'd even lean four.
When you hire a new coach and coaching staff you also - must - change scheme and philosophy (the new staff can't be handicapped by the old staffs losing ways). That means a lot of the roster needs to change because many of the players were brought in due to scheme and personality fits. Teams that swap out rosters on a bi-annual basis have no foundation, the players have no real buy in save a paycheck, and the coaches aren't able to experiment and adjust like they need to.
The fact people are calling for HC and GM heads reinforces how stupid they are. Fans always want change and they support extreme decisions until they come to fruition and explode their new-found hope.
+1 The teams that have constant change are the perennial bottom-feeders of the NFL. I like how we have a number of young players with a bright future ahead of them, but at the same time I remind myself that there is a time period necessary for those players to mature and reach their NFL potential. Whitehair is just one example. I only mention him because I am excited about him becoming a solid piece of the team they're trying to build.
The coaching staff will need time with all of these new/young people to develop them. Right now it is an extreme faith-walk for the fans... there isn't going to be an instant gratification here. It is tough for us because it is hard to be patient through the losses, player miscues, sports media people heaping abuse on the team, etc.
I think I'm personally going to try and focus on my favorite young players this season and watch them improve and be satisfied with that, and even enjoy it, knowing they'll be part of the foundation of a better team and hopefully contribute for years here.
I also try and remind myself that Pace will make mistakes. I question some of his moves already. But even if some of them have been mistakes, that doesn't mean he won't be a good GM for us. He's new and learning too. Just like the young players.
Loggains is being given an opportunity to be a successful OC, and if he fails, he will be replaced for next season. I'm not going to lose any sleep over the situation. It's not like we're going to be an offensive powerhouse this year anyway.
