There's room at the top . . .

[Sope Creek]

Paul Johnson, coach of GATech, was on an Atlanta sports radio station today, and he said something interesting; 3 of the top 10 teams in the final poll have not had a top 25 recruiting class in any of the last 8 years.

It ain't what ya got, it's what you do with it that counts.

 

[82IUGraduate]

and Paul Johnson is one of those coaches who knows how to make Chicken Salad....... VBG

82

 

[Hoosier_Hack]

It would be interesting to know how many times those three teams were ranked in the top 10 in the last 8 years compared to the other 7.

Anomally vs. Reality

 

[Sope Creek]

Here's some reality for you . . .

until our 2* and 3* recruits and occasional 4* recruits start winning 8-10 games every year so that more 4* and the occasional 5* recruits start taking a look at IU, IU ain't never gonna see a top 10 ranking every year anyway.

There's room at the top for who and what IU is right now . . . maybe not every year, but in 2015 there is, even with just the guys we already have. Might not happen . . . very unlikely it will happen. But it is becoming plausible to have things go our way enough to start thinking about the reality that is possible, and to start believing in it.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

With that in mind......

.......let's pose that same question about the Wilson regime 4 years into the process:
Has Wilson and staff, given the recruits they have signed???:

A) Underachieved
B) Overachieved
C) Met Expectations
D) Not A Fair Question - Too Early

 

[Sope Creek]

That's arithmetic . . .

and we need to think in terms of calculus . . . what is the direction of change, and the rate of change, and whether the rate of change is accelerating/decelerating/remaining constant. If you do that with each of the players, and also do it with how the players as individuals coordinate/cooperate/are effective as unit members, and then how the coaching staff do/don't put those players and units in a position of being successful and winning games . . .

. . . I think it's always fair to rate anybody using this sort of analysis. Wins and losses, the supposed bottom line for coaches, that works only when a program is firmly established . . . and Wilson is still establishing a program.

I think it takes 8 years to know what you've really got in a coach who's starting with a failed program.

Using your arithmetic, it'd be a without risk decision to dismiss any coach in Wilson's position. But that doesn't mean it'd be a smart decision . . . my sense is that using the kind of calculus I've offered above you get a completely different answer today because you can project improvement in 2015 over 2013 results, much less 2014, and can also project continuous improvement beyond that.

If you're an immediate gratification guy, you're going to need to become an Alabama or O$U fan, because IU's program is going to take a while still . . . but when we get there, the satisfaction will be sweet, very sweet. And we are going to get there.

This post was edited on 2/15 7:21 PM by Sope Creek

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Re: Well, I've.......

.....cheered for IU football for close to 40 years. So, at this stage of the game, I think the instant gratification thing is a moot point.
If I was into that kind of thing, I would have jumped ship when I was in grade school.

You can't exactly divorce what's already in your DNA.

 

[Sope Creek]

Well it's . . .

nigh on 50 for me . . . I know what you mean . . .

. . . sometimes love isn't requited fully, or even at all . . . but with true love, the hope is always there.