All season long I've been listening to the "Fire Willie Now!!" contingent of our fan base and this includes others that post on this blog.
Sorry, but I am not on this bandwagon, and as of now do not imagine myself joining it.
I'm also not posting this as a means to engage in a discussion on the merits of Willie Martinez.
I do want to say that I am tired of hearing about Van Gorder and Muschamp. Ever since people started calling for the firing of Willie, these names have come up with how we should bring Van Gorder back or hire Muschamp.
I hadn't heard much of that this year until after Florida, but it was still very limited. After this weekend, I've heard a large spike in these sentiments and they need to stop. They're tired, old, and bordering on stupid.
Why would you want Van Gorder back? Yes, he did a great job here, even better than Willie, and he is a great defensive coordinator. However, HE CAN'T DECIDE WHAT JOB HE WANTS! Why in the hell would you want a guy back who has spent his time burning bridges and has been almost incapable of staying in any job for more than a year since he left our program? Personally, if I were a coach anywhere I would not hire Van Gorder for fear of him jumping ship three weeks later. He's not coming back and even if he were, it would be a bad idea to bring him back.
I had barely heard anything about Muschamp this year, most likely due to the fact that people have resigned themselves to him taking a head coaching job at some point. However, since this weekend I've heard people mention his name. Typically, it has been in the form of, "We should have fired Willie and gotten Muschamp when we had the chance."
First off, I'll go ahead and assume we "had a chance" to hire Muschamp for argument sakes. Why would you want him? When serving as defensive coordinator against UGA, Muschamp is 2-3. In his two years at Auburn, he was dominated by our offense.
Muschamp's a Dawg and a really good defensive coordinator, but you have to take the emotional aspect out of it. The notion that we should fire our defensive coordinator to hire someone who couldn't beat us in the most recent matchups (and I realize Brandon Cox made the situation worse for him), just doesn't make any sense.
You can say you want Willie fired, just don't make absurd points about Van Gorder and Muschamp. It de-values your argument severely, and it shows that your opinion of Willie is rooted more in emotion than reality.
4 comments:
Homer.
Great discussion topic! Here are my thoughts.
Let me state for the record that I do not think we should hire BVG back. I do miss the "head hunter" defense we had under him. The recent failures of the defense, while troubling, can be somewhat misleading. LSU put up garbage touchdowns in the 4th quarter twice after Georgia had opened a 3 TD lead and taken out most of its starters. Against Florida, long interception returns and a fumble led to quick scores for Timmy and his friends. And Saturday, Kentucky had 3 touchdown drives of less than 20 yards (two of less than 5 yards).
People calling for Willie's head citing the last three games is ridiculous. However, I am beginning to think that maybe a change is needed. Our scoring defense has now risen for the fourth consecutive season under Martinez, and this was a defense that returned most of its starters and key back ups from last year.
Agree. Van Gorder wouldn't, shouldn't, and won't come back. Plus we'd lose Rodney Gardner, and he's too valuable. Quite frankly, I think RG should've been given the job over Willie in the first place and I'd love for him to have a shot.
Even girls know Muschamp is not the answer. For God sakes people, do your homework.
Willi needs to go, but its not just based on this season (and we've been bad all season folks, not just since Bama or the last 3 games). He's had a steady decline in production over the last 4 years in many categories, not just scoring defense. As a whole, he's just not getting the job done. Anywhere else (meaning a program of our caliber) and he'd be gone.
My dream candidate in Ken Norton Jr. I say dream, because it ain't gonna happen, but I can dream can't I. However, I would love a guy of his caliber, reputation, meanness, fire, and proven results. Somebody's gonna get smart and offer him a DC job soon (my money's on UCLA) and they'll be the luckiest team on the planet. I wish UGA would get in the hunt though.
I'll be the first to admit I'm a huge proponent of dropping the hatchet on Willie Mart. I don't want Van Gorder or Muschamp, but what I want in a DC is someone the players fear will crawl up their ass and eat their soul if they miss a tackle, blow a coverage, or just plain screw up.
We need a good cop, bad cop situation on the sidelines and unfortunately we're chock full of good cops right now.
In my opinion DCs aren't the level-headed understanding types. They should be fire-breathing, rage-aholics whom (if you were a sports reporter) you wouldn't DARE go looking for soundbytes from after a loss.
Either way, I don't think Richt will fire Willie Mart anytime soon barring some incredibly horrible defensive play the last 3 games. But the brightside is we know two of those last 3 aren't going to be very strong offensively.
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