Robert Wilson said:
Chuckroast said:
jikespingleton said:
Chuckroast said:
Chuckroast said:
bear2be2 said:
Chuckroast said:
Rhule had one good season at Baylor and is remembered for that Sugar Bowl run, but was that a truly great team?
We beat Rice in a one score game out of conference. We won many more one score games against Mountain West type of competition in our conference. No team was ranked except for Texas at #25. I also seem to recall that we had the good fortune of playing against backup QBs in a couple of games.
Oklahoma (who we lost to twice) was ostensibly a good team although they lost by 35 points to LSU in the playoff semis.
We got the benefit of having a great record coming out of a weak conference. We would have been middle of the pack in a better conference. We were not a great team, but some people act like losing Rhule was what killed our program and not losing Briles.
That defense was a top-15 unit by virtually any measure. And the offense, which finished 27th nationally in scoring, was more functional than any Briles defense but the 2013 unit.
Complementary football with elite defense is the most reliable path there is to college football success. You'll be in virtually every game you play that way.
Not arguing the metrics . . . but they were achieved against ho hum competition that year.
Crazy how Rhule parlayed the 2019 year with multiple near misses into a NFL job and then the Nebraska job.
It's only crazy to someone that is either butthurt about Rhule leaving us or otherwise dislikes him.
I'm certainly not upset that he left. Question for you: if Rhule apologized for leaving and said Baylor is where he wanted to spend the rest of his career, would you want him hired?
Interesting thought exercise. I would take him. He would make us better than we are now. He didn't want to be here before. He'd probably squirrel out on us again in 3-4 years, but we'd be better.
Plus, after canning Briles, we put ourselves on a likely coaching treadmill anyway. Absent finding another Teaff (unlikely but not impossible), we will have a coach a few years. He'll leave because he wins and moves on or because he's fired.
I'll admit I became spoiled by our 2010 - 2015 success. Toward the end of Briles tenure, we were for the most part dominating our own conference and even gaining momentum, especially in recruiting. We had a formula on offense that had put us squarely on the national radar. And we played with confidence and swagger.
My first opportunity to see Rhule's first team was the Duke road game which was his 3rd game after we had already lost to Liberty. I was dumfounded at how flat the team was on the sidelines and how we played with no emotion or heart. That team was not devoid of talent. I was also crushed that we had abandoned all semblance of our former identity. Our offense had absolutely no imagination.
After year 2 and even year 3, it just seemed that we would not be a conference champion caliber team on a consistent basis under Rhule. His recruiting was nothing special, and he was not innovative to the degree Baylor needs to be. If we had Rhule now, I believe we would be settling for a team that goes to some bowls and maybe has a breakout season with only 3 losses every few years in a conference full of middling to decent teams.
I may be asking for a lot, but I want to hire a young coach or even a coordinator that turns into the next Josh Heupel. I was hoping Aranda would be that guy, especially after his second year when we had a really great team. If Aranda doesn't pan out, I would prefer to keep swinging for the fences.