quote:
Sumlin's 2012 team looked capable of winning a national championship by end of year, and had the 4-team playoff been in place they likely would have been in that and won it all
There were literally 3 teams with better records than us in the SEC alone in 2012. As great as we looked at the end of the season, there was never any hope of winning a championship. Since then, the football team has looked utterly incompetent on either offense or defense for 3 straight years.
Billy Kennedy just got a raise for winning a bad SEC conference, when the best competition in the conference had a "down" year, and in a season where the number of losses by the champion was unusually high. Sumlin makes 5 million for standing and staring into space on the sideline during the Ole Miss game when the offense looks like it's never played football before and Allen looks like his arm is asleep. And everyone thinks the baseball coach who was one game from Omaha and has won 99 games over the past two seasons, made big strides with the hiring of Bolt, won an SEC Tournament, and had two very highly regarded teams is what's on the radar? Childress is (I'm sure sadly, to most) the best and most consistent big 3 men's coach on campus.
I'm probably considered an "ardent" Childress supporter, but like I said, the internet doesn't get things done. You have to have an athletic director that's allowed to do his job. I'm a fan of the Aggies first, the coach is secondary. I'm too poor to influence a hiring decision, and not crazy enough to think I'll influence Woodward from Texags.
But in the meantime, the board fills up every year with people making up that all the players hate Childress, that he's inept, and that his teams can't compete. None of that is true. My "patience" with the team comes from the idea that I truly believe Childress has fielded teams that are some of the best in the country, and that the right situation exists where he could win a championship. He plays and beats high caliber, championship coaches. He's bringing a lot of talent to the program. If we get over the hump between now and whenever the AD runs out of patience I don't know, but in the meantime, his teams are ALWAYS worth watching if you want to see competitive baseball against other good programs. I know a lot of posters watch the games waiting for the other shoe to drop even when we're doing well, but I can tell even some of the people in this thread that are fed up with the coach now were caught up in how well the team was playing recently until the season ended.
If I'm playing the "If I were AD" game, I wouldn't even be considering firing Childress right now. He isn't close to being your athletic department's biggest problem, and his results are not bad, they're just frustrating.
1. Our evidence with Woodward is that he wanted to extend Kennedy's contract before the postseason after one good season out of 5. That doesn't sound like a guy that is plotting to get rid of the baseball coach for being good but not great. I could be wrong, but I would be surprised. Do you think Woodward is preparing to fire Childress?
2. Childress has been very close to 2 Omaha trips and has had very good teams and players. Bolt has also been a great addition. Do you believe they are incapable of getting over that hump and taking teams to the CWS? Not even highly improbable, do you think they're inept to the point that they can't ever get there? (Calling my shot here, some day in the future Bolt is the HC at Texas A&M).
3. Do you think Childress' results, besides being frustrating, put dealing with the baseball program ahead of football, softball, and volleyball in terms of potential coaching changes? Keep in mind that despite the final results, the baseball team's performance has increased interest in the baseball program, increased attendance, and actually has the administration considering expanding the venue, all for a non-revenue sport.
That's why I think all these posts are just people lashing out in internet frustration. It's awful losing that way 2 (kind of 3) years in a row, but at best you're lining up a potential firing 2-3 years down the road. Almost ALL ADs wouldn't consider firing Childress right at this moment, and my guess is the (now retiring) Florida AD would still have a standard of 2 middling regular seasons in a row and failure to get out of a regional each time. People are just mad, and when the internet gets mad, they e-fire everyone. We've been e-firing Childress since 2009, Sumlin since 2013, and Kennedy consistently from 2011-2016, and will continue e-firing him next year.
