Err.....what? Brady Hoke, Kevin Sumlin, and Larry Fedora all won 10 games this year and their teams are in the top 25. Nothing against Coach Kill, who I think was a solid hire and am cautiously optimistic about, but 2011 didn't make me feel any better about him in comparison to the three aforementioned gentlemen.
Randy Edsall, on the other hand....
Err......what yourself. Hoke lands his dream job in Michigan where it's a bit different than here, especially when you start with Denard Robinson as your QB. Sumlin and Fedora won their 10 games at their old schools so why in the hell is that valid? Fact is, with all of the vacancies last year, they stayed put. Err.....maybe they knew they had teams that would polish their resumes even more? Pirate Guy also didn't get hired last with all of the vacancies despite peddling himself like a whore on the street.
The Brewster hire is Maturi's legacy, but folks who have no clue about what really goes on, still use that hire to declare the Kill process as a total SNAFU. First, he had the "Tubby type" quote but folks also conveniently ignore the "it remains to be seen" part. Second, he was seen on the plane in San Diego and folks are all over him for not using a Stealth fighter jet if he couldn't use a private jet. That one looks more like Brady Hoke's manipulations than anything else. By the way, Brady is from Michigan but Maturi is a failure because he couldn't hire him? At least he's not being ridiculed for not getting Jim Harbaugh anymore. Oh, and third, old Joel was escorted by Dave Mona, which again was from his legacy hire and came from on top. So what? We don't know what Mona actually did and with his University ties, it's hardly a strange choice.
Finally, this search was out there a lot longer, (which again is because of the Brewster hire.) Nobody coaching elsewhere is going to accept another job in the middle of the season. But people again are all over Maturi as a bungler because it took so long. If secrecy is a way to judge a search, this one was pretty well done. Just because a bunch of names were thrown out there by rumor mongers isn't an indication of anything. And when his first choice changed his mind, Maturi had a very solid Plan B. It's not like he was picking up the phone that Saturday evening and going, "Um, hi, Jerry. My name is ...," Hiring coaches is a crap shoot. Look at how many times Notre Dame with all of their resources has come up empty. Most people are optimistic about this hire. Some still prefer that someone else was hired and that's fine. It is time for Maturi to retire, but those assessments that give him absolutely no credit for anything get ridiculous. Especially when it's judging a process that took several months, and there are just a few minor things to get worked up over.
