In Reply to: I was a big Al Golden honk in '07... posted by BabyBear on September 29, 2025 at 15:23:26
then the more you roll the better chance you have to find success.
I remember many years ago on this board (post-Toledo) some posters saying how they did not want UCLA to become a revolving door of coaches. That it was important that we found a guy who would stay at UCLA. How'd that turn out? Since 2000, we've had the same number of permanent head coaches as Oregon. Same number as USC. Same number as Arizona. Same number as ASU.
Sometimes you've just gotta kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince, so to speak. This is why I've always advocated firing early and often.
Like a poker hand, as soon as you know you can't win, fold your hand. I would have fired Dorrell after 2004, and certainly after 2006. I would have fired Neuheisel after he went 4-8 in his third season. I would have fired Chip after either his second or third season.
That would have given us a lot more rolls of the dice, and buying out Dorrell and Neuheisel would have cost peanuts compared to the money we now need to repair this broken program.
I've spent most of my decades on this board focused around one central theme: fire the coach. Keep hitting the re-set button, if necessary, until you find success.
Of course, other things should have been done as well with regard to facilities, administration, assistant salaries, recruiting budgets, marketing, etc. But you need to get lucky and for that you need to give yourself every opportunity to get lucky.