Subwaydawg said:
If Cohen turns out to flop, could someone else come in and coach up his talented recruiting classes? i.e. Orgeron and nutt?
I have no doubt that someone could come in and coach Cohen's players if they indeed are as good as advertised.
We're an SEC school, with a lot of tradition, history, and a great fanbase. We're also in a great recruiting region- we're in the middle of Florida, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Memphis typically has a lot of talent, and Mississippi as a state does a pretty good job of producing talent for the size of the state. We have very good facilities, and I believe that we will be upgrading them in the very near future. On top of all that, we are willing to pay a coach. Cohen is one of the highest paid coaches in the country.
I think the key is this- finding a guy that can both recruit and coach. (Guru points)
In my opinion, it probably would be best to find someone outside of "the Polk Family Tree".
I honestly can't think of a reason why we couldn't find someone that is a good coach- other than an insane previous coach telling people to not take the job.
If we keep bringing in top 15, top 10 classes, we will eventually amass enough talent that we will be very good. Those players will eventually become juniors and in some cases seniors, and when that happens, we should be an excellent team.
It's a lot easier to coach good players than not. Example- Joe Torre's first job as a manager was with the late 70's Mets. They had people like John Pacella, Ron Hodges, and Pete Falcone. If you've never heard of those people it's because they sucked. In the 90's, Torre ends up with the Yankees with guys like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. Now, I'm sure Torre got better as time went on, but with great players, he was able to win a lot more Championships.
Another point about Cohen- his style clashed with the players that he inherited. I'm not making an excuse for anyone when I type that, nor am I saying that Ron Polk's style was wrong, but that is a fact, and that made it difficult for both parties and that hurt the team a lot. But what is also happening is we are bringing in players that fit Cohen's style better. Therefore, they should perform better because they should respond to his style of coaching better than the players that he inherited. If you look at our class, you will notice that many played football in high school. Yelling and cursing is probably not something that they're going to be real worried about. Some of the others that did not play high school football, are considered hard nosed players- which is what Cohen was as a player, and the type of player that he likes.