DrJacksPlaidPants

That’s recruiting. I Can’t blame Mario. He built those relationships and has the time invested in those players. That said, he had better produce fairly quickly because he is being funded by “new money” boosters. These guys aren’t old heads like PK. They pulled together a ton of money in a short amount of time. They’re not just starting out with new uniforms and a branding change. They’re all in. They want it all now. Unlike PK who started slow and eventually built up the infrastructure while keeping the nucleus of coaches around. The history of Oregon’s football program is like a spring fed river. They bubbled to the surface with PK’s help and have maintained a steady flow ever since. Miami is expecting a deluge of rain to get their river flowing. They want a quick return on their investment. They’re paying Mario a lot of money to make that flood happen. However, the worst thing that could’ve happened for him happened when Dabo had a down year. Clemson is now perceived as vulnerable, so if Mario isn’t at least an ACC champion in two seasons then he’ll be on a short leash. He’ll definitely be fired after 3 seasons with no conference championship and Clemson isn’t going away.

I don’t mind him coaching in the playoffs. He earned the opportunity to get a championship. After all, that’s why the game is played. Oregon will be there when he’s done. He could only do so much. He’s not from the West Coast and probably didn’t have any prior contact with these kids. It’s impossible to build a relationship in 3 days. He’s going to have to hit the portal and rebuild this team from scratch. There are going to be a lot of guys transferring after the bowl game. Likely a couple more WR’s just because BMac is leaving. Dye also sounded like he won’t be back which I’m OK with. This won’t be a popular opinion, but I’m kind of done with Mario’s old backfield. We needs some dudes back there. I hope Benson stays because he and Cardwell could do some damage.

He had to have been looking elsewhere after the Utah games. Losing his main recruiter didn’t help, but Arizona is also doing a good job building a new roster. I saw that they had 13 transfers signed.

He’s not making QB changes. Let’s hope we get good AB for this game.

He had a lot of talent, but was held out of a game for his attitude. He probably blew up at Mario for lack of touches. Ducks will miss his talent for sure, but I think there is good talent behind him. Maybe that McMillan kid will choose Oregon over Arizona now that a starting spot opened up.

Just a little FYI. Justin Herbert was Honorable Mention All-Pac 12 his Senior year. That’s it. He won NFL ROY the following season and is the only NFL QB to throw for 30 TD’s in his first 2 seasons. He also has the record for most completions during his first two seasons. Furthermore, he only needs one game of 3+ TD’s to tie Marino’s record and he has 4 games left. So, if you’re not too worried about Mario squandering Van Dyke’s talents then you need to prepare yourself for some real disappointment next season. My hope is that the Cowboys will have a high enough draft pick in 2 years so they can get Van Dyke. His arm will be nice and fresh.

What is his coaching experience? Is he coaching in college now? Does he have his degree? What will the Oregon community’s reaction be knowing that he was once arrested for domestic abuse? I don’t mean to be the Debbie Downer, but these are things that the administration will want to know.

If Mario was a resident of Oregon for 2021 doesn’t he owe Oregon state taxes on that $9M?

It sounds like he may be considered for DC. He was co-DC at Bama, but I don’t think he did too well. Saban got rid of him after 44-16. I heard he wasn’t a great play caller.

Joey Harrington explained the Blue Blood remark. He said that the term means “from royal birth”. He said Oregon was built and had to work to get on the level of everybody else who had their foundations built decades ago (Norte Dame, Oklahoma, USC, etc).

I’m listening to the guys now. They’re giving good explanations for the letter. They just wanted to make sure that the next guys cares about the program and not just a job to elevate their future endeavors. They’re not at all happy that the letter leaked. They all said it was meant just for Mullens’ eyes only.

Good Tweet from Geoff Schwartz.

Now that “The Letter” has come out, the reasons behind Wilcox turning down Oregon are becoming more clear. Mullens bowed to pressure (once again) to hire a certain person for the job. Wilcox likely found out about the letter and, while he was probably flattered, he knew that he wasn’t the right person for the job. He also likely felt that his detractors would hold it over his head that he got the job only because his buddies lobbied for it. I kind of feel bad for him because this is probably something he didn’t ask for. Warning: This is another Canzano piece. https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/john_canzano/2021/12/canzano-ex-oregon-ducks-greats-wrote-letter-to-ad-rob-mullens-worried-about-programs-lost-identity.html

I give the hire a C only because there are very few Guys out there who I consider A hires. Those are the guys like Saban and Dabo. The B hires are the guys with experience who have had success but no national championship. B hires could also be guys who have taken bad teams out of the cellar (see Jonathan Smith). I consider a C hire to be unproven, but with great potential. Also, guys who have been in a bad situation could be C hires as well. Manny Diaz would fall into this category. D hires are guys who have been given great situations but couldn’t get it done. F hires are the ones with zero integrity who will get you put on probation. Remember, this is just my opinion. I could be swayed through convincing arguments.

But Wilcox was offered the job and he turned it down. I can’t say whether he would’ve succeeded or failed because. Canzano infers that he may not have wanted into the pressure cooker that Oregon football has become. I can’t say I blame him. It’s a lot of pressure coming back to your alma mater.

I wonder if he will go after Cyrus Moss. He already visited USC and he’s going to Miami today. It seems that Mario had ulterior motives when he visited him after the PAC championship game.

Most of these pre-season classics have been held in the central and eastern time zones because Dallas and Atlanta offered to host them and pay a lot of money. I’m hearing that we will see more of these in the West with the building of SoFi and Allegiant stadiums.

I’m talking about the modern era of football when helmets weren’t made of animal skins.

It depends on your definition of failure. 4 of the last 5 coaches won the PAC and won NY6 bowl games. Willie won 7 games despit losing Herbert for much of the season. If you’re talking about their post-Oregon jobs then all of them are failures as they were all fired. Except Belotti, who only lasted 9 months as AD. We’ll see about Mario, but history doesn’t favor him.

Welcome to OBD. It would be a complete disservice to not allow Lanning to coach in the playoffs. After all, that’s why these kids play the game. Coaching changes are hard and recruiting hits come with the territory. You guys should know this just as well as we do. We’ve probably had the same amount of coaching changes in the last 10 years. The good thing is he has the transfer portal that is filled with over 2K players. The recruiting analysts at Oregon will probably help with recruiting and analyzing portal candidates while he coaches UGA. We know we’re not getting everybody who was committed before Mario left. It comes with the territory, but Mario didn’t leave a bare cupboard either. The Duck roster is pretty decent.

I get what you’re saying, but Belotti’s first HC job was at Oregon and he’s in the NCAA HOF. Chip’s first HC job was at Oregon and he went to 4 BCS bowls in a row to include a NC game. Helfrich’s first HC job was at Oregon and he won a Rose Bowl and went to the NC game. Granted, Helfrich was fired for sucking. Sometimes the institutional leadership helps the coach to succeed. Pat Haden was the reason USC failed. Not the departure of Pete. Mullens saw the writing on the wall with Helfrich and fired him with a winning record. His hires may not have stuck around but the Ducks went to a bowl every year since Mullens fired Helfrich.

Nate Costa could probably handle everything himself. He’s been around the program long enough. All kidding aside, I hope they keep him around. They would be crazy not to, really.

Head coaching experience doesn’t matter. Like somebody stated earlier this week. Oregon has had 5 different coaches since 1994 and only 2 losing seasons.

Really? That’s weird. His first HC job was at Oregon.

The only coaches Oregon ever hired with significant HC experience was Willie Taggart and Mario Cristobal.