AllOregon

I am not worried about that,, they almost all leave. Win a Natty, leave. I am all in for that.

I respect your view, and to me it feels like Helfrich part 2. One could argue that situation got us a Playoff (Rose Bowl) win and a beat down in the Natty BUT was with Chip’s guys and a Heisman running the show. Then local coach cratered everything as he was clearly not HC material. It has to be local AND with HC coaching chops. I don’t see that in Wilcox, as much as I like the guy and family.

Fair point!

I am good with this being an ideal and do not mean to imply otherwise. My point of concern is: the options of that local guy (e.g. Wilcox or Chip) do not have the current coaching/recruiting chops. Have not shown it for awhile. I do not see a person that fits this successful description. Open to being wrong .

Yes, I am frustrated with how the MC thing went down and the horrible timing, but not with his reason for going home. After a cooling off period and reading from some smart people here, this Oregon fan from the early 70s has concluded that we cannot expect long term coach loyalty in this sport. It happens, but is more rare than ever. I think RM and PK came to that realization in hiring Willie versus from hiring within the Oregon or local pipeline. Go for better chance of winning in both coaching and recruiting. Yes they whiffed on the person, but not the concept. They probably thought they had both (winning and loyalty) in agreeing to the players’ wishes to hire MC. This is why I think it is a mistake to quench our loyalty pains by hiring Wilcox or Chip. Any gains from stability of thinking true stud recruits will come and stay in a local system get outweighed by coaching and recruiting “prowess” that really gets stud recruits/staffs and coaches them up to win consistently. For the fan that wants loyal, we are signing up to a long run reality average of 8 win seasons and an occasional flash in pan/luck run. That made me happy in the 90s. Winning a Holiday or Sun or Vegas Bowl was cool. Not now. We expect way more. Local connections are too small in number to have legit National contender coaches amongst the population. The great facilities and resources would help them, but not push us over the top. We can be the school that wins the big one with the right approach. I am all in for finding a winner that might be gone in 4 years but build a succession plan, as it gives best chance to keep our current expectation of WINNING Rose Bowls and possible shots at playoffs. Or better, we need a Natty. Not another Mid tier Bowl trophy. Lane County or bust.

Aranda. If he says no, then Kiffin.

Well said on the blindside timing. It would take time to groom a Riley type hire. Though it appears UO knew the Miami thing was a thing “a few weeks ago”, RM should have already been working it and not just putting all his eggs on MC signing a new extension. And given Dec 15 early signing period, year end is too late. After much consideration, I vote for Aranda. Successful and west coast guy, love the Defensive chops. Buy him a big time OC. Despite departures, the talent on the roster can still win Pac12 presuming QB emerges. If they do quickly, the recruits would come back to near the levels we have had under MC.

Thanks for showing the same site’s USC hiring odds. While clearly wrong on the candidate, the odds however are telling. Most of the names on the USC list are National “WOW” names. Not on the Oregon list. This shows the type of job and coach candidate attracted that the realists feel each team is due. They nailed that with USC, even if the name was not on their list. While people want a wow hire here, and I hope so, odds seem stacked the other way. The timing of signing day makes that even more stacked. That said, I came to the conclusion after the Stanford game that MC is not a true promised land coach, just an elite recruiter. That we would be better off elsewhere. I think that will happen, though will take a step back a year or so with this gutting of recruits.