This is the only hire so far I don’t like
I’m not a big fan, either, but I’m being somewhat unfair, tbh. I just think if you’re going to spend this kind of money then you need to aim high. If we are only looking to be bowl eligible every year, we could do it on a lot less than we spend.
Rhule’s offenses in the past have just been ‘OK’. Now, he’s likely never going to light up the box score because of his relatively slow pace, but they can stand to be more efficient. His offenses have been more about controlling the game as an accompaniment to a strong defense rather than being a force in their own right.
It reminds me a bit of Saban when he initially took over Bama. He found, despite all of his 5 star defensive talent, that he still needed to juice his own offense if he was going to survive playing so many explosive offenses every year. The offenses in today’s environment just have too many advantages to hope to shutdown all of them, all of the time.
From this perspective, I think Rhule’s offensive coordinator means a lot. Is he going to be an 8-10 win guy that just beats those he should or is going to have the firepower to win against the better teams with better offenses. I think in terms of offensive talent he’s shown he can develop athletes and I think with the right staff he’ll be able to recruit enough weapons. What he needs is an offensive coordinator that can take his approach to offensive football and give it that little bit of juice.