I had a conversation sitting and chatting during the 1st half of the Nebraska game with another RU diehard, who also watches football and hoops and in between Nebraska scoring plays, RU punts and an otherwise non-descript game, the obvious conversations came up regarding Flood and what options if any were available to RU if the trend line continues.
I think the overall mistake being made by all RU fans and fans that watched Schiano and our Big East competition was the theory or notion that the Big East was an actual BCS caliber conference or at the same level of the ACC, Big Ten, Pac 12, Big 12 or SEC. Since the Big East had a seat at the table of BCS bowl games and the conference had an underdogs mentality, it provided the thought process that in "head to head" matchups in OOC or during Bowl season that when West Virginia or others matched up in the limited opportunities with the B1G, SEC and Big 12, that the Big East was capable of competing, week in and week out.
The fact now remains that although many are determined to give the Big East that credit, it is now being exposed as not having the overall player depth BUT also lacked the top end coaches as well.
If we are fair and look at what coaches have done after the breakup of the Big East, let's look at where certain coaches landed and what level of success they enjoyed AFTER they left the annual competition of the Big East.
Rich Rod- Still considered an above average coach, but did not deliver Michigan back to the level they expected and ultimately dismantled an already 9 win program, because former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr could not be USC in the Rose Bowl or didn't dominate rival Ohio State under Tressel. Rodriguez getting exposed in the B1G wasn't surprising, they lacked the players to run his system, but he also has had an uneven Arizona tenure as well. I would not place Arizona in the top half of football power programs in the Pac 12, but I don't think Rich Rod is going to take that next step there.
Greg Schiano-I keep hearing about how RU football really was only started under Terry Shea, but the stark reality was and still is, RU has always been a 5-7 win program, with normal recruiting and talent in our area. The Dick Anderson and Graber days are not far off from the Schiano days, if you eliminate the 2006 season. RU also played a significantly tougher schedule in the late 80's and early 90's vs whatever Schiano and the new Big East developed into, and got progressively easier after Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left the league. We can argue that Schiano was a National Coach of the Year and deservedly so for 2006's magical ride. But on the surface, RU would be essentially the same program if they played a tougher schedule or in a better conference. We are discovering that right now as RU enters a true balanced league, that is supported with better coaching staffs, top to bottom in this conference vs anything seen in the Big East.
Charlie Strong-won and rebuilt a slow developing program after Kragthorpe left, but it was not THAT far removed from the winning of Petrino. Strong developed a recruiting base in South Florida to help Louisville grow enough that they earned an ACC invtie (along with their hoops success), but Strong's resume was built on winning a Big East title by beating Rutgers in 2012 and ultimately dismantling a Florida team that was thought to be much better in the Sugar Bowl. If we are fair about how good Bridgewater is and can fairly look back at Muschamp not really doing much with Florida's talent, Louisville was a questionable call on a lineman down field vs RU from never seeing the Sugar Bowl.
Randy Edsell----A fan favorite for taking the under rated and under dog Huskies to levels not seen since then, but begs the question...who was Edsell defeating......Jim Leavitt at USF, Kragthorpe at Louisville, Rich Rod (no) but perhaps Bill Stewart when he took over for Rich Rod at WVU....We can all agree that Edsell maximized his time at UConn, but the reality is, he was never that good of a coach and his time at Maryland, exposed him for what he was....an average coach, matched with other somewhat above average coaches in a now, overrated league.
I can continue with Bill Stewart, and others but the one program that demonstrated an ability to find and hire coaches was Cinci, with Dantonio, Brian Kelly, and Butch Jones and like it or not, all three coaches maximized Cinci to an extent that Dantonio & Kelly can be argued are two of the Top 10 coaches in college football.
This is not to minimize the matchups that West Virginia put up against Oklahoma or Georgia in their BCS games that carried the flag for the Big East back then to give the league a level of confidence. But in theory, before we automatically assume that Schiano returning (which isn't happening by the way), solves the riddle of recruiting and on field success, be careful....his competition back then is now shown as not as strong as we would believe in most instances and he's going up a level or 2 or 3, in the Big Ten.....the Big Ten is now significantly better today vs 2006-2011, when RU was in the Big East.
We have actual results that you have to look back on and evaluate NOW, vs holding opinions from before on not necessarily what happened during bowl matchups...sometimes that cannot be the best way to evaluate one conference vs another. Let's look back at the reputations of what coaches built their resumes on and they didn't necessarily do so again what you would consider programs or other coaches that were that good.
I would argue that Flood's resume could look or feel much different with a win over Louisville and perhaps even a close win vs Florida in the Sugar Bowl (Florida could not score and RU's OL was probably not going to block Florida pass rush), but at worse, Flood could have been a BCS bowl game coach.
This is also to say that Flood's initial resume of the 2012 team could have won more with better QB play but Flood is now working against better overall staffs and RU as a program needs better coordinators on game day to mask the rosters flaws against better competition. The question becomes what path are you taking to close this gap and at what cost??
I'm sure there will be detractors that will not recognize the Big East as not being inferior, but the depth of the conference has proven that it hasn't been what we thought it was and the coaches success levels leaving the Big East has also not been there as well. With Rich Rod, Strong, Edsell etc.....what separates Schiano from being classified with these coaches, when he was evaluated based on his success, going against these same staffs??
Looking for feedback on whether this is a flawed evaluation or is the current review of these coaches fair at their new jobs??.....I just don't see Schiano or a lot of these coaches thriving in better leagues and RU needs to get creative and find a true ace Offensive or Defensive Coordinator that fits the price points we are working from, before thinking the next MAC or AAC level head coach immediately launches RU from 5-6 win category to 8-9 wins. It will take more than a Schiano type of coach to get his done here at RU.
