The thread title says it... "Ground Hog Day the Call for Patience"... Where have we heard this before? Oh yeah, that's right with our good buddy Willy T! I can't blame our fans on these boards for hearing this same refrain and quickly barfing next to their keyboards or smartphones. We kept hearing it from insiders, writers, and administration all during the Willy days. It was only afterwards that all of them admitted that something was totally wrong about our football programs state of affairs. However, in this case from an observer I think the calls for patience are in fact warranted. I think that because of a couple of things.
1) Norvell has been successful in previous spots. He wasn't playing all cupcakes either. He has sent quite a few players to the NFL. (especially his running backs). He has had successful quarterbacks etc.
2) He has instilled discipline amongst his players and has been brave enough to show players the door if they don't follow the company line. Could he win more games with some of the talent that left? Yeah, he probably could but then he would have to pay the price of the players running the show and not the coaches.
3) Does he have a playbook? Yep, and its a pretty good one that has shown real success in the past.
4) Is he organized? I think he has shown he knows how to run the internal parts of the program and not miss a beat in this way.
5) Does he own up to his mistakes? I think he does for the most part. There is always going to be a form of "coach speak" but that's apart of the job.
All of the things mentioned were the exact opposite of Willy. He kept bad characters to win a couple more games that first and second year but that wasn't going to address the problem. In fact, he brought in even more bad characters along the way. He was disorganized and wasn't right for the job. Do I think many including this website cover for him for a while? Absolutely!
We cannot fix anything repeating the same mistakes though. Big buyouts, losing more and more money, and changing staff on these kids constantly. We have to embrace the problem for a while and work our way through it. I'm willing to give the guy a chance. This crazy world of changing coaches every year is not sustainable. Show me a program that operates that way and is successful.
Every fan has a right to be angry, depressed, and frustrated. I'm sure the coaches are the same way but we cannot repeat the same mistakes. I feel exactly like our head coach. All the good practices in the world don't mean a hill a beans if it doesn't show up on gameday. These guys have to learn to win and it takes getting through adversity and being stronger on the other side to get there. So this is a part of the process.