So...I keep hearing about the "best staff in America". Again. And again. And again.
I think hearing that the first time, I accepted it for what it was....obvious hyperbole. In other words, Butch was just pumping up his staff to show he supports them, not making a literal claim. That was me...some of you apparently took it very literally. Either way...
Wow! People are still bringing that up, FOUR YEARS LATER!!! Was it really that big a deal that folks are still butt hurt about it after all this time? Let it go, man! Holy shizzle.
And on the "Butch has recruited em, but won't develop em" line....that's a pretty broad statement, though it might be true this season. Speaking only for myself, I was fine with the pace of development through the middle of this season. Last season, did we lose to Florida and Oklahoma because our players did not develop, or due to "Butch being a bad gameday coach" and/or "making bad decisions". I strongly favor the latter. Let me add that the OU and UF losses last season did not bother me as much as they bothered most fans (they did bother me though, believe me), because I felt overall that our early dominance of both those teams in the respective games EXCEEDED my expectations. That is, I was pleasantly surprised we did as well as we did through 3 quarters...I expected both games to be close the entire time. The spread was even on the OU game and -2 on Florida so I guess most gamblers agreed with me, at least.
But anyway...what about Cam Sutton? He came out of nowhere. Barnett was highly rated but would anyone in his right mind suggest Barnett didn't exceed expectations?
The one area I would agree with on player development with is at OL. Massive under performance IYAM. So I would make that change on the staff for sure.
Final note...overall the way the team played the second half of this season did suggest under performance by talent. But...it's hard to say how much of that is due to injuries. I am concerned with how the team folded the second half of this season, injuries or no, but I am going to keep hoping it was mostly injuries.
Having said all that, here is my take on Butch....very good recruiter, has generally developed the talent (exception to the OL and until this season WRs), but game plan is often bad or awful and adjustments, while better this year in the first half of the season, take too long and/or don't happen at all. I give Butch high to passing marks on just about everything but game day coaching. That definitely has to improve.
Just my $ 0.02