I think the turning point was how coach handled his illness and recovery. You can't fault a person for falling ill, but if they're dedicated to the organization they should be expected to make the right decision about when and how they return.
If he couldn't coach in September, he shouldn't have.
If he was able to come back in February, he should have.
His wishy-washyness is what cost us on the recruiting trail, and what fed rumors by other coaches. He needed to send a clear message, and he didn't.
Agree. He let blood accumulate in the waters around the program. Lost a lot of momentum. Rumor mill was churning butter about us.
There is some truth to that. But that is easily correctable. He is healthy and assuming he gets the extension he will be re-invigorated. He knows how to recruit. He got lazy in some respects.
He knows that can't happen again. He is not stupid. He does not want to be fired again. He does not want to fail again.
And he knows regardless of the length of the extension the important part is the buyout. He knows if we are here in 2 years lamenting back to back mediocre seasons he will be on the phone with ESPN looking for a gig.
His problems are correctable. It is up to him to re-dedicate himself.
With all due respect, I don't get this. I am an extremely competitive person. If I have a chance to sell players and go get players, and that's gonna dictate the success of the team, to a large degree, then I'm going to do that. Is Lavin not competitive?
The quote about him not feeling any pressure to win really kills me. Let's say there is no external pressure. Fine. Let's say all the negatives are true about us, our fan base, et cetera, the university is just happy to be there, all that. Doesn't he feel internal pressure? When the game is over & we lose, he turns to do the handshake & he's congratulating the other team's assistants...on his way to a fat dinner in his chauffeured car...he does not seem to sweat losses. There's never any avarice, not much rivalry talk in the press...we hate them, they hate us et c.....
I'd like to see it to know it's there. You'd think maybe he would want to win bc bringing us up would be so huge, or to win for his buddy Keady, who was a far better coach than him and never won....
When a coach needs to rededicate himself, he usually needs to do it elsewhere.