Heres some fun little stats for you.

There is so much emotional content invested in CS and so much spinning both directions that this has become way to subjective of an argument. The reality is that it can actually be a very objective decision to let CS go.

Go back 30 years or so and look at all of the "traditional" power teams and what happened with their coaches. In virtually every single case when a new coach came in after a poor run before him, they had the team competitive in year 1, were solid winners in year 2 and top 10 ranked for the next several years. I know folks like to say Texas' situation was different and that the situation here was worse than other schools but that just isn't true. Everyone thinks their schools downfall is worse. But look at some recent examples of coaches coming into great programs that were on hard times. In EVERY case, coming into year 3 98% of the fan base, alumni, Board etc were enthusiastic about the coach. They knew they had a winner and the enthusiasm was rampant.

For comparisons sake I will start with CS.

Strong- The 3 years before Texas went 25-14, Strong has gone 6-7, 5-7 and 2-2.


Harbaugh- The 3 years before Mi went 20-18. Harbaugh goes 10-3 in year 1 and is undefeated and ranked 3rd or so in year 2.

Jimbo Fisher- The 4 years before FSU went 30-22. Fisher goes 31-10 first 3 years with a bowl win each year and an MNC in year 4.

Saban- The 4 years before A went 26-24. Saban goes 7-6, 12-2 and 14-0.

Carroll- The 4 years before USC went 25-23. Carroll goes 6-6, 11-2, 12-1 and 12-0.

Stoops- The 4 years before OU went 17-27. Stoops goes 7-5, 13-0 and 11-2.

Holtz- The 4 years before ND went 25-21. Holtz goes 5-6, 8-4, 12-0 and 12-1.

Mack- The 4 years before Tx went 30-19. Mack goes 9-3, 9-4, 9-3 and 11-2.

Meyer- The 4 years before Florida went 23-15. Meyer wins MNC in year 2 and 4.

Brian Kelly- The 3 years before ND went 16-21. Kelly goes 8-5, 8-5, 12-1.

Contrast that with the fact that at those same traditional power schools, every single coach that didn't show massive improvement in year 2 and win big in year 3 was fired within a year or two. It is hard to find a single coach at a major player that survived after having 2 bad seasons to start.

People keep saying over and over how it takes 4 years to turn a program around and there just isnt any evidence of that in the real world. It is true for the Baylors or K Sts etc but not at the elite programs. Every single time a coach lasted for 5+ seasons at one of those elite schools they won big within 2-3 years tops.