I get the need for patience here, but this wait and see mentality could potentially cost us 12.5x if we cut him loose next year like you're suggesting. He's set to make $2.5 million next year if we keep him, but what has he done thus far (on his own merit) to deserve that? The fanbase that's pissed off is showing that its not going to settle for a coach who makes countless excuses, throws his players under the bus, and pivots on his opinion of the team to try and cover his ass when it starts to lose. I mean c'mon - we have no depth at WR outside of St. Felix?? Really?? That's crap and everybody knows it, including Charlie.
Cutting him loose at $200k makes too much sense at this point. One way or another, he was going to be a rental coach when we first signed him. His contract was set up that way with the Texas money and the jump in salary for him and his coordinators. He needed to shoot the lights out at USF and he had the situation & players to do it. "The cake was baked." He didn't execute - simple as that.
Also, thinking coaches will stay away because we fire a guy who posted a winning record I think is absolutely ridiculous. If a coach is not confident enough in their abilities to think they can succeed here with the expectations that we have, then we don't need them. Also, I would be willing to bet there's a large group of current coaches who think CCS probably isn't that good of a head coach anymore or is better off as a D coordinator. Much respected for his character (maybe not with UL boosters...), but I think his performance at Texas set the tone for his "name recognition" as head coach in most coaching circles. Mack Brown was a great coach at once, so was Phillip Fulmer, and Rich Rodriguez, and Les Miles - big name coaches lose their edge because the game passes them by. From what we have seen thus far, the same could very well be true for Charlie. Hell, maybe he wasn't even a real big name coach to begin with?
Other coaches also probably aren't blind to the fact that USF has played nobody in the past 2 years. Just sayin'.