Another one

[smazza]

30 minutes ago, macphisto said:

People forget how happy quite a bit of the fanbase was to get rid of Leavitt.  2007 was so exciting and so disappointing.  Rutgers, UConn, Cincy, and then getting embarrassed in El Paso.  

2008 was more of the same.  We started the season ranked.  Expectations were high.  Ranked #10 and a mediocre Pitt team beats us in our own house.  Started 5-0 then 6-1.  Ended at 8-5 thanks to a bowl win in St. Pete.  

By the end of 2009, most were thankful for Leavitt building the program but convinced he could never take the team over the hump.  No 10 win seasons.  

We felt, wrongly, that maybe Holtz could take that talent, keep recruiting, and get over that hump.  But it only got worse.

Taggart got us ranked once more.  Strong had a solid season using Taggart's talent.  

Now here we are.  

I always will appreciate how Leavitt built the program from nothing.  I will never understand the desire to bring him back.  I also would have rather had Taggart if I was bringing back an old coach.  But I'm just as happy to get someone who worked closely for YEARS with the guy who knocked Nick Saban off his perch.  He wants to be here.  We'll see for how long.

And one thing I know is he KNOWS football a lot better than I do.  I am excited to see what the future holds.

I'm happy to remember the past and be thankful, but let's move on.

great recap

[NPRBull]

31 minutes ago, macphisto said:

People forget how happy quite a bit of the fanbase was to get rid of Leavitt.  2007 was so exciting and so disappointing.  Rutgers, UConn, Cincy, and then getting embarrassed in El Paso.  

2008 was more of the same.  We started the season ranked.  Expectations were high.  Ranked #10 and a mediocre Pitt team beats us in our own house.  Started 5-0 then 6-1.  Ended at 8-5 thanks to a bowl win in St. Pete.  

By the end of 2009, most were thankful for Leavitt building the program but convinced he could never take the team over the hump.  No 10 win seasons.  

We felt, wrongly, that maybe Holtz could take that talent, keep recruiting, and get over that hump.  But it only got worse.

Taggart got us ranked once more.  Strong had a solid season using Taggart's talent.  

Now here we are.  

I always will appreciate how Leavitt built the program from nothing.  I will never understand the desire to bring him back.  I also would have rather had Taggart if I was bringing back an old coach.  But I'm just as happy to get someone who worked closely for YEARS with the guy who knocked Nick Saban off his perch.  He wants to be here.  We'll see for how long.

And one thing I know is he KNOWS football a lot better than I do.  I am excited to see what the future holds.

I'm happy to remember the past and be thankful, but let's move on.

Well said. My feelings exactly.

[JTrue]

39 minutes ago, macphisto said:

People forget how happy quite a bit of the fanbase was to get rid of Leavitt.  2007 was so exciting and so disappointing.  Rutgers, UConn, Cincy, and then getting embarrassed in El Paso.  

2008 was more of the same.  We started the season ranked.  Expectations were high.  Ranked #10 and a mediocre Pitt team beats us in our own house.  Started 5-0 then 6-1.  Ended at 8-5 thanks to a bowl win in St. Pete.  

By the end of 2009, most were thankful for Leavitt building the program but convinced he could never take the team over the hump.  No 10 win seasons.  

We felt, wrongly, that maybe Holtz could take that talent, keep recruiting, and get over that hump.  But it only got worse.

Taggart got us ranked once more.  Strong had a solid season using Taggart's talent.  

Now here we are.  

I always will appreciate how Leavitt built the program from nothing.  I will never understand the desire to bring him back.  I also would have rather had Taggart if I was bringing back an old coach.  But I'm just as happy to get someone who worked closely for YEARS with the guy who knocked Nick Saban off his perch.  He wants to be here.  We'll see for how long.

And one thing I know is he KNOWS football a lot better than I do.  I am excited to see what the future holds.

I'm happy to remember the past and be thankful, but let's move on.

Did you just say you didn't want xCJL back?!?

[Roaming Bull]

25 minutes ago, puc86 said:

You have to hit up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b,a, select, start on your remote

Makes perfect sense now

[puc86]

23 minutes ago, JTrue said:

Did you just say you didn't want xCJL back?!?

If you keep pretending to be one of us it doesn’t take long for the lines of acting and reality to blur and you may just find you like it better on this side of the argument.

[NewEnglandBull]

7 minutes ago, puc86 said:

If you keep pretending to be one of us it doesn’t take long for the lines of acting and reality to blur and you may just find you like it better on this side of the argument.

It’s like stepping into the dark side 

[puc86]

Just now, NewEnglandBull said:

It’s like stepping into the dark side 

Or the right side as I like to call it

[JTrue]

32 minutes ago, puc86 said:

If you keep pretending to be one of us it doesn’t take long for the lines of acting and reality to blur and you may just find you like it better on this side of the argument.

If you keep pretending to want a guy who last coached when Pluto was a planet, people are going to think you’re serious.

[puc86]

14 minutes ago, JTrue said:

If you keep pretending to want a guy who last coached when Pluto was a planet, people are going to think you’re serious.

I was going to say that Pluto is still a planet in my book but then I remembered that I don’t believe in outer space.

[macphisto]

1 hour ago, JTrue said:

Did you just say you didn't want xCJL back?!?

Not a as a coach (and I get the joke).  I'd love to mend fences and honor him for what he did for us.  People romanticize the past, including USF's past.  I was at the WVU game in 2007.  It was amazing - the best crowd ever at RayJay to this day.  National TV.  Two ranked teams.  A program on the rise in a BCS conference.  It felt like only a matter of time after that game.

That first lost to Rutgers didn't quite end it all from an optimism standpoint, but the losses piled up and all the joy from rising to #2 was destroyed in just a few weeks.  2008 was a chance for a fresh start and the same disappointment.  Finding a way to motivate when the team rose in the rankings and become a target was not there.  The preparation for it was not there.