So we are 7-6. Did this season meet, exceed or fall below your expectations as a fan from when the season started. I realize we still likely have a bowl to play.
This is Chuckās average, so yes, weāve met expectations.
Met expectations, though I was thinking 8-5.
So basically, you are saying CM is what Mike Tomlin has become the last several years. The college version of Mr. 9-8.
It was supposed to be a ārebuildingā year (whatever that means nowadays, every year is going to be like that to some extent now). We made the championship game, but were 1-3 against the 3 best teams in the league. The OU game was disappointing. The Toledo game was a clusterf*ck with the Finn chaos. Western is simply a better team than us. We should have been more competitive against Wisconsin and beaten a (pretty good) UNLV team. Itās certainly not a down year, but kind of a āmehā year.
With that in mind, two G5 teams may (and given the rankings, should) be in the playoff. As long as the playoff lets G5 teams in, that should be the goal. Not the expectation every year obviously, but a general goal for the program. Iād would love for Chuck to just acknowledge that opportunity, because it is attainable in the right circumstances. Competing for MAC title should be an expectation every year I think, and we did do that.
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Chuck at the recruiting day presser when commenting on the flips, said that he guesses it means we are recruiting the right guys if P4 programs want them. Applying that to coaching, what does it say then that CM himself hasnāt had the opportunities, at least that we know of, to be lured away by bigger opportunities?
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I think there was a lot more optimism in January than 7-6. I certainly thought Finn was going to be the MAC player of the year. I thought our 13 transfers would make a far bigger contribution
We went 1-3 against MAC bowl teams and lost to UNLV. I think we followed the spread perfectly
It was a fine year and maybe set up a better year next year but I wouldnt say it exceeded my expectations
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I was just discussing this with my wife, and mentioned the ārebuilding yearā comments, and she immediately said āwith the landscape of college sports now, every year is a rebuilding year and that shouldnāt be used as an excuseā. Something others have expressed as well, and I tend to also agree with. Yes, my wife is an avid sports fan.
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Given all of the aforementioned headwinds going into the season (0 returning offensive starters, the heart of the defense being replaced) then the āearache-gateā issue just before the Toledo game, my opinion is just slightly below expectations. At times competitive with B10 programs that outspend us by a WIDE margin. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with UNLV. Were 1-2 against WMU, Toledo, OU. However, when the team could have folded, they found a way to Detroit with a 3rd string QB, and others who stepped up throughout the year. I was as frustrated as everyone driving down 75 last night, but we have a culture now that EXPECTS to be in the championship every year. Iāve been around Miami football over 40 years; many years during that time we could not say that
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Given our losses on the O line, and the eventual Finn fiasco, our W-L record was pretty much in line w my expectationsā¦was hoping for an 8 win regular season.
Lots of interesting comments about current coaching staff, and I have already expounded on my disappointment with game day planning. But my main beef w Chuck is that he doesnāt seem to value the kind of games that gave Miami itās football reputation, that being upsets of major OOC opponents.
We had Wisconsin on the schedule in a down year for them and just ran the ball up the middle all day. And not winning any of these games is one of the main reasons Chuck is still here, and not in the mix for a P4 Head coaching job.
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I will be honest, part of my reason for starting this thread is to see what are the expectations we as the core Miami fan base, hold the athletic programs to.
Yes, indeed. Although CM at least makes the post season consistently
There is nothing that screams about Chuck that a P4 program would want in an older coach. His staff clearly cannot put together consistent game plans, and makes poor personnel decisions when it comes to QBs, positional utilization, etc. heās an average coach in an average league
I would say a well above average coach in a well below average league.
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Red Sea: I can go with āabove averageā but āwell above averageā may be a bridge too far for me considering the persistent poor game day planning and inability or unwillingness to adjust or modify a plan that isnāt working.
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Hard for me to admit, but I am satisfied with this season. Replacing the entire offense is a big challenge for any coaching staff. Finn was ok when he played, but our offense in general was very limited. Lost our staring RB early, but I thought our RBs did a good job. Hopefully OL can get better next year and Tommy can have a great year. Defense was decent, not as dominate s we were used to. I agree with the rebuilding year comments earlier, we are going to be in that mode as long as we are on the MAC.
Letās win the bowl game and have some fun!
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In the current era of college sports, the MAC, and Miamiās place in it, all you can ask a coach to do is make the conference title game which gives you a shot to hoist the trophy. Heās done that 3 years in a row. No one else in the MAC can claim that. 7-1, 7-1, 6-2. 10 straight years of 4-4 or better in the MAC. 6 of those 10 had six wins or better. Our level of fan support is in the bottom half of the MAC. Our level of student enthusiasm is in the bottom half of the MAC. And yet despite that lack of support, here we are competing at the top end: year in and year out. Over the last decade, you could make an argument that maybe Toledo has had a better decade, but its a 50/50 choice.
Maybe its because my era of Miami fandom. Iāve been a Miami football fan now for 21 seasons. My freshman year was the year after the Roethlisberger high point. In the 9 years before Chuck, we had only 2 winning seasons. We only had 3 seasons over .500 in the MAC. We went 0-12. We went 1-11. We went 2-10 (2 times!). Iām supposed to be mad about the guy who just won 20 conference games in 3 years?
Does Chuck drive me absolutely crazy sometimes? Sure. But I will take the ceiling of Chuck if it means we never have the basement of Don again.
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This season generally met my expectations, thereās a preseason thread somewhere where I predicted that weād lose the first two games, UNLV would be a tossup, and weād get it together for MAC play. The Finn drama threw a wrench in it, considering how it played out we responded well.
In a macro sense the MAC is as bad as itās ever been imo, frustrating given that small school access to major games is attainable. Chuck is dealing with a lot of headwinds for the program and state of college football, and heās managed us well since 2014 all things considered. But it isnāt controversial to say heās hit his ceiling and that he wonāt get the program to the heights weād like while heās around.
Iām at peace with who Chuck is as a coach, heāll probably continue on the same track for however long heās at Miami and Iāll enjoy it for what it is since he has a high floor. It helps that I now have IU fandom through my wife as an outlet for football with greater ambitions.
Considering your passion for sports, I would hope that she is an avid sports fan!
=>Slightly exceeded expectations. Returned 0 starters on offense. 4 or 5 on defense. Not sure expections were very high if we are being honest.