by dtwalrus on Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:43 am
Daz deserves some credit for his assistant hiring. Don Brown turned out to be inspired. Ryan Day did a lot without a lot. Lempa and Al Washington contributed along the way. There have certainly been some bad fits (Fitch at OC and the jury remains out on Frye at OL), but overall Daz has done a good job staffing. And, while losing Brown hurts, I like the 2016 staff shake-up.
On offense, we needed a change. Accountability was demanded. At the very least let's be grateful Daz recognized this and made a change. Spaz would've just ordered more meatball subs for the angry mob demanding blood. And the changes are solid. Loeffler is a good hire, considering the circumstances. If Fitch's ego can handle the demotion, keeping his recruiting abilities and moving him back to WR's would be a win. I'm kind of indifferent to White at RB's and maybe a little concerned about Frye not just keeping OL, but also getting a "promotion" to Run Game Coordinator, but whatever. Overall, this has been a productive offseason for the offensive staff.
On defense, we didn't need a change, but change was forced on us. When Brown left there was a lot of despair around here. Well, Daz managed put out the fire and maybe even improve the defensive staff overall. Reid looks like a good fit, capable of filling Brown's shoes. And I really like moving Washington to the defensive side of the ball. I also really like the Campanile hire from a recruiting point of view. In fact, the defense now has an excellent recruiting team with Reid, Albert, Washington and Campanile. Excellent. Just need to bleach the taste of that 3-win season out of everyone's mouth and let these guys recruit.
Special teams is the only obvious downgrade. Hutzler really did a good job last year. Hopefully the extra year of kicking will help our FG woes, but I'm concerned about maintaining the progress we saw on returns and coverage. Was a little surprised to see Washington get this post too, but maybe Daz knows something we don't.
Either way, we needed a staff shake-up and we got one. And arguably, we are improved.
10-2 season? Anyone?