He took a program high off a national championship and ran it into the ground in a very short period of time.
This^
This was no ordinary new coaching gig. Though the team under Bobby Ross did decline a bit after the NC season, there was still a winning atmosphere, improved recruiting and plenty of talent still on the roster. Bill Lewis came in, and nothing he did worked. Everything got worse and it was borderline CGC worse. There is no doubt those two coaches have been horrible.
Like most of you, I still don't get the rush to extend an unproven coach so quickly (CGC I am talking about). You'd think after Paul Hewitt contract catastrophe, GT ADs and Presidents would be more cautious. Wait till the play and record improve from the prior coach. NEVER extend a new coach even if he just maintains prior coaches record. How many times do we see a coach come in, repeat the prior season record, only to get steadily worse over the next 3 years? VERY often. That means the new coach isn't very good, but took over a team already prepared in his first year, so that even poor coaching couldn't bring them down.
Ugh.
It's not like if we extend we get to keep a coach. They'll still bolt for an SEC school if they're wildly successful, even with a painful buyout required from the coach. The SEC school will pony up to cover that anyway. STOP extending coaches until proven. Don't give out new deals longer than 3 years, add a 4th year mutual option for a sizable raise if you want, but that's it.
