By "hiring the best HC we could afford" I am not suggesting that Key was not the right guy. In hindsight I was for BOB. But I think we would have had to overspend on him. as well as Freese, Harsin, etc. What I meant was HCBK was the perfect hire for many reasons, including financially. I am behind him 110%..........is that even possible ?
As I've said in other threads, I think there were 3 (major) requirements to the new coach:
- Proven experience winning.
- Can recruit to GT.
- We can afford him.
A candidate like Deion Sanders had shown he could recruit, but there were doubts that he could get his guys into GT, or continue winning at the P5 level - and on affordability.
Fritz seemed like a good candidate, with proven experience winning - although the last couple of stops have looked decent, but not an obvious homerun. "Can he win at GT?" was the question, and guaranteed $ was also the big issue.
Chadwell seemed to have all of the above, although recruiting was always a question mark (as was him bringing his entire staff. I appreciate the comment of another poster on his unwillingness to leave behind his defensive staff showing that he was more loyal to his staff than to making the hard decisions to benefit GT).
Of all of the 4, Key seemed to be the one that met all of the requirements. He has shown he can win at GT (although we lost some head-scratchers, we also won some we shouldn't have. So overall a big plus compared to TFG). He was known to be an incredible recruiter while at 'Bama and on staff here. And he agreed to a lower contract (with incentives) as a 1st-time head coach.
I'm of course hopeful he wins big - not just so that we get back on the right track, but so we can comfortably extend (& increase) his contract due to new revenue coming in.
