If anyone is familiar with Kirk Ferentz's 10-year Theory, it's that folks like their head coach 10% less each season. If you last to the 10-year mark, you get a full reset. With CPJ, it seems like he didn't hit that reset button. I am not giving up on the season and think we can continue to get better (and possibly win the Coastal). We didn't look stellar to start out 2014 either. But next week might be a make or break game for CPJ's tenure at GT.
For anyone calling for CPJ's head, a new coach isn't going to correct the fundamental issues with GT (i.e. spending and academic rigor/lack of majors). I almost wonder if CPJ's early success hurt him in the long run, creating donors who thought we could compete on a low budget (consistently bottom 10 among Power 5 with Oregon State, Washington State, and Purdue). If we end up firing CPJ, we put ourselves even deeper into a financial hole. Would you be comfortable dipping into the 2020 Initiative's current $40 million funds to buy out his contract and get a decent coach? Who do you hire that is as good or better than CPJ where we won't be outbid by another team? The only way we step up as a program whether with or without CPJ is by putting the money into it.
In the case of CPJ being fired, I don't see us going with another flexbone coach. Our realistic choices, in my opinion, would be (in no particular order) Scott Satterfield (App State HC), Mike Norvell (Memphis HC), and possibly Neal Brown (Troy HC). Also throwing out wildcards like Charlie Strong (forgot where he coaches...) and Mark Helfrich (Chicago Bears OC, formerly Oregon HC). But there's a lot of football to be played before we start seriously talking about this. CPJ can save his job with a 7-win season, I think, provided our current financial debt to Gregory and Hewitt lasts one more year.