This right here. Of the 24 in the "best class in BG history" of 2017, only 9 remain. There is effectively no senior class and no leadership. Just a few veterans here and there like Clair and Denley who have been around for a long while. The ghost of Mike Jinks is not going away for a while.jpfalcon09 wrote:Todd Walker just mentioned both the 2017 and 2018 classes have had 50% attrition. 30% already for the 2019 class.
If you fail to understand why the program is where it is after reading that I can't help you. It's going to take a long time to fix this.
And it looks like my creepy stalker is back. For the record I was skeptical of Jinks the moment he was announced. I'll recount a little story from the time. Spring 2016 an old friend of mine and I went out to happy hour, catch up since we live opposite sides of the DC beltway, watch NCAA tournament basketball games and drink some beer. The only one of us who had a team in the tournament was me with Purdue, who had the 5 seed curse and lost to Arkansas Pine Bluff. So we vented about our football programs since we're both football guys anyway. He - Penn State alum - was sure that Franklin was about to get fired and was pushing the program into consistent 6-6 seasons. Franklin had just hired a new OC and he said it stunk of desperation. I said Purdue football needed Hazell gone and gone yesterday but the funds were not there. His recruiting was poor and coordination was worse.
And then BG. And the rant. He asked what I thought of the new coach. I promptly asked for another round.
I said I appreciated the notion of hiring a young guy who could be successful and stick around for a few years rather than bolt after one big season. I said it made sense to go for someone from an offensive pedigree. I said the guy will probably recruit well especially given how young the staff is. But ... why that guy? Why hire the RB coach from Tech? Texas Tech is known for the passing game. The running game is an accessory for their offense. Why not make a run at the OC or at least the QB coach? Why hire a guy with only three years of college experience all at one place? Why a guy who had only ever coached in Texas? And why Texas Tech? Kliff Kingsbury had no hang-your-hat-on wins. Is Tech even a well coached team? I mentioned an interview with the AD Kingston about the hiring process and expressed concern that Kingston was fixated on Jinks the moment he learned about him and didn't give flexibility to see other options.
And then just as concerning was the new staff. They were pretty well finalized by then. I liked what they had to say. They talked a good talk. They were all young and could probably connect with high school players well. But it was a bunch of vertical moves. Nobody came to BG in the same or similar capacity as before. Everyone was going to be learning together on the job. That would make sense at a place like EMU but at a place with the recent success of BG? No. It made no sense.
The old friend asked how I thought it would work out. I said I'll let myself be surprised if it works. But it looked concerning. We changed topics because it was pretty clear I was not happy with the decision at BG.
Penn State won the Big Ten that year. Purdue canned Hazell and hired Brohm. And BG is to this day living with the ramifications of that puzzling hire who ended up far worse than I forsaw. But thankfully that's all in the past. I have always said I like the Loeffler hire because of his wealth of experience working under great coaches and his experience turning BC offense from historically abysmal to competent. But I've also said he is going to have to tough it out for a few years because of the tire fire he inherited. If we're not seeing progress 2021 and 22 then we'll revisit.
