thecowdog: Not sure if Foose “set me straight” regarding Canada. I’d agree with you that Alvarez made a run at DD and Canada, but that was seemingly after they were under contract. It was one of his many seemingly bizarre moves as AD.
I don’t agree though that he loved Canada. He’d have already locked him up, or let him coach that bowl game. It doesn’t really matter though. Neither of us really know what Alvarez thought of Canada at the time, nor is it pertinent to what happened with Canada at NC State.
I think we have differing opinions on whether he was a good hire initially. And really, those are opinions about something that happened 3 years ago, and our thoughts about it at the time. I think a search would suggest I raised concerns then, but it doesn’t really matter.
The seemingly pertinent thing to Wisconsin is that the QB slot was a mess, and there was a personality issue between the OC and the head coach. When we look at the last few years, our QB spot has been a mess (outside of about 6-8 games by JB), we’ve not really brought along a replacement (which had led me to believe that the replacement must have been running the scout team), and now we’re hearing rumblings about friction between DD and Canada.
What matters more is what we’ve seen over the last 3 years. Do you have disagreement with the list of gaps that I’d highlighted? Do you agree that we did less with more on offense, particularly in those winnable swing games?
The program may or may not be better with Canada gone. A lot of that depends on who gets hired and how much the philosophy switches. I expect to see up tempo, spread, read option with a running QB. That’s seemingly what we’ve recruited to and would line up with what DD did at NIU. I’m willing to chance it though because something needed to happen. I think we’d seen the pros and cons of the Canada offense with this level of personnel in the ACC.
For the record, I don’t think Hux is safe. To me the conversations are different and separate. They’re also influenced by talent level, the level of collaboration and input from the head coach in the prep and the product and how well DD feels he can work with that coordinator. DD may look in the mirror a bit more on that side of the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a more conventional 4-3 next year with more blitzing and a bit softer coverage behind regardless of who is calling the plays.
