havgrizfan said:
gotgame, thanks for answer. I appreciate your honesty. 1. No, I don't even personally know Mick. 2. I don't think my opinion is more valid than anyone else's and my job has nothing to do with my opinions on Griz football. Like anyone else, they are opinions.
I just see a lot of banter on here about "cutting it" and what used to be "unacceptable is now acceptable" so I simply asked "says who"? Where are people getting their info from that Delaney or Haslam believe second-round playoff exits one time in two years is acceptable? I'm simply saying that, just because it happened last year, doesn't mean anyone inside the Hoyt Athletic Complex thinks it is "acceptable" or is the "norm" and if I'm wrong, I just want to see proof. I saw absolutely no evidence from anyone involved with Grizzly football that last year's loss to Coastal Carolina was "acceptable". But, just because you believe something should be "unacceptable" doesn't mean it automatically will turn out the other way.
And if a loss to the Coastal Carolina's of the world in the second round is worthy of a 10-3 head coach being fired, then why wasn't Mick Dennehy fired after losing three straight on Thanksgiving weekend? Why wasn't Pflu canned AFTER not making the playoffs in his very first try? Bobby losing in the playoffs AT HOME in his first try? It's interesting to me that so many people act like what happened to the Griz last year against Coastal Carolina has NEVER happened before. But I've seen it happen NUMEROUS times in the last 20 years. Youngstown, Western Carolina, McNeese State, cripes the Griz haven't beaten the Cats at home since BH left, and Pflu has one of those on his resume too'. I'm simply pointing out the fact that I don't understand how some people can claim something was "so unacceptable" in the past, but yet its happened to Montana, MANY times in the past.
It has nothing to do with what I think of Delaney, it's a fact.
But I will admit one thing, I think it would have been absolutely STUPID on the part of the University of Montana to FIRE a head coach/coaching staff which went 10-3 while on NCAA Probation, and was about to return a senior class who doesn't want to play for anybody BUT the current head coach. Again, that's just my opinion.
First of all, you are comparing situations here that are not at all analogous. To compare Delaney's entire 2.5 year tenure to Pflugrad not making the playoffs his first year or Bobby losing in his first try is ludicrous. The major difference being the on-field product. As rough as Pflu's first year was, basically anyone aware of situation knew what the issue was: he was running a read-option offense with players recruited for and suited to play under Hauck's power scheme. That said, we saw marked improvement in his second season. Beginning with the second half of the season, even the casual fan could see we were rapidly gaining traction with the read option, resulting in a very potent offense. Even with Hauck, as boring as the offensive product could be at times, his teams' overall effectiveness was never in doubt (not saying people still didn't bitch) as we were still winning at a consistent clip during his tenure. Not only did both coaches show marked improvement after initial stumbles, but perhaps more importantly, their teams each had their own strong identity. With Pflu, it was the read option attack and an aggressive Breske defense that got after the QB. And with Hauck, it was a power running scheme with dominant special teams and consistent D. As a fan, you knew what the on-field product you were going to get. With Delaney, at over 2 seasons in you see neither marked improvement nor any cohesive team identity whatsoever. Please tell me what a Delaney team is. He says we are a running team that uses the rushing game to set up the pass. From what I can tell, we are team that can neither run or pass the ball with any consistency against stronger defenses, has terrible special teams play, and an improving defense. That's a team struggling to find an identity, which is something that comes from the top down. I understand a lot of our offensive woes come from injuries on the OL, which isn't Delaney's fault, but good teams and good coaches win in spite of injuries.
We can argue about details all the day long, but at the end of the day the question is, do you seriously believe Delaney has what it takes as HC to a win a National Championship? And if so, what has he done in his over 2 year tenure that makes you think he is capable of such a feat? These are the questions that irk me and many other Griz fans when it comes to Delaney. At this stage of the game, we should be seeing something tangible to make us believe this is a distinct possibility. Both Pflugrad and Hauck did. With Delaney, I just don't see it. Perhaps I am missing something though, so if this is the case, please educate me on the glory that is Delaney.
