mustangxc wrote:All the other coaches inherited bad to terrible situations prior to the existence of the transfer portal and NIL. Lanier inherited a decent to pretty good program, with the ability to reload immediately thanks to the transfer portal, and NIL which is a huge competitive advantage for us thanks to our generous alumni. So far, this has been a disaster of epic proportions. I have zero faith in Lanier and this staff.
That's a little bit of revisionist history. Bliss inherited a team that had gone 16-12 in Sonny Allen's final year and went 7-20 and 6-21 his 1st 2 seasons before turning things around and that's when SMU was doing it's own "NIL thing". Larry Brown inherited Doherty's team that had gone 13-19 following a 20-15 season that included the 1st post season play since Shumate and had a losing season in his 1st year going 15-17. I wouldn't exactly say they inherited "bad to terrible" situations. Jank was forced out/retired after arguably his best season at the helm but was looking at having to replace the Weathers brothers and finding some big men (assuming Davis, Bandoumel, Nutall, Phelps, Smith & Todorovic were all going to return). I will grant you that if Lanier had been able to retain Davis and Bandoumel and added Odigie, Amrose-Hylton and Williamson, this team would be a lot more competitive than it has been. This season has been a big disappointment but I'm not ready to say the Lanier hiring was a mistake. If there is no improvement next year and no significant improvement by year 3 (by that I mean post season play), I'm right with you.