They say that to have some accuracy in judging a new collegecoach, one should wait about four years, or one recruiting cycle.Give the guy some time to work with players he brought in.
I tend to agree with that, discussion of Ball State's headfootball coach Brady Hoke not withstanding.
The outside observer would probably question Hoke's abilityafter his team's 4-8 effort -- four-straight losses to end theseason -- especially given that Bill Lynch was fired a day afterhis team completed the 2002 season at 6-6.
As one would expect from a first-time head coach, Hoke and hisstaff made several mistakes last fall, letting special teams playslip being one of them. The team's slide over the last third of2003 shouldn't be ignored, either.
However, it was the first year. Players and coaches adjusting toeach other, as well as learning new offensive and defensiveschemes, should be taken into account. And who could say thatreplacing Marcus Merriweather -- the school's all-time leadingrusher -- would be easy, even given the school's tradition ofproductive tailbacks?
Still, an upset of Toledo had the Cardinals at 4-4 overall and3-1 in the Mid-American Conference, and another 6-6 season seemedmore than realistic. With Western and Eastern Michigan left, itseemed probable.
While the collapse was somewhat puzzling, the prior promise hasme optimistic about this year's team.
Sure there are several obstacles: an offensive line and runninggame that needs to develop quickly, a new quarterback that needs tostep up, a defense that must not only replace seven starters, butmake significant strides against the run.
Oh yeah, there's only nine senior letterwinners on the roster,and the 2004 schedule could be rougher than last year's edition(rated the 26th toughest nationally).
But the new signal-caller might have the league's best receivingcorps to throw to, the defensive tackles have beefed upconsiderably, and Justin Beriault is possibly the MAC's bestsafety.
Coaches and players have had a whole season together. Beriaultand Hoke agreed at the MAC Media Day that the adjustment period islong over with.
It hasn't been four years for Hoke's program yet, but I'll passsome judgment for the second season. Ideally, the Cards will play12 games (the 12th being the MAC Championship) but with the brutalnon-league slate, and league games at Bowling Green and Toledo, nowin should be looked at as given.
I believe a 6-5 mark will be hard to reach, but it is possible,and the players and coaches expect at least that fromthemselves.
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