I thought going into this game that it was highly unlikely that JT would not return next year. After today, I think his chances of staying are definitely below 50%. There is still a lot of football to be played this year. 2006 is a reminder that we can come back from a disasterous start. The opponent and venue this year compared to 2006, however, were obviously starkly different.
I think that a lot of people would have been willing to give him another semi-pass this year, but the nature of this defeat was humiliating. Sure we left a bunch of points on the table and could have actually won this game with just a couple plays going differently, but in between those few plays were stretches where we were dominated by a lesser opponent who executed their game plan much better than we did. I'm not sure what speaks more to our team not being ready to play than having our starting QB benched to start the game for failure to follow team rules.
This wasn't an instance where a scrappy opponent stole one from us. If we had managed to win, it would have been us stealing the win. Having this be such a high profile game after such effort and investment from so many people in the AD and in the alumni community, I think is the determining factor. I didn't donate any money for the stadium, but I can't imagine being one who did and think that this type of result is why I donated all of that money and did whatever else has been done to support the AD.
I am really grateful to coach Tedford for all that he has done for the program. I am not convinced we will find someone significantly better than him. In fact, chances are we won't because it is actually hard to find a good head football coach. Most programs are not successful in that regard. I do believe that at the end of the year, Sandy and the leadership for the department will probably determine we are moving in a different direction for the football program. I hope we are lucky in finding a new football HC. I am not mad or resentful towards JT. I am sad that he hasn't been able to sustain a higher level of performance for the program or take us to a higher level that we all wanted to see and share.
