I doubt anyone has seen such excitement over the abundance of national recruiting that we've seen since Willie Taggart came aboard. BW (before Willie) fans were treated like a mushroom farm in the dark and covered with fertilizer, waiting until our monk- like vetting system found true believers in the "Oregon Way". Something like passing a home baked character test and an entrance exam.
In many respects we confused dumb luck in hiring a revolutionizing coach with a quaint notion that has no credibility based on facts. Every team is challenged with personnel off field issues. And this year gave the lie to the notion that what we have is special. In the meantime, everyone poached Chip and kept on trucking. We didn't. Until now.
Count me in as one who is as sick of home spun as the Prairie Home Companion.
Alabama will decline, in time, as all programs do...as it has done so before Bear Bryant, after him...and will either during or after Saban. Urban Meyer had his clock cleaned today, after cleaning ours a couple years ago.
I like to say if you stay still long enough, someone's gonna paint you. The object is to paint the painter to stay alive, right?
Football is no different than the business world, where disruptive technologies take over incumbents who refuse to change, to innovate and replace them.
Willie Taggart has introduced an urgency in recruiting, an openness in intent and a refreshing wind of change in what has been program constricted by well meant but inhibiting management policies. If he squanders this in poor coaching from those who can recruit but do not coach up, he'll pay the price as well.
It's about time we got Duck Football down to business.
