:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67714336/1227080142.0.jpg)
Several big-time coaches got off to slow starts in year one (zero). Nick Saban lost four in a row at one point in year one in Tuscaloosa, including embarrassing defeats to Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe. Pete Carroll did the same thing at Southern Cal in his first season at the helm, going 6-6 in Los Angeles before taking over the Pac-10. And even Dabo Swinney, the door-to-door Cutco salesman of college football, lost six games at Clemson during his first season, suffering setbacks to un-ranked Georgia Tech and Maryland.
So, good college football coaches can be made out to be human. It’s not out of the ordinary for an intelligent head coach to struggle out the gates a bit. Especially when you’re taking over for an offensive line coach who went 15-21 in three years, recruited like shit, and never finished higher than 6th in the division.
The turnaround was never going to be easy or quick, but patience is a virtue here and then some. Especially in a COVID-abbreviated campaign. But, all three of those coaches won nine games or more their second season on the sideline at their respective schools. Now, I get it, Ole Miss is a completely different situation, but will progress be had next year?