05-12-2021, 05:17 PM
(05-12-2021, 03:53 PM)Benton Wrote: Eh, the 2002 team had a horrid record because of bad coaching and a lot of it still being young. That's the exact opposite of the 2019 team (except for the coaching part). It was a bad team that was mostly old.
I don't disagree with the idea Marvin would have done better with that crappy roster. It was, in part, the crappy roster he assembled. Marvin had his style of ball, which was "don't lose". That's the kind of guys he looked for. Guys who weren't necessarily good, but who were consistent.
So I agree Marvin would've won more than Zac did in 2019, but I completely disagree that the 2019 was a better roster than the 2003 roster. Hell, 2003 at least had an ol if nothing else.
Meh, there was hardly any young players who made a significant jump from 2002 to 2003. Chad already had 1100 yards in 2002 and went for 1300 in 2003. Warrick's numbers definitely didn't change much over the previous year. T.J didn't even play in 2003 due to injuries. The 2003 line had mostly veteran players and a second year player in Levi. Even if he improved a lot over 2002 ( which I'm not ready to accept, since he had a pretty good rookiee year to begin with), the team's improvement wasn't due to age. It was all the daily coaching to improve belief and player development done by Marvin. Along with the veterans he brought in on defense, where they improved even with losing Takeo.
Marvin has proven his coaching credentials enough that he would have coached circles around Taylor in 2019 with the same roster. Taylor had a chance to bring his own veterans in 2019 and 2020. He hasn't done much with them yet.
I guess we'll just agree to disagree.
Ultimately, I don't care about what happened in 2003. If Taylor can take them to 8 wins or better, I'll be somewhat ok with giving him another chance. Otherwise, time to go.