According to Gentry Estes, of 247Sports, Stacy Searels may be on the move. For years now, Searels has been regarded as one of the top O-Line coaches in the country. When he came over to join Richt's staff from the Bayou, it was considered a HUGE win for the Dawgs. When we retained him and he declined to join the ATM operation on the Plains that his his alma freaking mater, well, that was another win.
Given the Dawgs recent struggles on the line and running the football, more than a few Georgia fans have started jumping off the Searels bandwagon (he's also been the "running game coordinator"). Some, even, may be excited to see him leave. Here are a few stream of consciousness-type thoughts on the situation (no... not the dude that cleared $5 mil last year thanks to MTV, although at this point, that may Garner (see what I did there) more hits):
So, is the fact Searels is considering jumping ship a negative sign? What's changed that would make Searels more likely to take this job than the alma mater? Were Bobo and Searles at odds on the play-calling? (*conspiracy theory* /lost'd) Searels contract is good through June 2011, so something has to give -- either we extend his contract, he works for free during the 2011 campaign, or he finds employment elsewhere. Did Richt (read McGarity if you believe Richt is spineless) grow some serious cojones and politely encourage Searels to consider another place of employment? If Searles does leave, who is his replacement? And finally, OMFG! What does this mean for recruiting?!?!
On a serious note, here are our thoughts:
1.) The O-Line grossly underperformed in 2010. Searels did some great work with the patchwork lines we've put out there in recent years, but I challenge anyone to praise his work this past year. You've got to wonder if Searels' approach was starting to fall on deaf ears.
2.) We really do wonder what would cause Seaels to leave now when he passed on Auburn previously.
3.) The idea of Richt and McGarity having to find a replacement is pretty exciting. While it's not as high profile a change as OC or DC, it is a significant part of the staff. The logic behind Richt hanging onto Bobo after the stellar (wait.. we lost?) performance against UCF is that it's widely believed Richt has one year to turn this thing around. Combine wholesale changes to the offensive staff with a young quarterback just starting to grasp the CURRENT offense and you've got a recipe for a long road back to the dubya column. If hiring a new O-Line coach offers an opportunity to make an impact in 2011 without completely jacking our swagger, then yay.
[*full disclosure: Our only interaction with Stacy Searels occurred inside Son's -- the new, not the old -- one day when he was eating with Bobo. Allegedly, Searels and Bobo are besties!]
For reals, y'all, what do you think about all this? As I've always said...
The first thing that jumped out at me when I read this was the stripper that I locked in the closet last night and forgot about. The second thing that jumped out at me was how stupid the position of "run game coordinator" is. I know a lot of schools have them and it makes some sense when your OC is a former QB, but If we're paying Bobo $336K a year to run an offense that could take the average fan a few hours to memorize, I think it's fair to expect him to understand more than half the playbook.
ReplyDeleteWhich leads me to the real injustice here: Bobo doesn't even understand either half of the playbook! The fact is he is just plain terrible at his job. Any success we have had on offense is due to pure player talent, not scheme (a nod to recruiting, but an awful cook with a bland recipe will ruin, waste, or misuse even the best ingredients). Searels leaving doesn't really matter one way or the other. Will him leaving stop us from calling a screen/draw on EVERY 3rd and long? Is it going to enhance the complexity of the offense and make it not so damn easy to scout us? Is it finally going to give our coaching staff a pair of balls? No, no, and most definitely no. Bobo and/or Richt walking/getting booted out the door are the only ways this offense undergoes any really strategic change. Everything else is just motion confused with action.