Moving on.......again

Read any fan message board or listen to talk radio and a common theme is always there. One, the play-calling stinks. Two, our head coach or one of the coordinators stink and need to be run out of town on the next train. It gets more than a bit ridiculous after a while. Why the constant call for change?

And then there's Army.

Another hasty, shotgun marriage came to a bitter end with the dismissal of Stan Brock last week. And as clumsy as some of the recent HC hirings have been, this firing came off just as bad. You have a head coach evidently not understanding the fury of his fan base and an AD who indicates that the move may have not been made had Brock made a couple changes in his staff. And one thought keeps occurring as you sort this out.

Are they kidding?

Stan Brock followed an 'evaluation' year that in itself enraged fans for wasting a season with the most vanilla form of option football ever seen on the gridiron. An absolute refusal to open up what can be an equalizing offense with great entertainment value for a group of fans that could sure use some should be at the top of the list as the coach reviews what went wrong during his tenure. Had he run a fun offense featuring mis-direction plays and a lot of razzle-dazzle, it says here that the fan base would have overlooked yet another 3-9 season with the promise of good things to come. Instead, an amazingly inept start to the season with 3 dismal losses ended with as bad a display of offensive football possible in the last two versus Rutgers and Navy. Coach Brock seemed surprised that he wasn't on firm ground. He certainly shouldn't have been.

So now the attention turns to the most important hire of an Army coach in recent memory. And the spotlight is on Kevin Anderson. His post-firing press conference gave the appearance that Stan Brock's fate wasn't decided until after his refusal to fire some position coaches. This came off as another clumsy firing, ala Bob Sutton in 1999. Surely the fortunes of Army football didn't rest on the shoulders of a couple position coaches. Again, are they kidding?

But now, Anderson has a great shot at hiring the right man. With everyone except Vince Lombardi and Amos Alonzo Stagg mentioned as the possible new hire, it has certainly been proven that the Army job is still a coveted one even with the baggage of the last few years. And with many of the candidates having SA experience as well as experience running the option, the right man is there for the taking. And what's the biggest key to the proper hire?

Please , please take your sweet time in evaluating and interviewing the prospects, Mr. Anderson. No more immediate hires after firing a coach on the street corner (Sutton). No more immediate hires after being jilted by the first choice (Solich to Ross). No more immediate hires after the coach resigns in December. (Ross to Brock). No, this time is must be right. And carefully chosen.

There are those who worry about the recruiting class if someone is not aboard in short order. But it seems to this observer that those considerations have lead to bad hire after bad hire.

Better to sacrifice 4 or 5 recruits than to sacrifice 4 or 5 more seasons because of yet the wrong man being hired again. This time, it's way, way too important. The fan base deserves it.