Yep. Most head coaches probably would've fired Baker after the 2016 season. Skip didn't. Skip gave him another chance, and Baker delivered.
Tech has not fired an assistant coach during the entire Dooley/Dykes/Holtz era. Not many football programs can say they haven't fired an single assistant coach in over a decade.
How many DCs did Coach Roid cycle through?
NCAA uses a lot of archaic stats. Tempo is one thing that plays a large role in skewing stats like "Total Defense." From what I've gathered, Diaz/Baker's defense is based on a couple principles: Creating havoc and "make them snap it again." Total Defense doesn't really measure either of those things.
I tried to do a little research and find out what USL is paying these new hires, I only found some speculation not anything I thought was factual, does anyone know those numbers? We know that they were supposed to have a big salary pool for these new hires, but are they actually paying these guys what they said they were going to pay?
It's completely understandable. Skip allowed our staff on defense, including Baker, to make needed changes in 2017, getting away somewhat from Diaz was doing in 2014. And they delivered.
After 2015 we had assistant coaches quietly telling people that our defensive backs had a difficult time picking up our defense and running it correctly. Then in 2016, while our defense continued to struggle, 2 of those defensive backs from 2015 made NFL rosters and got playing time. They struggled with our defense but were able to thrive in an NFL defense. That was embarrassing.
Going into this season Baker simplified the defense. It allowed everyone to think a little bit less and play faster. It also allowed some of the younger guys to step in and play right away. Baker talked about all of it on the coach's weekly radio show late in the season.
And in fairness to our assistant coaches the decision to play prevent late against South Carolina, the decision to drop 8 with 4 minutes left against USM, and the decision to play a soft zone late in the 1st half against North Texas, were all on Holtz. Sometimes he just gets too involved with the defense.
We could be looking at a 10 - win season if our head coach would have allowed those guys to do their jobs.
Looks like all of their hires with the exception of the HC and maybe Jaluke were coaches that would only command a mediocre G5 salary at best, and they were not coaches that were on a lot of peoples short list either. USLL late start meant the pickings were going to be slim anyway although they may have made an improvement in the quality level of their people, not sure how much they improved their coaching talent though. And if they spent $2M on on what they have now, I am afraid they have not figured out that it is time to stop digging, the hole is deep enough!