Sark is an excellent OC. The problem is that we don't need him to be an OC; we need him to be a head coach.
When he was the genius OC at Alabama, Saban reigned him in when he went down a path that he didn't need to go down. Saban directed him in the direction that he wanted to go, allowing Sark to reach into his bag of plays and steer the team with the run-pass that Saban wanted.
As head coach\OC, there is nobody around to reign him in. Nobody to bark at him into his headset, "What the ****!"
Saban was the greatest college coach because he separated from his coordinator mindset; at least, that's how I see it. There are many situations that I could give as an example, but the one that sticks out in my mind is his ability to put the team above individual players, speaking of Saban.
By all involved, Saban and Jaylon Hurts had an excellent relationship. Hurts spoke and still speaks of Saban with great reverence. Saban does the same when it comes to Hurts. But when he made the move to Tua, it was a decision that was needed for the team to advance. Saban made that move because he wasn't so attached to Hurts that it crippled him.
Fast-forward to the first Georgia game. Sark could see that Quinn was over his skis. He could see that the moment was too big for Quinn, so he brought in Arch. Now, we can debate whether or not Quinn should've come back into the game because that night, Georgia was playing us with a defensive vengeance in mind. Meaning, I don't know if Arch would have been enough to win the game.
What I do believe is that Arch should've taken over for the team the very next day. Now, I know many of you are going to scream bloody hell and accuse me of being a Quinn hater. I can assure you that I am not. After that moment, I made my peace with the fact that Sark was going to live or die with Quinn, and I became a QE fan. I had no choice. Some of you are going to scream that Quinn played hurt all season, and because of that, we should somehow hold him to a different standard; I understand.
But ask yourself, what did we have to gain by allowing Quinn to continue being QB1? An injured QB1, by most accounts. You can't tell me that you had confidence in the QB position. So much confidence that you thought Quinn could win games for us. All of us knew that we were only going to go as far as our defense would take us, and last night was the perfect example.
Now ask yourself, what did we have to gain by starting a redshirt freshman, Arch? Even with his minimal experience moving forward? A big, strong, mobile QB. A QB with a stronger arm than Quinn? One who could make plays with his legs. A QB that actually forces the defense to honor the RPO game that Arch could deliver? At the very least, we may not win it all, and maybe Arch looses to Ohio State last night, but he comes back in August with all of that experience, and that makes me love our chances going into the Shoe the last Saturday in August.
At the end of the day, it wasn't the players who lost the game for us last night. It was PK and Sark. We didn't need to get cute with the defense on the last play of the half. A good coach puts his team in a position to watch for everything on that last play, not pretending to blitz and then scrambling back to get into position. While we were scrambling out of the fake blitz, they ran the perfect screen.
As for Coach Sark, we need a Head Coach who can reign in the coordinator and prevent him from calling the wrong play. Saban was the head coach, not the OC/DC. The most important part of being the head coach is a coach who can make the tough calls that benefit the team, no matter how much he loves and respects the player. If he really wanted to help Quinn, he sits him until he is 100% healthy, and who knows? Maybe Arch struggles in the SEC championship game or the playoffs, and he puts in a healthy Quinn to save the day, and we win a championship.
I've seen a coach do that before; hmm...what coach did that already??
When he was the genius OC at Alabama, Saban reigned him in when he went down a path that he didn't need to go down. Saban directed him in the direction that he wanted to go, allowing Sark to reach into his bag of plays and steer the team with the run-pass that Saban wanted.
As head coach\OC, there is nobody around to reign him in. Nobody to bark at him into his headset, "What the ****!"
Saban was the greatest college coach because he separated from his coordinator mindset; at least, that's how I see it. There are many situations that I could give as an example, but the one that sticks out in my mind is his ability to put the team above individual players, speaking of Saban.
By all involved, Saban and Jaylon Hurts had an excellent relationship. Hurts spoke and still speaks of Saban with great reverence. Saban does the same when it comes to Hurts. But when he made the move to Tua, it was a decision that was needed for the team to advance. Saban made that move because he wasn't so attached to Hurts that it crippled him.
Fast-forward to the first Georgia game. Sark could see that Quinn was over his skis. He could see that the moment was too big for Quinn, so he brought in Arch. Now, we can debate whether or not Quinn should've come back into the game because that night, Georgia was playing us with a defensive vengeance in mind. Meaning, I don't know if Arch would have been enough to win the game.
What I do believe is that Arch should've taken over for the team the very next day. Now, I know many of you are going to scream bloody hell and accuse me of being a Quinn hater. I can assure you that I am not. After that moment, I made my peace with the fact that Sark was going to live or die with Quinn, and I became a QE fan. I had no choice. Some of you are going to scream that Quinn played hurt all season, and because of that, we should somehow hold him to a different standard; I understand.
But ask yourself, what did we have to gain by allowing Quinn to continue being QB1? An injured QB1, by most accounts. You can't tell me that you had confidence in the QB position. So much confidence that you thought Quinn could win games for us. All of us knew that we were only going to go as far as our defense would take us, and last night was the perfect example.
Now ask yourself, what did we have to gain by starting a redshirt freshman, Arch? Even with his minimal experience moving forward? A big, strong, mobile QB. A QB with a stronger arm than Quinn? One who could make plays with his legs. A QB that actually forces the defense to honor the RPO game that Arch could deliver? At the very least, we may not win it all, and maybe Arch looses to Ohio State last night, but he comes back in August with all of that experience, and that makes me love our chances going into the Shoe the last Saturday in August.
At the end of the day, it wasn't the players who lost the game for us last night. It was PK and Sark. We didn't need to get cute with the defense on the last play of the half. A good coach puts his team in a position to watch for everything on that last play, not pretending to blitz and then scrambling back to get into position. While we were scrambling out of the fake blitz, they ran the perfect screen.
As for Coach Sark, we need a Head Coach who can reign in the coordinator and prevent him from calling the wrong play. Saban was the head coach, not the OC/DC. The most important part of being the head coach is a coach who can make the tough calls that benefit the team, no matter how much he loves and respects the player. If he really wanted to help Quinn, he sits him until he is 100% healthy, and who knows? Maybe Arch struggles in the SEC championship game or the playoffs, and he puts in a healthy Quinn to save the day, and we win a championship.
I've seen a coach do that before; hmm...what coach did that already??
