@60rocks I respect and totally understand your reservations but there are certainly reasons to be optimistic specifically regarding Sarkisian, Flood and Banks. I've actually been trying to deep dive into the coaches for my podcast but I just wanted to share.
1.) Sark did better than an "above average' job taking an 0-11 Washington eventually to 9 wins and multiple bowl victories. That not only provides head coaching experience but an ability to build up a program. He has also developed numerous QBs including the many he had at USC and Alabama but also Jake Locker into an NFL prospect. USC won 9 games in year one and signed a top recruiting class before the drinking derailed his career. The drinking = bad but the wins and #1 recruiting class = good.
People point to Sark being fired from Atlanta but in 2018 Matt Ryan had career highs in completions, completion percentage, 2nd highest TD passes and career low in interceptions. Sure he was fired but the offense actually improved the 2nd year and if you look at that season, the defense (like it is now) was the primary issue. More on that later.
He then went to Alabama and yes they were loaded but in his second year after replacing the majority of the offensive personnel he led them to the best offense they've ever had with a QB that wasn't exactly Trevor Lawrence (no slight to Jones because I think he is really good too). Based off of his history and various circumstances, odds are if Sarkisian is coaching your QBs, he will do well with them. In the games that were closer to equal talent being on the field, Tua had 4 Td passes against LSU last year while Mac Jones had 4 TD passes against Georgia and 5 TD passes against Ohio State this past year in the national championship.
2.) On Kyle Flood, I've really had to look hard for any significant evidence of success at Rutgers. The offenses ranked really well nationally (20s) from 2005-2009 when there was talent at RB (rice) and QB (Savage) but Rutgers is just such a 'meh' team I dont know how to appropriately weigh most of their offensive statistics from 2005-2015. They are mostly in the 50-70s range outside of a couple of really bad offensive seasons. Obviously he was highly thought of to consistently receive promotions from position coach to coordinator to head coach but they really had no chance especially the big 10 of being competitive. For example, Flood's last year they went 4-8 but 6 of those losses were against Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Rutgers never beats those teams doesn't matter who is the head coach lol. To further that point, Rutgers has won about 14 games in the last 6 years. On a positive note- Rutgers was top 10 in the country in QB sacks allowed per game in 2012, ranked 3rd in the big ten in sacks allowed and 5th in the big 10 in TFL allowed in 2014 and ranked tied for 2nd in the big 10 in TFL allowed and 9th in sacks allowed in 2015.
It is difficult to gather evidence at Atlanta too. In 2017, Atlanta had a top 10 offense in yardage and top 15 in scoring. In 2018, they had an abysmal running game but starting rb devonta freeman and both starting guards went on the IR. That offense however still remained in the top 10 yardage, specifically top 5 in passing and top 10 in scoring. Now I'm not sure how much Flood's role plays into all of that but he was once again promoted at Atlanta with more responsibilities (clock management) along with being the assistant OL coach.
Then of course we look at Alabama where Sarkisian must have also saw something in Flood who has basically been the recipient of promotions everywhere he has been. When you have coaches who succeed at a place like Alabama you really have to look hard to find examples of real impact. A couple of positive data points include- A.) Alabama had its best ever efficiency rating on third down (59.1 percent) and its highest ever efficiency rating in the red zone (90.7%). B.) His group won the Joe Moore as the best OL unit which Alabama even with all of its dominance has only won one other time. C) Starting RB Harris ended up running for more career yards than any other Alabama RB and if you look at the two seasons of Tua and Mac Jones they are the best passing numbers of any QB in Alabama history. Alabama also allowed its lowest ever amount of sacks per game in 2019 and were top 10 in TFL allowed in 2020. That is quite a few of "highest/lowest ever" and "best ever" for the Sark/ Flood combo even at a school like Alabama.
3.) Banks is considered a great recruiter by literally everyone. Seriously you could look up whoever it is that you trust on college football or any fan for that matter and they will tell you he is one of the best. He's from Texas, he builds relationships and he knows how to close. Period. Plus, His special teams expertise was not only shown at Alabama and Texas A&M but also at UTEP where he led the league in special teams statistic and at Idaho State where they led the nation in net punting twice in his three seasons.
Herman and his staff were able to get us really close in 2018 and the amount of experience and expertise on this staff is vastly superior to that one was at the time. Obviously the proof is in the pudding but the ingredients are top shelf. Hopefully that makes the burnt orange kool aid a little bit easier to drink in the meantime lol.
