I was upbeat about Riley, and still support seeing what a Year 1 to Year 2 looks like. But even before the season started, folks were throwing out "expectations". Does he have to come in and win 10 games to justify firing Bo? Does transition mean he gets a pass as long as he wins 7 games? What happens if he only wins 3?
When I answered in those threads, I said that it was unlikely that we win something like 3 or 4 games, but that he survives even if it happens. Well here it is. At the time, I felt the whole season hinged on Armstrong (and it still does, we saw what the season might have been like had TA got hurt in fall camp). Armstrong mostly has been healthy this year, but pretty much every single other thing that could gave gone wrong, did go wrong.
Different circumstances, same outcome as losing Armstrong.
To me the matter is simple. He makes 3 million bucks to make the big decisions. If he fixes it his way, and its gets fixed, its no big freaking deal. If he tries to fix it his way, and it doesn't work out, then he'll be held to account. I don't need to yell at him every step of the way that he should have fired this coach that week, and brought in this other coach the following week. It'll all come out in the wash.
