LOL, I said "legit journalist". But, OK, I remember him saying something when he was hired. Has he said anything since then?
How many "legit" journalists are there in all of college football? I would contend that almost none of these guys possess journalistic integrity, and they all succumb to bias, and every single one of them who once had journalistic integrity has sold out to their respective networks, for the sake of turning news into entertainment. A microcosm of media as a whole, IMO.
That said, Whitlock's opinion on Golden was very thought out, and came from knowledge of the situation that few have. He might have gotten a fact wrong here or there, but you asked me if anybody who is legitimate (of which you have your own criteria that somehow negates the ostensibly legitimate journalist I mentioned), and I provided it. Whitlock is about as legit as it gets in major network/publication/digital media.
I'm contending that Golden is doing less with more.
How can you say that in one sentence, and say that you're not saying that you think he's already a failure in another sentence? If he's doing less with more, then he's clearly a failure. Most people think he's doing more with less, but, hey, you're entitled to your opinion.
He can still recruit a decent team for us, and he still has two years to work on his craft, which does, indeed, need to be worked on. He is certainly failing right now, but that does not necessarily mean he won't get it together in year three or four, that he won't adapt to his situation, or that he won't recruit well enough to overcome his deficiencies in other areas of coaching. I'm just saying, he doesn't look good now, and everything that looks good and promising is identical to what looked good and promising with Shannon at this point in his career, there isn't much of a difference. Better conditioning (and the conditioning isn't exactly perfect, either, although that, more than anything else, may be due to the combination of youth and years of poor conditioning within our program) is the only improvement I see thus far.
No doubt this team has problems and talent deficiencies at certain positions (DL, particularly DT, safety), but we still have a lot of talent at others. Our O-line is great. Our corners are great. We have a good defensive end in Chickillo (who has been stagnant in his growth much of the year, another concerning factor), and even with our best DT back in the lineup in Porter, giving us previously non-existent penetration, we still found a way to have an awful defense. Being 119th in defense is unacceptable, even with a deficiency at two positions. For much of the year we have been relatively strong at corner, and we have had a very talented, although young, corp of linebackers. No excuse to be this bad, this late into the year.
You would think the light would come on for more than one guy (Deon Bush). I generally expect a well-coached team to improve by the end of the year, as kids get more familiar with the schemes and pick up more experience, not regress. Seems like a pretty standard expectation to me, to expect some improvement, and when that improvement doesn't manifest itself I think it fair to point the finger at the coaches.
