In 2011, the hire made sense. A young coach from an area where a lot of the school's students come from, team captain for and learned under Joe Paterno, a deserved reputation as a stout recruiter that could turn bad teams around, and an all-around likable image for the program. His experience was lacking, but he was cheap, which the university loved and still does unfortunately, and he was pretty much the only real candidate that emerged that was also inexpensive because nobody else really wanted the job. The teams he was involved with increased their wins every year while he was there and that was reason enough to believe giving him the reigns of an elite program in the best recruiting base in the country with the most impressive history since 1980 would lead to the program's return to prominence. The university also probably like the idea that he could handle the looming NCAA issues that would harm the program since he had dealt with wounded programs before.
Fast forward to 2014, the writing is on the wall to make most people believe that this was an overall bad hire, but in 2011 there was reason to be very optimistic. Golden stayed in spite of the NCAA problems when nearly every other coach would have left. Golden led us through the NCAA witch hunt and helped sway public opinion to our side. He put together good enough teams in 2011 and 2012 to keep us respectable enough. He has raised the recruiting standard to a level we haven't had since the early Coker years. So there is talent here now.
That being said, he's made a lot of missteps along the way. He came down here expecting recruiting to work the same way Pennsylvania does and the couldn't be more wrong. He kept a defensive coordinator who has numerous pitfalls ranging from being a bad play caller, a bad recruiter, and a douche in person based solely on favoritism. He slow played South Florida recruiting in favor of out of state players. When he finally did come around to local recruiting, he employed a defensive scheme that is unfavorable to the recruits and has steadfastly refused to change it in the slightest. He flirted with Penn State in the scummiest, most unethical manner possible. His successful recruitment here can be attributed more in part to his assistants rather than himself. (Coley, Brown, Barrow, etc..) Finally, he has not played Miami style and brand football while continuing to be beat but average to above average teams and usually by 20 points.
In 2011, I would have hired Al Golden. In 2014, if he goes anything less than 8-4 and does not win the Coastal, I would also fire Al Golden.
