The CheckerBoard

Ok...lets be honest about this.

1. Graham left USCe for his alma mater and he was the only coach retained of Dooley's staff. He was then rehired by CBJ (this has been said multiple times as CBJ didn't want to just say he was retained but that he wanted Graham.

2. CBJ was working on reworking his contract as his contract length was completely different than every other coach on the staff. This probably would have resulted in a raise. The fact he was the 2nd lowest paid coach on staff was about to be irrelavant. It has also already been rumored that CBJ did counter offer whatever FSU offered.

3. While the RB's certainly improved over 2011, this COULD have been a result of a dominant O-line and a commitment by the staff to run the ball more.

4. Jay Graham was a very good recruiter but he wasn't the BEST recruiter on the staff. Thigpen would definitely rate higher than him...Martinez and Azzanni are also possibilities. Let's remember Azzannni is the RC for a reason and Martinez has coordinator experience.

5. Graham's best recruit in his recruiting career was Marquez North. A player who was deciding between UNC and UT after UT lost their top 3-4 WR's and plays in the SEC in a 100,000 seat stadium. Plus, there are still issues at UNC regarding violations.

6. CJG was not going to get an increase in responsibilities. The only possible change would be to add RC to his title and CBJ wasn't going to do that over someone who he is more familiar and comfortable with and is a good recruiter in their own right.

7. CJG made some SERIOUS recruiting tactical errors. He decided that a team that went 5-7, 6-7, 5-7, and during another season of 5-7...should go after the #1 athlete in the country (D. Henry) and the #1 pure RB (Derrick Green) with no backup plans. He should have gone after realistic targets (#8-#15)..for example, worked on guys like Jonathan Ford earlier in the process would have been very beneficial. You could say that Dooley is partially responsible for these decisions but Graham was a significant part of it. Side note---Thanks for SamVolsSam for pointing this out.

I am not saying this isn't a big blow but it definitely isn't the worst thing in the world. We don't know who will be hired and they could hire the best RB coach in the country. I guarantee that CBJ knows how this will sit with fans and donors not to mention how this could be used against us in a recruiting battle against someone like Jalen Hurd. Let's give him a chance to bring someone in before we destroy him or Dave Hart.