The CheckerBoard

I really like Gundy, Strong, or Fisher. I understand that some people want Strong b/c of his defensive background, but like some othe people have pointed out Gundy's D hasn't been THAT bad. I would have loved to have had the defensive rankings they had this year; if that had happened, CDD would probably still be our coach and we'd be waiting to play in a bowl game. My opinion (along with a lot of yours) is that Sunseri just is not a DC, and it showed when we had guys consistently out of position. We have decent athletes on the defensive side of the ball. I'm not saying we have the best guys in the country, but there's NO reason, aside from coaching, that we should have done as poorly on defense as we did. I think pretty much any DC will be an upgrade over this year, so I dont know if we necessarily HAVE to have a defensive minded HC.

I also think that we NEED to have a good offensive coach. I think Gundy's system would work in the SEC. It kind of reminds me of Petrino's when I think about it. I think that he could also recruit some great offensive talent to UT. Brandon Weeden, Kendall Hunter, Dez Bryant, and Justin Blackmon being recent examples of some of his high profile guys to do well in the NFL. I think just by being in the SEC and closer to GA/FL/Carolinas he'll be able to recruit better defensive talent, not to mention the probable ties to Texas recruiting. Again, I think being in the SEC will be a bigger draw to some of the Texas kids.

I probably have the least worry with hiring a Fisher. I just feel a lot more at ease thinking about him heading the program. he's had good success at FSU. I know it's in the ACC, but we're praising what Strong as done in the AWFUL Big East. I just really feel like Fisher would assemble a great staff and be a great coach.

Like I said to start out, though: I'd be happy with any of these 3. I'd also be happy with Larry Fedora. I'd be a lot less happy at this juncture with Al Golden. The bottom line, though, is that it doesn't matter if we have a superstar as our HC, if he doesn't get good coordinators and position coaches we'll be having this conversation again in 3 years.