It's down-right comical that so many "Johnny-Come-Lately's" on this board cannot understand what an impossible job coaching Wake Forest football in the ACC is....especially this ACC. They ignore 60 years of history as if it means nothing.
What Jim Grobe was able to do during those three years from 2006 thru 2008....28 wins & three bowl games....was a once in a lifetime thing. Something akin to Halley's Comet, which comes around once every 76 years. Now, some people seem to think that this should be the standard for future WF football teams. Hilarious.
I agree with part of your original premise in that the success Grobe had through 2008 is quite remarkable, but I do not agree with the second half in that it only comes around once and a blue moon.
- Grobe did a remarkable job during the first half of his tenure at WFU by building a program through very good recruiting, specifically going down into Florida and getting some tremendous athletes.
- The proof that he recruited well during the first half of his tenure is evidenced by winning the ACC in 06, winning Bowl Games in 07 and 08, and having quite a few of those players drafted in the NFL.
However, around the same time of Grobe's success, he stopped doing what got him to the top of the mountain, good recruiting. I do not know if he was happy with just reaching the top of the mountain and just quit, but for some reason Grobe got lazy and stopped using the formula that made him successful. Also, I do not want to hear that we are not able to get good players because of our academic standards because this argument is ludicrous because:
- We were able to get these types of players before.
- Other colleges that have the same academic standards as WFU are able to get enough quality players to go to Bowl Games on a yearly basis, aka Northwestern, Vandy, and most recently Duke. In fact, Stanford has recently built themselves into a Top 10 program (I do not want to hear about their success was due to Andrew Luck because they have been just as good since he graduated).
In summary, overall Grobe's tenure should be viewed as a success. He at least put WFU football on the map, and for almost a decade we were no longer the laughing stock of the ACC. However, he could have achieved more than he did during the 2nd half of his tenure had he capitalized on his success from 06-08 during the recruiting process.