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Grobe to Arkansas Debacle Re-Visited- 6 Years Later

J

JKW385

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In light of the obvious and the fact that it is almost 6 years to when it all went down, would we have been better off if Grobe did in fact leave for Arkansas in 2007? A friend of mine suggested this the other day and its interesting to think about. Yes, I know Grobe still had a good season the next year (7-5 overall, 4-4 and another bowl) before 5 straight losing seasons, but I always felt like that season was a bit of disappointment given that we returned pretty much the entire Defense, Swank, Riley, and the Division was much easier compared to where it is today- thought we "should" have made it back to the Championship game that year. I remember what made the Arkansas deal so enticing was that Grobe could bring his staff, so I have to think that Hood and Lambert would have followed him to Arkansas. It all happened so quickly, that I doubt Ron even had time to come up with a short list of candidates. With such great talent returning the next season and the facilities upgrades already in the works, we would have been an attractive opportunity. We were a much more attractive job in 2007 than we are today- we had MUCH more talent coming back the next year and our division wasn't as strong. I'm still disturbed that Ted Roof just happened to be hanging out at practice that day- maybe Ron was going to have him be the Interim Coach for the Bowl Game- I highly doubt Ron would have hired a guy Duke recently fired but then again, he has made questionable decisions before.....
 
Who knows who Wellman would have gotten in 2007? And we wouldn't have demonstrated that we're willing to pay coaches, something that we hope will pay off now.
 
Grove would have never lasted past year three at Arkansas. sec fan bases tend to go apeshit when their coach does stupid ass things like punt from the 38 yard line or pass 9 times in an entire game with the best QB in school history.
 
i remember being in Benson when this was all going down. a few offensive linemen were in there as well, and they were receiving text messages and saying out loud "oh s*** coach is gone?!?" kinda a bizarre scene.
 
Did Grobe negotiate any facility improvements in staying? Deacon Tower was built, no change to practice fields, and I believe the stadium renovations were already planned/still haven't been done.
 
No guarantee we would have been better in the long run. Grobe still gave us another three-five good years before things really soured
 
PhDeac said:
Who knows who Wellman would have gotten in 2007? And we wouldn't have demonstrated that we're willing to pay coaches, something that we hope will pay off now.
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This is my thinking. That we were willing to pony up for a proven coach makes the Wake job more attractive now than it was in 2007. It shows that Wake is willing to invest in football and its coaches (if I recall a large part in getting Grobe to stay was a significant increase for his assistants). These things only help us in our search today. In 2007, all we had was "look, it is possible to win here."
 
After dook gets destroyed by F$U in the ACC CG, we will still be the only Big 4 school to have gone to a BCS bowl.
 
AIR, this was the first time I questioned Grobe's smarts.

Arkansas ? Of all places, really ? For Jim Grobe....with a career .500 resume' ?

I never thought it was a serious exercise. Grobe couldn't have been that dumb. Yikes....talk about square pegs-round holes !
 
Grobe now has a < .500 resume. I hear that his golf game is pretty good?

Why not just chill on the links?
 
It's no surprise that I'm not real happy with the last couple of years, but I'm still damn proud Grobe was our coach and glad he didn't leave for Arkansas. I also agree with PH, that it sends a positive message to potential coaches in that if you come here and do a good job, you'll get rewarded.
 
BillGeorge said:
Calhoun could've been listening back then. Never know for sure.
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I do not understand the fascination with Troy Calhoun. He is 8-17 over his last two years at AF, and he is one more losing season from being on the hot seat. AF used to be the best program among the military academies, but Navy has left AF in the dust (Calhoun is a weak 2-5 against Navy).
 
Pilchard said:
I do not understand the fascination with Troy Calhoun. He is 8-17 over his last two years at AF, and he is one more losing season from being on the hot seat. AF used to be the best program among the military academies, but Navy has left AF in the dust (Calhoun is a weak 2-5 against Navy).
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Calhoun was 6-7 in 2012, a losing season, but one in which they still went bowling - I'd say this year is more of an anomaly than anything, but next year will be telling.

Also, people forget that Fisher DeBerry was far from an elite coach when he finally retired - he ended his career with three straight losing seasons and hadn't gone bowling in any of his last four years. Calhoun immediately turned around that program with five straight winning seasons and six straight bowl appearances (he still needs to do a better job beating Navy though).

All that being said, I don't think we should go after Calhoun.
 
liveanddiedeac said:
It's no surprise that I'm not real happy with the last couple of years, but I'm still damn proud Grobe was our coach and glad he didn't leave for Arkansas. I also agree with PH, that it sends a positive message to potential coaches in that if you come here and do a good job, you'll get rewarded.
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Agree on all counts.
 
Skip and Grobe. We were poised to roll for many years to come. And with class and the right way. Everyone loved Skip and Grobe, inside and outside of the program. And with good reason.

Complete class for Grobe to walk. He won't retire. He loves coaching and will do it again somewhere. I can guarantee you his cell phone is ringing. He may take next year off, but he'll be chomping at the bit to get back soon. He loves it too much, and for the right reasons. Leadership.

I miss Skip and Grobe at Wake.
 
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