Once upon a time, Terrell Owens was asked if Jeff Garcia was gay. His response was, "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat." Of course, Jeff Garcia is not gay. For proof, all one needs to do is look at this picture:
Wow. Jeff Garcia is living proof that hard work pays off in more than one way.
Getting back to my point. What does TO's quote have to do with Bob Williams? Quite simple, actually. For the last 10 seasons, Bob has coached the Gauchos to mediocre season after mediocre season. Yet, us Gaucho fans are eternal optimists. We want to believe that Bob will change his ways, put out a winning squad and churn out NCAA berth after NCAA berth.
The problem with this viewpoint is just what I said. Bob has had 10 years to prove himself and he's confirmed over and over again that he is a mediocre coach. There's not many jobs in America (that I can think of) where 10 years of mediocre performance gets you a contract extension and job security. However, I want you to repeat the Terrell Owens mantra (if you believe that Bob is still the answer), "If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat."
For those of you unconvinced by my verbal reasoning, let me try a numerical reasoning. Below is Bob's record at UCSB over his career.
Current 17-6
2006-2007 18-11
2005-2006 15-14
2004-2005 11-18
2003-2004 16-12
2002-2003 18-14
2001-2002 20-11
2000-2001 13-15
1999-2000 14-14
1998-1999 15-13
Averaged out, Bob "averages" a 15.7 win season and 12.8 losses per season. We'll be generous and round up. Bob goes for 16-13, on average, every season. If .500 is the definition of mediocre, I'd say he's been pretty mediocre.
For those of you who like charts, there is a chart below, courtesy of statsheet.com.
So, what's been the point of this discussion? The point is that Bob Williams isn't going to change or have some career revolution at this point. If anything, he's shown us that he's basically a career .500 coach. Of course, there are going to be anomaly's once in a while when Bob is fortunate enough to feast on an easy schedule.
For those of you who still believe in Bob, more power to you. I still root for the Gauchos, but I know with Bob at the helm, we're destined to make the NIT once every five years. For a superior academic institution, we should not accept mediocrity. After all, we don't accept mediocre students, so why keep a mediocre coach around? Unfortunately, we have to live in misery for two more seasons, then hope that our new AD (whomever he or she may be) will have a set of balls to send Bob packin'. Until then, I hope the Gauchos can get the next two NCAA berths (this season and next). In the meantime, I'm going to start looking for available coaching candidates. Is Ben Howland available?
No comments:
Post a Comment