I never understood any optimism for MR
I was optimistic because I didn't know all the facts about him and his tenure at Oregon. I was optimistic because Bo had done a terrible job and it had gotten to the point where he was incapable of improvement on a personal level. I was optimistic because I just wanted to believe that it was a positive change. I was wrong. Very wrong. But my opinion doesn't matter. I'm not an AD or a Trustee.
I think we all learned, officially, that Mike Riley's tenure is effectively over and it's just a matter of "when".
Many of us knew this from Day 1, but now it's clear to all and undeniable.
That's the problem. When? I've got the feeling we're going to have to suffer through a few more of these games before the people who make the decisions finally decide to act and actually do something about this. Really, there's only one choice here, but when this choice gets made could be a long way off. I can't imagine seeing Mike Riley on the sideline in 2018 but we're dealing with people who don't always make the best choices.
The other thing we've learned is that perhaps the fan base doesn't care nearly as much about how nice the coach is as much as they care about wins and not having home games against MAC teams where we sh*t the bed. Maybe a coach who is a foul-mouthed, arrogant, aloof, mean-spirited, and dishonest but who still wins is better somehow?
In recent years, we've seen NCAA coaches do things that seemed just plain wrong and counter to all morality subscribe to, yet they win. I'm beginning to think morality is less important than winning, which sends the wrong message to everybody. The NU program has been built upon integrity. Whether or not that is the truth, it's certainly the perception, and having a coach who is outright slimey works against that tradition. Is that better as long as they win? I'm not sure I'm ready to say that's a good trade-off. I'm leaning that way, though.
