If you had asked the hypothetical, kind of teamless question at any point before today: "Would you hire an inexperienced, almost certainly not-ready-yet coach to take over a top ten program for the essential sole purpose of keeping an impressive recruiting class together?" the answer would have to no, right? The Freeman hire could be disastrous.
But yet if it's not Freeman, then the roster and recruiting classes fall apart, right? Cant figure out if I'm over or under reacting to that. The best chance to keep this thing moving forward is by keeping Freeman and doing everything you can to keep Bails, Taylor and Elston, as well as other general support staff for maximum continuity. Maybe throw Rees in with them as well but on the fence there.
Fickel makes a lot of sense if we were rebuilding. But we aren't trying to rebuild right now, we're trying to maintain and elevate. It's a tough place to be. If you could get Fickel and Freeman, that's the obvious home run, but don't sense that is a realistic option.
