Quote:I agree with this. The media tried to portray it like Gene was going to outwork everyone else because he spent so much time at the stadium. The guy was a good scout. That was never his issue. Where he ran into trouble was he believed he was an exceptional scout who could identify talent that others missed, and he made it a point of emphasis to look at smaller schools. That approach is fine if you're peppering your roster in the later rounds with these guys. That wasn't the case with Smith.


In the end, he worked really hard. He didn't work smart.




Caldwell spent the first year he was here just digging the team out of a very deep hole that Gene Smith created. The void of talent was incredible. Granted, there were some quality players in the mix, but not enough to warrant retention. I didn't envy the job Caldwell was tasked with, but I certainly respected the fact that he deserved our patience because he did indeed inherit a train wreck. His approach to fixing this isn't orthodox, and it's certainly not what many fans here would have preferred. It still hasn't shown results in more wins, but this is year 3 where we should expect to see him finally turn that piece around. Let's hope he gets it right so we don't need to start over again in another year or two.