He has at least one more year, almost positive he has two left.
He should get at least five years total unless it's blatantly obvious he's going nowhere but down(ala Terry Allen style.) Fans of teams who are used to great success have no patience and usually have unfair expectations.
There are a lot of examples. Nebraska with Solich. Despite getting them to the national championship in 2001 and fielding a ten win team in 2003, he was fired. Alabama with pretty much every coach after Bryant. In basketball, Kentucky with Tubby, who never missed the NCAA tournament and won a title, but because he hadn't recently was forced out.
There were people that wanted Snyder fired after a loss to UNLV that cost us a bowl game.
If this year has taught football fans in general anything, it's the continuity breeds success. Mangino and Pinkel, two coaches who have mired in mediocrity their entire careers as HC's, coaches who were never expected to get over the hump, and have been considered mildly 'on the hot seat' for 1-2 years, are suddenly wielding top 6 teams. On the flip side, programs who jumped on their kneejerk reaction like Alabama(lost to Miss St today) Nebraska(breaking a five game losing streak despite having arguably the 2nd most talent in the conference), and Kentucky in basketball (lost horribly at home to a directional school noone had ever heard of) are seeing why it's important to bite your lip and stick it out. You almost always have to take a step backwards before you can take a step forwards when you have a new coach.
It's a matter of riding through the rough times and giving them time to learn and develop their own program, which takes years to do. And in the meantime, teams around you continue to fire and hire coaches based on one or two bad years, constantly knocking them back even farther and farther.
I'm not suggesting that a school shouldn't fire coaches. If it's blatantly obvious you're only getting worse and worse after 3-4 years, it's time.(Like Terry Allen with ku.) If you've given a coach several years and no improvement is made, it's probably time to move on. (Like Fran with A&M.) But buttkickings happen, especially with new coaches. Losing records happen, especially with new coaches.
We just have to stick it out, wait, and see what happens. It's not now, or even next year, that we'll see if Prince is the right guy for the job. It's later down the road. We just have to sit back and enjoy the ride..Even if it means biting our lip a few times.
