OU's four years prior to Bob Stoops: no bowls, no winning records. Bob Stoops' first year at OU: 7-5 and the Independence Bowl. Second year: national championship.
Mike Leach's first year at Tech: 7-6, 3-5. If we finish with a 6-6, 3-5 record this year, I'd be happy.
Do any of us here really want the next Gary Pinkel, Bill Callahan, Dennis Franchione, Guy Morriss, or Mark Mangino?
Now, I've been saying since mid-summer that we shouldn't expect great things this year, because of our finishes the past couple of years and the fact that the experience we had returning hadn't done jack squat. I also predicted back then that after the Baylor game, which I expected to lose, a lot of people would be calling for Prince's head because of the crazy 8-4 "reasonable expectations" that the kool-aid drinkers were throwing out there. And here we are.
I was accused of being a Negative Nelly back then and hating Prince. I responded that I'd probably be on here defending Prince when all the koolaiders had done their 180's and turned on him because we weren't 8-4. I really haven't defended him this week, and I have some definite concerns, but that's not because I expected a better record at this point. Prince has actually done better than I expected so far.
Comparing his first year to those of the other Big XII coaches, though, isn't a very good argument for Prince, IMO.