[damaniac]

Assuming he's the guy, he will get no grace period from the fans at all. We lose a lot next year. The schedule isn't that bad (actually, most of the tough games will be at home with Illinois, Wisconsin, and maybe State, only OSU and PSU on the road), but still, a good coach could go 8-4 or 9-3 (they could do better, too, the cupboard isn't bare). If we hired Miles or Kelly and they came in and went 9-3 and it wasn't a great year and we lost to OSU in Columbus people won't be thrilled but running a more exciting system (hopefully) and with new coaches we'll be optimistic for the future. If Ferentz goes 8-4 people are going to be instantly grumbling about "Lloyd part II". Fair or not, this is how it goes down, and people will be calling for his head the instant something goes wrong (such as having him hired in the first place).