I'm curious if people think(not what you would do, or want him to do), if this season continues on it's current trajectory will he cut bait on Wilks or stay the course? In terms of trajectory I mean around a 3 win team with a not a lot of hope in sight and players likely not believing their staff has the answers.
My opinion is he has two choices.... he will either react swiftly at the end of the year and renew the hope of the fans and players with a new staff, or go with the "it might take a few years" approach and hope it pays off.
My thought on which way he goes (availability of other HC/staff options aside) will really depend on the locker room. There have been coaches who it took a few seasons of sucking to get good, but I think they managed to survive the period because the players believed there was some light at the end of the tunnel. More importantly, most of those teams were bad to begin with and the players were used to losing, so any small success was hope. Our players are used to believing they can be contenders and the years they weren't it due injuries and not incompetency. Take a team that was used to being in the playoff picture each year and then turn them into a 3-13 team and you'll have a lot of trouble getting the players to go along with the "give it a couple years and we might be better" when they don't want even want another week with what their job has turned into.
In hindsight it seems so obvious what a whiff this whole thing was. You would think with all the success we had in the BA era that he would bring in someone with a similar philosophy on schemes that planned to build on the bright spots, eliminate the weak ones and not just tear it all down and start over. Our team wasn't full of journeymen and rookies, so it's hard enough to come in and tell a bunch of vets that you're doing it the wrong way, especially when it seems they weren't!
Think about it this way... I'm sure some of you worked for a company that went under new management and it's tough. Unless the company is just bleeding and in dire straights to begin with, usually they don't come in and just shake everything thing up at once - like firing and replacing half the team, changing all the processes, etc. When they go that route nearly all of the staff hates their job and wants out and it often ends in disaster for the company, at the very least in the short/mid term. The smart way is you ease in, find out what is working, make incremental changes and improvements and everyone adjusts to changes without too much hassle. The ship stays mostly on course and slowly starts picking up speed.
I'm in the camp that Keim has realized he made a big mistake. He's not sitting back smiling like he's a mad genius because he knows his masterplan is going to be this huge success in another season or two and everyone else just doesn't realize it yet. He has to figure out how to deal with the bed he made. Does it lay in it and hope he gets lucky that it gets better and he survives long enough to be here when that happens, or fold his hand, admit it wasn't a good fit for a team that needed a transitional approach and take a mulligan and hope he doesn't throw snake eyes a second time in a row.
If locker room is with Wilks I think SK will keep Wilks due to the contact and just the toll it takes on a org constantly switching staff. Even though it isn't a great option, it might be the less of two evils for us.
But, here's the flipside... if Wilks has lost the players it will be a lock for us to be a terrible team with him here. Here's the thing though, I think out of self-preservation SK still keeps Wilks because as long as Wilks is around so he can play the "wait and see" card and buy himself at least another couple seasons guaranteed regardless of how we do. If he screws up a second coaching hire in a row he'll be out on the street quicker and with less ability to recover from it in the league.
My bet is on Wilks staying as long as Keim is here. The caveat is if Keim knows his leash is short and if next season is bad also he'll be fired, AND if Wilks has lost the players, then I bet Keim changes HC because he knows he'll have better odds with a new staff than a staff the players aren't inspired to play for.
I know I've got some caveats in there, but I think the two things that influence the outcome are if the players believe in the staff and how long of a leash does Keim have with MB.
My opinion is he has two choices.... he will either react swiftly at the end of the year and renew the hope of the fans and players with a new staff, or go with the "it might take a few years" approach and hope it pays off.
My thought on which way he goes (availability of other HC/staff options aside) will really depend on the locker room. There have been coaches who it took a few seasons of sucking to get good, but I think they managed to survive the period because the players believed there was some light at the end of the tunnel. More importantly, most of those teams were bad to begin with and the players were used to losing, so any small success was hope. Our players are used to believing they can be contenders and the years they weren't it due injuries and not incompetency. Take a team that was used to being in the playoff picture each year and then turn them into a 3-13 team and you'll have a lot of trouble getting the players to go along with the "give it a couple years and we might be better" when they don't want even want another week with what their job has turned into.
In hindsight it seems so obvious what a whiff this whole thing was. You would think with all the success we had in the BA era that he would bring in someone with a similar philosophy on schemes that planned to build on the bright spots, eliminate the weak ones and not just tear it all down and start over. Our team wasn't full of journeymen and rookies, so it's hard enough to come in and tell a bunch of vets that you're doing it the wrong way, especially when it seems they weren't!
Think about it this way... I'm sure some of you worked for a company that went under new management and it's tough. Unless the company is just bleeding and in dire straights to begin with, usually they don't come in and just shake everything thing up at once - like firing and replacing half the team, changing all the processes, etc. When they go that route nearly all of the staff hates their job and wants out and it often ends in disaster for the company, at the very least in the short/mid term. The smart way is you ease in, find out what is working, make incremental changes and improvements and everyone adjusts to changes without too much hassle. The ship stays mostly on course and slowly starts picking up speed.
I'm in the camp that Keim has realized he made a big mistake. He's not sitting back smiling like he's a mad genius because he knows his masterplan is going to be this huge success in another season or two and everyone else just doesn't realize it yet. He has to figure out how to deal with the bed he made. Does it lay in it and hope he gets lucky that it gets better and he survives long enough to be here when that happens, or fold his hand, admit it wasn't a good fit for a team that needed a transitional approach and take a mulligan and hope he doesn't throw snake eyes a second time in a row.
If locker room is with Wilks I think SK will keep Wilks due to the contact and just the toll it takes on a org constantly switching staff. Even though it isn't a great option, it might be the less of two evils for us.
But, here's the flipside... if Wilks has lost the players it will be a lock for us to be a terrible team with him here. Here's the thing though, I think out of self-preservation SK still keeps Wilks because as long as Wilks is around so he can play the "wait and see" card and buy himself at least another couple seasons guaranteed regardless of how we do. If he screws up a second coaching hire in a row he'll be out on the street quicker and with less ability to recover from it in the league.
My bet is on Wilks staying as long as Keim is here. The caveat is if Keim knows his leash is short and if next season is bad also he'll be fired, AND if Wilks has lost the players, then I bet Keim changes HC because he knows he'll have better odds with a new staff than a staff the players aren't inspired to play for.
I know I've got some caveats in there, but I think the two things that influence the outcome are if the players believe in the staff and how long of a leash does Keim have with MB.
