Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:40 pm
Following a popular coach is not easy. Ricky had a Hill to climb. More success and he may have gotten over it. Amplo is a good coach. So was Rick Sowell. Amplo will have an easier time. The guy after the guy that replaced the GUY generally does.
So here we are. Amplo can have the same record but more tac and Old Sailor will be happy to cut checks again. That’s what Old Jay was saying....me too.
Typical distortion of what I said. It's more than record or "tac".
I thought Richie was the perfect Coach for USNA, even before he lead the remarkable run starting in 2004.
He was rumored to be gone after losing to Air Force in 2003, had they not come back to close out a 6-7 season by beating Army.
The restive '60's lax alums wanted him out then, but the success of 2004-2007 quieted them temporarily.
He was chided for "stepping down" to the PL in '04, because his teams supposedly couldn't compete in the ECAC any longer.
As soon as Tillman departed, the doomsayers returned & the stall ball whining ramped up.
It was pressure from the Decade of Dominance '60's lax alums that forced his unceremonious ouster after just one bad season.
Those (wealthier) alums were happy to see him gone & thrilled that the AD had snagged the hottest available HC, with his run & gun offense.
How did that work out ?
I felt Richie had the perfect system for a Service Academy. It has been successfully cloned at Army (just as it has in FB).
But it was more than on the field success. Richie "got it" as much as any Coach at USNA did.
Even the Mids who just knew him through the Boxing or PE classes he taught, saw "it".
Just like we got "it" from Bildy or Steve Belichick in those same classes. ...& "it" wasn't "tac".
Maybe it was time for a change, but it could have been delayed a bit, allowing Richie to depart on his own terms & participate in choosing his successor, as was done at Army. 8 years has been a long time to be starting over again.
Based on what's being said about his work at Marquette, Joe Amplo might be the right guy to heal the generational schisms among the Navy lax alums. He'll have the chance. I hope he embraces it.