I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt that once Pinkel got us playing winning football consistently, the floor was probably 6-6 and a minor bowl. I convinced myself that the days of being lost in the wilderness and being a perennial bottom feeder were over, never to reappear.
I was wrong.
Which brings me to the point of my thread title. Nearly every program has been brought low. I can easily remember the pre-Stoops Sooners, the pre-Saban Crimson Tide, the Bill Callahan Huskers and on and on. Just a few years ago Brady Hoke's Wolverines were a laughingstock. But with all of these programs, just to name three, the road back to being a Top Ten mainstay has been (and will always be) a much, much shorter journey. That's a major, major difference between the blue bloods and the rest of us. They have the tradition, the donors, the facilities, the fan support, the recruiting base and virtually everything it takes to get whatever they need (usually a coach) to get back to their rightful place in the universe. There are a few exceptions of course: Nebraska has been good, but their geographic isolation and small instate recruiting base makes it really unlikely that they can be dominant again like in their heydays.
We can claw our way back to winning football, but it will PROBABLY take longer. And once we get there again, we should really appreciate how hard it is to not only get there, but stay there.
I was wrong.
Which brings me to the point of my thread title. Nearly every program has been brought low. I can easily remember the pre-Stoops Sooners, the pre-Saban Crimson Tide, the Bill Callahan Huskers and on and on. Just a few years ago Brady Hoke's Wolverines were a laughingstock. But with all of these programs, just to name three, the road back to being a Top Ten mainstay has been (and will always be) a much, much shorter journey. That's a major, major difference between the blue bloods and the rest of us. They have the tradition, the donors, the facilities, the fan support, the recruiting base and virtually everything it takes to get whatever they need (usually a coach) to get back to their rightful place in the universe. There are a few exceptions of course: Nebraska has been good, but their geographic isolation and small instate recruiting base makes it really unlikely that they can be dominant again like in their heydays.
We can claw our way back to winning football, but it will PROBABLY take longer. And once we get there again, we should really appreciate how hard it is to not only get there, but stay there.
