:blah::blah::blah:
Except at the highest pay level, hiring a coach is a crap shoot. Yes, if you can pony up $4 million to bring Nick Saban in, then you have a higher likelihood of success. Even at the top, I think you can all reel off names of failed coaches who were highly thought of: Weis, Fairbanks, et al.
So, in the middle of the crap shoot, it's pretty hilarious to read the certainties about how a particular candidate will absolutely suck (or dominate).
Here's the thing: for a position like this, the interview is HUGE. Mac was hired because of his interview. I have my favored candidates, and reasons why I favor them, but if EB doesn't come to an interview with a well-thought out, written (powerpoint, even) plan for recruiting, assistants, offensive and defensive ideas, etc. then I wouldn't hire him. None of us will ever know how the interviews go, except that it will be said that the guy who gets the job "knocked it out of the park" in the interview.