I won't say it was a truly bad hire until we see more. So far it looks like a disaster and I hope they can figure it out. The reason I am slower than most to say fire Howell immediately is because I am tired of starting every season with a new DC or OC.
I think a program runs best when there is consistency in the staff. The amount of coaching turnover we have had over the last three years is a big reason why our offense struggled for a while and why our defense is struggling this year. Whether Howell was experienced at the D1 level or not, there is still a learning curve when someone starts a new job at a new school with new players. I'm sure if we looked at some successful coaches they all had rocky starts. I'm ok to give someone some time to settle in and get things going before we talk about how incompetent or inexperienced they are. I just wish we weren't starting with any new coaches this year because if we had a defense like we had the last three years, it could have been a great season.