of a "business" lens than a football one (I have very little actual football playing/coaching experience) my biggest gripe is not that Tuiaki isn't a good D coordinator, it is that I don't feel like we see any adaptability with him. He seems like the guy that comes in to work, does a good job, but is never someone who you would say is an over achiever. Looking at the rankings you provided and basing that off of recruiting rankings you could definitely argue that I'm wrong, but it just feels like he isn't an over achiever. It seems like he has a good idea every once in a while, but then falls back into his comfort zone. That is fine most of the time, but he doesn't seem able to leave his comfort zone when it's absolutely needed. It doesn't seem like he watches film of opposing teams because we never see him take advantage of weaknesses that other teams have have previously exposed. If his defense takes advantage of a team's weaknesses, it's just because it happens to work well with his comfort zone defense.

Those types of guys are great to have a work, but you don't want them leading your team. You want them in a support role to the guy that is leading the team. At least for me, I want a team leader that is creative, adaptable, takes calculated risks, etc. That doesn't always work out, and that's why its good to have that uncreative but dependable person that is there to temporarily step in if needed. But I don't want that person in charge all the time. Otherwise, you always get good performances, but you never get great ones. I would be more ok with the loss to Boise if we had swung big and whiffed, than what we did defensively against them. They didn't play bad, and they weren't the cause of the loss. That was squarely on the offense/special teams. But have we ever said during Tuiaki's tenure that the defense won us that game? I think that maybe you could argue that against USC, but other than that I can't really think of any times that is the case. I want to be able to say that the defense can win us games. I want to say that when we have a team on 3rd down and 5+ that I believe we are going to stop them, and I want to say that when we absolutely need a stop against a team defensively that I think we can stop them. Instead I can't say that I think the defense will win us a game. I have literally ZERO confidence that our defense will get a stop on 3rd and even 10+, and if we need a defensive stop I just assume the best we will do is force a field goal after 6+ minutes have been drained off the clock.

This isn't about Tuiaki being a bad defensive coordinator, it is about him being a good defensive coordinator when I want to see great! Good keeps you solid, but will never deliver great results. We won't have a great/special season with Tuiaki as the D coordinator. I'd rather risk whiffing on a new defensive hire and having a bad defense for a year or 2 than knowing that we will have a good but never great defense.

Also, for all of the rabid Tuiaki supporters out there, I know that the loss wasn't on the defense on Saturday. But, the reason why those of us that want to see a change are consistently complaining is because we see more great games from the offense than we ever do from the defense. Does the offense have problems? YOU BET THEY DO! But it seems like they branch out more often. They do trick plays. They throw the ball down field, they take risks. Do they sometimes not work out? Yep. But they also sometimes do work out, and that creates a HUGE momentum shift. It creates a whole new mindset. It instills confidence that you are never out of the game because you can hit the big play and be right back in it. When our quarterback throws the ball downfield, I expect that it will be caught. When it doesn't I'm disappointed because I am used to them coming down with those long balls. Unfortunately, I can say the exact same of the defense. When the opposing offense throws the ball, I expect the receiver to catch it. I expect them to methodically march down the field and get points and take a ton of time off the clock, thereby limiting the possessions our offense has. I see flashes of greatness on the offense, and I see a gradual shift upwards over the last few years. Defensively, I see the same good but not great that I've seen since Tuiaki started coaching the defense. I don't really see much improvement. I'm probably wrong, that is how I, as a football enthusiast that isn't paid anything for my armchair coaching skills (or lack there of) sees and feels it. Feel free to now flame away at my post.