Well yes, I am young but you're missing my point. Maybe it would be better worded to say "...the slump this program is usually in, most recently since 2010."
Does this tickle your fancy?
It would be hard for you to know whether or not I missed your point, from a single (accurate) observation on my part.
I will say the young tend to know very little. For that reason, they often take a specific case and give it broad consequence. They point to a specfic case and think it is a general case. And when someone who has seen other examples of the general case speak about the general case, the young tend to write prescriptions based on a recent specific case, which is all they know.
At least 4b, in his doomed attempt to tilt at windmills, understands that the focus of his lament is constant over time and independent of the variables you think it is dependent upon.
I remember a Lunch With George after the season. O'Leary had won a bunch of games and beat UGa like a dusty rug. He was feeling happy and even smug, expecting gratitude and adoration from the gathered faithful. First question off the bat was a criticism about the UGa game about how he handled a goal line offensive series.
It took all the air out of his sails. Possibly, for the long term. There were many happy and positive GT fans there, but the damage was done.
Before that, Bobby Ross won a national championship. The remarkable part to me about this was how little the state mindsets changed. The media which bashed and slightest us before continued to bash and slight us. The GT fan base was happy, but subconsiously seemed to expect us to return to earth, which happened next year. We got zero recruiting bump from the accomplishment. We got zero optimism from the accomplishment.
Both of the two coaches mentioned above left our program shortly afterwards, on their terms. Had we the fan base personality of, say, South Carolina, would that have happened? Maybe. Maybe not.
The fan base drove away a quality coach who never had a losing season at GT, despite crippling injuries and program mistakes driven from upstairs. He had cracked the code of college recruiting. This is Chan Gailey. Long known for finding diamonds in the rough, he was going against the big boys in recruiting and winning, when he was let go. In fact, his successor's best results came from Gailey's players maturing as upper classmen.
I think the fan base deprived us of one of the best coaches the game has seen. Certainly one of the finest defensive minds. Bud Carson. Ever hear of the Steel Curtain? Ever hear of the Cover 2 defense?
Bud was bitter about what happened @GT. Can't say I blame him. Chan said he roots for every former team he ever coached except one. Can't say I blame him. O'Leary ain't coming back. I don't think Ross would have either.
Reports are that CPJ would not mind a buyout. My concern is he won't get one and will just go through the motions on the field and on the recruiting trail, much like Shanahan did in the NFL this year.
There is a commonality to all the above, and it seems to be decoupled from what happens on the field.