Clay with a pretty good analysis (IMO) of the coming football season in last Friday's mailbag:
Geoff writes:
"What are the chances Vanderbilt's Derek Mason makes it through the season?"
Vanderbilt went 3-9 last year, but was incredibly close to going 1-11
and posting the most losses in Commodore history. Remember, Mason's
team beat FCS Charleston Southern by one point and UMASS by three
points. (The Commodores
"crushed" Old Dominion 42-28). Coming off back-to-back nine win
seasons, you can make a legit argument that Mason and his coaching staff
replacing James Franklin and his coaching staff was the biggest coaching downgrade in SEC football history.
There's a decent chance Mason gets fired next year, but I think it
will happen at the end of the year. Honestly, we'll know Mason's fate by
early October. The Commodores open with Kentucky
and MTSU? If Mason loses both, he's finished because the Commodores
will be 1-4 and other than Kentucky I don't know what game they'd win
the rest of the way. That means Mason would have back-to-back 3-9 or
worse seasons.
So really the entire year boils down to what happens against Western
Kentucky and MTSU. Win both and Mason would be 3-2 after the first five
games, maybe he can beat Kentucky and get to 4-8 and argue things have
improved enough to justify a third year.
But if I had to wager on it right now, I think Mason will be gone at the end of 2015 after another 3-9 season.
Geoff writes:
"What are the chances Vanderbilt's Derek Mason makes it through the season?"
Vanderbilt went 3-9 last year, but was incredibly close to going 1-11
and posting the most losses in Commodore history. Remember, Mason's
team beat FCS Charleston Southern by one point and UMASS by three
points. (The Commodores
"crushed" Old Dominion 42-28). Coming off back-to-back nine win
seasons, you can make a legit argument that Mason and his coaching staff
replacing James Franklin and his coaching staff was the biggest coaching downgrade in SEC football history.
There's a decent chance Mason gets fired next year, but I think it
will happen at the end of the year. Honestly, we'll know Mason's fate by
early October. The Commodores open with Kentucky
and MTSU? If Mason loses both, he's finished because the Commodores
will be 1-4 and other than Kentucky I don't know what game they'd win
the rest of the way. That means Mason would have back-to-back 3-9 or
worse seasons.
So really the entire year boils down to what happens against Western
Kentucky and MTSU. Win both and Mason would be 3-2 after the first five
games, maybe he can beat Kentucky and get to 4-8 and argue things have
improved enough to justify a third year.
But if I had to wager on it right now, I think Mason will be gone at the end of 2015 after another 3-9 season.
