- "No experience" calling the defense
- "1st time DC", don't take that risk at A&M [risk of the unknown]
- "Not yet ready" to be DC
Why does ERob have "no experience" calling a defense, when in fact his job title was "run game coordinator" and is now "co-DC" ? The opportunities have been there for years for ERob, from pre-game scheming discussions and decisions, to the closing moments of a blowout victory, opportunities to plan a scheme and call some plays on defense have been there. Either he planned/called some of the defense and failed, or in film study and coaches meetings he apparently showed that he couldn't do it. This is crystal clear. Tyler Santucci came in as LB coach when ERob was already at A&M, and Santucci increasingly became involved in scheming decisions, increasingly influenced defensive calls, and increasingly succeeded. Santucci showed DC ability at A&M, but ERob did not. That's why Santucci is a DC already, which leads to the next point.
A&M is not the place to risk a "1st time DC", because we're not sure how he will perform. But I think it's the exact opposite. I think Elko knows how ERob will perform as DC, and it's not good. Looking back, when Elko left Notre Dame, one of his assistants (Clark Lea) took over as a 1st time DC and succeeded at a high level at Notre Dame. When Elko left A&M, he eventually hired Santucci as a 1st time DC, and Santucci succeeded. Elko has seen this before - he's had assistants who excelled as a 1st time DC. When it comes to ERob, I don't think Elko is afraid of the unknown, I think he is afraid of what he does know - that ERob would fail as DC at A&M.
Why is ERob "not yet ready" to be a DC, when he has 9 years experience as a DLine coach, 1 year experience 'supposedly' as run game coordinator, 1 year experience 'supposedly' as co-DC, and a couple games experience as interim head coach? What further experience does ERob need to get ready? That is no slight on ERob, but maybe he is not DC material? Maybe he will never be ready? Our own beloved Terry Price was a great DL coach for so many years, but he never was a coordinator. What if ERob is the same? A great man, a great position coach, a great recruiter, but simply not a coordinator?
In conclusion, I'm not saying that ERob will never, ever succeed as a DC in his entire lifetime. But I am saying that (1) he already has enough years of experience to be DC, (2) a 1st time DC is not a problem for Elko or A&M (or Notre Dame, or Georgia as other have pointed out), but (3) this notion that ERob has the talent and skills, and is merely on the cusp of being a successful DC, is false. Because he's a great a salesman and a great salesman is automatically a great manager? No, there is no evidence for such assertion. And with ERob, the evidence points in the other direction.
