Posters said he had to prove himself this year. Given the lack of posts about him, I say he has past the test. Wait till next year and the year after when our young players are seasoned and Rodriquez and Major get into the mix.
I think his coaching has been good. People have talked about wanting to see improvement in this team, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue that the o-line isn't the most clear example of it. (Of course, that's like going to Longhorn Caverns, shutting off the lights, turning on a key-chain flashlight and saying "MAN!!! that thing is fantastic!")
OL looked really good yesterday except for a couple of holds and a false start. (penalties that can be overcome if you don;t turn the ball over 5 times!) The future with Wick looks bright. I sincerely hope that he is here for the foreseeable future.
If Charlie survives for another year, I think Wickline is gone after this year. No matter what he did at OSU, he's been mediocre at best in two years at UT. -- even though Charlie massively shot himself in the foot (and Wickline) with all those idiotic weed dismissals last year. Why, for example, given the mediocre play of the UT center, has Wickline non-verbally dissed Raulerson in practice and not played him? If Charlie has any sense, he'll ask Perrin to settle Wickline's OSU lawsuit and pay it off (the only right thing to do), and then fire him and get a better OL coach.
Given that our 2 best OL seem to be our true freshman, our OL seems to have done a good job this year - especially how they just overpowered the OU defense, but they've opened up good holes in other games as well. Pass blocking still seems suspect quite often though.
Raulerson always seemed too small in the hips to be an effective OL. Add to that all the mistakes he made when he did get a chance at OC and I there is reason to limit his time. Wickline has recruited both Vahe and Williams who are the 2 most promising young OL on the team and perhaps 2 of the best OL on the team and they are true freshman. He brought in some other guys in last years class that will get their chance next year. I like how the unit is developing and am behind keeping Wickline for at least 1 more year. The problems at OL to me have been about the offensive scheme. If we had an identify on offense then this unit would look better.
Not sure if Wickline will want to return. Why stay on a ship that "looks' to be sinking; after getting publicly demoted from your position ( supposedly a play caller ) on the staff ? Not to mention, if we are floundering with scheme why would he want to stay and look like his unit is struggling ? I'd bolt asap before my reputation was damaged any further if I were him. Some of our better coaches left after year one ( DL for one )....I wonder why ?
Mchammer, Don't mean to be insufferable, and not being a critic of CS in my statement of Wickline. I am just putting myself in Wickline's shoes and what I would do if in his place.
I don't think Wickline was ever really calling playing and thus there was never a real demotion. The title of co-offensive coordinator was a sham and was all about the need to be giving him a "promotion" in order to avoid his contract buyout. He is an OL coach and a pretty good one from what I can tell. We are now deep on the roster but still young. He is bringing in talented young kids and Ithink he will turn this unit around. Now we just need to find a QB and an offense and give the OL the entire spring and summer to work knowing what scheme they will be blocking for.
That whole Wickline deal was handled poorly. Somebody's not telling the truth and it's hard to figure out who. Was this a wink, wink deal with Charlie and Wick, or did Wick tell Okie State he was going to be the play caller so he could get more money. Then when it was found out to be a scam nobody seemed to know anything when it probably could have been cleaned up pretty quickly.
That was Patterson's biggest blunder in personnel management - he should have just fixed the issue and settled. Even if Wickline was the one who misled OSU, he did it because we wanted him to come work for us. It's a pretty poor statement to say "we knew that you had this clause in your contract, we let you come anyway, and now that you're in trouble, we're going to make you deal with it."
