Last season we were excited when Tom came back, Callahan was fired and Bo was brought in. However, there was some serious urgency to lock down guys like Gilmore and Watson. As everyone knows, after Keller went down and Callahan let go of the reins, likely believing the loss of Keller meant his end, our offense exploded thanks in no small part to the guys who picked up where those two left off. Between when Callahan was fired and shortly after Bo was hired, there were serious concerns about keeping the offense intact. We didn't need (and likely wouldn't have been able to) keep everyone around, but Watson was the primary "gem" of the offensive coaching staff. It seamed like things were ok until Alabama came calling for Watson, but thankfully, that period of horror was short lived and everybody got back down to business. Now, nearly a year later, it seams we are on a similar ledge again. Left to wonder if a disastrous change will occur and set our rebuilding project back for a few years.

This time, it's not just Watson who could be leaving. The Wide Receivers coach Ted Gilmore has also been looked at for a head coaching job in Wyoming. That fell through, but now his name has surfaced again as a candidate for the New Mexico State Job. Order wise, that's "Gilmore to Wyoming?," "Gilmore not to Wyoming!," "Watson to New Mexico?" & "Gilmore to New Mexico State?" for anyone interested in the timeline.

The first time the possibility of Gilmore leaving surfaced, it didn't appear to be the worst thing in the world to have happen to us. While Gilmore has worn multiple hats this season (Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers Coach / Recruiting Coordinator), he's a fairly replaceable guy. After all there are other coaches on this staff that aren't being looked at for jobs elsewhere (thus far) that are qualified enough to take over the jobs Gilmore has been doing. Tim Beck and Ron Brown are two such guys.

Tim Beck, the Running Backs Coach, would be the logical choice to take over as Recruiting Coordinator given the fact that he was hired partly due to his ties to Texas. Ron Brown has officially been the Tight Ends Coach and supposedly also has been involved with the special teams to some degree. It wouldn't be a stretch to promote him by giving him the job coaching the wide receivers. I also think it would be good to give him the "Assistant Head Coach" title and whatever duties go along with that. Then you could go find some young (but qualified) guy to take over the job Brown has been doing. That would making things look like the following:


Barney Cotton - Associate Head Coach / Offensive Line Coach
Ron Brown - Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers Coach
Shawn Watson - Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
Tim Beck - Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator
New Guy - Tight Ends coach (Special Teams?)


Watson, however, is a lot less replaceable. If he and Gilmore leave, it will make for a real mess. It was easy to sort out what to do if we loose Gilmore, but loosing both would be a real nightmare for Bo, Jamrog & Tom. Even just loosing Watson makes things difficult to sort out. Especially when you have guys in your program looking for promotions. Cotton has a lot of experience and despite how fans feel about him, Bo could give him a chance to redeem himself. What about Brown and Beck? It's harder to say. If Gilmore and Watson go and Bo hands over those top jobs to the guys he has then things could look like this:


Barney Cotton - Associate Head Coach / Offensive Coordinator
Ron Brown - Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers Coach
Tim Beck - Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator
New Guy1 - Offensive Line Coach / Tight Ends coach
New Guy2 - Quarterbacks Coach (Special Teams?)


Yeah, it's a mess and frankly, loosing both guys is a nightmare. Many fans do not want Cotton running our offense, but of the three guys, is there anyone actually more qualified to do the job than Cotton? For our sake, let us hope Cotton takes himself out of it because it would be better all around for us if he wasn't running the show. Brown would be an interesting choice since he's been around the game for many years, but I'm not sure he's really so much more qualified than Beck to run the whole offense. Frankly, if we loose them both, I'd rather things look like this:


Barney Cotton - Associate Head Coach / Offensive Line Coach
Ron Brown - Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers Coach
New Guy1 - Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
Tim Beck - Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator
New Guy2 - Tight Ends coach (Special Teams?)


All of that said, the bigger issue here is not just figuring out what to do in terms of who to hire. Rather, there's a question of where this offense would go without Watson. Add in that we are going to loose Ganz this year and it might just make it the best time to change things up a bit. It would give Bo the chance to find a guy who would generally follow his will in basic terms while managing to keep this offense intact largely as it is now. Yet, incorporate more of a running game at first to smooth the transition for our new QB and move it to a more stable footing in the power running game. I'm sure many fans would love to see that.

Still, nobody should think that would be easy. Watson is the master of this offense and I'm not sure there is anyone on this staff that could take over and try to run it without seriously missing a beat. It just doesn't look to be possible. Many fans have suggested we go grab Gill if Watson leaves since Gill runs an offense that has a good ground game with a decent dose of passing mixed in. It would be interesting, but Gill seams to aspire to continue to be a head coach. Does Bo even know anybody that's available to take the OC job and get the guys to do everything required to not take a step backwards?

I should also mention that changes like this would likely hurt us to at least some degree on the recruiting front. Guys playing at certain positions who see their position coach get fired or move on often give at least some reconsideration to other schools they'd previously considered. It's not a guarantee we'd loose guys if Gilmore and or Watson go, but we'd have to fight tooth and nail to keep every single one.

...

All this stuff is simply to hard of a matter to sort out right now. It's all speculation about our future. Until one or both of these coaches decide to go. Until Bo and others decided what to do and who to replace them with, it will remain just that. Either way, IF Watson does choose to leave, fans need to be prepared for a year that could see us take a step or two backwards. We'd be extremely lucky to find a coach who could not only not keep us from sliding backwards, but could propel us forward. Let's all just hope that whatever happens, it all turns out to be for the best for us all. Next season could be really great if we aren't hurt by any potential changes.