The Front Row

I'm glad hewil be advising....but our D was #2 in the Nation the last 5 weeks of the season ..they had come on and we were doing fine. Once we got uber aggressive we excelled....

Some of Heacock's criticism is deserved because the defensive scheme had to change after 2006 and 2007 when it was clear we did not have the scheme to compete against SEC athletes. The sign of a great coach is one that's willing to change. Heacock did that and it was clear against Oregon and Arkansas.

However, this idea that Heacock is a "savior" is plain wrong. The coaches were not our defenses problem last year. It was talent. People conveniently forget the defense was pretty pathetic the prior year as well. There was certainly some growing pains for a new staff, but lets not gloss over the fact there was a significant talent gap/depth problem here. A credit to last years staff for adapting and putting band aids over this defense.

I've always felt Heacock was a good coach. It was odd to me people would argue that Fickell was a bad coach, but Heacock was a good coach since they were co-DCs. In this instance, another defensive mind advising can only be a good thing.