Is 8-4 success? What about 7-5?

[Stan Raymond]

8-4 is progress and a successful season at this point.

7-5 is stagnant, he doesn't need to be fired, but needs to make some more changes and certainly doesn't deserve an extension.

 

[Mr.Bojangles]

Need to get to 9 wins for it to be a success

Oh boy!

 

[...TrueColors...]

Can you explain the reasoning behind this? I’m arguing that it’s illogical to take a binary view of the season in terms of success/failure based on the outcome of one game. Your counter argument seems to be that it’s just an emotional thing that specifically applies to us, but wouldn’t matter if we were winning less than we are now.

That makes no sense to me.

Sorry to butt in and not really relevant to the post I quoted; but I have agreed with what you’ve said here.

My thing is that had Dylan not gotten hurt we beat USC and we’re at 8-3 now with two more chances to get to 9-4.

I said before the year that 9 wins with one coming from a game where you punch above your weight. Dylan not getting hurt and us beating USC would have satisfied those metrics IMO.

I do think we’ll have chances to beat Cockeye and win our bowl game. Getting 9 wins would be incredible. But get one of these next two. 8-5 to me is good considering the circumstances.

 

[BIGSTICK67]

I predicted 7-5 regular season and 8-5 with the bowl win. Therefore it's what I expected and believed was realistic in 2025.

Still have higher expectations as the seasons move forward.

To answer your original question, I'd say it was a success - taking everything into consideration. i.e. where the program is at and what positions our injuries happened at this season.

 

[HCFord1]

Hoiberg and Bolt currently run better programs than Rhule

Hoiberg was given years to turn around a program that was in the dumps, rightfully so. It’s a good thing we didn’t listen to the pitchfork crew during his first few years because he is doing a great job.

Bolt is doing well and I’m happy we have him, but he also has the benefit of playing in the weakest of the major conferences in baseball. He also inherited a program in much better shape than Rhule did.

 

[SlumpBuster]

Bolt is doing well and I’m happy we have him, but he also has the benefit of playing in the weakest of the major conferences in baseball.

That is absolutely not an advantage. It has cost us in the postseason multiple times (in seeding and experience against the top teams).

 

[HCFord1]

That is absolutely not an advantage.

It’s an advantage when it comes to winning conference titles, which is the only thing we’ve actually been able to achieve since moving to the Big Ten.

 

[SlumpBuster]

It’s an advantage when it comes to winning conference titles, which is the only thing we’ve actually been able to achieve since moving to the Big Ten.

I expanded more on it. Sure it's easier to win the conference I guess. But it's overall a massive disadvantage for the postseason and recruiting

 

[BigRedSob]

I still cannot believe Rhule thought juedy could replace Ty Robinson. Just stupid roster building

 

[doublewing]

Beginning of the season I thought we'd win 7 + 8th win in a bowl. Basically one better than the year before. 7 regular season wins = C grade for me, 8 is a B. I don't see this team beating Cockeye, so we likely end with a C grade. We scratched out a meh season, Rhule didn't do anything to get fired but did nothing to fire us up either.

This team beats most of the teams they should but has an ingrained inability to rise to the occasion and beat better teams. IDGAF about close losses, you need to demonstrate mental toughness, have an edge to you and beat the guy in front of you. Wisconsin has done that the past two weeks. The last time NU did it was against Cockeye in 2022.

 

[BIGSTICK67]

I expanded more on it. Sure it's easier to win the conference I guess. But it's overall a massive disadvantage for the postseason and recruiting

True. But who's fault is that?

Do you see Bolt going to Administration and begging to switch conferences? He's playing the schedule he's provided.

 

[ChocaEgg]

I still cannot believe Rhule thought juedy could replace Ty Robinson. Just stupid roster building

Wild that they thought the OL would be a strength of the team going into the season too. Completely oblivious

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Hoiberg was given years to turn around a program that was in the dumps, rightfully so. It’s a good thing we didn’t listen to the pitchfork crew during his first few years because he is doing a great job.

Bolt is doing well and I’m happy we have him, but he also has the benefit of playing in the weakest of the major conferences in baseball. He also inherited a program in much better shape than Rhule did.

Hoiberg showed the ability to beat ranked teams and improved each year … has Rhule - jury is still out imo

 

[HCFord1]

I expanded more on it. Sure it's easier to win the conference I guess. But it's overall a massive disadvantage for the postseason and recruiting

Agreed. It was obvious when we played Florida in the regional, who probably could’ve beaten us with their backups.

 

[SlumpBuster]

True. But who's fault is that?

Do you see Bolt going to Administration and begging to switch conferences? He's playing the schedule he's provided.

No. But like I said I see being in the B1G as a massive disadvantage.

That and our incredibly pathetic baseball budget

 

[HCFord1]

Wild that they thought the OL would be a strength of the team going into the season too. Completely oblivious

Well they were facing our D line in spring practice and fall camp. They probably looked great.

 

[Irv]

Can you explain the reasoning behind this? I’m arguing that it’s illogical to take a binary view of the season in terms of success/failure based on the outcome of one game. Your counter argument seems to be that it’s just an emotional thing that specifically applies to us, but wouldn’t matter if we were winning less than we are now.

That makes no sense to me.

You didn’t quote the part where I said that I don’t personally think 8-4 is a success or a failure. So I wasn’t making it binary.

The quote you pulled, I specifically did not use the success/failure language.

 

[king_kong_]

Just go back to the preseason predictions thread and laugh at how much the goalposts have moved between then and now

The answer is simple. Year Three!

 

[HCFord1]

Hoiberg showed the ability to beat ranked teams and improved each year … has Rhule - jury is still out imo

Hoiberg improved from 7-25 and last in the conference in year one to 10-22 and second to last in the conference in year 3. He didn’t finish over .500 until year 5, when we made the tourney.

He was given time to turn it around succeeded (it appears) despite so many fans calling for his firing.

 

[HCFord1]

You didn’t quote the part where I said that I don’t personally think 8-4 is a success or a failure. So I wasn’t making it binary.

The quote you pulled, I specifically did not use the success/failure language.

Okay so maybe I misunderstood. Are you agreeing with me?