Jimmye Laycock Retirement at W&M

[Affirm]

Anyone know or have thoughts on who W&M will get, and whether it will impact Furman or other SoCon programs?
To what extent, if any, are the FB head coach and assistant jobs at W&M better than those at Furman and other SoCon schools.
Laycock has been in the job 39 years ! They were already gone from SoCon when he started. 1976 was their final SoCon year. 1980 was his first year as HC at W&M, going their from Clemson where he served as an assistant. (2 separate stints at CU.) Laycock played at W&M under Levy and under Holtz. Laycock’s is the winningest coach in W&M history.
(By the way, we need 10 wins this year for Hendrix to surpass Lamb’s overall winning percentage at Furman.)

[DungeonRealm]

Lamb took over a program at the top of FCS, Hendrix took over a program near the bottom of the FCS

Lamb has some things to prove down in Macon this season, since joining the SoCon Mercer has gone 6-6, 5-6, 6-5, 5-6
That will only get you so far, as Lamb found out at Furman going 6-5, 7-5, 6-5, 5-6 his last 4 years at FU

[FUBeAR]

Lamb took over a program at the top of FCS, Hendrix took over a program near the bottom of the FCS

Lamb has some things to prove down in Macon this season, since joining the SoCon Mercer has gone 6-6, 5-6, 6-5, 5-6
That will only get you so far, as Lamb found out at Furman going 6-5, 7-5, 6-5, 5-6 his last 4 years at FU

I don’t disagree that this is an important year for Coach Lamb. President Underwood expects excellence in every endeavor in which Mercer elects to engage. I have no reason to believe that he expects anything less from Mercer’s Football program.

That said...Mercer has gone from playing Ave Maria & Carnegie Mellon to playing Alabama & Auburn in out of Conference games. In the SoCon, they have made steady progress...
2014 - 1-6
2015 - 2-6
2016 - 4-4
2017 - 4-4
...until flattening out that curve last season. During that time, they have been ‘reasonably competitive’ to ‘very competitive’ in 30 of those 31 games (the 1 exception is Wofford 2014), while playing the 1st 2 years at a significant scholarship-level disadvantage. While compiling those 10 SoCon & 22 other wins, they have only lost 1 game (ETSU 2017) that they were truly expected to win. I don’t believe “almost always being competitive” & “hardly ever losing games that were supposed to be wins” can be cited as hallmarks of Coach Lamb’s nor Coach Fowler’s tenure at Furman.

So, again, while I agree that 2018 is important, I don’t agree that drawing parallels between Coach Lamb’s record during his tenure as Head Coach at Furman with that of his record at Mercer is relevant.

One additional comment. Mercer made a change in their Offensive Coordinator position in the off-season after not progressing with more SoCon wins for the 1st time. Given there have been very few changes in the Mercer staff since 2012, I don’t think that change was made lightly or without signaling clear expectations of general improvement & improvement in consistency on that side of the Football. I also would seriously doubt that change was made without President Underwood’s involvement. We’ll see how this all plays out in 2018. Should be fun to watch!

[Affirm]

The previously unspoken underlying questions:
In light of W&M keeping Laycock 39 years, does Furman pull the trigger too soon in letting go of certain FB & basketball coaches?

[Davemeister]

The previously unspoken underlying questions:
In light of W&M keeping Laycock 39 years, does Furman pull the trigger too soon in letting go of certain FB & basketball coaches?

No.

[gman]

Lamb took over a program at the top of FCS, Hendrix took over a program near the bottom of the FCS

Lamb has some things to prove down in Macon this season, since joining the SoCon Mercer has gone 6-6, 5-6, 6-5, 5-6
That will only get you so far, as Lamb found out at Furman going 6-5, 7-5, 6-5, 5-6 his last 4 years at FU

Mercer has peaked in football.

[FUBeAR]

Lamb took over a program at the top of FCS, Hendrix took over a program near the bottom of the FCS

Lamb has some things to prove down in Macon this season, since joining the SoCon Mercer has gone 6-6, 5-6, 6-5, 5-6
That will only get you so far, as Lamb found out at Furman going 6-5, 7-5, 6-5, 5-6 his last 4 years at FU

Mercer has peaked in football.