Offensively weak conference? The AC erage defense that Stiney faced was ranked 25-30 spots higher in the National Defensive standings than the rank of the average offenses that Foster had to face. The ACC was terrible in offenses back then so of course we had a higher ranked defense.
Plus, our style of play was centered around winning not scoring. CFB was satisfied with the W & never cared about padding offensive stats just so you could move up in the offensive standings. The W was all that mattered.
Still my defense of Stiney takes into consideration everything he brought to the table. His ability to sell the program, willingness to travel further and spend more nights away from home. He spent more nights on the road than all of our other coaches even though he had younger kids at home than the other coaches. Bottom line- Beamer was ultimately responsible for the bigger picture so if he was happy with him… I was happy with him.

My position has never wavered. I said way back in the Stiney years that the only way we stay near the top & hopefully get better was to support the coaches in place as opposed to degrading them which hurts us recruiting. I knew once we started making coaching changes we were starting on a downward trajectory.

I’ve actually been pretty pleased with how well Fuente has replaced him. It has been better than my highest hopes.