this is one of the oldest coaching tricks in the book. if you've got inferior coaches in place at other schools in your league, you talk them up. "oh, they are very close." "oh, he's a great student of the game and mentor." "i know they'll get it turned around right away." and then after you crush them, again: "oh, it was closer than it looked." "oh, boy, that team is young and talented. they are going to be a handful soon."
i used to laugh my ass off when Mac said this **** about woody widenhofer and the other totally outclassed coaches in the b8 back in the day.
now, we are the dog **** team with the inept staff that everyone pretends to fear, right before they drop "half a hundred" on our sorry asses.