I felt Withers recruiting ability was actually good, outside of the HS bridges he was burning. It was his (lack of) defensive coaching, and refusal to bring in good coordinators and act as CEO that were problematic. Attitude and personality didn’t make him very likable either.

Some of us just initially overlooked the fact that his FBS coaching was subpar and there was excitement driven by having a coach associated with OSU. I don’t think the flaws were ever hidden, we just chose to ignore them and/or hope they were correctable. He did bring energy and help us grow up as a program in some ways. It ended up moving the program forward a step or two once Houston corrected the locker room attitudes and defense.