i can't disagree with much you said here. and I had honestly forgotten about Haslett, but yeah....he did it too. But you read way more into my post than intended...I certainly didn't mean to ask (nor imply) "why can't New Coach meet standards of the old coach?"
In my previous post, I was responding to a guy who thinks the Saints won't be relevant for several more years, no matter who the coach is. In all fairness to that guy, he MAY be right. I was simply pointing out that the right coach (CSP, and now Haslett) can indeed provide a +7 game swing in the win column. If we found that guy again, the Saints MAY be a 12-13 win team next season. I don't think that's likely, but it is possible, and your Haslett example means it isn't isolated to potential future HOF coaches.
I was simply trying to identify what I think it will reasonably take to make the playoffs (10 wins seems to be pretty reliable....perhaps 9 under the right circumstances, with the right combination of tie-breakers). And the differential from where the Saints are in 2024 (likely a 6-win team, IMO) versus a playoff team is only +4 games. With the right HC hire, that is absolutely do-able in year 1, IMO. I think it was do-able with THIS roster, THIS year, with the right HC; even with all the adversity experienced. If the past 5 games can be extrapolated, I think a full season of Rizzi would have yielded 10 wins and playoffs.
Regardless of what IS, what could have been is just conjecture on my part. And I guess "relevance" needs to be defined, because "making playoffs" and "challenging for Superbowls" are 2 different levels of relevance, IMO. My point was simply to illustrate that a sad-sack Saints team vaulted into playoff relevance before (2x) in ONE season, and that it is certainly do-able again. But it's probably 2-3 seasons before they are relevant as "challenging for Superbowls" again, so I probably should've asked that fella before I posted. Maybe we actually agree? Even so, Step 1 is to find the RIGHT coach this offseason. Step 2 will be to make the playoffs. And I firmly believe that if Step 1 is successful, Step 2 will follow as a result. That is ALL I am saying, nothing more. JMO...