The 7-5 record was fool's gold. It's like focusing only on a stock's trading price and ignoring its fundamentals. Do so at your own risk. Some folks may not care about having an offense that's not ranked in the top 100 in the country (and a defense that's not ranked in the top 90), but that kind of shit gets you beat at home by bad teams (UF, OM) and has you hanging on for dear life at home to even worse teams (EMU, UT).
5 years in, and I'm still not convinced the guy isn't simply a good recruiter who can't coach. No discipline, no identity, no player development, and the team regressed throughout the course of the season. (Also, he has terrible taste in hats.)