Agree with all of your thoughts.
I am excited to see if Beane and McD can keep this thing rolling in the right direction, but in order for that to happen I feel McD needs to grow as a coach. McD seems to be doing great at getting the guys ready to play and instilling a positive culture, and not too well at game management.
I think it will be interesting to see what McD does with Dennison. In addition to game management issues I think McD allowed his O coach to call plays like it is 1990, and I think he needs to take ownership of the decision to move forward. If Dennsion is back it may be an indicator that McD is content running a WC offense, which will further demonstrate his old school approach. Maybe turning the roster over and adding a lot of talent combined with the improved culture and structure will be enough to get us to be contenders despite the tired coaching philosophy, but I would prefer to move the offense into this decade.