Stop me before I do something I'll regret (unless I won't)

So I had this brilliant idea yesterday but I need someone to tell me all the reasons why it's a bad idea because I can't think of any and that scares me. Okay, I can think of a few downsides, but I find it really easy to dismiss them, which also scares me. There must be good reasons why my brilliant idea actually stinks, but I can't see them so I need someone to show me before I do someone really stupid, unless it's not really stupid, which would be fine by me.

In a nutshell: I'm scheduled to teach an upper-level literature class next semester called Representative American Writers, and I want my students to spend the entire semester reading Colson Whitehead. Just think: we could read John Henry Days, Zone One, The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys, and maybe Sag Harbor, along with some short essays and maybe a piece of The Colossus of New York. That reading list would make me happy, and if making me happy were the measure of a great course, then this one would be awesome. 

This course comes up on the schedule about every three years, and the past two or three times the class has studied Stephen Crane and Kate Chopin. Now the advantages of this setup are clear: Crane and Chopin produced a limited amount of work, so we can focus in depth on The Red Badge of Courage and The Awakening and then read a zillion short pieces; they worked intensely in a limited time frame, so my students develop a deep understanding of American culture in the 1890s, a fairly interesting period; and there's such a variety of readings that they're bound to find something they like. Also, sticking with Crane and Chopin would mean simply updating the old syllabus, while switching to a different topic would require a total redesign.

But I think Colson Whitehead would be worth the effort. I've never taught an entire semester on a living author before--in fact, the closest I've ever come was when I taught the course on Flannery O'Connor (who died in 1964, so not close at all). I want my upper-level English majors to spend some time understanding historical contexts, and Whitehead provides plenty of opportunities by evoking specific historical eras and events, especially in The Underground Railroad, John Henry Days, and The Nickel Boys. And while reading a big pile of novels can be intimidating, Whitehead's novels differ so significantly in content and style that boredom should not be a problem.

Now for the downsides: 

• A course that focuses on only one author is great for students who enjoy that author's work but not so great for those who don't. 
• I have taught John Henry Days twice in African-American Lit classes and, with a few exceptions, students loathed it. They had trouble doing the work Whitehead requires, making connections between multiple story lines set in distant time periods, and they were frustrated by the lack of resolution. John Henry Days explores some themes that remain important throughout Whitehead's later novels so I wouldn't want to leave it off the syllabus, but I would need to find a way to teach it so that students aren't left in the dust, confused and angry.
• New syllabus. New assignments. New course materials. All from scratch, starting now, when I am up to my elbows in current classes.

There must be more, right? Someone ought to be able to tell me a really good reason not to toss out a course that worked fairly well to try something completely different. Please, help me out here! Tell me why my brilliant idea isn't so brilliant--but you better say it really loudly, because internally I'm jumping up and down and screaming with glee over the opportunity to teach Colson Whitehead.