Don Brown and GDL's Coaching Styles

[uconnell]

I admit I don't know much about football but enjoy going to the games, but it seems to me that if the coaches have to wait until the 4th year class to correctly implement their zone blocking,why not stay with what the players that were here were
taught? When the guys they recruited are ready that is the time to implement their scheme. I don't want to wait 4-5 years to win and I don't think anyone else does. Look what happemed to R Rod at Mich, they don't dink around up there, I don't think we should dink around at UConn either. If this doesn't make any sense please don't kill me.

 

[cu73etr]

Didn't UConn have a 1,000 yard rusher last year? I think the line did a decent job in the run, not so much in the pass (also under the new GDL zone blocking scheme). This year they can't even get on the plus side in terms of yards rushing in some games. What has changed?......the person primarily responsible for the line coaching. Could be coincidence but I doubt it. I think it is a combination of some lesser talent and lesser coaching. Invariably there is at least one lineman going back to the huddle looking confused after a broken play / sack. Either they aren't getting the scheme or the scheme is way too complex./QUOTE]

Wow that was weird! Agree 100%

 

[cu73etr]

Didn't UConn have a 1,000 yard rusher last year? I think the line did a decent job in the run, not so much in the pass (also under the new GDL zone blocking scheme). This year they can't even get on the plus side in terms of yards rushing in some games. What has changed?......the person primarily responsible for the line coaching. Could be coincidence but I doubt it. I think it is a combination of some lesser talent and lesser coaching. Invariably there is at least one lineman going back to the huddle looking confused after a broken play / sack. Either they aren't getting the scheme or the scheme is way too complex.

Wow that was weird. I agree 100%.

 

[Husky25]

Syracuse boys BB play zone. Someone is responsible for picking players that fit into that scheme of defense. Assume an assistant coach is responsible for defense; new coach comes in and same players and says "we now press man to man full court"; think the old assistant coach is going to be very successful getting those back line 6'10" guys to press.
Not saying players and assistant won't try, learn all the footwork and moves, it's still just basketball defense - but if they are just not good at it all the studying, training, coaching isn't going to change that. Not that "press man to man" can't work, just that these guys can't do it.
Didn't Chargers have on of the lightest OL's when had Terrell Davis and good zone blocking team. If you are Alabama and get best of the best, probably are big, fast, agile and play whatever style blocking; get Uconn type talent and have to look at attributes you want most as aren't going to get a player with all the attributes as he's going to Alabama. If less agile but bigger guys better for drive blocking that's what you are going to get if that's the running style you want; new coach wants attributes better for zone blocking - good luck until your 4th year where your RS Sophomores are your guys that you picked for zone blocking (1st year recruiting class was fhcRE guys) 'cause your current OL just doesn't have attributes you need.

Davis played for the Denver Broncos, but yes they did and you make a valid points. The Broncos also had Mike Shanahan, who is a far superior coach than anyone on the Huskies staff. Speaking of Mike Shananhan...Has anyone noticed what is happening in Washington right now (I know the guy with the RGIII Avatar has). They have a sieve of an offensive line. So what do Mike and Kyle do? Move the pocket to better take advantage of his QB's skills. Okay, RGIII is a freak of nature, but Whitmer is not unmobile. At the end of the day it's still about putting your team in the best position to succeed (I've written it so much, I should have it as m signature).

 

[Carl Spackler]

On the comments about JC and other drill sergeant type coaches, while JC did lose a player here or there every so often, it is pretty safe to say that JC always had the kid's best interests at heart and the few who did not initially realize this were the players who departed.

As far as the love that players feel for Brown vs DeLeone, it id very safe to state that football players (who approach this level) by nature are aggressive and would normally prefer an attacking style of play allowing them to be physical and use their athleticism.

One (of many) areas where what GDL is doing would not garner praise is that he has changed the line's philosophy from an aggressive, physical style to a passive, reactive one. Instead of being able to deliver the blow, the linemen now are asked to receive it.

From what I understand where GDL has failed is that he is either unwilling or unable to fully communicate what he wants from the linemen and what their responsibilities are and becomes very condescending and demeaning when they appear to be poorly instructed. This and his (I'm guessing insecurity driven) dismissive manor towards other offensive assistants has me wondering if he fully understands the blocking schemes he wants to run.

I have seen this from you several times. I would love to know the source of this information, this is some serious stuff you are putting out.

As I've responded before, I'll say again. I could care less about a coach's personality traits and how he treats his players. It's the results that matter. If the results we are getting on the field, is becuase the players aren't mentally, emotionally able to handle a bastard old coach that screams and spits all the time, and berates you non-stop?

Well, you know what? I'm not going to put that on the coach. If the system works, and it's functional, and the players aren't accepting it or learning it because they don't like the way the coach treats them? Well, I've got some words for the players in that case, and they're the potty mouth kind.

This is why I'm SO interested in knowing who, why and how things keep getting screwed up on offense. MIssed assignments, confused looking players. Missed blocks.

#1. If the plays are getting destroyed, because the players are doing exactly what they've been coached to do, and as I've seen so many times, we can't get a defensive front blocked with more blockers than defenders?

Then the coach's system is a failure.

#2. If the plays are falling apart, becuase the players know what they're supposed to do, but simply don't physically do it?

Then we need better players.

#3. If the plays are falling apart, because the players - at this point in time - still can't get the assignments right?

Then, there is a failure in the coach's ability to teach his system, and the coach either needs to change the system to somethign the players can get right, or needs to put players in that do know the system.


My gut tells me that the problem on offense is somewhere between #2 and #3, and I can tell you, that if the problem regarding #3, is because our players feelings are hurt, by bastard old coach, getting in their face and screaming and spitting and calling them pansies and dumb and what not?

Then we most definitely need new players.

See-

becasue if you're going to go that route, with evaluation - how do you differentiate between a coach that is going to be every player's good friend, but isn't getting results, vs. a cocah that' is a complete, absolute , and nobody's friend, but isn't getting results?


It's results that matter. If the results we're getting, are because the player's don't like their coach's personality style, and don't accept the system because of that?

I've got a problem with the players for that, not the coach.

My opinion, can all change very quickly, if I were to know that the offensive system that Deleone is teaching, is simply so fundamentally flawed, that we can't get a 6 man pass rush blocked by 7 people.

 

[BlueMAB]

I think you missed his point... "OLine needs leadership ON the line. Whos providing the "follow me" -- I read that as talking about the players, not the coaches. It didn't say ON the sidelines.

Just because the fat white guy doesn't know who the leader is on the O line doesn't mean there is no leader on the O line.

 

[BlueMAB]

Ok. So Foley gets credit but no blame?

Or are you suggesting that zone blocking doesn't work?

If you're really trying to blame Foley for the decline in O-line production, you've gone from trying to be reasonable about if and when to replace GDL, to someone is apparently not even watching the games and just coming on the board to argue with people by making the most ridiculous argument you can think of.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Having said all that, I wouldn't be upset to see Deleone go. But I just don't buy this stuff about the players not liking the guy being a problem. I don't remember ever liking a coach, until I was done playing.

 

[ZooCougar]

Having said all that, I wouldn't be upset to see Deleone go. But I just don't buy this stuff about the players not liking the guy being a problem. I don't remember ever liking a coach, until I was done playing.

You didn't like them, but did you respect them?

There is a thin line between being a demanding SOB and being a toxic leader. The stuff I hear about is toxic leadership.

 

[Carl Spackler]

You didn't like them, but did you respect them?

There is a thin line between being a demanding SOB and being a toxic leader. The stuff I hear about is toxic leadership.

That's why you need results. You need to results. We're not getting them, and if the coach can't deliver the results, then the coach needs to go.

But I can tell you this from the heart - if the system works, and the system is failing, becuase the players feelings are hurt by this SOB? I don't have kind words for any of the players, and frankly, they're not doing themselves any favors, because as others have noted - in real life, outside of school, until you can climb the ladder and be the top dog in any business or organization - you will invariably have to deal with superiors, who's attitude, personality, and treatment of you, make you absolutely sick - and you still have to get your job done.

The key - to me - is understanding the system, and knowing if it's a fundamentally sound offensive system. I really, the way this team looks on the field, seems like the offnese is fundamentally flawed. I find that really hard to believe, but anything is possible, and I can't know for sure, without actually knowing the playbook, and when I think about the years of experience that these guys have, but then the basic things that seem to fail during game time, I don't know.

If the system is fundamentally flawed on offense, than everythign I'm sayign is out the window.

If the system is fundamentatlly sound, but is just too much for the players to handle - well - then the coach is again at fault, for not putting somethign together that the players can handle.

But if the players aren't accepting the system, only because they don't like the coach and don't respect him? And that's the explanation for where we're at? That would really, really piss me off - because in that case - they have not given the system a chance, and have let their personal feelings about a coaching and systems change, dictate that we are losing.

It seems almost, that the information that fairfield county keeps bringing up - is pointing directly to that.

 

[Chin Diesel]

That's why you need results. You need to results. We're not getting them, and if the coach can't deliver the results, then the coach needs to go.

But I can tell you this from the heart - if the system works, and the system is failing, becuase the players feelings are hurt by this SOB? I don't have kind words for any of the players, and frankly, they're not doing themselves any favors, because as others have noted - in real life, outside of school, until you can climb the ladder and be the top dog in any business or organization - you will invariably have to deal with superiors, who's attitude, personality, and treatment of you, make you absolutely sick - and you still have to get your job done.

The key - to me - is understanding the system, and knowing if it's a fundamentally sound offensive system. I really, the way this team looks on the field, seems like the offnese is fundamentally flawed. I find that really hard to believe, but anything is possible, and I can't know for sure, without actually knowing the playbook, and when I think about the years of experience that these guys have, but then the basic things that seem to fail during game time, I don't know.

If the system is fundamentally flawed on offense, than everythign I'm sayign is out the window.

If the system is fundamentatlly sound, but is just too much for the players to handle - well - then the coach is again at fault, for not putting somethign together that the players can handle.

But if the players aren't accepting the system, only because they don't like the coach and don't respect him? And that's the explanation for where we're at? That would really, really piss me off - because in that case - they have not given the system a chance, and have let their personal feelings about a coaching and systems change, dictate that we are losing.

It seems almost, that the information that fairfield county keeps bringing up - is pointing directly to that.

Speaking only for myself (duh?!) I don't think it's a matter of players quitting on the coach.

But,,,,,,, football more than any other college sport requires a supreme sacrafice of body and mind. In the weight room, in the film room and on the practice field players must be pushed to go beyond where they feel they are capable of going. And there's a trust factor there. When players feel the coach is building them towards something and they see results they are more willing to give and go the extra mile. When they feel denigrated and don't see results, they are less likely to push themselves beyond what is necessary.

And as others have pointed out, it's a thin line. And winning and losing can move the line, especially for teenagers and young adults. Let's face it, how many of us work with men or women age 25 and younger who really push themself to the extreme every day? It's learned behavior.

 

[ZooCougar]

Carl,


The system is flawed, the coaches are making terrible, terrible decisions and at least one coach is a toxic leader. That's the message I have been getting. The Head Coach hasn't really bonded with the program. They are out of touch and can't stop telling everyone "How they used to do things at Syracuse". I guess that's how you build credibility when you can't win games.

By the way, you can be a toxic leader and still get results. It's just that everyone around you will be miserable.

 

[B1GEast]

plus 1000.

absurd to agree here

 

[Carl Spackler]

Carl,


The system is flawed, the coaches are making terrible, terrible decisions and at least one coach is a toxic leader. That's the message I have been getting. The Head Coach hasn't really bonded with the program. They are out of touch and can't stop telling everyone "How they used to do things at Syracuse". I guess that's how you build credibility when you can't win games.

By the way, you can be a toxic leader and still get results. It's just that everyone around you will be miserable.

Results matter. Personality doesn't. Psychology matters, personality types don't, and that's what people are confusing. Personality traits are just one part of a team's psychological makeup. Any team, organized for any activity.

I don't know if the system is flawed or not on offense. None of us do, unless you've seen the playbook, and can comprehend it. If the system is flawed, then that is cause for immediate dismissal in my book. It's simply unacceptable to put an offensive play calling system on the field, that schematically, can't account for blocking a 7 man defensive front. And if the system is too complex for the players to handle, then the coach has to recognize it and change it - or be dismissed.

I really don't know what's going on in the program, I know that we've lost three games in a row, for the first time since the three games following Jasper Howard's murder, and we did not lose those games in the kind of fashion we are now.

And it was the players that turned it around then, and it was the players that turned it around in 2010, and it's the players that have to turn it around now. The systems are different, but unless somebody proves to me that they are fundamentally flawed, I'm not buying that.

We've traded a passive defensive scheme for an aggressive one. We've adjusted the kicking game to the new rules, and have the same returner, and a kickers that appear to be quite capable of the mental toughness required for those positions, and we've traded an offense that could run but couldn't pass, for an offense that can pass but can't run. We've traded one head coach with poor game time management, for a another coach with different poor game time management.

It's on the players to get this thing fixed and finish the season right. It's on the administration to figure out what to do about the coaching staff.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Speaking only for myself (duh?!) I don't think it's a matter of players quitting on the coach.

But,,,,,,, football more than any other college sport requires a supreme sacrafice of body and mind. In the weight room, in the film room and on the practice field players must be pushed to go beyond where they feel they are capable of going. And there's a trust factor there. When players feel the coach is building them towards something and they see results they are more willing to give and go the extra mile. When they feel denigrated and don't see results, they are less likely to push themselves beyond what is necessary.

And as others have pointed out, it's a thin line. And winning and losing can move the line, especially for teenagers and young adults. Let's face it, how many of us work with men or women age 25 and younger who really push themself to the extreme every day? It's learned behavior.

Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing.

We need to break the habits were in - both the coaches and players need to break the habits they are in.

We have not lost 4 games in a row in 6 years.

 

[huskymedic]

Interesting comment yesterday on the subject:

TheFatWhiteGuy Oct 22, 7:52pm via Twitter for iPhone
DLine is good year in & out because Hughes is fundamentals and mentality. OLine needs leadership ON the line. Whos providing the "follow me"

I think you missed his point... "OLine needs leadership ON the line. Whos providing the "follow me" -- I read that as talking about the players, not the coaches. It didn't say ON the sidelines.

Just because the fat white guy doesn't know who the leader is on the O line doesn't mean there is no leader on the O line.

If you say so... but he has more cred, insight, and intel than 95% of the posters here...

 

[sdhusky]

That leaves one lonely option: GDL and his o-line blocking schemes are the problem.

What about our offensive line isn't very talented?

 

[cryjeremiah]

What about our offensive line isn't very talented?

I think maybe you did not read my OP very closely.

Look, people (maybe you) have suggested we just do not have the type (physically) of O-lineman to pull off a zone-blocking scheme. PP and GDL may be now recruiting a different body type and the results will eventually appear after the O-line is stocked with zone-type O-lineman. And maybe that is true.

But all that really does is indict GDL in a new way. Seriously, you have to be an idiot to try to turn maulers into tap-dancers overnight, which is clearly what he has attempted. If this zone is the scheme he wanted, he ought to have recognized that the TYPE of talent (your word) he needed was not currently there and he should have implemented his scheme bit by bit over a few years as his type of O-lineman entered the program. That way he would have been maximizing the strengths of both types of O-line talent, the outgoing and the incoming.

As it stands, the O-line production took a hit in the first year of GDL's plan after having lost only one starter (Zach Hurd). Then you lose Petrus and MRyan and the line is now one of the worst in the country. How? You still have 2 starters from the Todman days (Friend and Masters) and several guys (Greene, Cruz, Bullock) filled in after Hurd left. Of course, starter Erik K. loved MaryJane more than football/college/UConn, but that is only a valid excuse the year he left, because you have now had two years of other guys getting experience in his stead.

Bottom line is this: Let's say, hypothetically, the O-line scheme had never changed. Would these same guys be ranked any where remotely near as horribly as they currently are?

No Freaking way!!!

If you think otherwise, I believe you must be lying to yourself for the sake of this argument. Again, GDL must be the problem. The talent hasn't gone anywhere. Either his schemes are garbage or he has no ability to impliment them in a manner that still utilizes and maximizes the talent currently here. Neither of these possibilities is acceptable in a FBS OC!!

 

[huskymedic]

UConn football works on fixing running woes

Chris Elsberry

Published 1:04 p.m., Thursday, October 25, 2012​

STORRS -- When Donald Brown was working toward a school-record 2,083 yards rushing in 2008, his five blocks of granite didn't miss a game. Left tackle Will Beatty, left guard Moe Petrus, center Keith Gray, right guard Zach Hurd and right tackle Mike Hicks played in all 13 games as the Huskies averaged 216.4 rushing yards.​

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When Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon were one-two punching their way to 1,000-yard seasons in 2009, the offensive line was healthy, strong and experienced. Petrus moved to center, but both Hurd and Hicks started all 12 games on the right side while Matthew Olivier and Erik Kuraczea split time at left guard and Mike Ryan and Dan Ryan shared starts at left tackle as the Huskies averaged 170.7 yards.​

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And when Todman was rushing for 1,695 yards in 2010, Petrus, Hurd and Olivier were three anchors, each starting at least 10 games with Mike Ryan and Adam Masters starting at both left and right tackle as the Huskies averaged 174.7 yards rushing.​

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What's happened?​

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From that 174.7-yard average in 2010, the average rushing totals have dropped like the proverbial stone. Last season, UConn averaged just 118.5 yards on the ground, and this year it's even worse, just 86.9 yards a game. And if this downward trend continues, this could be the first time in four seasons that the Huskies won't have a 1,000-yard rusher.​

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As the Huskies work though a bye week in preparation for their game at South Florida on Nov. 3 (7 p.m., ESPNU), head coach Paul Pasqualoni has been trying to find out what's wrong with the run -- and fix it.​

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"One of the things that we really have to take a very good look at is running the ball," Pasqualoni said. "We have not been able to run the ball, which is frustrating for us. People, especially in the last two weeks (Temple and Syracuse), have really brought multiple pressures against the run. Just bringing a lot of extra people in there, it makes it hard when there's people slanting, moving, to get the blocks finished. Not staying with a block long enough or being surprised at the point of attack ¦ those are things that you have to adjust to."​

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But, the Huskies haven't adjusted. In an overtime loss to Temple, UConn gained just 88 yards in 41 carries, a dismal 2.1-yard average. And in that 40-10 blowout loss at Syracuse, the Huskies finished with a minus-6 rush total, their worst total as a I-A program.​

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With returning linemen Steve Green (eight starts) at left guard, Adam Masters (23 starts) at right guard and Kevin Friend (17 starts) at right tackle, along the return from injury of 6-foot-9, 310-pound Jimmy Bennett at left tackle and the addition of Penn State transfer Alex Mateas at center, there were high hopes for continued big numbers in the run game.​

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Those big numbers haven't panned out.​

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"It's very difficult with the offensive line when first of all, we started the season trying to replace a veteran center," Pasqualoni said. "We were working our way through that. We were trying to get Jimmy Bennett back. At the same time we lost a good tackle in Mike Ryan and we lost a good guy in Moe Petrus, who made all the (defensive) calls (at center) and was in the middle of it. Sometimes, guys like that are hard to replace."​

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There were problems right from the start. Just 147 yards rushing against UMass, 35 yards against North Carolina State, 153 versus Maryland, 90 against Western Michigan, 133 against Buffalo and 53 against Rutgers.​

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Then came Temple and Syracuse.​

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Pasqualoni has tried to switch things up, using Masters at three different line positions. He played Gus Cruz, and replaced Mateas at center with Tyler Bullock. He's even giving reps to true freshman guard Tyler Samra and redshirt freshman tackle Dalton Gifford. Why? Because Masters suffered a season-ending knee injury at Syracuse. His career is over.​

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"This is all part of the game," Pasqualoni said. "We're working our way through it, but it's challenging. Very, very challenging."​

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Pasqualoni is spending the bye week trying to figure out what run concepts work best based on the line's experience, or lack thereof. They need to be able to block some things well enough to establish some kind of run game in order to take the pressure off quarterback Chandler Whitmer, who has been sacked 22 times in eight games and pounded to the ground about a hundred others as opposing defenses continue to shut down the run and tee off on the pass.​

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"When you can't run the football, that puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback to make every single play," Pasqualoni said. "We have to try and establish some sort of run. Find some run concepts that we feel we'd be good at and try to narrow those down. So, those are things that we're going to work on and try to improve on as we move forward."​

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Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/UConn-football-works-on-fixing-running-woes-3981422.php#ixzz2ALDkYmWQ​

 

[metsfan2323]

"One of the things that we really have to take a very good look at is running the ball,"

"it makes it hard when there's people slanting, moving",


Priceless comments from P. Huskyfandan needs to e-mail this to Warde. No mention of the inability to master the zone blocking techniques. P can't see the forest through the trees.

P is making 1.6 million dollars.

 

[huskymedic]

Priceless comments from P. Huskyfandan needs to e-mail this to Warde.

P is making 1.6 Million dollars.

Those aren't my quotes... and if you're going to modify for your agenda - include the whole statements: "it makes it hard when there's people slanting, moving, to get the blocks finished. Not staying with a block long enough or being surprised at the point of attack ¦ those are things that you have to adjust to."

 

[metsfan2323]

Those aren't my quotes... and if you're going to modify for your agenda - include the whole statements: "it makes it hard when there's people slanting, moving, to get the blocks finished. Not staying with a block long enough or being surprised at the point of attack ¦ those are things that you have to adjust to."

I said they were from P and I did not change the context of the quotes for an agenda, the context is quite clear.

 

[huskymedic]

I said they were from P and I did not change the context of the quotes for an agenda, the context is quite clear.

It's the problem w/ the "reply box"... They get taken out of context down the road. Thx.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I think Pasqualoni should probably just keep things simple in the press from here on out. He's beginning to sound like this guy:

They really just figured out now - 20 games in - that the offense can't block a defense that is doing anything but staying perfectly still in a straight up front seven alignment?

Pasqualoni may have to find a safe house soon, lay low for awhile, becuase like Brick Tamland, he's going to be wanted for murder....... to our running game.

 

[BlueMAB]

Why take you best lineman and put him at three different positions? Why not leave him where's best at, so you know you've got some stability at one position on the line, and then you work to build around him. How do you develop continuity on the OL when you're constantly shuffling guys into different positions?