Is This Us Next Year?

[Nostical]

For those of us looking for something positive out of a season and a coaching philosophy that raises lots of eyebrows, I bring you some hope this morning in a story that sounds eerily familiar.


Western Michigan's Turnaround

Western Michigan has turned things around with unexpected speed, quickly turning last year's 1-11 finish into a 7-3 mark and a shot at the Mid-American Conference West Division title.

That's an unexpected surprise to some. "The competence of our coaches was questioned last year, said first time head coach P.J. Fleck now in his second year. "Now, all of a sudden, people want to know how we're doing it."

Not bad for a team composed largely of freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores — nearly nine in every 10 players are sophomores or younger, Fleck estimated.

"We weren't the biggest, strongest or fastest, and weren't the most experienced," he said. "They had to work harder than anyone else in the country."

The Broncos' rapid turnaround fits into Fleck's reputation as a program builder. He played for and began his career under former Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak, who laid the foundation for the Huskies' current success. Fleck remained at NIU under Jerry Kill, now at Minnesota, and spent two seasons as Greg Schiano's wide receivers coach at Rutgers.

"I was surrounded by incredible men, incredible leaders," Fleck said, "and I got a reputation of being around programs that experienced turnarounds. I always dreamed of running my own program, not only running it but taking it somewhere it's never been. That's why I took the job."

 

[rich1122]

Memphis looked awful last year. I'll take that improvement next year.

 

[whaler11]

I like Fleck a lot.

Memphis you could see was going to be much improved last year. The leap has been bigger than maybe expected.

UConn probably needs a consolidation year before they could get that kind of bounce.

 

[Palatine]

I just want to see Diaco use his TOs wisely.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

At the moment my inspiration is the Minnesota Golden Gophers and I see our current season as their 2011.

In 2010 they fired their HC mid-season and replaced him with an interim as they were viewed as one of the (if not the) worst football program of any (then) BCS conference member and one of the handful of worst schools in the entirety of the FBS. BTW, they also lost to South Dakota that season but for the record, SD was among the better FCS schools.

In 2011, under a new HC (Jerry Kill) they were again among the handful of worst FBS schools, lost again to an FCS school (this time North Dakota St) and threw in a loss to New Mexico St (who was also among the handful of worst FBS teams).

Today they are #25 in the football playoff rankings (the only rankings that really matter, granted that nothing beyond a single digit ranking has any true value at this point in the season).

If this is year one in a four year process that lands us a top 25 football playoff ranking I won't complain (especially as at that point will should have the foundation for not only sustainable success but also continued improvement). Our current situation (G-5 membership) may offer as many benefits (easier ladder to climb to a quality record) as detriments. As schools like TCU and Utah have been able to make such a climb (form an also ran conference to a power conference) I refuse to believe that it is impossible for us to do the same.

 

[Mr. Conehead]

UConn probably needs a consolidation year before they could get that kind of bounce.

Patience is not one of this board's strengths

 

[metsfan2323]

We need a QB to step up, if we get that we can be next year's Memphis.

 

[huskymedic]

I had dumped this into another thread - fits here:

Justin Fuente explains the biggest key to Memphis' turnaround
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=Justin-Fuente-explains-the-biggest-key-to-Memphis-turnaround

 

[whaler11]

The biggest reason they are better is because they had young talented players who improved. As much as coaches want to pretend they need PHDs in psychology it usually isn't all that complicated.

UConn doesn't have enough good young players yet to make a leap.

 

[metsfan2323]

The biggest reason they are better is because they had young talented players who improved. As much as coaches want to pretend they need PHDs in psychology it usually isn't all the complicated.

UConn doesn't have enough good young players yet to make a leap.

Bull crap, we probably have more talent on our roster right now than Memphis .

 

[whaler11]

Bull crap, we probably have more talent on our roster right now than Memphis .

Okey dokey. The difference between first place and last place is selfishness.

Could you seriously post something stupider than that? Is it possible?

 

[metsfan2323]

Okey dokey. The difference between first place and last place is selfishness.

Could you seriously post something stupider than that? Is it possible?

You would trade rosters with them? Would you have done that after last year's game?

BTW You continue to be a first class A hole. A pig headed clown.

 

[whaler11]

Here is what Memphis did to Cincinnati on the road:

610 yards. 40:30 TOP. 41-14.

We can check back later on how more talent does less later.

 

[ASweet3781]

LOL so we have more talent on our roster than Memphis?

How can anyone even say that based on how the teams have performed this year?

 

[whaler11]

You would trade rosters with them? Would you have done that after last year's game?

BTW You continue to be a first class A hole. A pig headed clown.

A: Yes I would trade rosters with them right this second. And coaching staffs

B: I would have traded rosters with them last year after the game too because I don't base my decision on one meaningless game.

If you think UConn is more talented than Memphis... what evidence do you have? Other than you like UConn and know nothing about Memphis other than their name.

 

[metsfan2323]

Here is what Memphis did to Cincinnati on the road:

610 yards. 40:30 TOP. 41-14.

We can check back later on how more talent does less later.

Yup our offensive coaching and QB play have been very disappointing, and that is being kind.

 

[Palatine]

The biggest reason they are better is because they had young talented players who improved. As much as coaches want to pretend they need PHDs in psychology it usually isn't all the complicated.

UConn doesn't have enough good young players yet to make a leap.

If you don't play your young talented QB? If you just keep putting in a guy who can't win? Memphis would be in the same place s us.

 

[whaler11]

If you don't play your young talented QB? If you just keep putting in a guy who can't win? Memphis would be in the same place s us.

Oh God. It's not selfishness that's the difference between first and last - it's the lowest rated quarterback in the country who happens to have a 0:11 TD/INT ratio in like 120 attempts.

 

[Excalibur]

The biggest reason they are better is because they had young talented players who improved. As much as coaches want to pretend they need PHDs in psychology it usually isn't all the complicated. UConn doesn't have enough good young players yet to make a leap.

So your theory is that there was more talent on their roster last year than on ours this year?

 

[metsfan2323]

A: And coaching staffs

and that's a different discussion isn't it? We might be in agreement there.

 

[whaler11]

So your theory is that there was more talent on their roster last year than on ours this year?

I know you guys are caught up in their loss at Rentchler in cold weather after their season was cooked but yes I think they had more talent last year than UConn has this year. I think UConn had
more talent last year than UConn does this year.

 

[ASweet3781]

I know you guys are caught up in their loss at Rentchler in cold weather after their season was cooked but yes I think they had more talent last year than UConn has this year. I think UConn had
more talent last year than UConn does this year.

And this was pretty much understood by the coaches who ranked Memphis ahead of us in the preseason despite that loss.

 

[metsfan2323]

I know you guys are caught up in their loss at Rentchler in cold weather after their season was cooked but yes I think they had more talent last year than UConn has this year. I think UConn had
more talent last year than UConn does this year.

aren't you the same person who said all off season that the last three wins were not impressive because they were against terrible teams?

and Memphis even stood out as the worst of the three, but yet you secretly saw that their roster had all this talent.

 

[whaler11]

aren't you the same person who said all off season that the last three wins were not impressive because they were against terrible teams?

and Memphis even stood out as the worst of the three, but yet you secretly saw that their roster had all this talent.

I posted going into that game that I really liked a lot of players in their defensive front 7. I thought they were going in the right direction but I'm not lying and saying I thought they would improve this much.

I'm not totally sure what you don't get. They weren't that good last year - which would be why I said they had young players who developed leading to a better record.

I don't think UConn has enough talented young players yet to have a one year improvement in their record. Hence my comment that they need to get the players here and consolidate things for a year before that bounce is possible.

You can have talent and not be good - but I don't know what you've been watching this season to come to the conclusion the UConn has more talent than Memphis. The best player on the team relative to his position might be Wain.

 

[UConnJim]

The big difference between this year and the last part of last year is Casey Cochran and the experience of the offensive line. After Cochran went down, Whitmer is not to the same level, but I appreciate all that he has done for the team this year. In addition, the first year of a coaching change is going to cause disruption. Heck, some of the players have had 4 head coaches and the vast majority have had 3 head coaches during their time at UConn. You will not win football games with that much coaching disruption.

Obviously, next year UConn will have more coaching continuity, but a new QB, which is a major wild card. So, next year could be somewhat the same as this year or it could be much better. You have to give Diaco some slack. I would expect to see major improvement in year 3 and year 4.