Mike Cummings accepts UCONN OC opportunity

[ZooCougar]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...yoga-goes-a-long-way/articleshow/28174160.cms

I tried Yoga once, that is hard work. It looks like stretching but it actually is torture. And my idea of fun is racing a bike for 4 hours.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We'll know what he can do when we see it. The one thing I find encouraging is that he seems to favor a varied and balanced offense. Mixing run with the pass and capitalizing on what his roster can do. There is no rigid system I can see with a spread offense or read option or any other static approach. That's what this offense needs more than anything, someone who can adjust to the strengths of the kids on the field.

 

[Scoe]

My take from that quote is Cummings doesn't want those 6 minutes of stretching to take up practice time, he wants to get the most out of each and every practice. Get the stretching done before the practice time.

 

[sportsart]

So are all the OC's for these teams inept?

A survey of this week's Associated Press poll showed that five of the nation's top 25 teams have coaches who call their own offensive plays: Jimbo Fisher for No. 8 Florida State, Steve Spurrier for No. 12 South Carolina, Steve Sarkisian for No. 17 Washington, Hugh Freeze for No. 21 Mississippi and Kliff Kingsbury for No. 25 Texas Tech.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/17/sports/la-sp-0918-football-play-calling-20130918

 

[ZooCougar]

So are all the OC's for these teams inept?

A survey of this week's Associated Press poll showed that five of the nation's top 25 teams have coaches who call their own offensive plays: Jimbo Fisher for No. 8 Florida State, Steve Spurrier for No. 12 South Carolina, Steve Sarkisian for No. 17 Washington, Hugh Freeze for No. 21 Mississippi and Kliff Kingsbury for No. 25 Texas Tech.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/17/sports/la-sp-0918-football-play-calling-20130918

Inept is going too far. I don't think anyone is saying that Cummings is inept. But there is definitely a stigma on an OC where his boss called the plays. There is something to be said about a guy who has proven his mettle calling the shots in the heat of battle.

 

[sportsart]

Inept is going too far. I don't think anyone is saying that Cummings is inept. But there is definitely a stigma on an OC where his boss called the plays. There is something to be said about a guy who has proven his mettle calling the shots in the heat of battle.

I probably should have worded it like...If one of these OC's was chosen by HCBD would anyone have a problem with it? I think the answer would be no.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this. Diaco appears to be a bright man and has proven he can coach a defensive unit at the highest level. If he were to fail at UConn his head coaching days would be, for all intent and purposes, over.

I don't believe Cummings was so far down the list, and since everyone turned Diaco down, Cummings was a last resort. So why not give Diaco the benefit of the doubt?

Otherwise let's get these going....

firediaco.com
firecummings.com
firemanual.com
firefishy.com (for letting those trolls run rampant)

 

[gars44]

We had Foley who was damn good until the PGDLvampire sucked the life out of the line. All of my dogs stretch every morning. Thats a crazy quote. I hope he is ok with fluids during practice and games. This has me worried.

i like the quote. it's up there with cows don't drink milk, why should people?

 

[HooHusky]

Many studies have shown that stretching BEFORE exercising adds no value, bout could cause injury.

After your muscles and ligaments are warm is the best time to stretch.

 

[gars44]

Inept is going too far. I don't think anyone is saying that Cummings is inept. But there is definitely a stigma on an OC where his boss called the plays. There is something to be said about a guy who has proven his mettle calling the shots in the heat of battle.

Yeah, all true. That guy get's hired at Tennessee or Ole Miss. That guy is getting his own head coaching gig somewhere. We're gonna have to trust BD on this hiring stuff.

 

[Carl Spackler]

So are all the OC's for these teams inept?

A survey of this week's Associated Press poll showed that five of the nation's top 25 teams have coaches who call their own offensive plays: Jimbo Fisher for No. 8 Florida State, Steve Spurrier for No. 12 South Carolina, Steve Sarkisian for No. 17 Washington, Hugh Freeze for No. 21 Mississippi and Kliff Kingsbury for No. 25 Texas Tech.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/17/sports/la-sp-0918-football-play-calling-20130918

I know off the top of my head, that at least of two of those guys actually played QB at a pretty high level, and a quick google of Sarkisian, and Fisher - they were QB's too, took a little digging but I can't find any info on Freeze as a player. Coinquickiedink? Maybe.

I doubt that Diaco, a linebacker by trade, will be calling plays.

 

[sportsart]

I know off the top of my head, that at least of two of those guys actually played QB at a pretty high level, and a quick google of Sarkisian, and Fisher - they were QB's too, took a little digging but I can't find any info on Freeze as a player. Coinquickiedink? Maybe.

I doubt that Diaco, a linebacker by trade, will be calling plays.

I posted it to compare CMU's situation where their HC was calling the plays and not Cummings.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yeah, all true. That guy get's hired at Tennessee or Ole Miss. That guy is getting his own head coaching gig somewhere. We're gonna have to trust BD on this hiring stuff.

So we're not allowed to ask legit questions? There goes the blind faith party line. I sure hope he knows what he is doing.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yeah, all true. That guy get's hired at Tennessee or Ole Miss. That guy is getting his own head coaching gig somewhere. We're gonna have to trust BD on this hiring stuff.

And I don't think he would get hired at Tennessee or Ole Miss. And all of those OCs that Art mentioned have a stigma, and that is that their success was due in part because the the head coach made the decisions in the game.

 

[noeynox]

We all hope he knows what he is doing. We could quesfion it, but i hardly think the guy wants to be a one and done head coach. I believe he is bringing in older guys, in some instances, thay arent going to be learning on the job. Sprinkled in some youth and exuberance with grad assistant hopefully, and im hoping the rb coach or one of the yet to be hired guys is someone the recruits really gravitate to.

We wont know anything until we start seeing games. I want to see attention to detail and the team not shooting itself in the,foot as a starting point.

 

[gars44]

So we're not allowed to ask legit questions? There goes the blind faith party line. I sure hope he knows what he is doing.

I do have blind faith, because I don't know nuthin bout nuthin. I'm just saying this isn't an elite destination for highly successful OC. I wish TJ wanted to stay on but he didn't. I kind of liked the way our offense started to shape up toward the end. But I'm also encouraged by the success that the CMU offense had in 2012. It's not easy recruiting or succeeding in the MAC, and it won't be in the AAC either. It's gonna be brutal, in fact. So, we are going to need what BD is bringing in: people who are either young and hungry or people who are experienced in this kind of recruiting environment....

 

[Carl Spackler]

I posted it to compare CMU's situation where their HC was calling the plays and not Cummings.

I get that. I'm hoping that people get something meaningful out of this whole discussion. There probably isn't a more visible source of blame, or not visible, not the right word....EASY is better - easy source for blame, when things go wrong, or on the other hand, for credit when things go right on offense, for the football fan, than the offensive play caller.

IMO, this is why as the responsibility transitioned over the years from the QB on the field, to a coach either on the sidelines or up above somewhere, that the "critical" role this plays gets blown up. In many cases, the entire play sequence to start the first few possessions of a game are scripted well in advance of the game actually starting.

One more story, then I'm out for new year's. I've shared this one before, one my favorites. Norm Macdonald? What the hell is his name -mind freeze, the OC for the Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson, went on to be a mediocre head coach. Norm something. Whatever - name not important. But the guy had this reputation that he built an entire career on as a play caller because of his time in Dallas. But the Dallas offense was simplicity in itself - they had incredible players, the offense was the simplicity of a freshmen high school offense.

But anyway - 1992 NFC championship game against the 49ers in a sloppy, nasty Candelstick Park. I believe it was against Steve Young's niners. Cowboys were NOT favored to win. They had the lead in the fourth quarter, by I think a field goal with about 6-7 minutes to go, but the niners had just scored and had all the momentum and had the cowboys pinned deep in their territory. That's the set up - here's the story.

The Niner's defensive game plan, had keyed on taking away the inside slant post pass route to Michael Irvin that was the Dallas bread and butter to move the chains. Emmit Smith's running play was not the bread and butter of that offense. They had been running the same play all day long, and Irvin had been taken out of the game. The field conditions were bad, the OL wasn't getting the same push anymore with Smith running, they were able to defend that route and had been getting better at stopping the run during the course of the game. things didn't look good for Dallas. Niners would get the ball back if they couldn't move - and in good field position.

Norm MacDonald in the booth calls down to Jimmy Johnson on the sideline duringn the TO change of possession. He asks JJ literally, "how do you want to play this? Run the clock out, throw it?" Johnson, in typical head coach fashion, says back to him "I want to score." That's it.

Norm calls the first play from scrimmage, the same pass play, that's the offense bread and butter, they'd been calling all day and Irvin had been getting doubled and taken out.

Troy Aikman gets in the huddle, and starts the cadence. Before the Aikman finishes the call, Irvin knows the call, and has sprinted out of the huddle to the Z position (Alvin Harpers) in the play, rather than his normal X that had been taken away all day. WHY? Because he wanted the ball. The game was on the line, and he wanted the ball, and on that play call all day long, Aikman had been going to the Z option on a hook route. So Irvin, thought he would get the ball by taking Harper's spot. There's a moment of confustion behind the line of scrimmage as they line up but Harper goes out to Irvin's normal X spot.

San Francisco adjusts their defense to Michael Irvin, they bring blitz because he's not in the slant / post route position. The normal X route slant, is left single covered underneath. Ball is snapped. Aikman makes his read, and delivers the ball to the open slant, Harper catches it and outruns the coverage for about 70 yards eventually getting run out of bounds.

Irvin had run the Z route, and turned and fully expected the ball in his chest. He did work himself open, and Aikman always went to Irvin in the clutch. No ball. He turns and sees Harper running down the field and runs faster than he probably ever did in his life to chase him down. It looks like he's trying to help out, downfield blocking, and congratulating him after the play, but he was really pissed off that Harper had caught his ball. They look like they were congratulating each other on the sideline, but really, Irvin will tell you, that he was screaming at Harper, angry, because he wanted the ball.

A few plays later, they put the ball in the endzone and game is over. Chances are, had they lined up that play as it was supposed to, the players, the defense is different and the entire course of the game is different.

This game is about players, - not coaches and play calls.

 

[Justauconnfan]

Ken Griffey Jr had the same philosophy and said the same thing.

"Why should I stretch? Does a cheetah stretch before it chases its prey?" (Sports Illustrated, 1999)

Maybe Griffey would've had less of an injury plagued career if he had stretched.....

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2169136

Edit: And just after I write this his son catches his first TD pass against BC.....

 

[Nostical]

This game is about players, - not coaches and play calls.

Really? Tell that to Auburn this year. Coaching and play calls are what make good players into better ones. The wisdom to put talent in a better position to accentuate their strengths is all about coaching.
Give me good players with a better coach (team concept and imaginative play calling) and you can have the better players with the worse coach and "GDL" quality play calling.

 

[Dove]

Mike: Honey, its Bob Diaco. Yes THE(!!) Bob Diaco. He wants me to be his Offensive Coordinator at UConn.

Mrs. Cummings: Wow!!

Mike: So what should I do?

Mrs. Cummings: You make the call on this one, hon!

Mike: Uhhh, herpedy derp derp...I never made a call before...derp.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Really? Tell that to Auburn this year. Coaching and play calls are what make good players into better ones. The wisdom to put talent in a better position to accentuate their strengths is all about coaching.
Give me good players with a better coach (team concept and imaginative play calling) and you can have the better players with the worse coach and "GDL" quality play calling.

Coaching makes good players into better ones - without a doubt. it's only part of coaching though.

Play calls make good players into better ones? Disagree.

The wisdom to put talent in a good position to accentuate their strengths is only part of coaching, that's the game planning and systems planning part.

Give me good players and good coaching all day every day. Why do you have to choose one or the other?

One of the most famous quotes out there, about coaching, I think came from Bum Philips, via John Madden.

The best coaches, can take their players and beat yours, and then take your players and beat theirs.

No - the game is won or lost by players, always. Coaches coach, and players play, but the game is always won or lost by the players on the field.

Bad coaching, makes it more difficult for players to win, while good coaching, makes it easier. Good players can make bad coaches look good, and vice versa, bad players can make good coaching look bad, and any other logic square combination between.

Where the actual play calling falls in, the pecking order of what it takes to win football games, is pretty low. I'm not changing my mind on this.

 

[dsturdy5]

On the idea of stretching (from a running coach), yes static stretching prior to being sufficiently warmed up is a poor choice. It does nothing. 3-5 minutes of light cardio, followed by dynamic stretching to prepare the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to be ready for the rigors of the upcoming activity is best. Follow that up with static stretching when done but no more than 30-45 seconds of each stretch.

On Cummings (from someone who knows a ton less about football than anyone on the UConn staff), I'll wait and see. I'm just glad to have a name/body/system in place.

 

[Carl Spackler]

http://www.nfl.com/videos/dallas-cowboys/09000d5d82263740/Films-Encore-Harper-steals-Irvin-s-thunder

Here is the clip of what I'm talking about - enjoy. FWIW: It wasn't until a while later that the players on both sides of the field that day knew what actually happened on the play. The niners defense had no idea what happened, and were just running their game plan defensively against Irvin. Had they known the same play was coming as always, they probably would not have defended it the same way.

The cowboys offense, and Aikman himself, didn't even know what Irvin had done until after the game. The play call itself, which even the announcer on the clip is raving about, had been made probably hundreds of times during the course of the season, and probably a dozen times during the course of that single game up to that point.

Happy New Year all. Be safe whatever you do.

 

[junglehusky]

Norm MacDonald eh? (long winded joke, but not nearly as long as your story)

 

[Dove]

Norm MacDonald eh? (long winded joke, but not nearly as long as your story)

Wow...I stuck it through to the end.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Here's another great clip of Norm. Pretty sure he was hammered during this one.