- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 8,440
- Reaction Score
- 16,363
Warning: the following consists of the rantings of a frustrated though sober football fanatic. You might want to read in small chunks.
HCBD may be many things but he is not equipped to be a Head Coach at the P5 Level. No one who is incapable of learning from their mistakes can ever be successful in any field let alone one as competitive as Major College Football. And yet we gave 2 year extension to a Coach that made you turn to page 3 of the offensive statistics to find our ranking of 123 out of 127.
I realize the shell we went into after halftime today had everyone's stomach rumbling and that's a significant mindset of a Coach uncomfortable with the lead and allergic to scoring points. So we pull the oars in until we can get comfortably behind again. But we're not really "scripted" are we Frank?
Secondly we're allergic to EVER taking a shot at the End Zone whether it's 3rd and long at midfield (as good as a punt) or inside the Red Zone. Throwing into the End Zone is OFF LIMITS FOR US. And so we run 4 times from the 5 yard line, once to the side where the Defense is stacked 6 against 4 blockers on 3rd down and then give our warrior QB the option to run into the teeth of the D on 4th down which he gladly accepts because it's TOO DANGEROUS to throw into the End Zone EVER!
But here's what really killed me today. On third and greater than 5 yards to go Syracuse NEVER rushed less than 4 guys and on a few occasions 5 or 6 guys. So what do we do when CUSE is 3rd and 7 from their own 4 yard line? We set up to RUSH 3 FREAKING GUYS AGAINST A QB WHO'S BEATEN US DEEP ALL DAY!!! (yes there was a delayed blitzer - but it was way too delayed)
So that's it for me. These coaches and in particular our HC who owns this mess is allergic to scoring points and therefore winning games. He has on multiple (are we up to about 20, 30, 40?) occasions figured out ways to extinguish scoring drives and momentum and our timeouts as part of his "learning curve" and given unintelligible and often contradictory explanations afterwards.
For me this was the last gut punch to be taken without stating the obvious. There's a reason other teams have moved into the 21st Century with their offenses instead of back to the 1950's. There's also a reason why successful P5 teams aren't looking for Eagle Scout types when what they need is a competent Coach who can manage games instinctively and delegate and give his team as many options as possible to win instead of closing off half the field to possible attack.
Other coaches aren't stupid and they know our deal. We have tendencies as a team and they are most evident at the beginning of each half. We rarely blitz. On third and long we throw short of the sticks for some reason. We rarely attack the middle of the field and CUSE didn't even line up to defend it. We rarely go quick or throw downfield and therefore our defense gets little practice against a throwing high tempo offense during the week. But the one thing they know is what we should all know by now. We are incapable of change even when the answers are staring us in the face. And that my friends is a fatal flaw that cannot be overcome by effort or enthusiasm or the best intentions of a decent man in the wrong position.
I believe a good coach who is a winning coach could probably turn around any program. And it's not limited by sport. Give Calhoun (in his younger days) or Geno or even Nancy Stevens our FH Coach the job and they would eventually turn things around. They would figure it out because they are winners. For some reason we can't seem to find that Coach for this program or pull the trigger for whatever reason.
The kids and the University deserve our support. But I've accepted where we are and what the limits are without expectation of systemic change that might elevate us back to our former competitive level. It's a sad thing to admit but despite their good qualities some people just end up in the wrong spot and I think that's what's happened here, again. And for an extended time frame. I wish I knew where it goes from here but I can understand our AD's dilemma. It's not a good problem to have at this moment in time.
HCBD may be many things but he is not equipped to be a Head Coach at the P5 Level. No one who is incapable of learning from their mistakes can ever be successful in any field let alone one as competitive as Major College Football. And yet we gave 2 year extension to a Coach that made you turn to page 3 of the offensive statistics to find our ranking of 123 out of 127.
I realize the shell we went into after halftime today had everyone's stomach rumbling and that's a significant mindset of a Coach uncomfortable with the lead and allergic to scoring points. So we pull the oars in until we can get comfortably behind again. But we're not really "scripted" are we Frank?
Secondly we're allergic to EVER taking a shot at the End Zone whether it's 3rd and long at midfield (as good as a punt) or inside the Red Zone. Throwing into the End Zone is OFF LIMITS FOR US. And so we run 4 times from the 5 yard line, once to the side where the Defense is stacked 6 against 4 blockers on 3rd down and then give our warrior QB the option to run into the teeth of the D on 4th down which he gladly accepts because it's TOO DANGEROUS to throw into the End Zone EVER!
But here's what really killed me today. On third and greater than 5 yards to go Syracuse NEVER rushed less than 4 guys and on a few occasions 5 or 6 guys. So what do we do when CUSE is 3rd and 7 from their own 4 yard line? We set up to RUSH 3 FREAKING GUYS AGAINST A QB WHO'S BEATEN US DEEP ALL DAY!!! (yes there was a delayed blitzer - but it was way too delayed)
So that's it for me. These coaches and in particular our HC who owns this mess is allergic to scoring points and therefore winning games. He has on multiple (are we up to about 20, 30, 40?) occasions figured out ways to extinguish scoring drives and momentum and our timeouts as part of his "learning curve" and given unintelligible and often contradictory explanations afterwards.
For me this was the last gut punch to be taken without stating the obvious. There's a reason other teams have moved into the 21st Century with their offenses instead of back to the 1950's. There's also a reason why successful P5 teams aren't looking for Eagle Scout types when what they need is a competent Coach who can manage games instinctively and delegate and give his team as many options as possible to win instead of closing off half the field to possible attack.
Other coaches aren't stupid and they know our deal. We have tendencies as a team and they are most evident at the beginning of each half. We rarely blitz. On third and long we throw short of the sticks for some reason. We rarely attack the middle of the field and CUSE didn't even line up to defend it. We rarely go quick or throw downfield and therefore our defense gets little practice against a throwing high tempo offense during the week. But the one thing they know is what we should all know by now. We are incapable of change even when the answers are staring us in the face. And that my friends is a fatal flaw that cannot be overcome by effort or enthusiasm or the best intentions of a decent man in the wrong position.
I believe a good coach who is a winning coach could probably turn around any program. And it's not limited by sport. Give Calhoun (in his younger days) or Geno or even Nancy Stevens our FH Coach the job and they would eventually turn things around. They would figure it out because they are winners. For some reason we can't seem to find that Coach for this program or pull the trigger for whatever reason.
The kids and the University deserve our support. But I've accepted where we are and what the limits are without expectation of systemic change that might elevate us back to our former competitive level. It's a sad thing to admit but despite their good qualities some people just end up in the wrong spot and I think that's what's happened here, again. And for an extended time frame. I wish I knew where it goes from here but I can understand our AD's dilemma. It's not a good problem to have at this moment in time.
Last edited:
