Spanos -- are you freakin' joking?

[Palatine]

This.

He's a good coach with experience at the highest level who has earned the respect of the entire locker room and should have already earned the respect of Husky Nation.

The clown comments in this thread are astounding to me...

It's always smart to suck up to the coach no matter who he is. It's nice but means nothing, just a smart thing to do. It means Jackson is smart, NOT that Spanos is any good.

We saw Spanos defense. Unless he drastically changes the things that opponents feasted on, it wil be a long year.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There are times when I wonder if some of the posters here know if a football is blown up (like a basketball), filled with twine wrapped around a core (like a baseball) or rubber stringing (like a golf ball).

If Spanos can oversee/administer the defense that Mora wants, our staff (led by Mora) can recruit athletes to fit the defense and the position coaches can teach/develop the players, our defense should (given time; after all, Brown's defense with stacked personnel had a fill season of growing pains) be able to compete at a cey high level.

I'm hoping for an overhaul in philosophy this upcoming season. More blitzing, more man coverage, switching coverages throughout the game. There will be growing pains but if we do see this (even if it does provide mixed results) we should be encouraged. If we see what we saw this past season, then it will be time for a thread like this one.

 

[Palatine]

There are times when I wonder if some of the posters here know if a football is blown up (like a basketball), filled with twine wrapped around a core (like a baseball) or rubber stringing (like a golf ball).

If Spanos can oversee/administer the defense that Mora wants, our staff (led by Mora) can recruit athletes to fit the defense and the position coaches can teach/develop the players, our defense should (given time; after all, Brown's defense with stacked personnel had a fill season of growing pains) be able to compete at a cey high level.

I'm hoping for an overhaul in philosophy this upcoming season. More blitzing, more man coverage, switching coverages throughout the game. There will be growing pains but if we do see this (even if it does provide mixed results) we should be encouraged. If we see what we saw this past season, then it will be time for a thread like this one.

You've reduced the defensive coordinator to a care taker.

A great defensive coordinator, takes away the things that an offense wants to do. Makes them play to their weaknesses. He makes the QB uncomfortable, uses movement to confuse the blocking scheme, design blitzes that come from unexpected places and get home.

No one, and I mean no head coach or offensive coordinator lost any sleep the night before facing Spanos' UConn defense.

Yes, he is our DC. So like every Huskies fan I want him and the young men in his charge to succeed. But after watching his vanilla defenses for years, I am very disappointed.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

You've reduced the defensive coordinator to a care taker.

A great defensive coordinator, takes away the things that an offense wants to do. Makes them play to their weaknesses. He makes the QB uncomfortable, uses movement to confuse the blocking scheme, design blitzes that come from unexpected places and get home.

No one, and I mean no head coach or offensive coordinator lost any sleep the night before facing Spanos' UConn defense.

Yes, he is our DC. So like every Huskies fan I want him and the young men in his charge to succeed. But after watching his vanilla defenses for years, I am very disappointed.

Read the article

 

[uconndogs]

The defense did improve under Spanos, but it was from the depths of center earth where Crocker drove it over two seasons.

To my eye it's largely the horses. We simply don't have the athletes in terms of edge rushers and LBs. We blitzed a fair amount, but our LBs never got home.

Our defense was also on the field forever given the abysmal performance of the offense.

 

[giddyup]

The defense did improve under Spanos, but it was from the depths of center earth where Crocker drove it over two seasons.

To my eye it's largely the horses. We simply don't have the athletes in terms of edge rushers and LBs. We blitzed a fair amount, but our LBs never got home.

Our defense was also on the field forever given the abysmal performance of the offense.

You are correct. Spanos did moderately improve the worst defense in history to being among the worst defenses in FBS. We don’t have horses has been a constant theme since Fishcakes. So, that’s a legitimate contributor but it’s no like the guy just showed up.

 

[uconnfan68]

Good Lord, please stop. Retaining the DC leading the 115th to 130th worst defense in FBS is plain ludicrous by any standard. And, it’s the University’s program, not his.

Make sure you keep denigrating the players and coaches, and school and administration. Can never tell when you’ll influence some kid or his parents.

 

[HardFacts]

You've reduced the defensive coordinator to a care taker.

A great defensive coordinator, takes away the things that an offense wants to do. Makes them play to their weaknesses. He makes the QB uncomfortable, uses movement to confuse the blocking scheme, design blitzes that come from unexpected places and get home.

No one, and I mean no head coach or offensive coordinator lost any sleep the night before facing Spanos' UConn defense.

Yes, he is our DC. So like every Huskies fan I want him and the young men in his charge to succeed. But after watching his vanilla defenses for years, I am very disappointed.

How many years would that be that you watched? How many assistants were still here after Crocker was fired?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

You are correct. Spanos did moderately improve the worst defense in history to being among the worst defenses in FBS. We don’t have horses has been a constant theme since Fishcakes. So, that’s a legitimate contributor but it’s no like the guy just showed up.

It was one of many things that was so disappointing. RE1.0 had a histoty having very good college DEs and LBs.

 

[giddyup]

Make sure you keep denigrating the players and coaches, and school and administration. Can never tell when you’ll influence some kid or his parents.

Irrational exuberance is worked so well for us in the past.

 

[Waquoit]

Irrational exuberance is worked so well for us in the past.

I've seen nothing but rational exuberance. It's you nay-sayers working overtime to naysay that are sounding silly, like here.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Seems so many are basing the decision solely on his time here and not his whole body of work. While he does bring some continuity it is also a new environment from a leadership perspective. If Spanos had no history with this team and Mora was bringing him in fresh, I think many more would be jacked up about it. I get being cautious and having a wait and see approach but the vitriol at this point has no meaningful or beneficial purpose to the progress of the program. Nothing you say with extreme negativity will benefit in bringing any prospect here that could help advance this team.
This is a done deal. Until we see HCJM's vision and how each piece plays a part inside that, let's all row together. Don't be the reason someone chooses to go somewhere else.

 

[cohenzone]

Spanos might or might not be a good choice. But given REs bend but don’t break defensive philosophy, there is a pretty good chance Spanos was not quite a free agent. Randy might have gotten away with it the first time around with offenses that could score a bit, but if Spanos was given a short list to play with, we will find out. Spanos had too good a history prior to UConn I sat through almost every home game since the year before the Rent opened. The past few years the amount of LB or DB blitzes you could count on one hand a game. The opposing receivers were rarely met within 3 yards of the line. I’m betting Spanos was using schemes the head coach wanted. And not a one of us knows if Spanos was 80th choice or Mira’s guy all along. It doesn’t matter right now.

 

[Husky68]

Irrational exuberance is worked so well for us in the past.

Ok. Let's hear what rational expectations are.

Have gotten rid of a historically bad head coach and most of his crew (only guy he kept seems to be liked by players and Mora has knowledge of how Spanos operates, whether 1st or 10th option Spanos was the best Mora could do). Brought in a guy who was at one time good enough to be Head Coach in NFL and win 10 games as college head coach at P5 school not noted for recent success. Overall coaching hires seem geared towards recruiting and guys with coaching creds. Looking to portal for improvements. Is selling upbeat vision of school/brand/schedule.

Seems like lot to like. His last few years "off" makes sense to make sure he got his full pound of gold from UCLA. Picked UConn to go after, not sure what other type jobs he could have gotten but with all the openings he would/could have gotten something. He wanted to stay at UCLA and wants to stay at UConn.

Any exuberance when hiring HCREDreamJob1.0 to become HCRE2.0 would have been irrational. Exuberance here is warranted. To each his own as to what is irrational.

 

[Watchdog]

They are buddies !

They may well be buddies, but it's highly doubtful JM sought this job knowing how difficult it will be and then risk failure in order to hire someone he didn't feel could do the job he needs done.

 

[Watchdog]

Here is a short article on Mora defending against rookie QBs written this fall. Any young Qb probably, and would be dictated down to Spanos.

Jim Mora on How to Defend Rookie Quarterbacks

Jim Mora on Defending Rookie Quarterbacks. Former NFL head coach Jim Mora Jr. shared his thoughts on how he would attack Trevor Lawrence

www.the33rdteam.com

Sounds like the defense will be doing lots of disguising next year so all those having fits about Spanos can relax and enjoy the holidays with no pressure or fears.........

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Maybe HCJM has some thoughts regarding Defense changes, defensive schemes, etc.

"The UConn that you used to know is not the UConn that you will see in the future". - HCJM​

Coach Jim Mora: "Not The UConn That You Used To Know"

“The UConn that you used to know, is not the UConn that you will see in the future.”

www.si.com

 

[HuskyDogArt]

The problem is we no longer have a new staff…we have retained a part of the staff that was responsible for a lot of the suck.

I believe Spanos will be decent as DC. I mean, some here were making him the HC, so I think he'll do good. If the D isn't on the field for 75% of the time, we might see the D in the fourth quarter make big plays.

I like keeping Spanos!!

 

[WestHartHusk]

I believe Spanos will be decent as DC. I mean, some here were making him the HC, so I think he'll do good. If the D isn't on the field for 75% of the time, we might see the D in the fourth quarter make big plays.

I like keeping Spanos!!

Your logic: some posters are really dumb (Spanos as HC) therefore he will be a good DC, despite being a bad DC. Got it.

I know there is a carousel of Spanos defenders that like throwing dislikes, so bring it.

 

[businesslawyer]

The defense did improve under Spanos, but it was from the depths of center earth where Crocker drove it over two seasons.

To my eye it's largely the horses. We simply don't have the athletes in terms of edge rushers and LBs. We blitzed a fair amount, but our LBs never got home.

Our defense was also on the field forever given the abysmal performance of the offense.

We have no clue how good Spanos would be with the proper pieces. We know he didn't have them.

Whose fault that is is another matter. Every head coach divides up staff responsibilities differently. But whosever fault it is, it was the Head Coach's responsibility.

 

[DoctorWho85]

Let's be real here, Mora is betting his career on this. I don't think he's going to throw away what he's building on a bad DC. All of our DC's under Edsall have had much better success away from Edsall. Spanos's hands were tied because Edsall couldn't help himself and had to meddle.

 

[Palatine]

We have no clue how good Spanos would be with the proper pieces. We know he didn't have them.

Whose fault that is is another matter. Every head coach divides up staff responsibilities differently. But whosever fault it is, it was the Head Coach's responsibility.

We have no clue how good our pieces are because they were playing Spanos scheme.

 

[Buffett10]

We have no clue how good Spanos would be with the proper pieces. We know he didn't have them.

Whose fault that is is another matter. Every head coach divides up staff responsibilities differently. But whosever fault it is, it was the Head Coach's responsibility.

Does he have them now? If not his scheme isn’t gonna work..

 

[WestHartHusk]

We have no clue how good Spanos would be with the proper pieces. We know he didn't have them.

Whose fault that is is another matter. Every head coach divides up staff responsibilities differently. But whosever fault it is, it was the Head Coach's responsibility.

Biz, your 2nd paragraph is ridiculous.

If he wasn't responsible for the pieces, that means he hasn't been recruiting, has no relationships, and, worse, took no initiative to fix a clear talent problem.

If he was responsible for the pieces, you know.

 

[businesslawyer]

Again, other than how Jason Gaffney played today, very little in the world is all or nothing. Some here want to blame Edsall for every detail, down to one harping on he didn’t care if we won, and now we’re split between Spanos was totally responsible for our defense not being good enough and being not at all responsible for it.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. But where in the middle I don’t know.