Tom Herman Chad Morris Phil Montgomery

[Pudge]

Here's your Case Study.

One has 8 wins and his Team looks fabulous. One has 4 wins and he has a decent chance to get to a bowl. And the other has One win and will have a tough time getting to 2.

a priori ... Could you see this coming? And how does this relate to Diaco? First, look at those 3 resumes. I really really don't think you are getting most high flying guys (successes at Ohio State (though mostly his career was climbing colleges in Texas (Texas Lutheran, Texas, Texas State, Rice, Iowa State) or at Baylor (where he followed Briles from Stephenville HS to Houston) or at Clemson (and before that at Tulsa and 16 illustrious years in Texas HC in HS including Stephenville) to come to New England. We simply have a different candidate slate than guys that have been through Texas and largely southern experience/recruiting.

What Tom Herman is doing is not the norm; look over the landscape, there is not a lot of first year HC that splash like this. As we look at Tulsa and SMU, it is various obvious that Houston (he was hired the second week of Dec) had plenty of this talent in the school when he arrived. He might have a good Program/Schemes/Systems; but, I can't say that he has far better Assistants than Montgomery or Morris. I looked at their relative staff resumes & this is all feeling similar. Houston has solid gameday performance and he put together a far better early system with the level of talent.

Can you absolutely tell that Chad Morris today is not as good a HC as Hermann? Sure. But, Morris has done some really great things and you wouldn't bet against him. Diaco - in his second year - I bet is equaled by some of the bonehead stuff that the others have done. The AAC (with Ruhle. Fuente. as well) is exciting, I think, because of the caliber of coaches that are energizing these programs.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I think Chad Morris is generally respected as a HC and deservedly so, as evidenced by the offensive improvement from last year to this year. SMU is headed in the right direction albeit the W-L record doesn't show it. Also, I think lots of people saw Herman as a big time hire; what he did at Ohio State winning a national championship with his third string QB is absolutely remarkable and you're really seeing the effect of his departure this season as OSU struggles a bit offensively.

 

[SubbaBub]

I think there are maybe 200 guys in the country that are head and shoulders better than the other players and another 200 or so that noticeably better. Since most of these guys flock to the top 5-10 programs the rest are more or less even in talent (within a standard deviation). The differentiator is the programs commitment to excellence, meaning the coach, the SC, the facilities, and the priority given by the players and everyone else involved to doing what it takes to win games. Yes, recruiting matters and lower level teams draw from the shallower end of the pool and have a smaller margin of error, but if teams like Boise St, Hawaii, Utah, and yes UCONN, can reach the highest level then there is no excuse that can be used IMO to overlook failure. These teams won't be great every year or even every 4 years but they should be able to build a winning team especially if they are not playing the top 5-10 programs on a regular basis. Coaching matters most, program support matters next, the talent follows the first two.

 

[whaler11]

I wonder if Dusty Baker has a better record than Don Mattingly next year if that means he is a better manager?

I mean taking over the Nationals and Marlins is the exact same thing.

Outside of a 100 or so baseball players most are pretty interchangable within the fat part of the bell curve.

 

[SubbaBub]

I wonder if Dusty Baker has a better record than Don Mattingly next year if that means he is a better manager?

I mean taking over the Nationals and Marlins is the exact same thing.

Outside of a 100 or so baseball players most are pretty interchangable within the fat part of the bell curve.

Joe Maddon - Cubs, Terry Francona - Red Sox/Indians. While managers have less to do with a teams success than a college FB coach, the same idea does apply once you take away the Ace pitchers and the annual variance amongst relievers.

 

[whaler11]

Joe Maddon - Cubs, Terry Francona - Red Sox/Indians. While managers have less to do with a teams success than a college FB coach, the same idea does apply once you take away the Ace pitchers and the annual variance amongst relievers.

If the players are so interchangable - man do the schools and staffs waste a lot of time, effort and energy on recruiting.

 

[junglehusky]

Chad Morris did not inherit a complete disaster. Quite the opposite.

 

[whaler11]

Chad Morris did not inherit a complete disaster. Quite the opposite.

They won their last game on the road. Progress had already been made.

 

[Pudge]

Chad Morris did not inherit a complete disaster. Quite the opposite.

I like what you did here.

Soon, we will see another hot Assistant take the UCF job. And maybe Fuente or Ruhle or Hermann move up this Carousel. The AAC will be the top place for elite young coaches to get their start. These AAC programs all pay & have resources beating the rest of G5.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I was praying we'd get Morris or Herman, but was pretty excited when we hired diaco

 

[SubbaBub]

If the players are so interchangable - man do the schools and staffs waste a lot of time, effort and energy on recruiting.

At this level, it's more about the RKG's than the number of stars. If Saban or Meyer took over this team in 2014, we'd have more wins. That's not a shot at Bob, it's just the truth. Bob, worked under Fry and Kelly so he's seen it up close. Remains to be seen if he can break out or merely be a diluted carbon copy.

I like that Bob has reversed a few of his mistakes already, so hope lives on.

 

[Nostical]

If Saban or Meyer took over this team in 2014, we'd have more wins.

Really? With our same "talent"? Hmmmmm.

 

[whaler11]

To you guys every week is just a referendum on the coaches - whoever had a better week wins.

The players are all the same at this level. Let's say Diggs and Sio Moore are the same. Whitmer, Endres, Sherrifs and Cochran all the same.

Well I guess that explains why your posts are so predictible.