Who is calling the plays???

[whaler11]

Not trying to piss anyone off, but can someone explain why it is such a big deal who actually calls the plays?

Maybe Cummings is better at game planning and Patterson (who by the way is the associate head coach) is better at physically call the plays.

Or maybe Cummings wants to be involved in actual in game coaching and deligates the play calling to Patterson. They are all on the same frequency and talking to each other. I'm sure Cummings is telling Patterson what he wants to see based on being on the sidelines, but Patterson is just the one physically relaying it to Whitmer (which is where the sign language comment comes in). If you think about it, it actually makes sense because he is the one individually coaching Whitmer all week and knows he easiest to communicate with him.

So then it should be a fairly easy question to answer without getting into handwritten recruiting notes and who handles PC Load Letter error messages on the printers right?

 

[upstater]

If Diaco had white hair and was a mouth breather, I think he'd be out of a job already.

 

[UConnDan97]

...but Patterson is just the one physically relaying it to Whitmer (which is where the sign language comment comes in). If you think about it, it actually makes sense because he is the one individually coaching Whitmer all week and knows he easiest to communicate with him.

If Patterson is in the box, how is he the one "physically relaying" the information to Whitmer again?

It's more likely that he makes the call, it goes to Cochran's headset, Cochran gives the hand signals (or the guy with the sign boards gives them), and then Whitmer tells the guys in the huddle or audibles at the line with it.

Look, I'm not sure what all this means. I'm not sure what I would rather have happen, or who is best suited for the box or the field calls. But what I am certainly hoping for is for Coach Diaco to learn from this in terms of how to present information to the public. Because whether it's good or bad, it certainly doesn't instill confidence in our system going forward...

 

[Carl Spackler]

Not trying to piss anyone off, but can someone explain why it is such a big deal who actually calls the plays?

Maybe Cummings is better at game planning and Patterson (who by the way is the associate head coach) is better at physically call the plays.

Or maybe Cummings wants to be involved in actual in game coaching and deligates the play calling to Patterson. They are all on the same frequency and talking to each other. I'm sure Cummings is telling Patterson what he wants to see based on being on the sidelines, but Patterson is just the one physically relaying it to Whitmer (which is where the sign language comment comes in). If you think about it, it actually makes sense because he is the one individually coaching Whitmer all week and knows he easiest to communicate with him.

It's not a big deal who calls the plays, and furthermore, the play calls themselves, don't really matter much until you can fix the stuff that I put up in those photos up there, so that you have 11 players on the field that are reliable.

 

[Stinger92860]

Not trying to piss anyone off, but can someone explain why it is such a big deal who actually calls the plays?

Shane Day made a huge difference last year

 

[Dogged]

Not trying to piss anyone off, but can someone explain why it is such a big deal who actually calls the plays?

Maybe Cummings is better at game planning and Patterson (who by the way is the associate head coach) is better at physically call the plays.

Or maybe Cummings wants to be involved in actual in game coaching and deligates the play calling to Patterson. They are all on the same frequency and talking to each other. I'm sure Cummings is telling Patterson what he wants to see based on being on the sidelines, but Patterson is just the one physically relaying it to Whitmer (which is where the sign language comment comes in). If you think about it, it actually makes sense because he is the one individually coaching Whitmer all week and knows he easiest to communicate with him.

It doesn't matter who calls the plays if you've scripted them ahead of time. It's a good game approach.

On the other hand if you don't respond to what you see happening on the field why play the game?

 

[uconnflyer88]

It's not a big deal who calls the plays, and furthermore, the play calls themselves, don't really matter much until you can fix the stuff that I put up in those photos up there, so that you have 11 players on the field that are reliable.

This is basically my point, we spent almost two pages over what Diaco meant in his press conference over who actually calls the plays when it doesn't matter if we can't fix what is up front

 

[uconnflyer88]

Shane Day made a huge difference last year

Also my point, people seem to believe that just because Cummings is the Offensive Coordinator that he must be the guy calling the plays.....not always the case.

Some people are just better at it that others, doesn't undermine Cummings or make him any less the Offense Coordinator

 

[Marty Jackson]

B. Have to disagree. A D coordinator has roughly 35% of the responsibiltiies of a head coach. Beyond game planning, there are the media and donor commitments, the time with the AD, the time with the direct reports, the time with recruiting etc. Great coordinators often don't translate to the great head coaches as a result of the time commitments

don't forget running the copier?

 

[Carl Spackler]

This is basically my point, we spent almost two pages over what Diaco meant in his press conference over who actually calls the plays when it doesn't matter if we can't fix what is up front

At least he demonstrated the ability to recognize what's happening, and scrap what wasn't working. That's a big step, and a good one. It blows my mind, how few people really get that, and that it kept us in the game, and absolutely did give us opportunity to compete and win, and that the real thing that should be knocked about his game time decisions, is why he didn't stress the importance of catching the punts, or if he did, what happened there? Play calling? Who gives a crap right now?

That's why a kid like Callahan, who is pretty good, at what he does, needs to stick with analyzing games for awhile, before spouting off on things that aren't important. Does Diaco realize that we lost the field position battle, and therefore our chances of actually doing something good, in the way that game was played, because their returner was fielding punts and we weren't? Was Foxx instructed to make his own decisions, or did he show confidence in his player, given the way the game was being played, and tell him to catch the damn ball? Was he was worried about drops? Why worry about drops? Have you practiced it enough? Have your players practiced outside on afternoons when it's raining to catch kicks? But that's fundamentals, too, perhaps he didn't have confidence in that, which brings me back to what makes me nuts.

What the hell are we doing in practices?

I hope that when we take the field on Saturday, it shows that we've really practiced well this week.

 

[Bonehead]

Who is calling the plays???

I dont know and I dont care - doesnt matter when the HC shuts down an aspect of the offense.

Can we get some Green Right Slot Spider 2 Y Banana this week please? If we are down 14 to USF and have to shut it down to stay in the game if we go down 7 to Temple Shut It Down!

 

[sportsart]

My guess is Cummings has designed a list of plays for situations like....3rd and 5 inside our own 20, 2nd and 4 near mid field or 2nd and 10 in the red zone.

Patterson then chooses a play from the list based on the defense he is seeing the opposition play. Maybe there are 3 or 4 plays for each situation.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Parsing these quotes from the article

"Each decision is made on a daily and continuous basis,"

"The game plan is built by Mike Cummings and his staff all week so the offense goes to the game with a scripted plan then everyone has jobs to execute that plan,"

"For example, you're doing a speech and standing next to you is a sign language specialist. Is the sign language specialist doing the speech or are you doing the speech?
"Mike Cummings details out the game plan for the day and then he's giving jobs to his staff to accentuate assets and limit liabilities."

Patterson followed Cummings' plan, which wound up being altered by Diaco to scrap the passing game because of a combination of issues including weather conditions, field position, pass protection problems and simply not be able to execute because of penalties.
But Cummings maintains control of the offense.
"He's a manager of a unit and the way we present that is that there are certain jobs that need to be done and he organizes and coordinates assets and liabilities to decide who should do the jobs," Diaco said. "From drawing cards, to writing scripts, to recruiting hand-written letters to marketing campaigns to video productions to running the copier and everywhere in between, and we also don't feel like any one job is more important than the other as it relates to calling the game."
So why was Cummings on the sideline?
"We need those four quarters of coaching," Diaco said. "We don't want to minimize those four quarters of coaching. We want to maximize those 3 ½ hours to get even more coaching done there. That's why I called him out of the [press] box and had him on the sideline."
"Mike is a demonstrative personality, the coordinator setting the energy and coaching the unit for four quarters ... so I made that change," Diaco said. "Because it's not just last game, it's all season long – the game is pre-called based on what we believe to be the profile and how we want to attack and then we have people in the chain of custody of information during the game. Don Patterson is one of those people. "




I'm sorry but WTF is he saying? Seriously.

RD is like my wife and new MBA's, I might add. Ask. "what time is it?" and they'll tell you how to build a clock.

A better answer might have been, "We have a script. The OC was following the script.I saw stuff I didn't like and jumped in to alter the script." Nuff said! He's trying too hard to offer the perfect explanation.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

My guess is Cummings has designed a list of plays for situations like....3rd and 5 inside our own 20, 2nd and 4 near mid field or 2nd and 10 in the red zone.

Patterson then chooses a play from the list based on the defense he is seeing the opposition play. Maybe there are 3 or 4 plays for each situation.

Many coaches script the first 15 to 25 plays including most of the NFL.

 

[freescooter]

Please support your conclusion that he knows how to get it done? Just because he was a coordinator a ND? Because some sweat from Kelly hit him and he inherited winning DNA? Diaco is the anti Kelly when it comes to coaching. No screaming at the kids. No calling them out during a game when they screw up. And certainly way more conservative in his offensive philosophy.

Given the performance of the O, who is calling the plays is a legitimate question. Diaco's strength was D prior to Uconn. And he was as conservative of a DC as you could find but with a D that had great athletes.

It is my opinion that Diaco has set low expectations and continues to tell the media and the fans to expect very few wins this season. Uconn will therefore have game plans that reflect that expectation. The game plan, as I have seen it unfold over 4 games, is to minimize injury and promote personal/positional growth more than wining. That is why the game plans are pre-scripted. That is why it does not matter who calls the plays. The outcome this year does not matter since throwing this year away is part of a larger plan and is only the first step in the "process".

I think there is a lot of truth in this. While Diaco says he wants to win, and I believe him, he isn't going to change the overall "process" just to win a football game. He isn't for example, going to identify a feature running back and give him carries. We'll continue to see 4 guys rotating in and out. He isn't going to go with his top 5 linemen. He will continue to rotate those guys too. We'll continue to see Davis on the sideline in critical situations when its isn't "his turn" in the rotation. Basically, every game is approached like a scrimmage, where he has things he wants to see and goes with them. If they win, that's terrific. He hopes that things work out such that they do win. But he isn't changing how he does things to win.