That’s getting a ton of run now that we lost the first game of year 4 against a team we were supposed to beat, and are now 12-21 with an uphill battle to get to a bowl game. There’s a ton of pros/cons, but let me lay out my thoughts.
First, I don’t think it’s any secret I am absolutely not on the Duval train. The guy has 2 winning seasons in 11 tries but yet everyone says “he’s elite” or “we finally look like a B1G team”. Well, what’s that getting us?
If you followed any of my stuff on the other site, I pointed out how I didn’t think that was possible at all. The fastest sprinters in the world do not try to put on a bunch of weight, they try to be as fast as possible. At Oregon, they had a speed oriented program that was designed by Jim Radcliffe that emphasized “bullets over bowling balls.” They were playing for natties and winning conference titles, but still always struggled with Stanford. Finally, Helfrich says “enough is enough” and shifts the philosophy from speed and athleticism for everyone, to gain weight. He tells all the linemen to put on 20 pounds, waking them up to drink protein shakes at 3AM. It actually worked for a year or two, they beat Stanford, but Radcliffe could see a fall coming. How on earth were you supposed to be fast and good in space while emphasizing power and weight gains? All of a sudden they fall off a cliff, go 4-8, and Helfrich is fired. Radcliffe called it, but no one listened.
The “combine Oregon Speed with Husker Power” goes completely against physics. The bigger you are, typically the slower you are. Go watch the dude putting 5 plates on the squat rack at Good Life Fitness and most of them struggle to get underneath the bar, they can’t move. But once they have the bar on their shoulders, they move it like it’s nothing. If you listen to our ILB coach Ruud, he talks about how different the game is now. “It used to be played in a phone booth.” Our strength training dominated 90s football, but now we are spreading people out and getting people 1 on 1. We aren’t good at that.
But our S/C coach has verbatim said “if you are doing what we did back in the 90s and didn’t fall for that ‘functional training’ term (he put functional in air quotes) which I don’t even know what that means… you’re way ahead of the teams that went another route.” Just think about that statement. Now ask yourself if football has changed since the 90s, ask yourself if it’s more wide open now? There’s been some pretty great innovations for S/C the last 30 years like what Ballou and Rhea did at Indiana before being plucked to Alabama by Saban. I just have a hard time believing that Husker Power in the 90s was the first time in the history of anything that got it right on try 1.
Last thing on this so I can reference an article if you don’t believe me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when our two draft picks (Jaimes and Farniok) spoke with NFL scouts they were told “get more flexible, show you can bend, and lose weight to be more athletic.” We put a premium on weight gain and power, but when it is a sacrifice for how you move, I think you get the results we are seeing now.
We just can’t bend at all once we start getting guys in our program for extended amounts of time.
But take it one step further. Our S/C program some how makes it unsafe to sprint close to the season. Say that out loud.
Do you guys test speed like you do with strength? Did you see gains in that area as well in terms of speed?
“We test in the winter and we test at the beginning of the summer. Obviously, you don’t risk it right before camp.
https://ucf.rivals.com/news/getting-to-know-ucf-strength-coach-zach-duval
That’s so hard to read. Really tough. For me… I just think Frost could be more what he wanted to be if our S/C was speed oriented. But i’ve come to the realization that Frost and Duval are going to stay together. Just like I’ve told people I wish I could have seen what Riley and Mark Phillip could do with their own plan, I wish I could see what Frost and his offense are capable of with a different S/C philosophy. And if I hear one more person say “we finally look like a B1G team” while neglecting our record and how we couldn’t even push the Illinois lines around… i’m going to lose it again.
But let’s move past that. Sorry for the rant. The main issue people bring up is they think our whole staff isn’t FBS worthy and we should have done something different. A lot of people were clamoring to hire a Power 5 worthy defensive coordinator. Heck, one of the big reasons we got Frost over Florida is because Florida told him he couldn’t bring his whole staff and had to hire some cream of the crop assistants. That helped move the needle our way.
There’s two things with that. First, I completely get where Frost was at wanting to bring his whole staff (even S/C). You just went 13-0, were named coach of the year, I mean if it’s not broke why fix it? It’s really tough to say “you helped me there but you won’t be able to help me here.” Secondly, comfortability with your staff goes a very long way. These guys are spending a ton of time together, and a position coach knowing what the goal is of your scheme so you can have faith in him to teach it appropriately during individual drill periods goes a very long way.
However, if you can’t bounce ideas off each other and have a good back and forth discussion, and instead everything is “this is what we are doing” while people nod their heads… I think you get 12-21. Greg Austin is about the only guy that does that to Frost, and I think worlds are colliding there. Heck, think back to when Bo lost Carl and the defense kind of falling apart. You have to have those guys that challenge you.
You also have to have guys that have the passion. We got rid of our old OC for a new OC that told Chris Petersen he was burned out and didn’t want to coach anymore. Went back to Colorado to work at a credit union, and Frost started sending him film for help. We then bring him on (a guy that was burnt out a year prior) to be the OC at a P5 program in desperate need of some help. I actually applauded the hire from Frost, as he moved on from someone he was familiar with and went a different direction. But he brought someone in he may be even more familiar with. Now you add the comments where Frost said the playbook went out the window when they came in an even front, and Lubick giving comments that they had a whole play sheet for an even front, and you wonder if this staff is on the same page?
But the bottom line is that Chinander is the one that people didn’t want, and he’s the glue keeping this thing even remotely presentable right now. Offensively we have a mess, as i’m of big of a Ryan Held fan as their is, but we just aren’t producing there. But is that an OL issue? For as much opinion as Greg Austin has, we sure don’t get much accomplished. How can we struggle to move Illinois off the ball in year 4? And i’m not sure what Verduzco’s deal is, Martinez doesn’t look any better in game 30 than he did in game 1 of his career.
Again, I was ok with it. I understood people who didn’t want Chinander. But the real issue is offense, and I don’t think anyone was clamoring to get rid of his offensive people, as it was working at UCF. But what do we do? The defensive staff appear to all be on the same page, they have kids coming back for their final years, while offensive players are transferring out in droves and our offense was the worst offense this century (yes even worse than 2009, hard to believe right?)
What scares me is I think 5-7 keeps Frost around, but if we don’t make a bowl there are going to be some “you need to make a change or two” from the higher-ups. Is Frost willing to do that? Is he able to go outside his comfort zone and bring in some coaches he may not be as familiar with and just has a solid recommendation? It worked for Chinander with Tuioti. We will see.
If S/C is so bluntly obvious to you and most fans why do the coaches and strength staff not see it. Why does an NFL scout tell players to change their bodies, but our assistant coaches can’t see it? Why do the players not question what is happening? You are a former player, right, why can’t you point out to them what you see? If you told Bo Pelini to change his strength staff, he would tell you to fuck off, we are winning 9-10 games a year. But the last 4 years we can barely win 1 game, so something must need to change and if the S/C is so obviously wrong, why can no one inside the program see it?
I’m with SV . . . it seems blatantly obvious, so why is Coach Frost so hell-bent on keeping his strength program as is?
Because 90s talk with heavy squatting videos is a viagra pill to media and fans.
Well, I mean just look how many people say the thing I referenced. Media members say how much we look like we should now, and our assistants sit and tout how much bigger guys are while adding athleticism. The problem is that’s what media, fans, and our staff say, but we all get to see the games on Saturdays and Illinois was another example of us just not being what everyone thinks. I mean, we couldn’t push the Illinois DL backwards in year 4?
I agreed with him bringing the entire staff, because as you say, it was working well for them and why blow it up? It sure seems like the offense isnt on the same page. They quickly abandoned the run game and its amazing to me how we hear of these great athletes during practice, but then dont see them whatsoever in the game? Our offensive line is abysmal…I dont know what else to say about it…no movement at all. Our receivers couldnt seem to get much separation from the DB’s either…or maybe qb is looking for a 5 yard separation and isnt pulling the trigger? Year 4 and we have zero offensive identity…we have nothing to hang our hat on…is Austin wanting to run downhill and Frost doesnt have the patience for it? I dont know as its a mess?? The defense is for sure light years ahead of the offense, although we still struggle with third quarter adjustments (which falls directly on Chins imo). Unless we see something completely different, this season (with the schedule) might well be the ugliest of them all. I think I finally agree on the S&C take…you cant blend Oregon speed and Wisconsin power (I didnt say Husker because we havent had much of that for well over a decade). Seems like a fundamental scheme change on the field is needed, or a different S&C regime….because you are right, it sure doesnt seem to match up well.
And to your point… is us having no identity skewing my opinion of S/C? Like did anyone watch the Illinois game and know at all what we hang out hat on? It was tied the entire first half except the last 30 seconds but we were abandoning the run and doing orbit motion BS. I just think if we had S/C that actually made us good football players and not good in the weight room/get off the bus guys we would win these games. Hell, it was anotehr game we lost the second half.
Yeah I mentioned it in another thread , but I was wondering if the way we trained would end up making us gas out in 2nd half, like to be big and strong short term, but not for a whole fight.
I was one who argued with you multiple times over Duval. My apologies as I was wrong. I see it now. I don’t think Frost will move on from Duval at this point. I am really struggling to come up with positive things to point to. I agree the defensive staff isn’t our problem. Do you think Frost will be back if he doesn’t make a bowl? I’m torn on that right now.
And look, he may very well be good and just needs to be in a more power scheme like Iowa or Wisconsin. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Gill recommended him, Bohl hired him, Frost hired him, it’s all Nebraska ties.
There’s a lot of decisions Frost made that were admirable, but you knew in real time were probably wrong. Keeping all his assistants instead of getting some P5 experienced dudes. Coaching the bowl game instead of focusing on recruiting right away. I think Scott is a good guy, and unfortunately good guys are rarely great head coaches. Great head coaches are ruthless psychos who will fire their best friend if it means they can win one more football game. He clearly ain’t that dude.
First of all, pretty good handle lol. I’d agree there… I feel like even if he sprinkled in one unknown guy on each side of the ball but kept his core, things would be a lot different. But then you look at what happened with Rutledge and maybe that wouldn’t have worked either? We actually did ok recruiting in my opinion for the 2018 class. While people don’t like him, Martinez is a pretty good get, sprinkled in with guys like CTB, Braxton Clark, Casey Rogers, Will Honas, and Caleb Tannor. Mo Washington you take a risk on for sure, that dudes a stud. But guys like Greg Bell can’t be considered bad either as he’s a finalist for the Maxwell trophy while playing for another school.
Your point is valid, definitely some things that should have changed. But I guess i’m just going back to I can’t fault him when it worked for him back in 2017. He should have made some more changes sooner while here though.
If it would’ve worked, he’d be a legend for it. Hindsight 20/20.
I would have to think that, regardless of SF’s future as a hc here, that a handful of his assistants are going to want out at season’s end. Maybe I’m wrong and they really are that tight knit, but at some point, they’ll need to consider their own career, over loyalty.
Nope, you’ll see at least one gone that wants out IMO. I think another one or two will be asked to leave. One for sure IMO.
After reading the write the one asked to leave does his name rhyme with leg laustin?
Nope i’d agree there. Losing to Illinois makes you think at max we are going 6-6 and then some assistants are going to need to go. But hypothetically what happens when you are on a one year contract with a coach on the extreme of hot seats? You getting anyone good?
Hi, SSO.
Let’s worst case scenario this thing…Not that Neb loses to Fordham but that they squeak by Buff, get drilled by The Hillbillies and then lose at Sparty.
Now 2-3 and staring into the abyss.
Firing Frost becomes a fait accompli.
You follow the college game closely. Who would be the ideal target to try next? I can’t imagine that we could pry away Campbell from ISU so that’s a non-starter. Maybe the dude at Louisiana or the guy at Coastal Carolina? What if Lance Liepold gets KU to 6-6 and into a bowl game? Would he be the guy?
Curious to hear what you think.
Thanks.
I hate doing this just because it’s after game 1, but you go full court press for Campbell since the Big12 may become a shell of itself. With that said, i’m not sure if Campbell would do well here? He basically threw out the stars and recruiting rankings and went after fits for his team. He would get destroyed doing that here I think. But you have to give him a go.
I was talking to someone that Leipold at Kansas would intrigue me if he gets them to a bowl. If he does, you do what Sparty did for Tucker at Colorado and hire him right away.
I also would take a look at Kleiman from Kansas State. I know he struggled last year but if he got back to 8-4 again like he did first year, he’s viable since he did so well at NDSU and he runs something Nebraska fans can appreciate.
Curious why when we talk about S/C we never mention our nutritional staff. Its common to bulk guys up by having them push it with weights and eat more calories, but its also fairly common to have a pull back on the calories to try and trim fat while maintaining strength. It seems to me we don’t consider trimming until the guys 330 lbs.
On the coaches, I’m not as worried about should he have brought everyone 4 years ago. At the time it was the right call based on the information we had at the time. The issue is more of how you adjust and I don’t think he’s done that. I think Dawson’s a pretty good coach but lets face it, the guys a poor fit. Him going to the NFL was in some ways a blessing. When Dewitt left, we needed to not bring Dawson back but go find a new face who knows the Big 10 and our recruiting territory. Someone who can help the staff we had in place grow in their roles. Now we’re stuck wondering why our ST are crap while we can’t recruit anybody at OLB. That was an avoidable miss. Tuioti is an example of him going outside that network and getting a good hire. We needed another 1-2 more Tuioti type hires.
I actually like the Lubick hire and some of the changes we’ve seen on offense I think are from his input, but those changes also lead to questions about fit on guys like Verduzco, Held and Austin. We now want a QB that can pass from the pocket and scramble a bit. Verduzco wants athletes he can coach to pass enough and that’s what we got in 2019/2020 classes. We are grabbing bigger WR’s who can block outside and give those QB’s bigger targets. And we see or at least hear desires for a downhill run game but our OL and RB’s seem more fit for a speed oriented run game.
Really good post. I’ve had a few people tell me they didn’t think Frost was ready to be coach when he came here, but let’s be honest, he was 2017 coach of the year and was a player here. Florida was going after him and we brought back a guy that knew some of our roots when Riley may not have been fully aware of what was going on. Tough for me to be mad really about anything we hired. I understood why people may have been mad about Chinander, but I defended him bringing everyone.
I actually don’t mind the Dawson hire and bring back. He needed one more year in the NFL to get his pension, got it and came back. What I do take issue with is that he declined the special teams position in 2020 now he’s our guy in 2021. But to your point about recruiting, it seems Ruud does most the heavy lifting there for the LBs or Tuioti brings in Ho”ohuili (spelling way off i’m sure) to help. Now, Dawson did land Ty Robinson over Tuioti before he left. So again, I can’t be all mad at him.
Great point about the Lubick and fit thing. I liked the hire when it happened. But who we are recruiting really isn’t changing based on Lubick IMO. I think it’s because we found out being an athletic guy that defenses just force to throw isn’t working out.
My memory of the 2019 class we got 2 DL. Robinson had family ties to NE and we had multiple coaches on him plus peer recruiting with the 3 AZ kids getting close. The 2nd DL we got was Newsom who Chinander recruited on his own (and hasn’t done anything yet). We also landed 1 OLB and Chinander got him too (Graham, who just left). Dawson declined to recruit the Council Bluffs kid now at Iowa for 2020 before he left. So my take on Dawson is he’s connected in the northeast which isn’t ideal at Nebraska and I think he does a good job identifying the fits for what he wants to do (like Rogers). Its just at Nebraska we need to make room for talented kids that don’t dot every i or cross every t and we need plan B’s and C’s bc of our recruiting territory. Look at all the kids Dawson targeted in 2021. No problem with getting any of those kids and he identified most early on. He just couldn’t get them to Lincoln and had no plans for backfill. Dawson would crush it at PSU just not ideal in Lincoln.
The changes I attach to Lubick more or less bring us closer to what Washington ran rather than Oregon. UW ran a spread system with a pocket passing QB, not a runner. They had a little bigger WR’s and blended in some speed. They could run at you within that spread with a tough, physical line. They had some good offenses and those teams probably don’t get as much recognition as they deserved. I think it influenced his perspective and it should have. I’d love if our offense was close to what he had there.
You’re correct about 2021. Graham wasn’t really him. But I do give him good credit for Robinson (despite the family ties you mention). He brought in Rogers from the 2018 class, and guys like Rahmir Johnson and Mikai Gbayor. I get what you are saying, and maybe he isn’t a great recruiter. But I wouldn’t put the Council Bluffs kid on him, that was a measurables thing that the staff declined on, which I hate.
In regard to Lubick, it concerns me that what I saw on Saturday didn’t make me think we have any skill guys that scare other teams. Oliver Martin is good but as my Iowa friend says to me “if that’s the guy that’s your go to WR you were better off with Wandale Robinson.” Tough to disagree.
I don’t think he’s horrible at recruiting, just a poor fit in Lincoln. He’s an example of somebody who identifies talent and fit well but maybe struggles with the sale. I think Held is the reverse; he can get guys to Lincoln but doesn’t evaluate well. With the measurables thing, I think he played a larger role. Tuioti came in and got him offered but it was too late. The only thing that changed was Dawson for Tuioti and he had an offer.
Its hard to disagree we’d be better off with Robinson but that phrasing makes it sound like we made that call between the 2. As crazy as Saturday was I think we pull it off with Wandale in there and he likely plays a lot of RB which he didn’t want. Its hard to grasp how this team got so bad at the skill spots but here we are. That may be some of the OL issue is they just don’t have much room for error. Our rb’s aren’t exactly running through tackles and our WR’s have no separation. Its shaping up to be a long season.
I’m in full agreement on the S/C side of things, but I do feel like we have a bunch of things that are just small fixes, and not sure why we can’t get it done. Pad level is one. I think our D-Line was playing really well, but then just got killed by the momentum of a few single plays and then had trouble recovering for a short period of time. All in all I thought we looked ok on D and you can see some players are definitely better. Caleb Tannor being one of them. He has been awful, but I thought he looked pretty good (I did turn the game off at half, so he might have been worse). CTB to me struggled a little bit, which was kind of crazy. On their long run it looked liked he took the wrong angle, but other than that you can’t complain about the D. Their long pass play was just a hell of a throw that I didn’t think Art had in him. Just perfect placement and hard to defend. Good pass and catch.
I wish we would unhitch the wagon from Adrian or just tell him we are down 21 points so he relaxes. He looks decent when we are down 21 points, but man is he bad when we are up or even. Kid just seems to fold under pressure. I want to like him, but he just doesn’t get it done and I feel like if we had a QB that could just hit open receivers it would take a ton of pressure off everyone else. Instead these teams make us through the out and Adrian can’t make that throw and next thing we know we are off the field just that quick putting more pressure on the D.
Ughhghghghg…. I feel like we are close, yet so damn far away.
What if I told you our S/C coach said pad level doesn’t matter because the game isn’t played that low anymore when the subject of why we don’t squat to depth was brought up?
I would say I have an inkling of why 2021 recruiting isn’t very good.
Once again I think you are spot on. This is year 4 and there is no reason we should be getting pushed around by Illinois; I would guess most of their guys would have come to Lincoln had they been offered. I do not know if its a S&C issue or coaching, I would also guess maybe a little bit of both.
As for his coaching staff, at first I did not see an issue with him bringing the whole staff, like you said they were successful and liked working with each other. I don’t think Chin’s will ever win DC of the year but I also do not think the Defense is the issue with the team. At this point changes need to be made; I think Frost needs to play a card out of the Saban playbook and find the best person available as an OC, like a Tom Herman / Bill OBrien type of guy, and hope they can fix the offense.
Yep, if our guy won S/C coach of the year after year 2 I would think year 4 we would see better results than what we do. I always bring up that the guys at Illinois, Indiana, etc., they would come here if we offered. We are getting 90%. They were beating us with lesser players. The problem now is they are outrecruiting us.
I always tell people it takes a special DC to coach with how we run offense. Chinander fits that bill. And let’s be honest, his unit is carrying us right now.
Heard on HOL radio that Austin and Frost might have some tension. You kinda touched on it a little bit. Got any inside scoop on what might be going on?
I don’t know if it’s an inside scoop but there’s a reason they gave Austin “run game coordinator” and a raise after 2019. Austin thinks we are better suited running certain plays that we aren’t seeing a lot of right now.
Also heard the rumor about coaches getting into it after the game, no idea on that. But what I can say is i’ve argued a ton with other coaches and while i was playing other players, being competitive brings that out.
Do you think Frost should just turn the offense over to Lubick? Frost can help with the QBs and be more of a game manager and CEO. It doesn’t seem like he has much to do with the defense and lets Chinander do his own thing. That looks to be working.
That’s really tough for those guys to do. Quite honestly, I think he needs support staff different from Davison and Lambrecht to help him rather than your buddies that just execute what you want. For the record, i’m not mad Davison or Lambrecht were there, but you truly need a couple guys that know how our administration works and what’s feasible or not to have conversations with MD and GL so that by the time it gets to Frost they aren’t wasting time on decisions that he can’t even get done. Conversely though, you don’t want Billy Devaney and Shawn Eichorsts either, telling the HC what to do.
What’s so interesting is when Scott got here, he basically made the entire academic arena flop the schedules around so his players could get afternoon classes while they had practice in the morning. So the admin is willing to work with him.
Another fine, detailed post, thanks! But when you said ” …
if you can’t bounce ideas off each other and have a good back and forth discussion, and instead everything is “this is what we are doing” while people nod their heads… I think you get 12-21.” I believe you identified the core problem. In team sports and in business, micromanagers rarely have long term success. I will be surprised if we win more than 4 games this year, & surprised if Scott is back next season.
My understanding is that the top programs/lifting coaches isn’t just all power or all speed, but what is needed the most for the player. They really individualize it to each player/position, based on what their strengths are and what they need. I don’t know, but don’t feel like we are anywhere close to that sophistication.
You got it. I hate that we “one size fits all” what we do. Tyjon Lindsey didn’t need to go from 160 to 200 pounds.
Yeah, I remember you predicting that might be scary how much better Bama could get last year with adding the Indiana strength coach.
I remember reading an article about Devonta Smith – the heisman winner last year. IIRC, it was something like they looked at his numbers, body, and video and used some fancy biometric analysis-type stuff, and thought they couldn’t really add any specific lifting or size that would really improve his top-end speed. Like maybe he was kinda close to maxed out on how fast he would get. But based on everything, they figured they could do lifting and training to shape his body/muscles to improve his initial burst/explosiveness, so he could get to top-end speed and accelerate faster. Then you see him just go berzerk last year.
I get not everyone is going to turn into the heisman, and the people at Alabama are probably the top-shelf guys right now. But I hear stories like that and using technology to determine where the improvements can/should be made, and I feel like we’re running the wishbone of strength training.
Yep. I was also reading another article about the NFL draft and a strength coach being asked if he could put 10 pounds on a skill guy the staff really liked.
“I can, but it would diminish some of the things that are having you want to draft him like speed and quickness”
S/C seems to be all sizzle, no steak. The players look good coming out of Duval’s system, but functionally it doesn’t work (too stiff, too slow etc..) . Frost won’t replace him IMO, Duval is here for the long haul, for better or worse.
Frost was the golden boy when he was hired and it seems like Nebraska had to give him what he wanted in order to land him, in retrospect that was a mistake. It seemed like Frost was doing Nebraska a favor by taking the job. I agree that a portion of his staff have no business coaching in the Big10.
I think a lot of Frost’s flaws come down to inexperience, the kick in the balls he’s experienced will hopefully humble him and make him a better coach down the road, but I’m not sure that he realizes this while at Nebraska.
I’ve read rumors that Frost isn’t the hardest working coach and doesn’t put in the hours, any truth to that?
Ya, Duval is great at creating get off the bus guys. How many times did you hear “we finally look like a B1G team” this offseason? It ain’t working, and the guy has 2 winning seasons in 11 tries. 90s Husker success is keeping him where he is. And to your point, Frost isn’t getting rid of Duval, ever. He thinks he’s really good. He isn’t, but our coach thinks he is.
Someone asked me if there was any truth to Frost showing up late mornings or close to lunch and i’d say that would be tough since we practice in the mornings. I’m sure there’s some element of not working hard enough since we are 12-21. I just work harder if i’m not getting things done, but i’m not sure of his actual schedule. I wonder how much of it stemmed from Covid-19 last year when we couldnt’ be with the players, he golfed a lot because there wasn’t anything to do. I’m not saying he’s the hardest working coach ever, i’m more just saying I don’t know.
I was stoked to see what the strength program would do when I saw this:
https://twitter.com/CoachSegaloff/status/1008072948350058497
and a line that could do this:
https://youtu.be/n9mnzVUYpNc?t=258
We are nothing like that and I’m not sure why but it seems we have intentionally went away from that.
BTW the 2nd video comes from a 5+ minute video of all the 40+ yard plays for 2017 UCF. Last’s video for NU’s 40+ plays would be pretty short. If you watch it, notice the amount of time it takes for the QB to make a decision and compare it to current offense. Also notice how receivers aren’t running wide open when the ball is thrown.
I know the bubble screen got a bad wrap when we overused it and had the 5-4 guys try to block on it but I think it played an important role in the offense by helping getting the qb in a rhythm (unfortunately our qb has a hard time throwing that pass) and getting the defense to think (and look) side-to-side creating down the field holes.
Also interesting to revisit this review and compare that to our current offense.
I was good with bringing everyone, One of the few things that Steve Jobs and I agree on are that you don’t hire smart people and then tell them what to do. I’ve never understood an A/D telling a coach who to hire but Bob Diaco thinks that is a fantastic model. I think they have shifted a long ways from what was successful for them, some of that was intentional but some has creeped in because of the lack of success and public pressure.
It would be interesting to know how much Scott controlled the units (strength, line philosophies) at UCF and if there was a shift to giving more to control to individuals thinking that with a bigger program and dealing with P5 he had to delegate more. I wonder this because today’s product is so far from what he had at UCF.
Well, that guy doing the box jump transferred in from Notre Dame and posted that once our staff left, but I get what you’re saying.
The bubble screen was the bread and butter of our offense, I didn’t see a ton of it against Illinois. It was the base of what Frost tried to do.
I also was fine with him bringing everyone. I’m not going to be the one telling him he can’t bring who helped him achieve 2017 coach of the year and an undefeated record. Looking back, people were mad we brought the defensive staff with us, and they are the only ones performing right now. But with hindsight, would have been nice to open the checkbook for a bigger name or two. Especially with a couple of the guys that were hesitant because the south is all they really knew.
Do you think Frost would be open to replacing staff if this year doesn’t go well? Will he have a choice? I think its helpful to have coaches that are familiar with the conference that you play in. I don’t think the UCF staff had any prior BIG 10 experience.
I hope it works with Frost, but if it doesn’t I’d like to see a coach with prior heading coaching experience in the foot print.
That said, an interesting name I heard is ND DC Marcus Freeman, he played at OSU, was DC at Cincinnati and is now DC at Notre Dame. I think he would be a better option than Leonhard at Wisky.
Yes, I think he will if we don’t get to a bowl. The question will be if Alberts lets him. We just lost to a team that was projected last in the conference preseason. We can’t lose that game. To your point about familiarity, I think that goes for the recruiting trail too. Held with JUCO/KC area is great. Fisher in Florida is great. But does Dawson in New Jersey or Beckton in Georgia help as much? Chinander in Iowa has been a really good pull too. I almost would lean a guy like Dan Jackson to come in and coach TEs and take his Nebraska ties, we would have got one if not two Omaha guys this year if he was on staff.
The guy at Notre Dame is head coach in waiting I believe so that would be a tough pull.
Hindsight being 20/20 he should have had to make some hard choices with his staff but after that magical run at UCF everyone, and I mean everyone thought the guy was the second coming of Lombardi. Everyone wanted the entire UCF storybook to just be transported over to become the NU storybook that was even greater because he was “our” golden boy. It is what it is now but I don’t really fault anyone for how it went down.
I’d agree with hindsight. But if I look at his staff now i’m not telling him to get rid of any defensive coaches, and I would have had a hard time telling him to get rid of Held, Walters, Austin, etc. with their success at UCF. So at the very least I understand what he was going through.