FOOTBALL Mason's Staff

[sWiley]

Your post is about philosophy, not personnel.

I get having reservations about scheme.

However, the idea that having a TE on the field has been figured out is asinine. You can spread the field with TE just like a 4th receiver. You can go under center, pistol or shotgun. You can pass or run. A TE can flex to the Y, be a traditional TE, or be an H back to lead block.

You have to remember in 2023 that 3 of the top 4 CUSA teams, 4 of the top 5 SB teams and the top 3 MAC schools all ran the ball more than they passed it. Every one of those G5 schools used 11 personnel. You don’t have to be an air raid , pass first offense in G5 to be successful. Matter of fact, most of the best G5 schools were 11 personnel last year. There’s a reason 11 and 12 personnel are the most common used in the NFL by every team. Having a good TE is such an advantage.

So I get it…concerns about scheme, sure.

Saying 11 personnel can’t work or that a G5 team has to be in 10 personnel to be successful is a stretch.

Personnel groupings isn't even the concern here. All the grouping talks are just flavor of the month crap people have talked about for the last few years. I care about tempo, philosophy, down & distance aggression, offensive game planning, etc. The personnel you have on the field (your best players) is more important than the number of back's or TE's.

I'm sorry, I just don't see MT consistently going out there and blowing people off the ball and running > 50% of the time and having success, personnel be damned. I don't see it at all. Not even in watered down CUSA.

Mason did not have a lot of offensive success at Vanderbilt. Not even when they played G5 teams. His last season at Vanderbilt he played an SEC only schedule (covid year) and went 0-9 against SEC competition. They only scored above 20 points in 2 of those 9 games.

In 2019 Vanderbilt played the following non SEC FBS teams:
Purdue Loss 24-42
Northern Illinois Win 24-18
UNLV Loss 10-34 (scored 10 points at home against a bad MWC team...)


That's an average of 19.3 points per game against non SEC teams, with two G5's and a low level Big Ten team.

Not impressed. And he appears to want to instill the same offensive philosophy here at MT. Again, concerning. He won't have athletes here as good as he had at Vanderbilt either.

How can you not be concerned?

 

[Brew_Raider]

Personnel groupings isn't even the concern here. All the grouping talks are just flavor of the month crap people have talked about for the last few years. I care about tempo, philosophy, down & distance aggression, offensive game planning, etc. The personnel you have on the field (your best players) is more important than the number of back's or TE's.

I'm sorry, I just don't see MT consistently going out there and blowing people off the ball and running > 50% of the time and having success, personnel be damned. I don't see it at all. Not even in watered down CUSA.

Mason did not have a lot of offensive success at Vanderbilt. Not even when they played G5 teams. His last season at Vanderbilt he played an SEC only schedule (covid year) and went 0-9 against SEC competition. They only scored above 20 points in 2 of those 9 games.

In 2019 Vanderbilt played the following non SEC FBS teams:
Purdue Loss 24-42
Northern Illinois Win 24-18
UNLV Loss 10-34 (scored 10 points at home against a bad MWC team...)


That's an average of 19.3 points per game against non SEC teams, with two G5's and a low level Big Ten team.

Not impressed. And he appears to want to instill the same offensive philosophy here at MT. Again, concerning. He won't have athletes here as good as he had at Vanderbilt either.

How can you not be concerned?

Geezus Wiley that concern has nothing to do with the question.


MT01 said “Defenses figured out about two decades ago how to defend 11 and 12 personnel grouping…” then proceeded to talk about scheme.

Personnel and scheme are 2 different things. Most of his 2 posts were talking about scheme. He’s conflating 2 things. There are personnel groupings and there is scheme.


Air raid or run n shoot purests aren’t exactly TE fans. So that’s what i was asking to clarify. Was he trying to say we need to stay 4 wide air raid or run and shoot to be successful or was he trying to say Reeder’s system won’t work?

I don’t think he’s an air raid purest or really against using a TE, but his literal quote says defenses figured out how to defend offenses using TEs 2 decades ago, so I asked. I’ve been surprised by takes on this board before.

 

[sWiley]

There isn't a personnel grouping or philosophy or anything groundbreaking going on in CFB right now that hasn't been figured out. So he’s right about 2 TEs but it’s kind of moot because everything has been figured out at this point. The last big wave of innovation is well behind us with RPO's, tempo, and spread concepts.

Sure, there are small wrinkles here and there but it's really all about the Jimmy's and Joe's, and always has been, outside of a few outlier occurrences. This is evidenced by the same teams, year after year, winning all the games with their 5 star roster line-ups. They have all the best players. Again, some outliers but generally holds true.

When you apply that understanding to the G5 level, you have to ask yourself, what gives us the best chance to win games and win a championship? (hint: It's not power football, in my opinion)

I'm not saying it can't be done. It would be a joy to watch. But is it really possible in this football climate? Where you are going to lose your best players every year to cash buyers? You really think you will be able to keep any competent linemen on your roster to execute power football? I hope so…but I am deeply skeptical.



Just my two cents

 

[MT01]

Your post is about philosophy, not personnel.

I get having reservations about scheme.

However, the idea that having a TE on the field has been figured out is asinine. You can spread the field with TE just like a 4th receiver. You can go under center, pistol or shotgun. You can pass or run. A TE can flex to the Y, be a traditional TE, or be an H back to lead block.

You have to remember in 2023 that 3 of the top 4 CUSA teams, 4 of the top 5 SB teams and the top 3 MAC schools all ran the ball more than they passed it. Every one of those G5 schools used 11 personnel. You don’t have to be an air raid , pass first offense in G5 to be successful. Matter of fact, most of the best G5 schools were 11 personnel last year. There’s a reason 11 and 12 personnel are the most common used in the NFL by every team. Having a good TE is such an advantage.

So I get it…concerns about scheme, sure.

Saying 11 personnel can’t work or that a G5 team has to be in 10 personnel to be successful is a stretch.

To clarify I never said having a tight end on the field is bad. But what you described and what the OC has described they intend to do are two very different things. What you have described sounds like the Chiefs offense and our OC ion the interview sounded nothing like that. That’s maybe where you’re seeing me mesh the scheme and personnel, because he gave us some insights into both. When he’s talking about groupings and coupling that with the other things he said like power, being a run oriented offense, using the lines strengths for down hill running, using the run game to set up pass, using a vertical passing game when they do throw, etc is an old school way of looking at things. So it’s a combination of both things he told us about personnel he wants to use AND the philosophy by which he will use them. Maybe it’s just me but it sounds more like a Harbaugh type offense and if so I have a hard time seeing it work here which is what led to me saying this is my one concern.

Second point the ratio to run vs pass plays is irrelevant and has nothing to do with what I’m referring to. Running more than passing out of the spread works for the same reason passing out of it does. Spreading out the defense and creating matchup problems. See Tenn under Heupel where they run it more than they pass it.

Speaking of Tennessee think about how long they held on to a power offense predicated exactly on the same thing our new OC referenced we’re now going to do. They lost a decade by holding on to old football methodologies that DCs know how to counter.

 

[RaiderDoug]

Some of you guys look like you're trying real hard to find something to complain about. Completely your prerogative of course.

Personally, I don't care if we don't win a game in the next 3 years and start over. At least it's something different and we're trying again.

As for the x's and o's - no one is reinventing the wheel here. I'm not sure there's some instruction manual for winning football games. Either they'll land and develop players who will be difference makers (and replace them when they leave), and they'll win. Or they won't.

And as for players leaving - its college football. Eligibility always runs out. And the best ones were leaving in 3 years anyway.

 

[Brew_Raider]

To clarify I never said having a tight end on the field is bad. But what you described and what the OC has described they intend to do are two very different things. What you have described sounds like the Chiefs offense and our OC ion the interview sounded nothing like that. That’s maybe where you’re seeing me mesh the scheme and personnel, because he gave us some insights into both. When he’s talking about groupings and coupling that with the other things he said like power, being a run oriented offense, using the lines strengths for down hill running, using the run game to set up pass, using a vertical passing game when they do throw, etc is an old school way of looking at things. So it’s a combination of both things he told us about personnel he wants to use AND the philosophy by which he will use them. Maybe it’s just me but it sounds more like a Harbaugh type offense and if so I have a hard time seeing it work here which is what led to me saying this is my one concern.

Second point the ratio to run vs pass plays is irrelevant and has nothing to do with what I’m referring to. Running more than passing out of the spread works for the same reason passing out of it does. Spreading out the defense and creating matchup problems. See Tenn under Heupel where they run it more than they pass it.

Speaking of Tennessee think about how long they held on to a power offense predicated exactly on the same thing our new OC referenced we’re now going to do. They lost a decade by holding on to old football methodologies that DCs know how to counter.

Thank you for clarifying your posts.

The coach in me cringes when someone mixes statements like what happened in your posts. It seem like you were meaning scheme, but had the line specific to personnel. I wonder is it mistyping, misunderstanding or something else like being an air raid / run n shoot purist.

And Wiley jumping like he did ignoring what I was trying to clarify felt like I was being gaslit.

Concern about Reeder philosophy with Mason = got it.

 

[MT01]

Thank you for clarifying your posts.

The coach in me cringes when someone mixes statements like what happened in your posts. It seem like you were meaning scheme, but had the line specific to personnel. I wonder is it mistyping, misunderstanding or something else like being an air raid / run n shoot purist.

And Wiley jumping like he did ignoring what I was trying to clarify felt like I was being gaslit.

Concern about Reeder philosophy with Mason = got it.

Fair enough. Sorry for not being clear initially.

 

[blueraiderJT]

The last time we committed to a 2 TE system with a REAL OL coaching staff was 2012. We had 2 coaches on the line who worked together to integrate a true running game that imposed it's will with athletes that were not as good as other teams in the belt at the time. We also dominated a GT team with Benny.

What is going on now is that this staff wants to reintroduce a run first mentality and they have committed to it by bring true TE's back into the game. People bring up Mason's last 2 years at Vandy but when he had Webb and Vaughn, they beat UT multiple times and they also ran all over us.

All I can say is....

We have improved the size and length of our line in just one recruiting season.

We have gotten some TE talent in.

We are running a varied tempo style. When we did that in 2012 and 13 with the 2 TE packages and whatnot, we won 16 games in 2 years even with a bad defense. It works.

Our S&C coach is highly skilled and he is different. Like way different. Like Jason Spray on a higher level different. What he's already doing is more than our last S&C coach ever did.

Mason has enegry and a staff that has gotten real results. No buddy buddy crap. He talked several dudes out of the portal and the staff has been recruiting people that other FBS schools actually wanted too unlike the last crew.

He is also recruiting the state of TN more the last staff ever did already.

We are no longer running basketball on grass. We are now playing Football on dirt.


I was down, like really down when they hired him. I did not like this hire at all. However, I'm been nothing but impressed with him since he's been here. He's done more than Stock ever did in terms of community engagement and campus engagement.

 

[BRaiderDave]

The last time we committed to a 2 TE system with a REAL OL coaching staff was 2012. We had 2 coaches on the line who worked together to integrate a true running game that imposed it's will with athletes that were not as good as other teams in the belt at the time. We also dominated a GT team with Benny.

What is going on now is that this staff wants to reintroduce a run first mentality and they have committed to it by bring true TE's back into the game. People bring up Mason's last 2 years at Vandy but when he had Webb and Vaughn, they beat UT multiple times and they also ran all over us.

All I can say is....

We have improved the size and length of our line in just one recruiting season.

We have gotten some TE talent in.

We are running a varied tempo style. When we did that in 2012 and 13 with the 2 TE packages and whatnot, we won 16 games in 2 years even with a bad defense. It works.

Our S&C coach is highly skilled and he is different. Like way different. Like Jason Spray on a higher level different. What he's already doing is more than our last S&C coach ever did.

Mason has enegry and a staff that has gotten real results. No buddy buddy crap. He talked several dudes out of the portal and the staff has been recruiting people that other FBS schools actually wanted too unlike the last crew.

He is also recruiting the state of TN more the last staff ever did already.

We are no longer running basketball on grass. We are now playing Football on dirt.


I was down, like really down when they hired him. I did not like this hire at all. However, I'm been nothing but impressed with him since he's been here. He's done more than Stock ever did in terms of community engagement and campus engagement.

Agree 100%. Sit back and watch how this all plays out. At least it’s something different from the last 18 years of uninspiring doldrums.

 

[mtfblue]

Running the ball is a want to thing. It's a mentality, you can coach running the ball, firing off the lining and dominating the man on front of you. That's why they make the five man 3 man and 1 man sleds. you can teach leverage and drive. Most schools just want to zone block because it's easy to do and requires nothing. The key is how physical you practice in the spring, summer and fall. So if the coaches feel they can come off the ball and move something, let them show that. It will be much better than what we have seen. Most onlineman would rather come off the ball and hit someone instead of zone blocking

 

[MT01]

People like to point to him beating Tenn three times, but fail to recall that UT was not good when Mason beat them. Terrible actually in two of those three years although he did beat them once with a winning record. He caught them in the worst of their lost decade when Tenn was trying to hold on to a similar offensive philosophy that most of the rest of the SEC was eviscerating.In two of those three years Mason beat them, Tenn was 2-14 in the SEC during that time. He only had 7 other wins his seven years there in league play. And I get the fact it’s Vanderbilt but he had tough defenses while there. They just couldn’t score. If he would have used a spread and created mismatch problems for opposing defense like almost all other teams I believe he would have won more games there. Which is why I can’t understand why he would bring the same failed philosophy that he experienced there. And why as we talk some football and our future with DM it’s the one thing I was most troubled by when we announced the hire. It’s ok y’all if we express that this isn’t yet the greatest thing since sliced spread (pun intended).

So these last few messages actually help strengthen my point. If you look at Tenn and Vandy recruiting classes over those seven or eight years, neither were putting together top of their league classes and in Mason’s case his classes were last in the SEC every year he was there except one that was 12th. The results? A 30% win pct overall and 20% win pct against his peers. But the bigger key here isnt his W/L at a tough place to win it’s what was the offensive philosophy and what will he do here? His offensive philosophy often put him in the lower quarter of scoring offense on the nation. Here’s why I say it strengthens my point. At the risk of beating the dead horse, you must have an elite OL, a cerebral QB, stable of backs and two long, physical WR on the outside (not to mention playing making tight ends) to score points with this type of offense in the 21st Century. But he didn’t have the recruits at Vandy to do it. And I believe he would at least have to match the recruiting results here that he did there to do it in this league. Go back and look at those classes. On average Vandy recruits were only about 2 to 3 pts higher (using 247) than Stockstill classes. One advantage is he’s not going to be hamstrung by academics (though I actually call BS on this at Vandy as they let people in below standards). But the flip side is he’s not going to have the benefit of SEC facilities or selling playing at places my like Neyland, Sanford, and Denny. He might even have to recruit slightly better than he did at Vandy cause I’m not convinced Vandy was capable of winning our league (if they were hypothetically and magically transported to C-USA) any year he was there. At least not with the offense he ran.

All that said we only have so much to go on right now. My hope is this offense uses a multiple approach both in terms of personnel and philosophically. In 2024 and beyond the QB has to be in the shotgun most of the time. And you need to be able to get the ball to your best athletes in space regardless of scheme. At least until defenses solve how to defend the interior while spread out and also both short and long passing capabilities on the edge all at the same time. Right now only the top five or six programs in the nation can consistently do all those things on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve usually been the ones in the playoff.

 

[MT01]

Like some of you though I am excited again to see how this is going to play out. And it’s great just to be talking about FB again in a meaningful way. There isn’t a single thing aside from this one issue that has me concerned. He’s hit all the notes so far. And obviously we aren’t going to know exactly what this is going to look like until we get into Sept. I just hope he learned from his time at Vandy and doesn’t take the insanity route (i.e. doing the same thing and expecting a different result). It’s just that what we’ve heard so far sounds exactly like the same thing.

Perhaps I offer a little perspective. If I compare this to the CNM hire it’s a big difference. Whereas I was 95% sure he was going to fail here and believed deep down we absolutely made the wrong choice, with DM I don’t have that same visceral hunch. I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

[RaiderDoug]

People like to point to him beating Tenn three times, but fail to recall that UT was not good when Mason beat them. Terrible actually in two of those three years although he did beat them once with a winning record. He caught them in the worst of their lost decade when Tenn was trying to hold on to a similar offensive philosophy that most of the rest of the SEC was eviscerating.In two of those three years Mason beat them, Tenn was 2-14 in the SEC during that time. He only had 7 other wins his seven years there in league play. And I get the fact it’s Vanderbilt but he had tough defenses while there. They just couldn’t score. If he would have used a spread and created mismatch problems for opposing defense like almost all other teams I believe he would have won more games there. Which is why I can’t understand why he would bring the same failed philosophy that he experienced there. And why as we talk some football and our future with DM it’s the one thing I was most troubled by when we announced the hire. It’s ok y’all if we express that this isn’t yet the greatest thing since sliced spread (pun intended).

So these last few messages actually help strengthen my point. If you look at Tenn and Vandy recruiting classes over those seven or eight years, neither were putting together top of their league classes and in Mason’s case his classes were last in the SEC every year he was there except one that was 12th. The results? A 30% win pct overall and 20% win pct against his peers. But the bigger key here isnt his W/L at a tough place to win it’s what was the offensive philosophy and what will he do here? His offensive philosophy often put him in the lower quarter of scoring offense on the nation. Here’s why I say it strengthens my point. At the risk of beating the dead horse, you must have an elite OL, a cerebral QB, stable of backs and two long, physical WR on the outside (not to mention playing making tight ends) to score points with this type of offense in the 21st Century. But he didn’t have the recruits at Vandy to do it. And I believe he would at least have to match the recruiting results here that he did there to do it in this league. Go back and look at those classes. On average Vandy recruits were only about 2 to 3 pts higher (using 247) than Stockstill classes. One advantage is he’s not going to be hamstrung by academics (though I actually call BS on this at Vandy as they let people in below standards). But the flip side is he’s not going to have the benefit of SEC facilities or selling playing at places my like Neyland, Sanford, and Denny. He might even have to recruit slightly better than he did at Vandy cause I’m not convinced Vandy was capable of winning our league (if they were hypothetically and magically transported to C-USA) any year he was there. At least not with the offense he ran.

All that said we only have so much to go on right now. My hope is this offense uses a multiple approach both in terms of personnel and philosophically. In 2024 and beyond the QB has to be in the shotgun most of the time. And you need to be able to get the ball to your best athletes in space regardless of scheme. At least until defenses solve how to defend the interior while spread out and also both short and long passing capabilities on the edge all at the same time. Right now only the top five or six programs in the nation can consistently do all those things on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve usually been the ones in the playoff.

The problem is I don't think we have enough to go on to make any sort of determination at this point.

What do we have? A fluff blurb from the new OC where he says he wants to go 2 TE some of the time and he wants to play physical football. I've never heard a coach that doesn't want to play physical football, so throw that away. And the 2 TE comment? Who knows. If you look at the resume, it looks like the dude likes his passing attack. So, really, no one has any idea here.

We haven't even seen the Spring game. I don't think we have any idea what we're going to look like. And we probably won't until mid-year next year. And maybe not until he has turned over the roster enough to deploy what they truly favor.

You've mentioned Butch Jones's Tennessee teams - those offenses were no different when they had Josh Dobbs and crew blowing the doors off the SEC. He ended up with a dud QB, and the whole program collapsed. And at the end of the day, really, it's all going to be about the Jimmies and Joes. Any system is going to be successful when you can land talented players. Any system will fail if you don't.

And the think we need to remember here is - we're not going to play in the AFC North. We're playing in Conference USA. Every team that gets off the bus is going to have major major flaws. Friggin' Stockstill has been mailing it in for a decade, and still managed to go like .500. We're not going to need the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line or else we're doomed.

There's no reason to be negative and miserable at this point (not saying you were or are), other than if you just want to. We have no information to base any sort of judgement whatsoever. So, as a fan, you just have to roll with it and hope for the best and give the guy the honest benefit of the doubt.

 

[MT01]

The problem is I don't think we have enough to go on to make any sort of determination at this point.

What do we have? A fluff blurb from the new OC where he says he wants to go 2 TE some of the time and he wants to play physical football. I've never heard a coach that doesn't want to play physical football, so throw that away. And the 2 TE comment? Who knows. If you look at the resume, it looks like the dude likes his passing attack. So, really, no one has any idea here.

We haven't even seen the Spring game. I don't think we have any idea what we're going to look like. And we probably won't until mid-year next year. And maybe not until he has turned over the roster enough to deploy what they truly favor.

You've mentioned Butch Jones's Tennessee teams - those offenses were no different when they had Josh Dobbs and crew blowing the doors off the SEC. He ended up with a dud QB, and the whole program collapsed. And at the end of the day, really, it's all going to be about the Jimmies and Joes. Any system is going to be successful when you can land talented players. Any system will fail if you don't.

And the think we need to remember here is - we're not going to play in the AFC North. We're playing in Conference USA. Every team that gets off the bus is going to have major major flaws. Friggin' Stockstill has been mailing it in for a decade, and still managed to go like .500. We're not going to need the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line or else we're doomed.

There's no reason to be negative and miserable at this point (not saying you were or are), other than if you just want to. We have no information to base any sort of judgement whatsoever. So, as a fan, you just have to roll with it and hope for the best and give the guy the honest benefit of the doubt.

Actually I do have a bit to go on. I haven’t spent a lot of time doing this but have gone back to see what he’s done at other places. Talked to some UNT fans about his time there (when he was demoted from play calling) and looked at some of his other prior stops. So, it’s not a totally blind perspective. Also, like it or not I have pretty good instincts, which I trust. And thus I go with them.

But I do agree we’re not going to know anything definitively until we see some live action - and IIRC I believe I already acknowledged that. Again, I’m just talking football on a message board. Nothing more or less than that.

 

[blueraiderJT]

People like to point to him beating Tenn three times, but fail to recall that UT was not good when Mason beat them. Terrible actually in two of those three years although he did beat them once with a winning record. He caught them in the worst of their lost decade when Tenn was trying to hold on to a similar offensive philosophy that most of the rest of the SEC was eviscerating.In two of those three years Mason beat them, Tenn was 2-14 in the SEC during that time. He only had 7 other wins his seven years there in league play. And I get the fact it’s Vanderbilt but he had tough defenses while there. They just couldn’t score. If he would have used a spread and created mismatch problems for opposing defense like almost all other teams I believe he would have won more games there. Which is why I can’t understand why he would bring the same failed philosophy that he experienced there. And why as we talk some football and our future with DM it’s the one thing I was most troubled by when we announced the hire. It’s ok y’all if we express that this isn’t yet the greatest thing since sliced spread (pun intended).

So these last few messages actually help strengthen my point. If you look at Tenn and Vandy recruiting classes over those seven or eight years, neither were putting together top of their league classes and in Mason’s case his classes were last in the SEC every year he was there except one that was 12th. The results? A 30% win pct overall and 20% win pct against his peers. But the bigger key here isnt his W/L at a tough place to win it’s what was the offensive philosophy and what will he do here? His offensive philosophy often put him in the lower quarter of scoring offense on the nation. Here’s why I say it strengthens my point. At the risk of beating the dead horse, you must have an elite OL, a cerebral QB, stable of backs and two long, physical WR on the outside (not to mention playing making tight ends) to score points with this type of offense in the 21st Century. But he didn’t have the recruits at Vandy to do it. And I believe he would at least have to match the recruiting results here that he did there to do it in this league. Go back and look at those classes. On average Vandy recruits were only about 2 to 3 pts higher (using 247) than Stockstill classes. One advantage is he’s not going to be hamstrung by academics (though I actually call BS on this at Vandy as they let people in below standards). But the flip side is he’s not going to have the benefit of SEC facilities or selling playing at places my like Neyland, Sanford, and Denny. He might even have to recruit slightly better than he did at Vandy cause I’m not convinced Vandy was capable of winning our league (if they were hypothetically and magically transported to C-USA) any year he was there. At least not with the offense he ran.

All that said we only have so much to go on right now. My hope is this offense uses a multiple approach both in terms of personnel and philosophically. In 2024 and beyond the QB has to be in the shotgun most of the time. And you need to be able to get the ball to your best athletes in space regardless of scheme. At least until defenses solve how to defend the interior while spread out and also both short and long passing capabilities on the edge all at the same time. Right now only the top five or six programs in the nation can consistently do all those things on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve usually been the ones in the playoff.

We played UT when they were horrible and they killed us. We are stuck with who McPhee chose. I do like what Mason has done so far and the talent he's bringing in seems to be better than what we were recruiting. For sh!t's sake, that's all they can do at the moment. Plus, Mason beat the hell out of us 4 times in a row and beat WKU at their best (CUSA Champs in 2016) at their house and lost to them by like 2 or 3 pts when WKU absolutely beat the hell out of us (2015). So far, He's an upgrade. His peers in the SEC were f'ng UGA, Fla, UT and BAMA. It's Vandy. Besides Franklin, only one other coach took Vandy to 2 bowl games since the 50's or whatever and that is Mason. You can argue whatever, but Mason is like the second most successful coach at Vandy since the 50's or whenever. Vandy is the most handicapped team in CFB. You can argue Duke and Standford are too but Vandy is in the SEC. The SEC is not the ACC. At all. You can't really judge him on the same scale. Not even remotely. I don't know who even takes the Vandy job if it's offered. Franklin was the only one who could transform them and he was crooked as hell doing it and brought an awful culture on the Art Briles Baylor level to VU. Franklin ran when the heat got turned on his creation and got away with it scott free. Mason inherited the aftermath of it. Again, a handicap to an already handicapped team.

 

[blueraiderJT]

You mentioned UNT. That hire was not a good fit band Litrell's style is anti Bodie Reeder. So what does that say? It says the Litrell didn't know what the hell he was doing half the time at UNT. He was all over the road. He was also reactionary. Litrell was a snap the ball every 12 seconds guy. Also, we lost to UNT in 2019, the year he was there. LOL.So, that's 2 coaches Stock lost to. That says upgrade to me. We'll see what they do.

 

[RaiderDoug]

I'd be lying if I told you all that I know anything about the OC, but just from his resume posted on GBR.

This doesn't read like someone who wants to bring football back into the 1980's with pro-style and I-formation offense.

At this point, I'm all about positive vibes until they give me a reason not to be.

At Northern Iowa, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, 2022-23
• In 2023, UNI ranked ninth nationally in red zone efficiency, 15th in passing offense and 39th in total offense. Signal-caller Theo Day ranked 15th nationally in passing yards while receiver Sam Schnee earned All-American honors after ranking seventh nationally in receiving yards with 1,041
• First Team All-MVFC passer Theo Day led the conference in pass efficiency (169.0), passing touchdowns (26), passing yards (3,121) and total offense (289.7) as UNI posted the most efficient offense in the league with 444.9 yards per game and the MVFC's best third down conversion percentage (52%)

At Auburn, offensive analyst/interim quarterbacks coach, 2021
• Took over as the quarterback coach for the bowl game
• Helped coach Bo Nix who went on to set the career all-purpose yardage record at Auburn

At Utah State, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, 2020
• Hired in January and battled through the COVID-19 pandemic season

At North Texas, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, 2019
• Offense averaged 30.3 points a game to rank 27th nationally
• UNT was second in Conference USA in passing (283.3 ypg) and led Conference USA with 33 touchdown passes, which ranked 15th nationally
• All-Conference Honors: WR Jaelon Darden (1st Team), QB Mason Fine (2nd Team), OL Elex Woodworth (2nd Team), WR Jyaire Shorter (All-Freshman)

At Eastern Washington, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, 2017-18
• In 2017, EWU was eighth in the FCS in passing (320.5 per game), fifth in total offense (476.7), 14th in scoring (34.5 points per game) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1%)
• In 2018, he helped the Eagles reach the FCS title game after winning the Big Sky Championship and scoring 45 or more points seven times
• In 2018, EWU averaged 528.2 yards and 43.1 points per game to rank third and fourth in the nation, respectively
• 10 offensive players earned All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2018

 

[Brew_Raider]

This doesn't read like someone who wants to bring football back into the 1980's with pro-style and I-formation offense.

He isn’t. We are switching from pass first to run first offense. We will probably see more running plays called than pass plays for the first time in a decade.

We will still spread the field and still be in the shotgun/pistol most of the time.

The unknown is can he adapt his philosophy to our player’s skill set and it appears the concern is his ability to scheme/in game play call.

 

[MT01]

After flaming out with Mason Fine and looking at what he did last year it's difficult to know what he's going to do. What he described is almost nothing like what he did last year. There definitely was not the use of a lot of motion as described. He also spent most of the year in a base package, which was in the shotgun with a majority of the plays called out of an 11 personnel - specifically double wing formation (i.e. one TE one 3 WR). Some trips and an occasional four wide. A lot of the run plays were counters.

I don't recall seeing his offense use the pistol at all, but UNI was fairly ubiquitously in the shotgun. Again, this is not really what he described. Given all these variables, it's not clear if he's going to be running his offense or what DM wants him to run.

 

[Shayne_Pickering]

Didn’t see a thread for the baseball game yet so I’ll put it in here. Derek Mason is throwing the first pitch at the baseball game today

 

[SpaceRaider]

Didn’t see a thread for the baseball game yet so I’ll put it in here. Derek Mason is throwing the first pitch at the baseball game today.

start thread at linked thread below:

Lipscomb, 3PM, Tuesday, February 27, 2024​

 

[SpaceRaider]

“I want uphold the tradition of having great guys up front” - Q&A with Defensive Line Coach Vernon Hargreaves - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Vernon Hargreaves is happy to talk to you about the schools he's coached at in the more than 35 years he's been a football coach. He'll happily

goblueraiders.com

 

[Shayne_Pickering]

 

[Hop45]

Good for him. I can see him having a lot of success there.

 

[Shayne_Pickering]

Good for him. I can see him having a lot of success there.

I agree. He’ll be reunited with his high school coach Phillip Shadowens too, who is the head coach there now

 

[Hop45]

I agree. He’ll be reunited with his high school coach Phillip Shadowens too, who is the head coach there now

Did not know that.........

 

[SpaceRaider]

"You’re going to play hard and you’re going to be a great teammate” - Q&A with tight ends coach Joe Ganz - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Joe Ganz knows exactly the type of relationship he wants to have with his players in the newly formed Middle Tennessee tight end room. It's

goblueraiders.com

 

[BlueraiderSC]

View embedded media

He has to have been one of our highest rated recruits, didn’t he? I remember being very excited when we got him.

 

[blueraiderJT]

He has to have been one of our highest rated recruits, didn’t he? I remember being very excited when we got him.

We had him one year after he transferred out of Ole Miss. He did light it up in the 2016 season. However, we lost to freaking Hawaii in that bowl game and WKU. WKU could not stop Itavius and what did we do with WKU having 2 TO's left with 2:47 on the clock? We try a screen pass that Richie drops. Stops the clock. Then we run Mathers. WKU TO's. Then we run him again and WKU TO's. No running clock and we punt. If we ran him 3 times with the clock running by the 3rd down, even if we punt, they got less than a minute to drive the field. If we run Mathers and he got us the 1st down, we run out the clock and win the thing. Mathers was a weapon. Our OC never had any firearm experience apparently. Sorry, but 4th and 1 with the WKU game on the line, you go for it.

Oh well, great to see Itavius still in the game working with the future.

 

[SpaceRaider]

“There's a little chip on your shoulder” - Q&A with Linebacker’s Coach A.J. Reisig - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A.J. Reisig knows folks might not have heard of every school he's been at in his coaching career. When you finish your playing days as a Division

goblueraiders.com

 

[SpaceRaider]

“You stay ready so you don't have to get ready.” - Q&A with Running Backs Coach Calvin Lowry - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Calvin Lowry's candy jar only has candies in it that start with the letter S. A bag of Skittles. A pair of Starburst. A mini-Snickers bar.

goblueraiders.com

 

[SpaceRaider]

Defensive analyst:

Former Rutherford County Schools Student Josh Smith Joins MTSU Football Staff

Josh Smith now shifts his focus to promoting his hometown team to potential athletes looking for a school and football program.

rutherfordsource.com

 

[Shayne_Pickering]

Defensive analyst:

Former Rutherford County Schools Student Josh Smith Joins MTSU Football Staff

Josh Smith now shifts his focus to promoting his hometown team to potential athletes looking for a school and football program.

rutherfordsource.com

MTSU continues to strengthen ties to Oakland here in addition to everything else he provides. When I was at Riverdale @ Oakland to close out the regular season (what a game, btw), he was inducted into their football hall of fame, and everyone on the sidelines was warmly going up to him. Seemed like he was a well-liked guy there and knows the area coming from Vanderbilt

 

[MidTennFootball]

Having watched alot of Oakland football over the last 30 years, always felt Smith was better suited as a TE than LB. Nothing wrong with the career he had tho.

Oakland is the team to beat for now in RuCo, but most programs in the area do a good job churning out college talent. Obviously going to be rare to sign the kid with P4 offers, but HS coaches have a long memory, they don't forget a simple thing like regular visits, even if they don't have a kid with an offer from MT.