No bowl game for MT.
Time to regroup and reload. Recruiting becomes the main focus.
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Time to regroup and reload. Recruiting becomes the main focus.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Officially official..
- Thread starter C-Bow
- Start date
With our schedule this year, we should have gone 10-2 or 9-3. It is that simple. I am not going to criticize Stockstill or the other coaches on their recruiting. I think that they bring in about as much talent as our record, location, and facilities will attract. What I do criticize is the bland brand of football that I have witnessed for the last several years. Sure, we have had some amazing moments, but a blind hog can occasionally find an acorn. When Stock promised us "basketball on grass," I did not think that he was referring to our opponents. I don't know what our coaches are filling the players' heads with, but all too often, I see players just standing on the field confused about what to do next. Meanwhile, I am yelling "just hit the f"
Agree for the most part. We generally do OK with recruiting and our last two hauls have been some of our best ever.
...But.... you can recruit all the talent in the world and still be a piss poor team if the coaches don't develop athletes and formulate proper game plans.
Player development has been a glaring problem for us since Stockstill has been here. We've had so many athletes come in as freshmen and play out of their mind only to regress over their careers here instead of getting better. That's absolutely uncalled for and really shouldn't be tolerated, but I guess I won't go there since what I say means nothing.
...But.... you can recruit all the talent in the world and still be a piss poor team if the coaches don't develop athletes and formulate proper game plans.
Player development has been a glaring problem for us since Stockstill has been here. We've had so many athletes come in as freshmen and play out of their mind only to regress over their careers here instead of getting better. That's absolutely uncalled for and really shouldn't be tolerated, but I guess I won't go there since what I say means nothing.
If MT doesn't turn this ship around, I am making a bold prediction: we lose our football team in 10 or less years.
Wallow in bad coaching and average records and we die on the vine. Make a true commitment to winning and we have a better shot at surviving. None of the "bowl eligible" crap. Win. Be transparent. The facade and smoke up my butt gets old.
I can live without MT athletics, however, I would rather see them flourish.
This post was edited on 12/8 1:07 AM by JohnDavidBlue
Wallow in bad coaching and average records and we die on the vine. Make a true commitment to winning and we have a better shot at surviving. None of the "bowl eligible" crap. Win. Be transparent. The facade and smoke up my butt gets old.
I can live without MT athletics, however, I would rather see them flourish.
This post was edited on 12/8 1:07 AM by JohnDavidBlue
I have noticed the same thing. I also don't feel like our coaches properly motivate the players. Players reflect their coaches' attitudes. I feel like our coaches are too complacent. It shows in the players' body language. Our players often lack fire because there isn't much instilled into them by the coaches. I often find myself wondering why I care so much, when so many of our players do not seem to care much at all when they are losing. Stockstill should start every practice that follows a game with belly-flops for every player that messed up during a game. Throw a stupid pick, fumble the ball, hold, drop a pass, miss a tackle, screw up an assignment, run the wrong route, or jump off-sides, and you are doing 200 yards of "Supermans." There needs to be more severe consequences for not being more mentally aware.
I sat in Row 1 directly behind the MT offense at the Memphis game and noticed a lack of excitement at any point on our bench. With the game still close in the early part of the 3rd qt. Barber came over to the offensive side to motivate those guys. They looked at him like they didn't understand what he was saying. Zero reaction. I was looking for any leadership on the offensive side. I saw none. I remember thinking this is going to be a problem this season. Also, I noticed coach Watts yelling. But, not much in the way correcting problems from the previous series downs. Again zero reaction from the players. Those images of have come back to me over the course of the season as some have posted concerns with some the assistants and the body language of the players.
Mut, this is exactly what I've been saying on here for the longest. Coach Stockstill has epitomized mediocrity since he's been here and has taken this program as far as he can go with his style of coaching. Sure, we've had good results conference-wise (against mainly bottom-feeders), that is, if you consider he's never won an outright conference championship; however, his results against teams with winning records has been abysmal as has been chronicled on this board previously.
Additionally, fan interest and attendance has continued to dwindle during his tenure--signaling that the average fan is either losing interest or has lost it all together for our football program. There's just no enthusiasm out there for Blue Raider football any longer. I see it and hear it all the time. Folks are fed up with Stockstill and his boring, unimaginative offenses and his non-aggresive, pourous defenses.
Unfortunately, thanks to Massaro, we're stuck with Stockstill for the next several years thanks to the long-term, nonsensical contract he was signed to.
You're absolutely right; no doubt we're definitely headed in the wrong direction as a program. The fans have already voted on this.
I think we have some good players on the roster. But I agree not much excitement from players and especially from coaches. Stock is a great guy but does very little to promote the program other than go on local radio every week or so. He has got to SELL the program like Insell and even Kermit do. For what he earns he should be highly visible in the community, on campus, in media and anywhere else he can help sell the program. We need a Bruce Pearl type of salesman who will do the things to get the program noticed...even if they do seem hokey at the time.
We obviously do no have the money to pay for a great coach like they do in Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Eugene, or Tallahassee. It is also difficult to discover an up-an-coming talent like we did with Manny Diaz. Yet it is our tag-a-long nemesis Western Kentucky that is likely going to play in the Bahamas Bowl instead of us. For some reason, we have lost our direction, and we are going to end up in a place that we did not intend to go. If we are not careful, those that came to CUSA after us are going to get the credit, prestige, and accolades that we should be getting. It is a brave new world in the realm of college football thanks to the new playoff system. We all thought our ship had come in when we were invited to CUSA, but here we sit in almost complete disregard.
Did Arkansas State have a bunch of money to pay Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, and Bryan Harsin? They made 3 grand slam hires in a row. These coaches went there and did such a good job that they were hired away immediately. Arkansas St. can hire 3 in a row with a smaller budget, but we can't hire one? Love the expectations we set for ourselves.....
2 of the three had ties to the area that made it a little easier to hire them than one would typically face.
Harsin's a grand slam? He went 7-5, won the dreaded co-championship that everyone seems to hate, in a watered down Sunbelt.
You've been crucifying Stock for similar results.
However, you do have a good point about Arkansas State becoming an attractive place for coaches. When one coach has success, another sees that and thinks he can have the same success as well - the job gets known as a "good" job for up and coming coaches. It makes it that much more attractive. Good for them.
Boise St. seemed to think so. And considering the hand he was dealt, 7-5 wasn't bad at all for his first year there as head coach. His buyout also netted Ark St. another $1.2 million in the form of direct deposit compliments of Boise St. So not only did he have a decent season, he actually got Arkansas St. paid because his buyout was worth way more than the one year salary they paid him. It was a win for everyone involved and yet another genius move by their brilliant AD.
All I see is one excuse after another any time I try to answer one's question. Same deal when you asked for a coach that had a winning record and was replaced by someone who did better. Kiffin won 2 more games than Fulmer did in his last season and parlayed the success into the head gig at USC. Short of winning the SEC, Kiffin was about as successful as one could be.
Now it's "oohhh well 2 of the 3 guys had local connections." Woopty doo. Kudos to their AD for taking advantage of the situation and bettering his athletic department and university.
Maybe Massaro could take a page out of his book and hire someone with "local connections" that could light it up. Maybe that Fulmer guy would do a good job? Or would that make too much sense? Unfortunately we'll never know because of Stock's albatross contract that effectively has given him tenure here.
This post was edited on 12/9 8:45 AM by sWiley
All I see is one excuse after another any time I try to answer one's question. Same deal when you asked for a coach that had a winning record and was replaced by someone who did better. Kiffin won 2 more games than Fulmer did in his last season and parlayed the success into the head gig at USC. Short of winning the SEC, Kiffin was about as successful as one could be.
Now it's "oohhh well 2 of the 3 guys had local connections." Woopty doo. Kudos to their AD for taking advantage of the situation and bettering his athletic department and university.
Maybe Massaro could take a page out of his book and hire someone with "local connections" that could light it up. Maybe that Fulmer guy would do a good job? Or would that make too much sense? Unfortunately we'll never know because of Stock's albatross contract that effectively has given him tenure here.
This post was edited on 12/9 8:45 AM by sWiley
It's irrelevant what Boise thought of Harsin. I also don't care what Arkansas State got paid in a buyout.
Arkansas State won the buyout trophy. Good for them.
None of that changes the fact that Harsin's 1 year is similar to Stock's entire tenure, yet you call one a home run, and the other a loser.
I didn't ask for a coach who did better. I asked for an example of a coach who "won more".
Kiffin's 1 year at 7-5 (.583) doesn't compare to Fulmer's 152-52 (.745)
Also, you really might want to re-think your position that Kiffin was an upgrade. You might be the only person in the state that thinks that. And let's not even factor in the fact that he left in the night one step ahead of the NCAA.
Also, Kiffen was about as successful as he could be at 7-5 with a bowl loss at UT with it's SEC pedigree and 100+ million budget? Really? This is a statement you can make with a straight face?
7-5 is as successful as UT can hope to be, but God forbid MT does that?
You're not even making sense at this point.
Good for them, but even you have to realize that ASU landing Freeze and Malzahn had a little bit more luck that we (or just about anyone else) have.
Looks like their luck has run out with Anderson.
Your strategy is to hire a local coach in Phil Fulmer who isn't interested in coaching anymore.
That's brilliant!
^This! If MT fans call the offense boring under Stockstill, they'll definitely fall asleep with Fulmer at the wheel of an offense that reached it's prime in 1999.
Wiley, I love your passion, but it's getting in the way of formulating a rational argument.
Every time a Vols fan hears "Pound the Rock", they have a mini-stroke.
If we're talking coaching candidates, Eddie Gran at Cincy is a guy I want us to talk to. He's been around the SEC and is well known in this region, recruits Florida like a fiend, and runs a high-octane offense.
But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
