FOOTBALL Q&A: Coach Rick Stockstill wraps up 2021 season

[SpaceRaider]

Q&A: Coach Rick Stockstill wraps up 2021 season - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — It was a roller coaster of a season for Blue Raider football. Heck, nearly every season is for almost every team in college football.

goblueraiders.com

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Crickets. Go back and read the similar piece from last year.
Here: Rick Stockstill 12/28/20
12/28/20 Part II

I tried to open the end of season 2019 piece done by the DNJ before they quit covering us for further comparison but it’s Subscriber Only.

“injuries, transfers….rinse, repeat. Another year or two of the same coming???

 

[MTLynn]

“injuries, transfers….rinse, repeat. Another year or two of the same coming???

I fear you're right. I hope Rick's 500K donation will lead to better results and I tend to believe Dearmon year 2 will be better.

 

[MTBlueMan]

The only question I want to hear him answer is: "When do you plan to retire?"

 

[sWiley]

I fear you're right. I hope Rick's 500K donation will lead to better results and I tend to believe Dearmon year 2 will be better.

I don't think the 500k donation was talked about enough honestly. That's a huge number for a coach to donate to a school when he's the active head coach and has no alumni connection. After taxes, that is an entire year's salary to donate.

Pretty sure I've never heard of something like that happening in the history of CFB. Donating 500k is a large amount of money for any head coach in the FBS, even someone like Nick Saban making around $10 mil per year. Rick could have taken that money and invested it for his family and taken care of them for generations to come (and he still probably can because he still makes a pretty nice paycheck), but he decided not to and instead invest in the future of our football program. That speaks volumes to me about his desire to win and build something here at MT.

Would any of ya'll here donate an entire year's salary after taxes to MT Football facilities? I highly doubt it. And again, Rick has no alumni connection to this university and beyond being employed here for 16 years, he has no obligation to it.

I think Rick's biggest issue is just not being an elite level coach and not having the stones or desire to fire his friends. He really may not believe he can get a better OL & DL coach here. And I know Rick really tries to evaluate the offense and give significant offensive input but let's be honest with ourselves here, Rick Stockstill is not even remotely close to being a bright offensive mind. He would be so much better off just letting his coordinators have 100% total control (Assuming he hires a competent coordinator). I think Dearmon absolutely is. I 100% believe nobody wants to win and build a powerhouse more than Rick, but I think Rick's just a little jaded and biased on how to get there.

Moving forward, I wish he would focus more on special teams (We had good special teams in 2021, we must keep it that way) and really look at replacing Polly, Mallory, and West with younger upcoming coaches.

Look at what Michigan did. They got rid of all aging assistants and hired a bunch of young, upcoming guys. All 10 assistants are under age 40 with the average age of their assistants being 35.3 years of age. It's no coincidence they finally beat Ohio St. and are playing in the CFB Playoff and appear to have their best team in 20ish years!!

https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...sistants-are-more-relatable-a-joy-to-play-for

CFB is copycat league, everyone knows that. Let's get younger assistants and get even better and win some championships!

 

[MT01]

I don’t agree with you at the beginning but do at the end. If Stockstill was truly committed to building the program and winning here he wouldn’t keep underperforming coaches just because they are buddies. MT football program is a safe space for CRS and his close friends who are taking the Tennessee retirement system to task. There are no expectations. Fans can bitch and complain and yet nothing still happens. Fans can quit coming to games and still nothing happens. There is no accountability except that which puts on himself. But to suggest the donation is a commitment to winning slaps reality in the face when he refuses to address the biggest problems in his own organization.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

I 100% believe nobody wants to win and build a powerhouse more than Rick, but I think Rick's just a little jaded and biased on how to get there.

That is spot on. A good coach sees their weaknesses and hires assistants to make up for them. Stock really needs to look at what this team NEEDS, not what he wants for it.

I've said before I'm 100% ok with Stock working out his contract IF staff changes are made. And I also blame CM. He is so comfy with Stock that he doesn't hold him accountable and let's him run it the way he wants, instead of again, NEEDS.

 

[RaiderDoug]

I don't think the 500k donation was talked about enough honestly. That's a huge number for a coach to donate to a school when he's the active head coach and has no alumni connection. After taxes, that is an entire year's salary to donate.

Pretty sure I've never heard of something like that happening in the history of CFB. Donating 500k is a large amount of money for any head coach in the FBS, even someone like Nick Saban making around $10 mil per year. Rick could have taken that money and invested it for his family and taken care of them for generations to come (and he still probably can because he still makes a pretty nice paycheck), but he decided not to and instead invest in the future of our football program. That speaks volumes to me about his desire to win and build something here at MT.

Would any of ya'll here donate an entire year's salary after taxes to MT Football facilities? I highly doubt it. And again, Rick has no alumni connection to this university and beyond being employed here for 16 years, he has no obligation to it.

I think Rick's biggest issue is just not being an elite level coach and not having the stones or desire to fire his friends. He really may not believe he can get a better OL & DL coach here. And I know Rick really tries to evaluate the offense and give significant offensive input but let's be honest with ourselves here, Rick Stockstill is not even remotely close to being a bright offensive mind. He would be so much better off just letting his coordinators have 100% total control (Assuming he hires a competent coordinator). I think Dearmon absolutely is. I 100% believe nobody wants to win and build a powerhouse more than Rick, but I think Rick's just a little jaded and biased on how to get there.

Moving forward, I wish he would focus more on special teams (We had good special teams in 2021, we must keep it that way) and really look at replacing Polly, Mallory, and West with younger upcoming coaches.

Look at what Michigan did. They got rid of all aging assistants and hired a bunch of young, upcoming guys. All 10 assistants are under age 40 with the average age of their assistants being 35.3 years of age. It's no coincidence they finally beat Ohio St. and are playing in the CFB Playoff and appear to have their best team in 20ish years!!

https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...sistants-are-more-relatable-a-joy-to-play-for

CFB is copycat league, everyone knows that. Let's get younger assistants and get even better and win some championships!

Call me a cynic, but he didn't donate the money because he really cares about the program.

He did it to ingratiate himself with the bigger cheeses, forestall any rising discontent, and basically create a situation where we can't put any pressure on Nice Guy Rick - don't you see how much he cares about the program?!?!

As for it being such a noble gesture - the man has stacked millions for virtually no return on investment over a decade and a half. It's the greatest gig I've ever heard of in a supposedly "competitive" sport. Yeah, i'd donate a few % of my earnings to make sure they couldn't fire me too if I was in his shoes.

At the end of the day, all that happened was .500 Rick just dug himself in a little deeper with the only people who could hold him accountable.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

And he’ll continue to trot out his teams to a 3/4 empty Floyd Stadium.

How this has been allowed to happen over 16 seasons just baffles me. Say what you want about “Memphis St” or “Tiger High” but, after losing seasons, .500 seasons, back to back losses to MTSU and blow out bowl losses, they quickly pulled the trigger in 2009 when only 4,000 fans showed up for a nationally televised game on ESPN2.