One got beat by Temple with more talent and another almost got beat by Army with way more talent than we have. Both offensive coordinators in National Championship game last year. Next
2019-20 Coaching Discussion/Carousel
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Simply getting back to that level again would seem like progress.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And that's why it's a pretty appealing job.
You know what else is a poor look to kids? When you retain a HC who can’t produce on the field and then right around and tell those recruits as 19-20 year olds that they have to earn their onto it. That’s what we like to call hypocrisy.
Besides that, as stated, our efforts in recruiting are not going well. The idea that we retain a flailing coaching staff to save our flailing recruiting efforts is just....not good.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
By SP+ rankings, their remaining opponents are ranked (UNT is currently ranked 78th):
89
114
102
128
100
124
93
They already beat UTSA (125th) 45-3 earlier this year. Not making any promises but I'd feel very confident about their chances of reaching seven wins. at worst. Winning out isn't off the table, especially if they defeat USM on the road this weekend.
You won’t meet a bigger fan of FO than myself but you know you have a big problem here, right? They’re heavily weighting a close loss to Cal. There are two issues with this. 1- Cal has an offense almost completely void of talent and as such, doesn’t score a lot of points. 2- They had Rico Bussey in that one.
Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech and UAB are going to be brawls and two of those are on the road. They’re gonna limp to the postseason and a limp to the postseason in CUSA will not be on our radar. Certainly won’t be out 2nd choice.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Road games at Cal and SMU were tougher than they appeared in the preseason. And they very nearly beat Cal.
But Houston at home was a good challenge for them and they got beaten handily. At Southern Miss is another one of those games, let's see how they do.
Mason Fine is a senior QB that's been extremely productive, this ought to be a big year for them. But the question from day 1 has been whether Graham Harrell was the brains of the operation before leaving for USC. That remains an unanswered question.
If they go 7-5, we hire Littrell, and Harrell gets hired to be the next North Texas HC, who's pulled the wool over whose eyes there?
There's also the possibility that Harrell will end up a desperate and failed reach for a sinking Clay Helton, and Littrell and Fine win the CUSA.
And then of course, either of those outcomes could prove to be flukes and the opposite of what they indicate could be true. Or neither coach is any good. Or they both go on to great careers.
This stuff is hard! That's what makes it fun.
Well, it's not like Lovie has shown a commitment to any of the kids besides his own son. I guess he has a somewhat unique recruiting pitch: I may not coach you up, but come to Illinois and you can be a star in the SEC or first team all Big Ten at Maryland.
Really a poor take unless you are extremely close to the program.
I'm still holding onto hope until a 7th loss, but for the purpose of this thread:
Someone mentioned Sonny Dykes. I remember a Sonny Dykes Louisiana Tech team walking into Memorial Stadium and beating the crap out of us by 28. Then beating Virginia and Houston and coming within a 2-pt conversion of taking down Johnny Manziel.
Now he's got SMU in the top 25 for the first time since the death penalty.
Yes, please.
Someone mentioned Sonny Dykes. I remember a Sonny Dykes Louisiana Tech team walking into Memorial Stadium and beating the crap out of us by 28. Then beating Virginia and Houston and coming within a 2-pt conversion of taking down Johnny Manziel.
Now he's got SMU in the top 25 for the first time since the death penalty.
Yes, please.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The elephant in the room of course being his Cal tenure in between.
Reasonable people could take different perspectives on exactly how successful that was.
Sonny Dykes is in the same type of group as guys like Luke Fickell and Bill Clark. How do you get them to leave situations where they’re happy in places they love?
I met Sonny a year ago at a fundraiser in Lubbock. He and his wife love Dallas, LOVE. By his own admission, he didn’t enjoy his time in California and loves his home state. How do you convince that guy to leave? I don’t know that you can.
I compare him to Mike Leach. If the job fits, why leave? I think we would be wasting our time going after Sonny Dykes.
I am surprised no one has thrown out Kendal Briles name out.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Is Florida State's offense setting your heart racing?
Mike Leach is a different animal altogether. That man is one of a kind.
0440 has talked Briles up a bit. I’m indifferent.
LOL I hate the guy. I lost a good amount of money on that little brat in the MSU Baylor bowl game in 15. Still not over it.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
Yeah. Cal's athletic department is a pretty big mess, and I think Dykes probably didn't make many friends in how, um, open he was to bolting.
This may be unfair on my part, but I also think a Texan is probably always going to have an uphill climb in winning over Berkeley.
Think Willie still has a little to much say for Kendal to do his thing.
A couple of quick thoughts:
Why is everyone convinced that Monken would run the same offense at Illinois? His offenses at Georgia Southern and Army look similar but are very different. Yes, to the general fan they say he's a "triple option" coach but that is one play. One freaking play in the offense. It's kind of like saying a team is a "toss sweep" team or a "quick screen" team simply because of a play in their playbook. He tweaks the offense to the kids he has. Army is more power run based while his teams at Georgia Southern were perimeter strong because of the speed he had. And I remember watching a playoff game when he was at GSU and they were in gun at least 50% of the time. I wouldn't be surprised to see an option based package but have more RPO's to take advantage of the talent difference he'd see at an Illinois at both the QB & WR spots.
This is kind of my take on him too. His success has come in LA and TX, and didn’t do as well in the “north.” Not to say he wouldn’t have success at U of I, but seems happy where he is.
Lets not throw the baby out with the bath water regarding transfers. Imagine how bad we would be
without those guys this year. Some are here another year. influx of talent might be our only way to be
respectable with a new coach and also might be a draw to the right guy who can put them in places to
succeed. Something this staff apparently cannot. i dont think this roster is that far away from a bowl
with the right coach.
without those guys this year. Some are here another year. influx of talent might be our only way to be
respectable with a new coach and also might be a draw to the right guy who can put them in places to
succeed. Something this staff apparently cannot. i dont think this roster is that far away from a bowl
with the right coach.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
You wouldn't happen to have a YouTube video for that would you? That's news to me.
It's true that there's a lot more to the Johnson/Monken offense than one play, but the general formations and concepts they have in common and are unique to them. The one Monken game I saw when he was at GSU was when they beat Florida, and it was substantially the same offense Army runs now.
Willie Fritz took over for Monken at GSU and introduced a lot of hybrid option concepts out of the shotgun, making use of the players he inherited, but I wasn't aware that Monken did.
(FWIW, the people who are (incorrectly!) saying "gee this would work if only it was 'adapted' to modern concepts" should check out Fritz' Tulane who are doing largely just that to great effect)
It's really not that different from our running concepts we used to great success last year.
It's not even that different from the offense we ran with Juice.
It looks different, yes, but the concepts are not that different. My complaint has and continues to be that we've never had a complete game(Minnesota last year is probably the ONE time we clicked on all phases but that game was close early).
Finding ways to lose is not the culture we need. Regardless of what offense we run, the coach that currently seems to foster the most winning culture is Monken.
It's not even that different from the offense we ran with Juice.
It looks different, yes, but the concepts are not that different. My complaint has and continues to be that we've never had a complete game(Minnesota last year is probably the ONE time we clicked on all phases but that game was close early).
Finding ways to lose is not the culture we need. Regardless of what offense we run, the coach that currently seems to foster the most winning culture is Monken.
I don’t think so. Looking at records we have done worse in both sports. We are to the point now where turning over a staff no longer plays as an excuse for the records we’ve seen.
Basketball may turn this year but it hasn’t yet. We have an easier schedule so it’s set up nicely if we can take advantage. Football otoh is a different story. It’s pretty much a tire fire.
I knew Butch Jones was working as a "Football Analyst" for Alabama, but didn't know Mike Stoops and Major Applewhite were as well.
Not advocating for it but it is sad that I would take 3 non-coaching assistants from another team ( HC-Jones, OC-Applewhite, and DC-Stoops) over what is currently in place at Illinois (Smith, Smith, and Smith).
Not advocating for it but it is sad that I would take 3 non-coaching assistants from another team ( HC-Jones, OC-Applewhite, and DC-Stoops) over what is currently in place at Illinois (Smith, Smith, and Smith).
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