Let's talk JD

[Dale Carnegie]

If the Zips lose to Temple, that will make it 3 years in a row that JD goes 3-5 in the MAC. This was one of the weaskest years we've ever seen for the MAC East. He deserves to be on the hot seat for these results.

[RowdyZip]

Wow, way to unearth this thread, Dale. It's interesting to read a month after most of the posts were made. Anyways, I'd have to agree that things haven't shown any improvement...and going above the MAC basement prediction doesnt mean much because no one knows what they're talking about. If job improvement is (and it should be) an important part towards being retained, this last game should mean everything to JD. However, seeing the contract that he has, I highly doubt we bite it and let him go after another mediocre season.

[ZachTheZip]

JD is not going anywhere, no matter the result. This has to be the worst possible year to be searching for a new head coach, with competition from what looks like at least 20 other D1-A schools. What are the chances that we get a good coach in the scramble?

[skip-zip]

Carnegie...The MAC East was weak, but everyone thought we'd be the weakest. Please don't forget that. This program was projected to be the bottom of the barrel this year on paper, and we are going to win 5 or 6 games. We beat a BCS team, lost to a top-20 team by 2 points, and played the eventual MAC East champ to the wire. I have to be honest...I wish we had pulled out a couple more games, but I cannot call this year disappointing by any means. Someone made a reference to assistant coaches leaving every year. Have you been around college football very long? Every team has that issue. College football assistant coaching is probably the most turnover-prone profession in the country. Coaches everywhere know each other, and are continually luring assistants to come to position jobs at other schools. It's the nature of the beast. There will not be a coaching change next year. MAC teams don't have the resources to continually pull the plug on coaches. The evidence, once again, lies in our history of keeping our previous coach here for 8 YEARS despite a record of 20+ games under the .500 mark. JD is only a handful of games under the .500 mark through 5 seasons, and has shown me this year that we're on the verge of bouncing back to a competitive position after the last two seasons. Both as a fan, and as a realist about the nature of MAC football, JD will still be here next year, and I want him to be here.

[Valpo Zip]

I agree that JD will be here next year and he should if you ask me. The main reason being the money, second reason being that most of the people on this team are returning and they were all recruited by JD so let's start at the info with some stability and an experienced team. If nothing else, i expect the MAC media to give us a decent position in their pre-season ranking. Third reason, we don't have an alternative coach waiting to get the job. I wish we had a "KD" football coach, you know some decent akron graduate who wants to be in Akron and create a dynasty, but there isn't. Now having said that, it just makes me when i see people explaining how this season was not disappointing. This season is nothing but disappointing."This program was projected to be the bottom of the barrel this year on paper, and we are going to win 5 or 6 games."So what? we were expected to fininsh last in the mac east and that is really close to what we are. We mannaged to win no more that 3 MAC games against 3 terrible teams (2 of them took us to the wire) and now we want to feel good? Akron, Eastern and Can't were 3 terrible teams, the difference between them isn't worth talking about. We mannaged to beat them Woo Hoo."We beat a BCS team"Syracuse is 1-5 in the BCS conference you are talking about. They wouldn't be .500 in the MAC, what is there to be proud of?"lost to a top-20 team by 2 points"Keyword: lost. Thank you. "played the eventual MAC East champ to the wire" again, Keyword: lost. Using your same argument, the scum of D1 football took us to 3 OT, or does that not count in your book?"I have to be honest...I wish we had pulled out a couple more games, but I cannot call this year disappointing by any means"I have to be honest too, if you accept mediocrity and applause it, that's what you will keep getting.

[Blue & Gold]

I definitely want to give JD more time. His first few years were a recruiting learning experience for him. He went after some extremely good athletes with questionable character and, as we all know, got burnt. That has haunted the program for about 3 years now. However, these last few years he's learned from his mistakes (without becoming totally gunshy and not taking any chances at all - Devoe Torrence, Ryan Bain) and his recruting classes have been very strong and loaded with true student-athletes. We really do have a lot of talent on the field.Additionally, our offense is very good and our special teams are fantastic (except, of course, during the Ohio debacle.) Our defense is truly pathetic and, frankly, quite embarrassing. But I'm sure JD must know this as well as anyone. Fleming included. We really do need to make some rather substantial changes to the D, what those might be I don't know; I don't know enough about the X's and O's to make an intelligent comment in that regard. Do we need a new Defensive Coordinator? Perhaps.Reading other posters on the board talking about the 3-3-5 is interesting to me and one comment that I think is a credible insight is that our D-linemen are too small for a 3-down scheme. If you only have 3-down linemen all 3 of them had better be 280-to-300ish-pounders. I think our current personnel would be better suited for a 4-down scheme - 2 300ish-pounders and Lemon & Sewell coming off the corners in more traditional DE roles.Anyway, I think we're going to be an extremely good football team next year!

[ZachTheZip]

Replacing Fleming wouldn't benefit us at all next season. The defense would have to learn a new scheme (they might anyways), and it's expensive to replace a coordinator. Might as well go for stability on a team that's fairly young. If nothing changes, though, then it's time to look elsewhere.

[zipsbandman]

JD needs to go. Will he go? Can we afford to let him go? I don't think so. We're not in a good spot right now. Just about every MAC school will be looking for a coach and where do we fit in the picture? I don't want to trade a mediocre coach for another mediocre coach. Also, what are the financial implications? Can JD leave and find a job somewhere else and possibly we don't have to pay him? At the very least I hope our AD is looking at every possible scenario. I'm looking at that Indiana game and the first game that comes to mind is the Cincy game. The zips will play a beatable Indiana close in front of 30k fans and will commit just enough mistakes to lose it. How can you take the same coaches and same players and expect a different result?

[zipseuph]

if we fire JD I bet we could get Romeo Crenel

[Lee Adams]

I guess I'm of the mindset that the appropriate time for evaluating such things is when the season is over. Any AD worth his salt evaluates every program every year, based on all of the perameters deemed important. Winning certainly tops that list, followed by the overall direction and progress of the program.It does seem likely JD is headed for a fairly severe and thorough review at season's end. I think he did a good job when he arrived of building on what Lee Owens had done here (and Lee did help us, imo). But it does seem that, for whatever reason, JD's been unable to put the program into that next gear. From a purely personnel standpoint, I don't think JD has recruited much better than Owens did. Marginally better, maybe. Throw in the added pressure of the new stadium and the expectations it quite naturally creates, and I think it's safe to say that JD is definitely sitting in the hotseat. But, that's the life of a football coach, I guess. And he is being paid handsomely enough to endure philosophically whatever comes his way.At any rate, I think we have a good AD in Rhoades and a top-shelf president in Proenza. I trust they'll do what's right and proper.

i'm getting all warm and fuzzy...

[Lee Adams]

I don't see JD leaving after this year. I'm not happy with the losses, as I believe we have the talent to have won those games, but look at the competition. We lost to BSU, a top 25 team, Cincinnati, a good BE team and BG a.......uh........ Anyway, he can claim that he came very close to winning those games with his D being decimated by injuries and without his #1 and #2 Running Backs. I think we've got a good chance at 6 wins, but I don't think we'll go to a bowl. It's apparent to me that JD's approach to improving UofA football is to go after good players that, for one reason or another, may never see the field at UofA. Players that could play at BCS schools but have too much baggage. If a few of these guys manage to hang around and play, we fill the holes with JUCO's and we have an average MAC team, as we do today. What may happen, if enough guys hang around, is that we'll just mow through the MAC. As for his coaching ability, I think it is average. In the end, I think JD is cut from a similar mold as Brian Kelley (former CMU coach and now Cincinnati Coach). JD is going to hit the road as soon as another, better offer comes around. 6 wins will keep him here IMO. The administration does not want a potential disaster next season when we have the best chance to hook a lot of new fans.

the fans will show up just for the new digs...the games won't matter much in regard to attendance...this is the best time to recruit new blood...

[uafan]

Additionally, our offense is very good and our special teams are fantastic (except, of course, during the Ohio debacle.) Are you kidding me? Our kickoffs are inconsistenet, our field goal kicking is inproving, but still iffy, and our punting is at a high school level.Anyway, I think we're going to be an extremely good football team next year!

Ahhh, the refrain of losers everywhere..."Wait 'til next year!"

[skip-zip]

skhorbotly...you've provided me with the perfect example of someone who chooses to focus on all of the negatives, and just blindly chooses to not look at any of the positives. If you think that a 2-point loss to a top-20 team is a "dissappointment", then that's your choice. I've been around this program for almost 30 years, and I've had to endure 50 POINT LOSSES to teams ranked in the top 20 over the years. So, is it difficult to see that I might feel some encouragement with such an outstanding performance? And beyond that....do you really think that we SHOULD beat top-20 teams? Heck...I wish we had won that Cincinnati game just as much as you do, but put it in perspective...please. And our 2 wins in the last couple of years against BCS schools? We've never beaten ANY team from a BCS conference. ANY!!! And you choose to find a way to somehow find dissappointment in us reaching that threshold for the first time? Because they were not "good" BCS teams? Ok then. Now on to our conference record. Again, you find that the team picked to finish dead last, but now has a chance to finish .500 in conference play is somehow a "dissappointment"? Well...again...your choice.Here's the point...You, as a fan.....and I'm sure you're a great fan...has the choice of feeling however you want. But, what I am simply saying is this.....we were projected to be the worst team in the league. It wasn't a GREAT season, and I don't believe I would ever classify it as a GOOD season either. But, was it better than expected? That's obvious. Was it exciting to see us be competitive against the best teams in our league again after what we've seen the last two years? Absolutely. So, please stop with the "accepting mediocrity" bull. NOBODY on this site is...or should be....satisfied with us being a .500 football program every year. But, many ADs evaluate their programs every year, and determine coaching decisions based on "the direction that the program is currently moving". And if you look at our competitiveness against the top teams in our league this year, our higher-than-expected win total, and the way we played against a Top-20 team and a BCS team in a non-league games.....it's hard to make an argument that we have not made positive steps in the right direction as a program this year.

[ZipAlumn]

I have not commented on this subject before, but now I need to vent. Before the Buffalo game the Zips had their own destiny in their own hands. They should have had every reason to be motivated to win out. The loss to Buffalo was a heart breaker, but the season was not a complete loss at this point. The loss to Ohio U. was difficult to take but we still could finish with a 6-6 record. But the loss to Temple (the team that two years ago people on this forum said was a disgrace) was disgusting. It is obvious that Zips quit on this season and that I blame on coaching. Either JD gave up on this team .... the team gave up on JD .... or both .... the fact remains that a 5-7 season is not acceptable. Say what you will about Can't, but Martin had that team pumped and they didn't quit at the end of the season. My vote is to let JD finish out his contract (because of the money) then get rid of him .... because next year will be no different than the past couple.

[InTheZone]

In all likelihood, we can fire JD now and not end up paying off his contract. JD is not the kind of guy that's going to sit around for 2 years at home and collect on a contract. He'll get another job, and when he does, we're no longer liable to pay him the rest of his deal. I think the contract should be a non-issue. It's a show on both sides... the coach will jump out of the contract at the first hint of a new job, and the administration will terminate it when they want to move in another direction.

[Lee Adams]

I definitely want to give JD more time. His first few years were a recruiting learning experience for him. He went after some extremely good athletes with questionable character and, as we all know, got burnt. That has haunted the program for about 3 years now. However, these last few years he's learned from his mistakes (without becoming totally gunshy and not taking any chances at all - Devoe Torrence, Ryan Bain) and his recruting classes have been very strong and loaded with true student-athletes. We really do have a lot of talent on the field.Additionally, our offense is very good and our special teams are fantastic (except, of course, during the Ohio debacle.) Our defense is truly pathetic and, frankly, quite embarrassing. But I'm sure JD must know this as well as anyone. Fleming included. We really do need to make some rather substantial changes to the D, what those might be I don't know; I don't know enough about the X's and O's to make an intelligent comment in that regard. Do we need a new Defensive Coordinator? Perhaps.Reading other posters on the board talking about the 3-3-5 is interesting to me and one comment that I think is a credible insight is that our D-linemen are too small for a 3-down scheme. If you only have 3-down linemen all 3 of them had better be 280-to-300ish-pounders. I think our current personnel would be better suited for a 4-down scheme - 2 300ish-pounders and Lemon & Sewell coming off the corners in more traditional DE roles.Anyway, I think we're going to be an extremely good football team next year!

i am sure you are basing your assessment of next year's potential on the performance over the last 3 years...right?

[InTheZone]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

[Lee Adams]

Replacing Fleming wouldn't benefit us at all next season. The defense would have to learn a new scheme (they might anyways), and it's expensive to replace a coordinator. Might as well go for stability on a team that's fairly young. If nothing changes, though, then it's time to look elsewhere.

:blink: the offense is not young...they have one more year with that solid O-line then it goes away...kennedy is gone...johnson is gone...who knows if Alex Allen will be OK...williams is gone....grant is gone...bain? who knows?...AND jacquemain has one year left...this team will not be better 'on paper' next year...

[Lee Adams]

In all likelihood, we can fire JD now and not end up paying off his contract. JD is not the kind of guy that's going to sit around for 2 years at home and collect on a contract. He'll get another job, and when he does, we're no longer liable to pay him the rest of his deal. I think the contract should be a non-issue. It's a show on both sides... the coach will jump out of the contract at the first hint of a new job, and the administration will terminate it when they want to move in another direction.

i think he only gets fired if the AD really thinks he has a coach proven at at the I-AA or D-II level who is willing to come in here...otherwise no reason again to get some schmuck who has never been a head coach...

[Lee Adams]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

amen

[GP1]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

Weren't three of those wins in the last three years of LO against I-AA teams (Howard, Cal Poly and Liberty)? I'm sure that if that was the case and we filled those I-AA spots with I-A teams, the record would look more like 25-34. I fail to see how that is better than 27-32. Don't forget the wins against BCS teams and the MAC Championship either.I'm not being overly defensive of JD because if he got fired tomorrow I would not lose a minute of sleep over it, but this team is better now than it was under the LO era. After 9 years at Akron, LO could only muster 5 wins against I-A teams his last year.

[InTheZone]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

Weren't three of those wins in the last three years of LO against I-AA teams (Howard, Cal Poly and Liberty)? I'm sure that if that was the case and we filled those I-AA spots with I-A teams, the record would look more like 25-34. I fail to see how that is better than 27-32. Don't forget the wins against BCS teams and the MAC Championship either.I'm not being overly defensive of JD because if he got fired tomorrow I would not lose a minute of sleep over it, but this team is better now than it was under the LO era. After 9 years at Akron, LO could only muster 5 wins against I-A teams his last year.

Lee inherited a disaster of a program and had the worst facilities and administrative support in the nation to deal with. JD inherited a team with 4 future NFL players, coming off a winning record, one of the top graduation rates in the NCAA, and one of the top brand new practice facilities in the nation. STARTING OFF with that, he can barely muster 5 wins in his fifth season, in what has become the worst division in college football (the 2003 MAC had 3 ranked teams throughout the year and was knocking off ranked teams left and right). The comparison doesn't look too hot for your man JD.

[GP1]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

Weren't three of those wins in the last three years of LO against I-AA teams (Howard, Cal Poly and Liberty)? I'm sure that if that was the case and we filled those I-AA spots with I-A teams, the record would look more like 25-34. I fail to see how that is better than 27-32. Don't forget the wins against BCS teams and the MAC Championship either.I'm not being overly defensive of JD because if he got fired tomorrow I would not lose a minute of sleep over it, but this team is better now than it was under the LO era. After 9 years at Akron, LO could only muster 5 wins against I-A teams his last year.

Lee inherited a disaster of a program and had the worst facilities and administrative support in the nation to deal with. JD inherited a team with 4 future NFL players, coming off a winning record, one of the top graduation rates in the NCAA, and one of the top brand new practice facilities in the nation. STARTING OFF with that, he can barely muster 5 wins in his fifth season, in what has become the worst division in college football (the 2003 MAC had 3 ranked teams throughout the year and was knocking off ranked teams left and right). The comparison doesn't look too hot for your man JD.

You are dodging the point. JD would have a better record vs. LO if LO didn't play three cream puffs. It's OK to say your comparison isn't quite honest if you look closely.

[UAZipster0305]

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

Weren't three of those wins in the last three years of LO against I-AA teams (Howard, Cal Poly and Liberty)? I'm sure that if that was the case and we filled those I-AA spots with I-A teams, the record would look more like 25-34. I fail to see how that is better than 27-32. Don't forget the wins against BCS teams and the MAC Championship either.I'm not being overly defensive of JD because if he got fired tomorrow I would not lose a minute of sleep over it, but this team is better now than it was under the LO era. After 9 years at Akron, LO could only muster 5 wins against I-A teams his last year.

Lee inherited a disaster of a program and had the worst facilities and administrative support in the nation to deal with. JD inherited a team with 4 future NFL players, coming off a winning record, one of the top graduation rates in the NCAA, and one of the top brand new practice facilities in the nation. STARTING OFF with that, he can barely muster 5 wins in his fifth season, in what has become the worst division in college football (the 2003 MAC had 3 ranked teams throughout the year and was knocking off ranked teams left and right). The comparison doesn't look too hot for your man JD.

You are dodging the point. JD would have a better record vs. LO if LO didn't play three cream puffs. It's OK to say your comparison isn't quite honest if you look closely.

So JD is two or three games better than LO over the course of five years. Big deal!!! The results are still not good enough as I have described in several other posts. The facilities and administrative support differences are also notable.

[johnnyzip84]

I was trying to remember the coaching hires that Mack has made since he's been the AD. I seem to recall a soccer thread a while back that indicated Caleb Porter was actually a Thomas hire. Can anyone confirm? If this is so, does this mean Jodi Kest, Chris Pfau and Ron Arenz are Mack's only hires at this point? I'd like to get a handle on how his hires have looked so far. After all, if we all felt that Mack has a good knack for hiring quality coaches, then that makes any decision to fire JD a whole lot easier in my opinion.