JD Critiques, the 3-3-5, Recruiting etc.

[ZachTheZip]

For what it's worth & sorry if someone else already posted it... http://www.footballscoop.com/?cat=24 hears that the Akron staff is safe...

He better be gone with anything less than 7-5 next year.

7-5 gets other coaches canned. Here at UA it is required to save your job.I am not picking on you, as you are correct. That is the problem here.We consider mediocrity as being a winner.

Mediocrity is a step above where we are currently at as a program.

[Buckzip]

For what it's worth & sorry if someone else already posted it... http://www.footballscoop.com/?cat=24 hears that the Akron staff is safe...

He better be gone with anything less than 7-5 next year.

7-5 gets other coaches canned. Here at UA it is required to save your job.I am not picking on you, as you are correct. That is the problem here.We consider mediocrity as being a winner.

Mediocrity is a step above where we are currently at as a program.

You are correct. But what that post is saying is that if we improve to mediocrity that is good enough.If this was JD's second or third year, I would agree as that is at least improvement. But after this many years merely improving to mediocre is sad.

[tbozeglav]

I don't understand how you people can sit there and expect JD to produce an 8+ win season when he hasn't even given us a winning, let alone .500, season in the last 3 years. In fact, in the last 5 years, the most wins he's put up is 7 wins. Honestly, considering how bad we have been the last 3 years, a 7-5 season is a big improvement, hence why its the minimum record he needs to get in order to save his job. I think an 8-4 season is possible, but anything more than that is entirely unrealistic. I believe with the new stadium, wins at home are going to be especially important. If he pulls another home record like he did this year, even with a winning record, he'll be gone. Right now we need success at home. Yes, road victories are great and we have been doing a good job with them lately (save for our last 2 road bombs), but winning at home is what matters more to the fans.

[Zip N' Dots]

If JD is fired it wouldn't surprise me. This area is sooo freaking starved for a winner.The Browns have tugged at the heart strings so many times, the fumble, the drive, leaving, coming back, last season. The Indians layed an egg this season after a great season last year. They've been to a couple of world series only to come up short in horrific fashion. The Cavs are currently a winner, but again, they seem to tug at the heart strings never really offering tthe happy ending we all crave.Add our Zips to that list, they seem to fall right into that fold. We have had our ups and downs. Beating Marshall in dramatic fashion in 04, Winning the MACC in 05, beating our 1st BCS team in 06, losing to Buffalo in 4 OTs to close out The Rubber Bowl this year.JD is a work in progress. For those who didn't see that when he signed the dotted line, get a clue. No head coaching experience, he was away from football for a period of time, was given a great opportunity by Coach Shanahan, got involved in the offense with Pitt.JD is making great strides and learning from his mistakes. If he was making them over and over again then we would have a major issue. The MAC has never been this good from top to bottom. There are always going to bumps in the road when building programs i.e. basketball MAC Tourneys the past few years, NIT snubs, young team this year; as for soccer, lower then anticipated seeds, moving from home field to an unseeded teams home field based on BS predicitions by our Athletics Office and the NCAA.The point is JD is moving the program in the right direction just like Keith and Caleb but we have to remember it is much easier for soccer and basketball programs to be turned around then football. There are soo many more pieces to a football team then the other two sports. Keith has full control over his schedule and I believe Caleb does as well. The AD makes the football schedule and schedules money games, which I know are needed, but with the shorter season the flexability to schedule competitive and winnable games is much more difficult. JD deserves the opportunity to coach in the new stadium and a few years to recruit with all the pieces to the puzzle. I think he has the ability to turn the program around and make it a consistent winner.

[Buckzip]

If JD is fired it wouldn't surprise me. This area is sooo freaking starved for a winner.The Browns have tugged at the heart strings so many times, the fumble, the drive, leaving, coming back, last season. The Indians layed an egg this season after a great season last year. They've been to a couple of world series only to come up short in horrific fashion. The Cavs are currently a winner, but again, they seem to tug at the heart strings never really offering tthe happy ending we all crave.Add our Zips to that list, they seem to fall right into that fold. We have had our ups and downs. Beating Marshall in dramatic fashion in 04, Winning the MACC in 05, beating our 1st BCS team in 06, losing to Buffalo in 4 OTs to close out The Rubber Bowl this year.JD is a work in progress. For those who didn't see that when he signed the dotted line, get a clue. No head coaching experience, he was away from football for a period of time, was given a great opportunity by Coach Shanahan, got involved in the offense with Pitt.JD is making great strides and learning from his mistakes. If he was making them over and over again then we would have a major issue. The MAC has never been this good from top to bottom. There are always going to bumps in the road when building programs i.e. basketball MAC Tourneys the past few years, NIT snubs, young team this year; as for soccer, lower then anticipated seeds, moving from home field to an unseeded teams home field based on BS predicitions by our Athletics Office and the NCAA.The point is JD is moving the program in the right direction just like Keith and Caleb but we have to remember it is much easier for soccer and basketball programs to be turned around then football. There are soo many more pieces to a football team then the other two sports. Keith has full control over his schedule and I believe Caleb does as well. The AD makes the football schedule and schedules money games, which I know are needed, but with the shorter season the flexability to schedule competitive and winnable games is much more difficult. JD deserves the opportunity to coach in the new stadium and a few years to recruit with all the pieces to the puzzle. I think he has the ability to turn the program around and make it a consistent winner.

Mrs. Brookhart. I disagree with a couple points here. JD is not making progress. Our record is not getting any better.He does not learn from his mistakes. This 3-3-5 has sucked since he arrived, yet he refuses to change it. He also refuses to give another QB a chance. He is loyal to a fault with his upperclassmen.This program is not moving int he right direction.

[Zip N' Dots]

If JD is fired it wouldn't surprise me. This area is sooo freaking starved for a winner.The Browns have tugged at the heart strings so many times, the fumble, the drive, leaving, coming back, last season. The Indians layed an egg this season after a great season last year. They've been to a couple of world series only to come up short in horrific fashion. The Cavs are currently a winner, but again, they seem to tug at the heart strings never really offering tthe happy ending we all crave.Add our Zips to that list, they seem to fall right into that fold. We have had our ups and downs. Beating Marshall in dramatic fashion in 04, Winning the MACC in 05, beating our 1st BCS team in 06, losing to Buffalo in 4 OTs to close out The Rubber Bowl this year.JD is a work in progress. For those who didn't see that when he signed the dotted line, get a clue. No head coaching experience, he was away from football for a period of time, was given a great opportunity by Coach Shanahan, got involved in the offense with Pitt.JD is making great strides and learning from his mistakes. If he was making them over and over again then we would have a major issue. The MAC has never been this good from top to bottom. There are always going to bumps in the road when building programs i.e. basketball MAC Tourneys the past few years, NIT snubs, young team this year; as for soccer, lower then anticipated seeds, moving from home field to an unseeded teams home field based on BS predicitions by our Athletics Office and the NCAA.The point is JD is moving the program in the right direction just like Keith and Caleb but we have to remember it is much easier for soccer and basketball programs to be turned around then football. There are soo many more pieces to a football team then the other two sports. Keith has full control over his schedule and I believe Caleb does as well. The AD makes the football schedule and schedules money games, which I know are needed, but with the shorter season the flexability to schedule competitive and winnable games is much more difficult. JD deserves the opportunity to coach in the new stadium and a few years to recruit with all the pieces to the puzzle. I think he has the ability to turn the program around and make it a consistent winner.

Mrs. Brookhart. I disagree with a couple points here. JD is not making progress. Our record is not getting any better.He does not learn from his mistakes. This 3-3-5 has sucked since he arrived, yet he refuses to change it. He also refuses to give another QB a chance. He is loyal to a fault with his upperclassmen.This program is not moving int he right direction.

Absolutely he learns from his mistakes there BuckZip. He is no longer recruiting high level talent/low level academic athletes. He is out finding a good mix of those athletes that want to excel on the field and in the classroom. The program is on the brink of a turn around. The reason the MAC is where it is, is because coaching changes come to frequently. The guy will have all the assets starting this year and deserves the chance to show us what he can do with them.And I love people who think change is always better, last year everyone was begging for a change in offense, no change, look what happened, it was #4 I believe in the MAC this year and nearly 9 points better per game. The defense does need some adjustments and don't get me wrong the 3-3-5 is not something I enjoy, but knowing the reason they set-up that defense it made sense at the time. Change was expected this year. I talked to one of the coaches at the beginning of the year and he said that the defense was going to be a strong mix of 3-3-5, 3-4-4, and 4-3-4. Problem occurred though, Cowles Stewart goes down with injury, Bain has injury and then later it is released about the banned subtsance, Lively is out for several games, Odofin is limited, I mean come on, it's kind of hard show different schemes and trust new schemes with that type of injury merry-go-round.But you're right, I mean that is why BuckZip you are coaching at this level, you have all the answers you make all the right calls on the field everygame without ever screwing up. In fact I think you should send in a letter to coach brookhart seeing if you can have a sit-down with him so that you can tell him how to correct the problems the Zips are facing. And thanks for the Mrs. Brookhart comment, she's a pretty sweet lady!

[g-mann17]

Very good post, at least I think, I'm one of those that Buckzip says "settles for mediocrity" so this could possibly only be an average post.On a side note, I always think it's funny that people don't understand that a 3-3-5 is a flexible defense. It's a lot like the 42 Defense in that you can change one person and you have entirely different group. A defense that has a ton of injuries and youth is destined to fail no matter what your base formation is. It still did what it was designed to do (cause a lot of turnovers).BTW, can anyone tell me how Ball State did with the 3-3-5 in the MAC where it's destined to fail with experienced and healthy defenders? I forget.

[zff]

Link to Ball States Defense and Offense RankingsLinky

[Captain Kangaroo]

Very good post, at least I think, I'm one of those that Buckzip says "settles for mediocrity" so this could possibly only be an average post.

[GP1]

Absolutely he learns from his mistakes there BuckZip. He is no longer recruiting high level talent/low level academic athletes. He is out finding a good mix of those athletes that want to excel on the field and in the classroom.

Great point. Just think of how good we could be if we had the academic support system to keep some of the at risk kids JD brought here.

[Buckzip]

I am sure you are a nice lady. However, your husband is not a D1 level coach. I used to defend him and say give him more time too. However, enough is enough. It's the same thing over and over. I don't care what those that "settle for mediocrity" think. Most are Akron homers that can't see beyond the borders of Akron.Could I do better??? Yes, I am smart enough to know that the 3-3-5 doesn't and hasn't worked. Your husband doesn't quite get that yet. I am smart enough to see when my QB is a meltdown waiting to happen that maybe we should see what the other guy can do. I am smart enough to know you play your best players.I guess I should congratulate his realization that just because you get verbals from talent doesn't mean they will ever see the field. Yeah, for him. If he kept on that trend, he wouldn't have had enough players to field a team.You do realize that the guys have to qualify to play before any academic support staff is even needed. He recruited guys that had very little if any chance of making it. Some of his recruits didn't even graduate high school.I love the people that use the "can you do better" line. I laugh everytime. It is their way of not being able to defend their guy so they throw that crap put there. Niceley done. ROFLMAO

[GP1]

I think everyone realized the guys need to get here first. We certainly need to not recruit those who can not even get in the door. We do need to go after those guys who can barely get in the door though if we want to win. The question is always about how bad a school wants to win. Schools like Ohio State get at risk kids all the time and keep them in school and a lot of them graduate. Our problem is we get an at risk kid in school at Akron and he flunks out after a couple of semesters because there is no support. Akron needs to develop a program to keep more at risk kids in school. The more talent we can draw and keep will only make us better.

[zippyrifle32]

on the academic note, things are improving:

All the on the field success has been matched off the field as well. In2006, Akron’s federal graduation rate was 60 percent, exceeding the generalstudent body’s by 25 percent. In 2007, UA student-athlete federal graduationrate jumped to 78 percent and its NCAA Graduation Success Ratejumped six points to 73 percent.

In each of the last four semesters, UA student-athletes have earned a totalof 478 Dean’s List honors and the student-athlete cumulative GPA has risenfrom a 2.789 in her first year to 2.935 through the spring of 2008.

-from the football media guide

[skip-zip]

GP1...good point. Successful D-1A programs take chances on kids. You have to do that. Maybe it happened too often, and it cost us in the early JD years, but I'm sure some good players came out of those chances as well. As I say to my friends all the time.....if we are going to run a program at this level by only giving opportunities to high character guys, with good academic records, who come from great families, etc., etc......you'll have an Ivy League level football program.....so, we might as well ask for permission to join that league.

[Buckzip]

I agree that Akron needs to get better help for those that get here. I have to believe that UA has the system in place, but hte athlete has to want to participate.Since you mentioned OSU, I know I will get blasted for responding, but OSU takes very , very few at risk kids. They may take 1-2 per year at the most. OSU has scholarship offers contigent on grades. There are many they never offer because they are not expected to qualify. Even now when UA is doing better with offers, OSU still has less non qualifiers than UA does. Now I know I will get attacked by the usual crowd, but I didn't bring this up. I was merely responding to what you said. Many top level DI schools are the same way. If you follow recruiting you will notice that most larger football schools have very few non qualifiers. The exception is the SEC. Those school often over sign because they know many won't qualify.

[BirdZip]

Many of the "Major" schools, and likely many of the others, also "graduate" "student athletes" with useless degrees such as University Studies or other such ridiculousness. There was a decent series of articles in USA Today a few weeks ago discussing the issue, pointing out how many schools (e.g. USC) had a huge percentage of kids all in the same majors, being steered there by their counselors as the other majors, which may actually intrerest them, are "too hard" to keep your grades up and stay eligible. I think Akron had 100 players on their football team this year. How many will play pro ball? I dare say not too many. They ought to be pursuing a degree that can support them more than 4 years. If anyone cares to take the time, I'd be interested in a breakdown of Akron's majors.Kudos here belong to Notre Dame. I know many love to hate them, but they refuse to lower their academic standards, even though doing so would allow them to easily get back to the elite. And still, they field good and sometimes great teams.Of course it's hard to do--but they get paid lots of cash to do it. No excuses--do it or leave.We're not asking for a BCS bowl, but having a winning season might be kind of nice. Winning more than one home game might be kind of nice. Making an adjustment at halftime--any adjustment--might be kind of nice.

[Dr Z]

BTW, can anyone tell me how Ball State did with the 3-3-5 in the MAC where it's destined to fail with experienced and healthy defenders? I forget.

BSU's offense (13th nationally) hides their porous defense (58th nationally). The (5-7) Zips had more than 400 yds of offense against them. Give me the 13th ranked defense and the 58th ranked offense and I bet you I'll beat them in a bowl game. Defense wins championships!

[Captain Kangaroo]

Since you mentioned OSU, I know I will get blasted for responding, but OSU takes very , very few at risk kids. They may take 1-2 per year at the most.

Ohio State doesn't recruit, they select. The 6' 5" 285 lb DL with the 2.65GPA, or the 6'5", 285 lb DL with the 3.02GPA? Hmmm...which should we take....?Non BCS schools are forced to take risks that an Ohio State doesn't need to. It is a totally different ballgame.To further expand on the point -- Some -clown like Chuck Amato can blast UA for taking non-qualifiers, but schools like NC State do the SAME thing. In their case, the at-risk kid goes to prep school for a season. Same kid, they just get him a year later.To even FURTHER expand on the point -- A friend of mine works in collegiate education. He formerly assisted in recruiting at a mid-major school. One day he was walking a highly touted recruit and his mom around the mid-major campus. The mom said: "We were at <BCS School> last week. They said they would give <son> a personal tutor for each class. What can <Mid-major U> do?"Knowing <Mid-major U> did not have the resources to give the kid such a ridiculous amount of attention, the recruiter said "Here at Mid-major U we teach kids to be self-sufficient. We assist them, but we focus on giving them the tools and direction to stand on their own two feet. When <son> graduates from school, he won't have a tutor at his place of employment. We will prepare your son for the real world."The kid signed with the BCS school the next day.This is basically what GP1 mentioned. UA wasn't set up to handle some of the recruits JD signed 3-4 years ago. At a BCS school, a surprisingly large number of those kids would have, by some miracle, found a way to stay eligible.

[Buckzip]

Since you mentioned OSU, I know I will get blasted for responding, but OSU takes very , very few at risk kids. They may take 1-2 per year at the most.

Ohio State doesn't recruit, they select. The 6' 5" 285 lb DL with the 2.65GPA, or the 6'5", 285 lb DL with the 3.02GPA? Hmmm...which should we take....?Non BCS schools are forced to take risks that an Ohio State doesn't need to. It is a totally different ballgame.To further expand on the point -- Some -clown like Chuck Amato can blast UA for taking non-qualifiers, but schools like NC State do the SAME thing. In their case, the at-risk kid goes to prep school for a season. Same kid, they just get him a year later.To even FURTHER expand on the point -- A friend of mine works in collegiate education. He formerly assisted in recruiting at a mid-major school. One day he was walking a highly touted recruit and his mom around the mid-major campus. The mom said: "We were at <BCS School> last week. They said they would give <son> a personal tutor for each class. What can <Mid-major U> do?"Knowing <Mid-major U> did not have the resources to give the kid such a ridiculous amount of attention, the recruiter said "Here at Mid-major U we teach kids to be self-sufficient. We assist them, but we focus on giving them the tools and direction to stand on their own two feet. When <son> graduates from school, he won't have a tutor at his place of employment. We will prepare your son for the real world."The kid signed with the BCS school the next day.This is basically what GP1 mentioned. UA wasn't set up to handle some of the recruits JD signed 3-4 years ago. At a BCS school, a surprisingly large number of those kids would have, by some miracle, found a way to stay eligible.

CK, it sounds like you are countering my point and agreeing with GP1. However, you are really agreeing with me and countering the point made by GP1. You may want to reread what I was responding to.

[g-mann17]

BSU's offense (13th nationally) hides their porous defense (58th nationally). The (5-7) Zips had more than 400 yds of offense against them. Give me the 13th ranked defense and the 58th ranked offense and I bet you I'll beat them in a bowl game. Defense wins championships!

58th nationally? What were they in the MAC? 4th in the MAC, 1st in the MAC for defensive scoring, 1st in passing defense. So I am going to say that the offense didn't "hide" anything. They were a top MAC defense. So yeah I'll take the 58th ranked defense when it's one of the best in the conference. By comparison the 12th ranked defense in the nation was Iowa. Iowa is 8-4 (which we wish we were because that would have won us a shot at the conference title). Iowa has some happy fans, but they have more disappointed fans because they had a mediocre year in their conference. (5-3 Buckzip would agree with me). The point is, right now, all we can care about is our performance in the MAC, and the only thing we should compare ourselves too is what won the MAC. Ball St ran their 3-3-5 effectively and was a top defense in the conference. So it is possible, are there other ways? Yes, but to say it's the base defense and not the lack of experience or the scheming is wrong. And my point is valid. Ball St. 12-0 struggled with two teams the entire season. Central Michigan and Navy. Their defense only allowed an average of 17 points per game. If we could say the same thing, we would all be renting hotel rooms in Detroit tomorrow.

[Captain Kangaroo]

CK, it sounds like you are countering my point and agreeing with GP1. However, you are really agreeing with me and countering the point made by GP1. You may want to reread what I was responding to.

I just wrote what I believe. If it follows what you or GP1 said, then you're probably in the right.

[Buckzip]

CK, it sounds like you are countering my point and agreeing with GP1. However, you are really agreeing with me and countering the point made by GP1. You may want to reread what I was responding to.

I just wrote what I believe. If it follows what you or GP1 said, then you're probably in the right.

Gee, you didn't have to change the title of the thread because of it...

[GP1]

If it follows what you or GP1 said, then you're probably in the right.

Especially if it agrees with what the great GP1 says.

[you am i]

One reason to presume that JD will be back is that nothing has happened yet. It would seem logical that, if it was going to happen, it would've happened right after the end of the season, as was the case with Miami, BGSU, and EMU. The selection process has to be well under way for those schools. The news broke that Tom Amstutz was done at Toledo while there were still a few games left in the season, so they had a head start on the process. Its being reported that UT will announce the hiring of Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Tim Beckman tomorrow.

[MDZip]

From Gregg Easterbrook's ESPN Tuesday Morning Quarterback column, where he detailed how the Jets beat the Patriots.

Brady tried a quick out to tight end Rob Gronkowski on third-and-4, but Gronkowski was jammed at the line by linebacker David Harris and stumbling as the ball arrived. Jersey/B spent most of the contest in a 3-3-5, with the extra defensive back, Drew Coleman, sometimes playing man-to-man and sometimes playing zone.

Damn, maybe we were just playing it wrong.