Akron-Ball St

[GP1]

We all know that a football team's performance is a combination of coach and player performance. How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been at the University of Texas in recent years? How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been this year without Colt McCoy at QB? Same team with the same coach and some different players, and UT has gone from perennial winners to a sub-.500 team in a single season. Whose more responsible for this, the coach or the players?

Unless the coach is making absolutely horrible decisions, the players are to blame.

If I was Brown at Texas, I would treat this off season like a new coach does. Fiind out who wants to be there. Open up every position for competition. That team is asleep and they need to be awakened. The talent is there, just not the performance. A program like Texas needs this every once in a while. They play in an extremely difficult conference and sometimes some humiliation can go a long way to regenerate a team.

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

[zippy2010]

And I am personally so sick of hearing that next year will be better.....work with what you have coach and give this team your effort not just chalk it up to when I ........life is about what you have now not what you think you can get......because with your s*** talking who would want to play for you when you dont seem to think you have any talent because you didnt pick them!

[Captain Kangaroo]

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

Except Punter.

[Lee Adams]

We all know that a football team's performance is a combination of coach and player performance. How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been at the University of Texas in recent years? How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been this year without Colt McCoy at QB? Same team with the same coach and some different players, and UT has gone from perennial winners to a sub-.500 team in a single season. Whose more responsible for this, the coach or the players?

I think Brown is a good example of a good coach,the head guy at UT doesn't have to be 'great' whatever that is, who can attract consistently good physical talent because he is at UT. He can get really good players for key positions almost every year. Even in the Big 12 teams like UT and Oklahoma can win most games because of better physical talent. There will be a couple of games when the other team matches you physically. Whats the difference in those games? Coaching?

Breaks? etc. How can you tell? How has Boise State managed to knock off some of the big boys over the past few years. They appear not to have as much physical talent at every position as some of the teams they have beaten. If coaches don't prepare their teams and/or adjust to what they have their teams lose.

[ZachTheZip]

We have some talent on our team. Can anybody say that Shawn Lemon, Brian Wagner, Richard Hall, Anthony Holmes or Zack Campbell aren't talented?

The problem is that we need playmakers at the right positions to compliment that talent. We need playmakers at QB. We need at least one stud corner. We need a RB who can break open a game.

You can have an all-world roster in the trenches and at positions like Safety and Fullback, but without players who can hold their own without giving up the big play on D and without players who can't make a few plays on offense without turning it over, you won't win more than a few games at best.

[GP1]

We all know that a football team's performance is a combination of coach and player performance. How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been at the University of Texas in recent years? How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been this year without Colt McCoy at QB? Same team with the same coach and some different players, and UT has gone from perennial winners to a sub-.500 team in a single season. Whose more responsible for this, the coach or the players?

I think Brown is a good example of a good coach,the head guy at UT doesn't have to be 'great' whatever that is, who can attract consistently good physical talent because he is at UT. He can get really good players for key positions almost every year. Even in the Big 12 teams like UT and Oklahoma can win most games because of better physical talent. There will be a couple of games when the other team matches you physically. Whats the difference in those games? Coaching?

Breaks? etc. How can you tell? How has Boise State managed to knock off some of the big boys over the past few years. They appear not to have as much physical talent at every position as some of the teams they have beaten. If coaches don't prepare their teams and/or adjust to what they have their teams lose.

UT does make good coaches great. This season is the exception and not the rule.

There have been very, very, very few great college football coaches. Paterno is the last living "great" football coach. He wins at PSU. He made the PSU football program and to some extent the university what it is today. He has changed with time and continues to field consistent winners. The other night, Lou Holtz said something funny, "Penn State is 15 minutes from Harrisburg by telephone." Paterno got good players to go to PSU and then he won. Recruiting to PSU can't be easy.

Bear Bryant was a great college football coach. Won and changed an entire conference by allowing USC, with Sam Cunningham, to come to Alabama and kick the crap out of his team. The SEC is a great conference today because of that game. The south is a better place because of what Bear Bryant did.

The culture of college athletics does not allow for someone to stay at a school long enough to be looked at as great. Most coaches are opportunists as they jump from school to school, cashing in along the way. Brian Kelly is a good example of this type of coach. Time is going to catch up with Kelly at ND in the next 3 years when he is unable to get that program to where the alumni think it should be. He'll be just another good coach who went to ND over the past 15 years and got fired because time has passed that program by.

Paterno and Bryant had down seasons and bad losses. I wonder how many idiotic fans were saying things like, "The Bear has lost this team and should be fired." What they were able to do is stay at their school long enough to get things turned around after what was considered a bad season. If guys like Mack Brown and Urban Meyer stick around their schools and turn them around, they should be looked at as great.

Congratulations to Coach Paterno for his 400th win. Most head coaches never coach 400 games let alone have 400 wins. If Paterno retires after this season, a real American treasure will be lost.

[Zipmeister]

We all know that a football team's performance is a combination of coach and player performance. How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been at the University of Texas in recent years? How good or great a coach has Mack Brown been this year without Colt McCoy at QB? Same team with the same coach and some different players, and UT has gone from perennial winners to a sub-.500 team in a single season. Whose more responsible for this, the coach or the players?

Unless the coach is making absolutely horrible decisions, the players are to blame.

If I was Brown at Texas, I would treat this off season like a new coach does. Fiind out who wants to be there. Open up every position for competition. That team is asleep and they need to be awakened. The talent is there, just not the performance. A program like Texas needs this every once in a while. They play in an extremely difficult conference and sometimes some humiliation can go a long way to regenerate a team.

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

I agree 100%. Don't use that noncompetitive system they used this year ever again.

[ZipRoo]

"Come on, folks. Does anyone seriously believe I don't have what it takes to turn this thing around? Anyone? Just look at my wheels a-turnin'...

[K92]

Brian Kelly won't be able to win at ND "until he has a chance to BRING IN HIS OWN RECRUITS,"

When Kelly gets a QB like Dan L and Pike at ND, he will win 8-9 games. The secret to coaching is catching lightning in a bottle then moving up the pay scale. Kelly will do that at ND for a couple of years and then fall back down to 6-7 wins a get fired like all the rest. He can then retire on a giant buy out.

Good players made Brian Kelly and all other coaches. Remember two years ago everyone talked about Jim Grobe being the best coach in America? This season, his Wake team is sitting at two wins against the mighty Blue Hose of Presby and Duke. Hear anyone saying he is the best coach in America? He was a great coach when he had the Seahawks Aaron Curry, the Lions Alphonso Smith, the Panthers Kenny Moore and Riley "Rhymes with Winner" Skinner all on the same team. Those guys leave and he is back to the guy who coached at OU. How many people know Jim Grobe has a sub .500 caree record as a head coach?

There are few great coaches. Kelly and Grobe are not great, but they are great when they are like all coaches who get surrounded by great players. Take away the great players and they are no longer great. Go figure.

Anyhow, back to the Zips...... I'm going to go work out.

So... if you really can recruit great players then you don't actually have to be a great coach to win?

You tell me.

[GP1]

You tell me.

Attached is his career record. All the guy does is win in a brutally difficult conference. He probably isn't a great coach under my standards, but he is one Hell of a good coach.

[K92]

You tell me.

Attached is his career record. All the guy does is win in a brutally difficult conference. He probably isn't a great coach under my standards, but he is one Hell of a good coach.

Les Miles has a great record despite being a complete and absolute bumbling moron. His game time decisions are absolutely horrible and many LSU fans would love to see him gone. So the answer to the question is yes, you can win with superior talent and inferior coach.

[ZipRoo]

"I agree, Les Miles is a boob. By the way, if I grow a 'stache and hang with McCartney, will people in Akron think I'm a starr?"

[GP1]

You tell me.

Attached is his career record. All the guy does is win in a brutally difficult conference. He probably isn't a great coach under my standards, but he is one Hell of a good coach.

His game time decisions are absolutely horrible and many LSU fans would love to see him gone. So the answer to the question is yes, you can win with superior talent and inferior coach.

I'd like to compare the average SAT score of LSU fans to his and see who is smarter. Fan opinions are not a good way to judge the quality of a coach. Fans never know as much about their sport as they think they do.

[johnnyzip84]

That indeed was a pillow fight! Two bad teams trying to figure out how to lose again. One of the many reasons 0-10 teams are 0-10 is because they don't make plays when they need to. Steve French called it. The BSU pass on 4th and 9 should have/needed to be picked. It wasn't! The guys Akron had on the field were not capable of making a play when one was needed. No names please. Of course you can always go back and look at the entire game and wonder why it came down to that in the first place. Too bad its not the NFL. A number 1 pick would look real good.

This is a minor point, but am I the only one who watched this on channel surfing who thought French's call was mis-leading on this play? There were 3 video angles on replay and I don't think any of them showed Wagner intentially trying to intercept the ball. I'm sure Brian wishes he had made a better play on the ball, but it looked to me as though he simply came up a little short. French's call made it seem like it was John Fuller Part Deux during Big Ben's 75 yard game winning TD in Oxford. It clearly wasn't. I still love Frenchy, but he can be lost sometimes.

[Dr Z]

I still love Frenchy, but he can be lost sometimes.

I trust your eyes more than Steve's. When is his next eye test at the DMV? That might be the final straw if JJ has to pick him up for games. I still love him too, but seriously UA, spring for the LASIK.

[Dr Z]

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

On the offensive side, I would agree...except for TE & FB. We need some talented receivers and some consistent line play more than anything on that side of the ball.

[GP1]

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

On the offensive side, I would agree...except for TE & FB. We need some talented receivers and some consistent line play more than anything on that side of the ball.

Open competition isn't just to find new people. It can also be a method of making certain who you have starting is really the person you want. Sort of like proving a theory. A theory is proven when all other possibilities are proven false. Prove that all possible TEs and FBs besides the two starting are not as good and you prove that you have the best people at the position. It will only make the team better by having ALL members of the team fighting for a starting position. Even though these two positions are not that important to the success of a football team, they should be challenged to be better players.

[Lee Adams]

That indeed was a pillow fight! Two bad teams trying to figure out how to lose again. One of the many reasons 0-10 teams are 0-10 is because they don't make plays when they need to. Steve French called it. The BSU pass on 4th and 9 should have/needed to be picked. It wasn't! The guys Akron had on the field were not capable of making a play when one was needed. No names please. Of course you can always go back and look at the entire game and wonder why it came down to that in the first place. Too bad its not the NFL. A number 1 pick would look real good.

This is a minor point, but am I the only one who watched this on channel surfing who thought French's call was mis-leading on this play? There were 3 video angles on replay and I don't think any of them showed Wagner intentially trying to intercept the ball. I'm sure Brian wishes he had made a better play on the ball, but it looked to me as though he simply came up a little short. French's call made it seem like it was John Fuller Part Deux during Big Ben's 75 yard game winning TD in Oxford. It clearly wasn't. I still love Frenchy, but he can be lost sometimes.

French is the ultimate 'homer'. He supports the program no matter what. So does Joe Dunn. When he starts calling them this way,no matter what your eyes 'said' its a real bad sign.

[Captain Kangaroo]

My favorite part of the Ball State game was Andy Alleman boldly proclaiming on 4th and 9, in the 1st OT, that the game was in the bag and he was "going do drive home to his fiancee's house, put his feet up on the table and enjoy the win."

OH, ANDY!

[johnnyzip84]

My favorite part of the Ball State game was Andy Alleman boldly proclaiming on 4th and 9, in the 1st OT, that the game was in the bag and he was "going do drive home to his fiancee's house, put his feet up on the table and enjoy the win."

OH, ANDY!

That was pretty funny. He was still "feelin' it" because of his (correct) Jeremy LaFrance predictions!

[ZipRoo]

"Nyuk! Nyuk! Little did Andy know, his girlfriend and I had already made plans to go dancing after the game!"

[Zipmeister]

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

On the offensive side, I would agree...except for TE & FB. We need some talented receivers and some consistent line play more than anything on that side of the ball.

Open competition isn't just to find new people. It can also be a method of making certain who you have starting is really the person you want. Sort of like proving a theory. A theory is proven when all other possibilities are proven false. Prove that all possible TEs and FBs besides the two starting are not as good and you prove that you have the best people at the position. It will only make the team better by having ALL members of the team fighting for a starting position. Even though these two positions are not that important to the success of a football team, they should be challenged to be better players.

You are preaching to the choir gp. If the coaching staff had just spent some time before the season trying to determine who the best players were and make them the starters instead of using that stupid lottery system things would be a lot different now.

[skip-zip]

Getting back to the Zips. This off season has to have every position opened up for competition.

On the offensive side, I would agree...except for TE & FB. We need some talented receivers and some consistent line play more than anything on that side of the ball.

Open competition isn't just to find new people. It can also be a method of making certain who you have starting is really the person you want. Sort of like proving a theory. A theory is proven when all other possibilities are proven false. Prove that all possible TEs and FBs besides the two starting are not as good and you prove that you have the best people at the position. It will only make the team better by having ALL members of the team fighting for a starting position. Even though these two positions are not that important to the success of a football team, they should be challenged to be better players.

You are preaching to the choir gp. If the coaching staff had just spent some time before the season trying to determine who the best players were and make them the starters instead of using that stupid lottery system things would be a lot different now.

And could there be a more glaring example than the QB position? Our starter is now comfortably sitting in the LAST spot in the ESPN Rating chart of 110 D-1A QBs this season, and by a pretty decent margin behind the #109 spot.

[Captain Kangaroo]

And could there be a more glaring example than the QB position? Our starter is now comfortably sitting in the LAST spot in the ESPN Rating chart of 110 D-1A QBs this season, and by a pretty decent margin behind the #109 spot.

The guy has great WR's and one of the best offensive lines we've had in years. If he can't produce this season, he'll never produce.

Man...if only we had Dylan Potts at QB.

[skip-zip]

I sure wish we were only talking about poor stats. But, we're talking about the absolute bottom of the list, by a good margin. Even with a pretty successful run game for support.

I guess the lovefest may not have completely faded for everyone over the last two seasons. However, I'm sure all of the other 119 QBs on the list all have schemes that work, effective protection, and their receivers don't drop passes.

Yep...that has to be it.