Goodbye JD

[InTheZone]

I've seen enough. That was absolutely pathetic. He has lost this team.

[timmyboy]

I've seen enough. That was absolutely pathetic. He has lost this team.

I know one thing, hopefully after this year we will get a new offensive cordinator. this guy hasent done anything to make this team better. The play calling is so easy to get used to.... it goes a little like this.QB handoff to RB up the middle.....QB Handoff to RB up the middle.... he bounces it outside.QB fake hand off... keep up the middle.QB Screen to RB out of the backfield.The play calling this year has made me appreciate the play calling from the Getsy and Frye era more and mroe each game.Our Defense needs to change too. the 3-3-5 is not a defense that we are fit for, because we dont have the depth at the DL position. We need to move to somthing that gets more pressure on the QB, and forces more turnovers. the QB tonight had all kinds of time to throw the ball, and sit in the pocket. Hopefully we can get some things adjusted before wednesday at the Bowl against Ohio, because I dont know how much more of it i can take.

[Valpo Zip]

I am jumping on the fire JD bandwagon.I have seen enough... it wass really really ugly, on both sides of the ball.Jacquemain suspended!!! what's up with that? He couldn't decide which CJ to start... so one of them has to be suspended.

[LosAngelesZipFan]

Just got online to get the score...wow. Ugly. Horrible. The starting QB suspended? WTF? I did not see the game, but it sure feels like this team has just quit on JD and the situation is out of control. What the hell happened? I thought the days of us getting blown out by MAC teams would have been behind us. This continues the downward progression of the past few weeks-- someone please make an argument for keeping the current coaching staff in place assuming the next 2 games play out in this pattern. If you were Proenza, what would you do?

[johnnyzip84]

Just got online to get the score...wow. Ugly. Horrible. The starting QB suspended? WTF? I did not see the game, but it sure feels like this team has just quit on JD and the situation is out of control. What the hell happened? I thought the days of us getting blown out by MAC teams would have been behind us. This continues the downward progression of the past few weeks-- someone please make an argument for keeping the current coaching staff in place assuming the next 2 games play out in this pattern. If you were Proenza, what would you do?

I can't make that argument, LAZipFan. But I do have some bad news. This pattern will probably play out for the next THREE games. Proenza is in a tough spot right now, no question.

[Ryno aka Menace]

Captain K made these comments.........I've seen my share of bad coaching in Akron over the past 20 years. I don't see bad coaching with JD. I see some bad recruiting stratagies...ones that seemingly have been rectified...with the exception of recruiting a stud QB...but I don't see bad coaching. OK...the offense needs some creativity too...but I think that is due in large part to the lack of a stud QB and the aforementioned retention issues. The offense has gradually become more creative and effective as the season has progressed.If JD's 2007 #1 recruiting class was like the 2006 retention-wise, I'd be concerned. But it doesn't appear to be.I see Notre Dame fire Ty Willingham after 3 years. With all ND's resources, they hired a multi-million dollar bust that's probably not capable of beating the upper-tier MAC teams on a neutral field.I see Randy Edsall at UCONN who followed up his Motor City Bowl championship, 8-4, 2004 season with a 5-6 and 3-9 campaign. And those wins he had in those two seasons would make Lee Owens blush...Rhode Island...Liberty...Buffalo. Now UCONN is Top 25 and playing great. Should the guy have been fired because two years after the MCB he went 3-9?Changing coaches every 3-4 years is suicide. JD deserves 5-6 years to see what he can do. Not 9 years like Dan Hipsher or Lee Owens or Gerry Faust...but by 5-6 years you should have an accurate read on the guy's ability.After 3.6 years, I see sufficient hope that JD will be fine. It would be a big help if he can pull a Nate Davis-type impact QB out of this class, that's for sure.Even after last nights performance I still agree with Captain....well let me specify give him 2 more seasons for improvement. I was probably the first to yell fire JD, but after reading posts by Captain I thought well maybe I am being a little hasty because I wanna see better results. Then after buffalo I made my post about "Minimal Improvement" and got slammed to high hell. Despite everything that has happened I realize a couple of things.1. That good showing at Ohio State was misleading, I truly believe that the Buckeyes used a vanilla play calling scheme to go easy on our Zips.2. This team has a bunch of un-coached athletes. ex. staring down Jabri, secondary a step to late, penalties in crucial situations, overall inconsistent play etc.3. Offensive coordinator sucks swamp water! How many screen do we throw in game4. The 3-3-5 sucks swamp water and reeks of old school bus seats (moldy ass)5. I still haven't decided if it was more coaching or luck that causes us to win a close game every year. (prayer pass against NI for bowl appearance, NCstate TD as time expires for fist bowl win, Western lateral with no time left for win.6. Make no mistake I am pissed about the "product" we are putting on the field, 2 years buddy that is all I would give you.

[zen]

Changing coaches every 3-4 years is suicide. JD deserves 5-6 years to see what he can do. Not 9 years like Dan Hipsher or Lee Owens or Gerry Faust...but by 5-6 years you should have an accurate read on the guy's ability.After 3.6 years, I see sufficient hope that JD will be fine.

That's how I Feel. Fire him now, and in 3 or 4 years you'll see him leading some program to a bowl ask yourself why we cut him loose, particularly if our new coach isn't working out yet.

Offensive coordinator sucks swamp water! How many screen do we throw in game

I've been saying that since the Army game. The number of screens has gone down since then, but the failure is in a similar vane. Ask any defensive coordinator how much bad screens scare them. Not very much. If an offense fails to evenly distribute the ball in every zone of the field (don't just think vertical or horizontal. don't just think run vs.pass) then a defense can appropriately anticipate inside their gameplan, or atleast not have to try to think too much on the field.

[Big Zip]

Where are all of the JD apologists today?Last night was an incredibly poor excuse for MAC football. I'm pretty sure that team last night would have lost to most Div. 1-AA teams. This team is playing completely uninspired. CJ11 was suspended Domonkos is off the team for the year. One would think with all the suspensions and the tight ship JD is trying to give the appearance he's running this team would be playing solid fundamental football, but not only is this team playing terrible they are completely undisciplined. They are regularly out of position on D (see sucked in) and commit penalties at the most inopportune times (see the first play of the game WTF). Everyone is frustrated by the 3-3-5 -- here is something even more frustrating the depth chart shows that 6 of the 11 are seniors. What does that mean for next year? When is someone going to ask JD some tough questions about this team? We've all heard him talk about why he decided to play the 3-3-5, but who has heard them explain their complete and utter incompetence. This team is coming apart at the seams. I'm guessing we'll be able to count the people at the game on Wednesday while we're sitting in the stands. In another section someone point out -- at least we're not Can't. Oh yeah that makes me feel better -- that is what I want my alma mater to strive for. Barring a miracluous come back this team is going to have gone from 6-5 to 7-6 to 5-7 to 3-9. The interesting thing about those asking for more time is they are asking for us to ask for more time with JD. The further we get with JD's recruits the worse this team gets. For those asking about Paul Winters - I'm not sure he's the answer it appears his teams have taken on the big offense no defense look of the LO era. Saw that WSU lost a 58-50 game in 3OT this year.It is time to up your expectations! If the people on this board don't have higher expectation for this University and its athletics then we've really got no hope. Tell me you watched that game last night at your really looking forward to watching that kind of football for another two years. Tell me that's the kind of football you want to open a new stadium with. Tell me that's the kind of football that is going to bring this program to prominence. Signed -- Sick and tired of being sick and tired with this kind of horrendous football.

[uafan]

That game last night was a huge embarassment! This team has quit on JD! They do not like the man and don't want to play for him! When we made a good play, they kept their arms folded across their chests. No one cheered! They were all rerady to go home by the end of the first quarter. And so was I. Even the AK Rowdie with no shirt on left in the third quarter.Can JD get the young men back? I have to say no. By the time the game was over, why not put in the second string to give them a little game experience?The coaching was again horrible! Wasting 2 time outs in the first quarter just to get plays called? Make an adjustment on kickoff returms? Never happened! Maybe if we had a special teams coach instead of a head coach coaching special teams, an adjustment would have been made.For those of you defending the guy, that's your opinion. Mine is to get rid of him!

[skip-zip]

Ok...let me see if I can add some clarity.First of all, a school like Akron is not in a financial position to fire a coach who has a long term contract. If anyone is wanting to see JD get canned in the next couple of years, it's not going to happen. Maybe when he gets closer to the end of his contract.So, what do we do??JD certainly will be questioned about how he is running the team. Who is doing the recruiting? Who is responsible for offensive play calling? etc., etc. And he will likely be asked to make changes, and will continue to be evaluated closely. I'm questioning JD a little bit more these days, in terms of whether or not he's the long term solution. But firing a coach 3.5 years into a rebuilding process after taking over a bad program from a bad coach is really jumping the gun. JD had some early success, and now some of you are holding him to that standard, and that is really unfair. We still have quite a bit of work left to rebuild this program, and last night was a good example.

[uafan]

But firing a coach 3.5 years into a rebuilding process after taking over a bad program from a bad coach is really jumping the gun. JD had some early success, and now some of you are holding him to that standard, and that is really unfair. We still have quite a bit of work left to rebuild this program, and last night was a good example.Normally, I would agree. But I have to ask, what rebuilding have we seen?

[Ryno aka Menace]

See Skip Zip that is what I am on the fence about, was it "early success" or dumb luck?

[Lee Adams]

Captain K made these comments.........I've seen my share of bad coaching in Akron over the past 20 years. I don't see bad coaching with JD. I see some bad recruiting stratagies...ones that seemingly have been rectified...with the exception of recruiting a stud QB...but I don't see bad coaching. OK...the offense needs some creativity too...but I think that is due in large part to the lack of a stud QB and the aforementioned retention issues. The offense has gradually become more creative and effective as the season has progressed.If JD's 2007 #1 recruiting class was like the 2006 retention-wise, I'd be concerned. But it doesn't appear to be.I see Notre Dame fire Ty Willingham after 3 years. With all ND's resources, they hired a multi-million dollar bust that's probably not capable of beating the upper-tier MAC teams on a neutral field.I see Randy Edsall at UCONN who followed up his Motor City Bowl championship, 8-4, 2004 season with a 5-6 and 3-9 campaign. And those wins he had in those two seasons would make Lee Owens blush...Rhode Island...Liberty...Buffalo. Now UCONN is Top 25 and playing great. Should the guy have been fired because two years after the MCB he went 3-9?Changing coaches every 3-4 years is suicide. JD deserves 5-6 years to see what he can do. Not 9 years like Dan Hipsher or Lee Owens or Gerry Faust...but by 5-6 years you should have an accurate read on the guy's ability.After 3.6 years, I see sufficient hope that JD will be fine. It would be a big help if he can pull a Nate Davis-type impact QB out of this class, that's for sure.Even after last nights performance I still agree with Captain....well let me specify give him 2 more seasons for improvement. I was probably the first to yell fire JD, but after reading posts by Captain I thought well maybe I am being a little hasty because I wanna see better results. Then after buffalo I made my post about "Minimal Improvement" and got slammed to high hell. Despite everything that has happened I realize a couple of things.1. That good showing at Ohio State was misleading, I truly believe that the Buckeyes used a vanilla play calling scheme to go easy on our Zips.2. This team has a bunch of un-coached athletes. ex. staring down Jabri, secondary a step to late, penalties in crucial situations, overall inconsistent play etc.3. Offensive coordinator sucks swamp water! How many screen do we throw in game4. The 3-3-5 sucks swamp water and reeks of old school bus seats (moldy ass)5. I still haven't decided if it was more coaching or luck that causes us to win a close game every year. (prayer pass against NI for bowl appearance, NCstate TD as time expires for fist bowl win, Western lateral with no time left for win.6. Make no mistake I am pissed about the "product" we are putting on the field, 2 years buddy that is all I would give you.

i agree that you do not fire any coach at this point in THIS season...and i don't think anyone would be calling for anyone to get fired if there weren't some things going on that SHOULD NOT be happening at this point in this season...1)the team has gotten LESS competetive week after week...nobody is improving...2) players keep getting suspended 8-9 weeks into the season????!!...and how in the hell is a player getting suspended for 'academics' now? the team pays people to keep an eye on those things and send up red flags BEFORE they happen...if Brookhart still has to suspend for 'behavior' problems the players are basically telling him to go screw himself...3)the same things keep happening on the field game in,game out...Brookhart and the staff have not been able to correct them..if the ZIPS were playing competetively and improving weekly...most of us would be a lot more tolerant...after the season is over the ADMIN. has to issue an ultimatum IF it decides to keep Brookhart...improve the play on the field...improve the behavior of the coaching staff...get control of the program...or look elsewhere for work...

[LosAngelesZipFan]

Under "normal" circumstances, I would tend to agree that you give JD another year to pull it together-- but these are not "normal" circumstances. UA is about to make a huge investment in this program--HUGE. The stadium project is the culmination of 20+ years of discussion and planning. I remember talking to Bill Muse about it, and the hope was that Faust could put together a few winning seasons to give the admin air cover to make the investment.Well, here we are. Dr. P, who has been an incredible and truly transformational leader for UA, is now taking this on-- but the dynamic of the quality of the team justifying this huge investment is still incredibly important.It still comes down to this-- based on what we are seeing now, do we have reason to believe that JD can have this program going in the right direction when the ribbon is cut on the stadium? If you don't feel like you have the stud coach you need, the one that can make that investment pay off, you are far better ripping the band-aid off now, rather than waiting another season. I have been a JD supporter in the past-- but the mission control board is blinking red right now. The team is clearly not fighting for him anymore-- and worse, there appears to be a growing discipline issue. This is more than a "oh man, they just threw another stupid screen pass" discussion. This is a "do I entrust the huge investment being made in the stadium to this coaching staff based on what has been demonstrated through 4 seasons, because if I believe there to be a significant possibility that I will need to make change, it is better to make it now so the new coach as a couple of seasons to right the ship before the stadium opens" discussion.Assuming he goes ofer the rest of the way, firing him needs to be seriously considered. If the stadium is getting delayed until 2010, you can maybe afford to give him another season that is truly make or break.My gut tells me you pull the plug now, unless the team shows something in the next 2 games-- not necessarily wins, but real competitive fire and a solid plan of attack. If these last 2 games play out on a linear projection from where we are now, I think you have to make the change, IMHO.

[GP1]

JD gets one more year.....and if the team doesn't have a winning record next year he has to be fired.I've been saying since the Championship year that the 3-3-5 defense is a gimmick. Spare me the MAC defensive rankings. Spare me the good game against OSU...if OSU wanted to score 70 on us that day, they could have. BG put on a clinic last night on how to beat it. Throw short to middle passes in zones that are wide opened because the defense is trying to prevent touchdowns and not first downs. I would complain about tackling, but when passes are completed time and time again 8-12 yards down field before a defender comes in contact with the ball carrier, does it really matter if you can tackle or not? Akron's defense looked like the scout team. Remember that the job of the defense is not to win the game, it is to put the offense in a position to win the game with good field position. Since the board is normally short on solutions, here is my first. 1a. Tell Jim Flemming to change the defense to a 3-4. If Flemming doesn't want to change, execute plan 1b. Fire Jim Flemming. If JD doesn't want to follow either 1a or 1b, JD has to be let go. Keeping this defense alive is like keeping a 15 year old blind and deaf dog who sh!+s all over the house alive. There is no point.The players. I've been telling you guys for years that regardless of what our wives tell us, size matters. Our players are too small. Akron was physically beaten up by a bigger and more physical team last night. It was men against boys on both sides of the ball for most of the game. Was #55 for Akron playing defensive back last night? He sure was pushed back there a lot. Solution #2: Get more physical players....not just big, but angry at life. Nate Robinson is the last guy off the ball every snap. It's no wonder the guy washed out at Rutgers. He couldn't get on the field there. JD needs to immediately go to every JUCO out there and bring in 2-3 dummies to play and get our size up. The University needs to improve the academic support system for student athletes so we can keep the at risk students on the field and out of grade problems like big time programs do. If you guys are really serious about winning, bringing in at risk students is necessary in college football. We NEED guys like Harvey to not flunk out.Offense. Joe Morehead was a passing QB in college and wrote the record book at his school. They never ran. He played in the Arena League where you never run. Akron has moved to an offense he is not familiar with and it shows. You guys have to keep in mind that college football assistant coaches are only slightly smarter than high school gym teachers. They are sort of like high school gym teachers, but with misguided ambition. Solution #3: Change the oc. Akron has too many good players on offense to be this bad. The line is playing well, the running backs are good, Jabari is a good player but they need to develop depth at WR and CJ7 is a good player who can win games given the chance. He needs to continue to play.The University. I could go on and on about why JD, or any other coach, is in an almost impossible situation at Akron. That is a separate post though. Getting a new stadium and fieldhouse is not going to solve the problems at Akron.In general, last night was a disaster. These things happen to a lot of teams and unfortunately, Akron has a history of being on the losing end of games like last night for years now.If any of you wasted three hours of your life watching that nonsense, here is a web page for you http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7...ask_before.html I only wasted 1.5 hours watching and then went to see a Miranda Lambert concert. I'm in a much better state of mind today because of it.For those of you who actually went to the game, please reference the above web page.For those of you planning to attend future Zips games this season, please reference the above web page. I have tickets for the day after Thanksgiving when I am back in Ohio and I wouldn't waste 10 minutes of my vacation going to watch Akron play in that dump. I paid around $30 for the tickets. I'd pay $100 not to have to go watch them play. I don't think that makes me a bad fan, I just don't want to be insulted any longer.If JD doesn't leave after the season on his own (financially, the best deal is to get fired and then double dip with another job), he gets one more year to win. If there is no winning after next year, six years would be too many, five seems just right. Owens should have been fired after five and look how bad the program was at the end. We can't go through that again.

[LosAngelesZipFan]

V funny w the linkI would love to read the rant on the issues with the university...

[GP1]

and how in the hell is a player getting suspended for 'academics' now? the team pays people to keep an eye on those things and send up red flags BEFORE they happen

Good point. The real problem is Akron has little ability to do anything other than send up red flags and tell the students to "study harder". They have a poor support program for student athletes. My understanding is it closes at 5:00. It should be open until midnight and the kids should be forced to take advantage of it like at big time schools.I'll say it again. In order to win in D 1-A college football, at risk students have to be recruited and then retained after they get to school. Akron needs to do more than what they are to make certain students stay in school and don't flunk out. If not, enjoy the losing. It's really that simple.

[ZachTheZip]

Dear JD,I have watched, or listened to, every game you have coached this season. I am very troubled by what I am seeing from your team right now. Let's go over te problems one by one.1.) Academic struggles -- Your recruits are not qualifying, or are getting suspended midway through he season, or flunk out after one semester. I know that UA doesn't have the budget to make sure that every single recruit that steps foot on campus gets a 3.0+ every semester like some other schools. There are actually two problems here: your recruiting strategies , which you have claimed to be fixed, and the Atletic Department's reluctance to spend money on keeping recruits qualified. You need to be vocal and complain to somebody that you can't run a team when your players aren't eligible. Make a comment on the pathetic academic support that you receive from the University. They want to be known as an academic juggernaut, and things like this tarnish their reputation. They will fix it if you let them know about it.2.) Team leadership -- Where are your leaders? Mackey was out for a few games, and the Defense lost it's heart and soul, but he's back and we lose in our worst blowout to a MAC tem in years. It goes deeper than that. And what about Offense? Who leads them? Jabari? He can't be the only one. You need players that are willing to be "Leaders of Men" out on the field, and off it as well. They have to have an attitude that the other players will follow them to whatever end may be. I see no one that has a commanding presence out there over your players. Last year you noted that you had no leaders on the field. This year looks like more of the same. But... Where is the overall leadership? Who leads the entire team? Shouldn't it be you? The coaches are supposed to lead the players, and the players on th field are supposed to emulate that leadership to their teammates. You have forsaken the Offense and the Defense by focusing on Special Teams. Moorhead and Fleming aren't leaders, and it would appear that you are not either. Hire somebody to lead the team, if you won't do it. Somebody that inspires confidence. Somebody that can call plays, too.3.) Offensive Playcalling -- Where to begin? Jackson is a running QB. Why did the offensive playcalling still seem like it was suited for Chris? Don't you adjust your plays to take advantage of what you have on the field, instead of what you wish you had? Do you change plays at halftime, or at the end of the quarters to take advantage of what the other team is giving you? I don't see it, and if things are changing, they need to be more pronounced. Sublty does not win football games.4.) The Defensive Scheme -- Why is the Nickel package our main scheme? That is a terrible idea. Other teams can run all over us, and if even a slow QB gets loose they can get a first down on a 3rd and long. We can't blitz at all, and it's because the personel we have are not in the right positions to make plays or get sacks. 3-3-5 defense is designed to stop the pass. Why are teams tearing us apart through the air, then? They run the ball a little, and suddenly we can't stop the pass either because the 3-3-5 doesn't allow you to prepare for all possible outcomes, or even one at a time. MAC teams use the option offense now. Find a Defense designed to stop it, and get with the times. They have our defense figured out.Well, there you go. I'm sure there are more problems than this but that's all I feel like going over for now. Any more and I'll become too frustrated to go on.JD: please don't prove points about a single player to the detriment of the entire team. Get your head out of your ass, dude.

[GP1]

V funny w the linkI would love to read the rant on the issues with the university...

I will at the end of the year. It's much more than the University though.

[Quickzips]

Funny, I was on here a month and a half ago telling you guys how this program is in a free fall. I was called a but monkey, told it wasn't on the coaching staff, we're just in a rebuilding year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.Now all of a sudden the prevailing opinion is that this program IS in a free fall and it CAN be traced back to JD.I could barely even watch that game last night. It's hard to be more embarrased to wear the blue and gold as it was trying to watch that. The team has quit on JD, his players are still a bunch of thugs who can't handle themselves on or off the field. He's still shown me nothing on the recruiting trail. His defense is a total joke. His offensive playcalling is so unimaginative it makes me long for the days of last years Cleveland Browns under Maurice Carthon. I don't really dislike JD, I think he's a good guy, but he's in WAY over his head at this point. He's proving week after week after week that he wasn't ready to be a head coach at this level. He got pretty lucky to have some good veteran leaders already in the program when he got here who were able to take the program on their shoulders when they needed. He isn't developing this program. It's regressing.As far as the overwhelming fear of firing him and then having him go somewhere else and lead a program to greatness. I'm not buying it. Even if he were to do that (I doubt it, mid-major coaches with career losing records and questionable recruiting abilities don't tend to get hired elsewhere) I still don't buy it. I could live with him doing it because I know that at this point he isn't going to be able to make Akron into that bigtime program. It's better for both sides to cut their losses now and move on before things get too much worse. JD can have a chance to resurect his career somewhere else and Akron gets a chance to retool before things get too much worse.

[skip-zip]

Guys....this is some great chat. I can certainly see every side of this issue, and it's sure nice to see some people who really care exercising their opinions.Let me add something else....After every game, I've been looking at the good, bad, and ugly. Most of last night falls into the ugly category, but I did see something that really warrants my attention, and it also reminds me of a similar situation at Suckeye State.I'm sure everyone remembers the Troy Smith / Justin Zwick scenario? It seemed as it Tressel trusted Zwick to run his offense, and thought Smith was the more talented athlete that made too many mistakes. Smith ran too quickly in passing situations early in his career, and frustrated the coaches. But, it seemed as if the more he played, the more he matured, and the more his decision making ability caught up to his athleticism with experience.Seeing Carlton Jackson's athletic ability last night was impressive. The way he avoided rushes in passing situations, and ran the ball, was certainly noticable. Might he also gain the decision making ability to be a great QB for us over the next two years if you just let him play through those mistake-prone situations over the next few games? Just as OSU did with Smith?I'm hoping I see a similar situation manifest itself here.

[GP1]

Those of you who think changing coaches is going to change the program are mistaken. JD has his problems, but the University's approach to athletics is years behind what it needs to be for UofA to have a winning program. It isn't the coaches who have turned Akron into "The Graveyard of Coaches", it is the University that does it.Those of you who want JD to recruit better students unknowingly are actively endorsing losing. While you may not see it that way, that's what you are doing. I'll say it again for the third time on this thread. Akron needs to continue to recruit the kids they currently are. In addition, they need to go out and find 2-3 potentially stupid players who can make a major and immediate impact on the program. Once those kids are in school, they need to be force-fed their classwork by an academic support group that needs to be better than what we currently have. This is what winning programs do.JD has said that he is going to stop recruiting at risk students. This worries me. While this makes some of you feel better, I think it is only going to make the quality of player worse. Enjoy the losing. It seems to be what some of you really want.

[GP1]

I was called a but monkey,

It's not but monkey, it's butt monkey. We can all be described as that at times.

[skip-zip]

GP1...your post about recruiting at-risk athletes is absolutely ABSOLUTELY correct. LO used to pride himself on getting "good kids" who were "good academically", and he proceeded to lose 25 more games than we won over a 9-year period.You need to get the best athletes that you can, and hope that you can help them stay eligible. We are a program that can afford to take those risks to get a blue-chipper, and we should continue to do so.

[Buckzip]

GP1...your post about recruiting at-risk athletes is absolutely ABSOLUTELY correct. LO used to pride himself on getting "good kids" who were "good academically", and he proceeded to lose 25 more games than we won over a 9-year period.You need to get the best athletes that you can, and hope that you can help them stay eligible. We are a program that can afford to take those risks to get a blue-chipper, and we should continue to do so.

There is a difference between recruiting at risk student athletes and recruiting guys that have no chance of qualifyling.JD has recruited quite a few guys that never had a chance of qualifying. Many teams take at risk students. However, they at least have a chance at qualifying. Most of the guys that don't qualify don't even make it the following year. Being a prop 48 is one thing, but never even making it at all is pathetic.This is what JD's problem is. It's not that these guys aren't qualifying as Freshman, it's that they never see the field.JD needs to find a way to retake this team. He has completely lost this team. He has to get it back.