Football Coaching Discussion

[Coyote Fan]

It has to be done, not now but at the end of the season. Reason #1 being a very shocking 3-15 in the Missouri Valley since he took over. Even if you take the 0-8 first season out of it, it still equates to 3-7 which isn't acceptable either. The Yotes had a small piece of momentum starting 3-1 in the MVFC last year but what should have been a springboard instead became a dive with a 0-6 record since. If Glenn was going to make a true impact the 3-1 start last year was that time that is was going to start. Instead he has descended big time. There is more to it than simply the MVFC record but that is the #1 reason for wanting him gone.

People will say that he needs time. Sorry but halfway through his third season is plenty of time to develop an accurate opinion of him. No one in their right mind should consider 3-15 acceptable. If you want a program with a good guy coach with good guy players, Glenn is your man. If you wants wins good guys alone don't produce that and these guys are not producing. Glenn as a coach isn't going to get any better, he is simply going to get older. Glenn has said in the past that his team needed birthdays. Ironically it's his own birthdays that are going in the wrong direction that isn't making Glenn any more desirable going forward.

It really started before Glenn coached his first game for the Coyotes. He didn't do what should have been done and that was an up and down scrubbing of the coaching staff that served under Meierkort. The two big elephants in the room, Beschorner and Tripplet were exactly what cost the Coyotes the game against UNI. The offense was very stale and the special teams have been horrible from day 1.

I don't think SD will finish better than 3-5 in Valley after a very lopsided loss on the road followed by a program defining loss at home to the Panthers. The game against UNI was very telling. After a near perfect opening drive for a Coyote touchdown didn't produce long term (by means of game time) results. It should have vaulted the Yotes to a good game but instead the wheels fell off resulting in UNI not being put in a high pressure situation with the Yotes continuing to build on a lead. SD made it way too easy on the Panthers by stalling out time after time. Eventually the defense will not be able to hold ship.

I could go on and on but I may need to save some typing for some rebuttals and I know there will be some kickback with this type of post. That is fine because Coyote Nation simply deserves better than we have been getting.

[GoYotes]

Clueless

[Yotes]

I'm not going to read anymore than the title and poster right now, but who do you think we should hire? Meierkort?

[sdyotefan]

CF please list your coaching accomplishments and we'll all compare them to Coach Glenn's. I have a feeling Joe will have a HUGE edge on you. If so don't put up anymore dumb posts or post topics!!!

[Coyote Fan]

Oct 11, 2014 22:12:10 GMT -6 Yotes said:

I'm not going to read anymore than the title and poster right now, but who do you think we should hire? Meierkort?

A Full scrubbing of the program from top to bottom. A true national search with the best candidate being the choice. Being in the MVFC should attract some viable candidates. Herbster seems to have done well with the basketball coach. He can do just as well with a new football coach.

[Coyote Fan]

For all those crying about this post what is it about Glenn that he has done so far at South Dakota that serves proof to you that it is likely he is going to turn this around. He is not likely to produce a winning team. The chances of going in a different direction provide the best chances of hope.

[Coyote Fan]

Oct 11, 2014 22:14:15 GMT -6 sdyotefan said:

CF please list your coaching accomplishments and we'll all compare them to Coach Glenn's. I have a feeling Joe will have a HUGE edge on you. If so don't put up anymore dumb posts or post topics!!!

Herbster doesn't have a long list of coaching accomplishments so I guess he shouldn't be qualified enough to make a decision either.

[Coyote Fan]

The responses this post will get are exactly what is wrong with Coyote football. No one holds anyone accountable for anything. Even if you do support Glenn going forward it's not good for him not to be catching heat for what is going on. Him being on the hot seat can create some positive changes such as the special teams coach being relieved of his duties. I don't support keeping Glenn personally but if I did I would want him to feel like he needed to do much better. Him being Mr. rah-rah USD is going to keep people off his tail when they should be riding him much harder.

[sdyotefan]

Come on CF fan you didn't answer my question! I guess that means you don't have a coaching resume! We all figured as much--talk is cheap!!

[Coyote Fan]

Oct 11, 2014 23:00:20 GMT -6 sdyotefan said:

Come on CF fan you didn't answer my question! I guess that means you don't have a coaching resume! We all figured as much--talk is cheap!!

I have absolutely no coaching experience. I guess according to you it is necessary to have coaching experience to be able to see what is right or wrong with a program. 3-15 is exactly what it is regardless of coaching experience. If you ask all the coaches in the MVFC if they think Glenn should stay on as coach of course they will say "yes" knowing they won't have to worry much about Coyote football being good anytime soon.

[yoteforever]

All of us on the board understand the history CF has on his posts regarding Coyote football. When Meierkort was fired CF became the voice of many posters on this board, and I took a firm position at the time that his firing was wrong for a number of reasons. To this day, without regard on my personal feelings of Joe Glenn and staff, I will still say his firing was wrong because of the message that was sent throughout the coaching circles. The position once again had nothing to do with a personal relationship I had with Ed. Anyone that personally knows me there is absolutely any doubt I put Coyote athletics above any personal thoughts and feelings I have.

Here are the facts regarding USD football. In the 60's, simply put, till 1968, the Coyotes stunk. I know for a fact from 63-66, we had 4 head coaches. 4. Then came the Joe Salem era. For the first time maybe ever, the Coyotes had stability....and we won. Then cane the Cooper era, and 3 of his 4 seasons they had losing records. Then came the '78 team that won the NCC Championship for the first outright title since 1951. After Cooper came Dave Triplet era, and once again stability was re established. With that stability came some conference titles, a lot of wins, and playoff appearances. In fact, we played for the NCAA championship. After Triplett came a cluster screw of hirings that removed any stability that had been established. We went through 3 coaches that put USD football squarely back into mediocrity. Losing seasons, pathetic performances, and a fan base that had little interest.

Then came the Meierkort hiring. A coach from Chicago, with a high level of success at the D-3 level. Meierkort brought a level of play that put USD back on the map. No one could argue that his teams played exciting ball. As I stated many times, we had players come through the Dome with talent never seen before at USD, or at least since the Salem era. We had a QB that was the runner up for the Harlon Hill Award, the D2 Heisman in Wesley Beschoner. We had a running back that went on to the NFL and now a star in the CFL. We had other players go on to the NFL as well. We played an exciting brand of football. Then the administrative decision was made to go to Division 1, and Ed was suddenly thrust into new light. He was asked to compete against D1 teams with a roster of D2 players, and by my measurements, had moderate success. Then came the unthinkable. We beat a Big 10 team in their own stadium. Unbelievable. Something none of us could ever envision, certainly not me. We told stories of playing FCS teams close for 30 minutes, then fall away. But we BEAT a Big Ten team. But after that game, we did unfortunately slipped into medicrocith that season. We would win games in the Dome, but then lose games on the road that were hard to understand. That was frustrating, but we were in most games we played. But in my opinion because of those hard to explain losses on the road, there was an undercurrent of people who jumped on the fire Ed Meierkort bandwagon . AD Sayler used other reasons for the basis of the firing, but no matter how you cut it, he was gone.

Enter Joe Glenn. Without a doubt bleeds Coyote red, and has for 40+ years. He has won national championships 3 times at two different schools, schools our size. We are in year 3, and as CF pointed out, has 3 wins in the conference in 2 years and 2 games of the third. After today's game, I could build an argument that we might not win a game, or, we could win 3-4. Regardless, short of something dramatic, playoffs are not in the immediate future. That's frustrating to me, but, I have been around the game long enough to know Joe has to build it his way. He has put discipline back into a program that Meietkort had let slip. And at times it looks like we are gaining, then after today's game I have to scratch my chin. But I believe in Joe doing this the right way, so I give him some time and latitude to build it up the right way. But my real fear is two fold. One is Joes age and how long he will stay at the helm. If his time is limited ( which would be understandable) then the only way to maintain the stability in which Joe is building the program is to hire within. And if Herbster does that, then the natural choice is Wesley, and I can hear the backlash on that coming. There will be a meltdown.

Then is my second worry, and it's far greater than who's our coach today or tomorrow. And that is our investment in the program we are/aren't making for tomorrow. Originally we were spending a few million dollars renovating the Dome, expanding seating, coaching offices that would no longer be embarrassing to show recruits, and several other ammenities that would enhance our program. But those plans have been taken off the board for now, and that's a shame. We needed those plans to come to fruition in order to just keep us at some sort competitive equality. It doesn't matter who's coaching if there are no bullets in the gun. Just to remind you, SDSU is investing nearly $100M for their football future. We aren't close to that. That's what scares me to death.

In closing, I'm not certain if CF wants Herbster to make a public statement about Joe being on the hot seat or not, but what good would it do? Create even more stress and anxiety to a program that definitely needs to get back to stability. We certainly don't have that much of a storied pass where we could call on our history to thrust us forward. We have to start that storied pass today, but I'm fearful we don't have the plans to do so.

[obc]

I love Joe Glenn's approach to life. His biggest challenge is that the MVFC was a good conference three years ago and is even better today. One of the similar problems Glenn has that Meirerkort had was USD has and will continue to work to overcome a serious lack of financial investment in the FB program for the previous 25 years.

I appreciate yoteforever's historical perspective. He makes some very good points. I would add that for whatever reason (financial realities or just perhaps it was not a priority) the FB program and the athletic department at large was given the bare minimum for a quarter century. Expectations verbally were high, but when it came down to it mediocrity was acceptable. Some of the programs fared better than others during this stretch. FB was not one of them. The Salem era up through 1986 when the Yotes played for a National championship were the best years followed by a rather lackluster approach by the athletic department.

From 87 through today, to sit in the stands and be a Coyote fan has been a gut wrenching ride. They show enough promise to be optimistic - then reality comes in the form of the wheels falling off the bus.

When USD did not join UNC, SDSU and NDSU (UNC went first followed soon after by the others) I was worried about the program really dropping off even further. I couldn't really justify moving up though because the financial commitment to that point was awful. If there was a silver lining in not moving up at the time it was that I was hoping the Coyotes could learn how to win in a watered down conference. You could argue that happened some - probably not to the extent most had hoped. USDs record against UND and UNO over that stretch is what I am thinking.

Meierkort was a players coach and one of the funnier personalities you will run into. He was and most certainly is a great salesman/recruiter. He undoubtably cared about his players. People are not all good or all bad though. Ed had the reputation for being a bully in the Athletic department. The former AD Nielson (now at Kent St) didn't do anything about it. Sayler was not the type to put up with that. In Ed's defense, he knew as well as anyone if you are asking him to move the team from D2 to D1 with the budget and facilities as they are, it is a big ask. He was well within his rights to make some demands loudly. Ed brought some great young men into the program. Many with great character - Wes being one good example. Tom Compton and Kevin Earl as a recent and current example. Those are kids you can really be proud of as a Coyote fan. There are dozens more like them. Ed also was willing to bring in kids with character issues in an attempt to see if they could work out. I don't fault him for trying, he needed to find an edge to be competitive. I wish he would have not let some of the problems stick around as long as he did. There were some very bad characters on his teams and it was embarrassing to hear the stories. The tax fraud case is just one example of a pattern of character issues that cannot be tolerated. Hard to raise money and build local support when a bunch of thugs you brought on campus are running roughshod around Vermillion.

I understand why some may want Glenn gone. You look at Western ILLINOIS, Indiana St, Missouri St (consistent bottom performers) and they are able to do things that USD has not yet under Glenn in his third year. I think if Meirkort was here the results would be similar, but the Yotes probably would have one or two more victories at home. It is not just a choice between Glenn and Meierkort - there are tons of great assistant coaches that want their chance to make a name for themselves. I am quite certain USD could get a good one. That would not be my choice at this point.

Glenn's record stinks - everyone knows it. USD is not as strong and physical as the top half of the MVFC. I don't know if it is ability, a strength and conditioning issue, or a technique issue. Perhaps a combination. I also believe as a team collectively the Coyotes are not as athletic as many of the other teams in the Valley. I think this is more slight of a disparity than the physicality disparity. I think part of our problem covering kicks is this slight athletic disparity and the other reason is coaching. That coach is not getting it done and there needs to be a change. I want Glenn to be successful more than any coach that has been at USD. He is the type of man I want my children to be around and learn from. I still think he can do it.

In order to get some confidence from the fans the Coyotes need to finish strong. NDSU and ILLINOIS St look like the best teams we have left. We get them at home, but I think we will lose both. The Yotes need to win the others including SDSU on the road. They need something positive to show for all the hard work. That would be 6-6 (5-6 in d1 games) and 4-4 in the Valley. That would include three road wins if they pulled that off.

It is extremely hard work turning a program around. I believe the work and effort is there. We need to see the results soon. Everyone, including Glenn know it. Until then I will cheer my ass off and hope for the best. Hope everyone does the same.

[GoYotes]

I appreciate the perspective provided by both yoteforever and obc. It helps me better understand my frustrations from yesterdays game. The athletic department is in a tough position right now. To be competitive at the FCS level, especially when playing in the MVFC, requires a huge dollar investment in the form of coaches salaries, facilities, etc. But how much do you want to invest in something when a large portion of the Coyote fan base doesn't seem to care.

I believe football game day in Vermillion is a great experience. The University in general has put a lot of effort into improving the game day experience. The band playing throughout the tailgate area and a lot of USD personnel visible and enjoying the experience. Trying to do whatever they can to get Coyote fans, both adult and student, to show up and stay at games. The band does a fantastic job during the game. Media coverage, print, radio and TV, is far improved from where it was a couple of years age. Most importantly, the product on the field is improved, even though the top to bottom quality of the Valley makes it hard to see the improvement. There are a ton of quality young men wearing Coyote red and they are led by a good coaching staff.

Too many of the fans just seem to not care. I ended up with 4 extra tickets to yesterdays game due to some of the people I was going to the game with have some changes outside their control to their plans. I saw some alumni that I knew in the tailgate area, told them the game was sold out and asked them if the wanted to buy the tickets at face value. They declined and were going to take their chances finding tickets at a discount. I didn't want to get stuck with 4 tickets, so I went and stood by the ticket booth and within 2 minutes sold the tickets to some UNI fans.

I hate to even start on the game. The students second half attendance continues to be terrible. The adult section, for being a sellout, was the most apathetic crowd I have been part of in the Dome for the last few years. Way too many never got off their seat and seemed to be more interested in visiting with friends than the game and a large number left at the end of the third quarter and continued to stream out through the fourth quarter.

Despite all the above, I feel we are gradually building momentum and are doing things the right way and to have long-term success is needs to be built the right way. Hopefully having some people showing up yesterday hoping to buy a ticket at the door and finding the sold out sign will build the demand. It is hard to be patient, when you want so much for the program to be successful. I think all the avid Coyote fans need to stay on board with both game attendance and financial commitment. We need to continue to do all that of us individually can to build spread the Coyote brand.

Remember, it is always a good day to be a Coyote.

[yoteforever]

Oct 12, 2014 6:34:01 GMT -6 obc said:

I love Joe Glenn's approach to life. His biggest challenge is that the MVFC was a good conference three years ago and is even better today. One of the similar problems Glenn has that Meirerkort had was USD has and will continue to work to overcome a serious lack of financial investment in the FB program for the previous 25 years.

I appreciate yoteforever's historical perspective. He makes some very good points. I would add that for whatever reason (financial realities or just perhaps it was not a priority) the FB program and the athletic department at large was given the bare minimum for a quarter century. Expectations verbally were high, but when it came down to it mediocrity was acceptable. Some of the programs fared better than others during this stretch. FB was not one of them. The Salem era up through 1986 when the Yotes played for a National championship were the best years followed by a rather lackluster approach by the athletic department.

From 87 through today, to sit in the stands and be a Coyote fan has been a gut wrenching ride. They show enough promise to be optimistic - then reality comes in the form of the wheels falling off the bus.

When USD did not join UNC, SDSU and NDSU (UNC went first followed soon after by the others) I was worried about the program really dropping off even further. I couldn't really justify moving up though because the financial commitment to that point was awful. If there was a silver lining in not moving up at the time it was that I was hoping the Coyotes could learn how to win in a watered down conference. You could argue that happened some - probably not to the extent most had hoped. USDs record against UND and UNO over that stretch is what I am thinking.

Meierkort was a players coach and one of the funnier personalities you will run into. He was and most certainly is a great salesman/recruiter. He undoubtably cared about his players. People are not all good or all bad though. Ed had the reputation for being a bully in the Athletic department. The former AD Nielson (now at Kent St) didn't do anything about it. Sayler was not the type to put up with that. In Ed's defense, he knew as well as anyone if you are asking him to move the team from D2 to D1 with the budget and facilities as they are, it is a big ask. He was well within his rights to make some demands loudly. Ed brought some great young men into the program. Many with great character - Wes being one good example. Tom Compton and Kevin Earl as a recent and current example. Those are kids you can really be proud of as a Coyote fan. There are dozens more like them. Ed also was willing to bring in kids with character issues in an attempt to see if they could work out. I don't fault him for trying, he needed to find an edge to be competitive. I wish he would have not let some of the problems stick around as long as he did. There were some very bad characters on his teams and it was embarrassing to hear the stories. The tax fraud case is just one example of a pattern of character issues that cannot be tolerated. Hard to raise money and build local support when a bunch of thugs you brought on campus are running roughshod around Vermillion.

I understand why some may want Glenn gone. You look at Western ILLINOIS, Indiana St, Missouri St (consistent bottom performers) and they are able to do things that USD has not yet under Glenn in his third year. I think if Meirkort was here the results would be similar, but the Yotes probably would have one or two more victories at home. It is not just a choice between Glenn and Meierkort - there are tons of great assistant coaches that want their chance to make a name for themselves. I am quite certain USD could get a good one. That would not be my choice at this point.

Glenn's record stinks - everyone knows it. USD is not as strong and physical as the top half of the MVFC. I don't know if it is ability, a strength and conditioning issue, or a technique issue. Perhaps a combination. I also believe as a team collectively the Coyotes are not as athletic as many of the other teams in the Valley. I think this is more slight of a disparity than the physicality disparity. I think part of our problem covering kicks is this slight athletic disparity and the other reason is coaching. That coach is not getting it done and there needs to be a change. I want Glenn to be successful more than any coach that has been at USD. He is the type of man I want my children to be around and learn from. I still think he can do it.

In order to get some confidence from the fans the Coyotes need to finish strong. NDSU and ILLINOIS St look like the best teams we have left. We get them at home, but I think we will lose both. The Yotes need to win the others including SDSU on the road. They need something positive to show for all the hard work. That would be 6-6 (5-6 in d1 games) and 4-4 in the Valley. That would include three road wins if they pulled that off.

It is extremely hard work turning a program around. I believe the work and effort is there. We need to see the results soon. Everyone, including Glenn know it. Until then I will cheer my ass off and hope for the best. Hope everyone does the same.

Really good editorial. In fact, very good. I to would want my kid to play for Joe. At the end of the day, unless you're Tyler Starr or Steffan Logan, a Coyote football grad isn't going pro. The education he gets will be his biggest gift. I know mine was not what I learned in the classroom, but rather what I learned from playing college football, and I applied that to my business. Recruiting talented people, preparation, communication, and execution of game plan. Also, not lost in OBC's post is being a decent human being.

The counter argument is the BUT I WANT TO WIN argument. I do to, but I also said in my post, the facts are he's won national championships and he bully it this way. The only difference between now and then is his age.

[yoteforever]

Oct 12, 2014 7:12:19 GMT -6 GoYotes said:

I appreciate the perspective provided by both yoteforever and obc. It helps me better understand my frustrations from yesterdays game. The athletic department is in a tough position right now. To be competitive at the FCS level, especially when playing in the MVFC, requires a huge dollar investment in the form of coaches salaries, facilities, etc. But how much do you want to invest in something when a large portion of the Coyote fan base doesn't seem to care.

I believe football game day in Vermillion is a great experience. The University in general has put a lot of effort into improving the game day experience. The band playing throughout the tailgate area and a lot of USD personnel visible and enjoying the experience. Trying to do whatever they can to get Coyote fans, both adult and student, to show up and stay at games. The band does a fantastic job during the game. Media coverage, print, radio and TV, is far improved from where it was a couple of years age. Most importantly, the product on the field is improved, even though the top to bottom quality of the Valley makes it hard to see the improvement. There are a ton of quality young men wearing Coyote red and they are led by a good coaching staff.

Too many of the fans just seem to not care. I ended up with 4 extra tickets to yesterdays game due to some of the people I was going to the game with have some changes outside their control to their plans. I saw some alumni that I knew in the tailgate area, told them the game was sold out and asked them if the wanted to buy the tickets at face value. They declined and were going to take their chances finding tickets at a discount. I didn't want to get stuck with 4 tickets, so I went and stood by the ticket booth and within 2 minutes sold the tickets to some UNI fans.

I hate to even start on the game. The students second half attendance continues to be terrible. The adult section, for being a sellout, was the most apathetic crowd I have been part of in the Dome for the last few years. Way too many never got off their seat and seemed to be more interested in visiting with friends than the game and a large number left at the end of the third quarter and continued to stream out through the fourth quarter.

Despite all the above, I feel we are gradually building momentum and are doing things the right way and to have long-term success is needs to be built the right way. Hopefully having some people showing up yesterday hoping to buy a ticket at the door and finding the sold out sign will build the demand. It is hard to be patient, when you want so much for the program to be successful. I think all the avid Coyote fans need to stay on board with both game attendance and financial commitment. We need to continue to do all that of us individually can to build spread the Coyote brand.

Remember, it is always a good day to be a Coyote.