Football Coaching Discussion

[sd4life]

Nov 23, 2014 11:09:58 GMT -6 94grad said:

I'm hesitant to post this in this thread because the subject line somewhat implies a coaching change is needed. Regardless....

I'm guessing I fall into a statistically relevant category of Coyote Fan (pun). This program is in real danger of losing this category of fans for next year. I've got 3 season tickets and a HP membership. Being in the SF area, it's a fairly significant commitment each Saturday to make the drive down, possibly tailgate, watch the 3-4 hour game, and then make the drive back. With two young kiddos, there's often times a conflict with their activities also. Last year at 4-8, 3-3 at home, it was a somewhat decent product on the field (particularly at home) and I was willing to commit the time and money to the program. This year it was increasingly difficult to make that commitment as we slogged our way through an 8 game losing streak.

The season tickets are $300+ and the HP membership is $100. By no means a wallet-buster, but at some point you have to expect a return on your investment- both money and time.

I am still proud and amazed at the attendance in the dome this year as the season progressed. I'll likely go for the season tix next year also, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of us that are on the fence start dropping out next year for the reasons stated above.

As for the coaching..... I'm not an expert. You often hear the "3 year" rule thrown out there for head coaches at the college and/or pro level. Because of JG's record of clearly knowing how to win and the somewhat unprecedented task of jumping into far and away the best conference (5 playoff teams?!?!), I'm willing to add one more year, which puts me in the "one more season for Joe" camp.

And above all, GO YOTES!

I'm for giving him another year, but I would like to see changes with the assistant coaches. After a year like this, there needs to be some sort of mix up.

[GoYotes]

Here is a comparison of football salaries and other info at USD vs SDSU that I pulled off both schools and the SD state salary websites

[wylie]

Joe is a good leader and outstanding advocate for USD. He should stay. However, I believe we need some changes among the assistants. Why in the world didn't we run the ball more yesterday? How could we not use Potter more this season? Also, we need to get more athletes in the linebacker and defensive back positions, we have been getting torched in those positions all year. I do think our coaching staffs biggest weakness is recruiting. We need to recruit players who are of higher character and who are better athletes. If Indiana State can have success, we have no excuses.

[obc]

Until USD solves three problems they will be a bottom feeder in the MVFC.

1. Offensive line - even when all 5 starters were healthy this was the weakest OL I saw in conference. Unless the redshirts and backups are better than I would guess this will not be something fixed by next year.
2. Ability to create pressure with only rushing four. USD was very young and anemic up front. Very disappointed with this unit. I am willing to give the true freshman and RS freshman a pass, but the upperclassmen on the defensive front got manhandled. Iddings at times was a game changer, but too often disappeared completely. He has the ability, and needs to step up and lead that unit.
3. Special teams coverage. Stay in your freaking lanes and be disciplined. Keep contain if it is your job to do so. Do not run down like a maniac and run right past the ball carrier. Break down and make a tackle. Cannot win giving the opponent that big of a field position advantage. The special teams coach has been given more than enough time. If he is kept on for next year, i have my doubts that there is really any asst coaches being held accountable for results of their respective units.


If those three things get better, I would bet a lot of money the other positions would look immensely better. I think #2 and #3 can be fixed easier than #1. After sitting through every game the past three years, I have zero confidence that #3 will be fixed.

[yotefootball]

I am not for or against the firing of Joe Glenn, but I have a feeling that you will see him "retire" in the near future. It is tough to see them retaining him after we took steps a year ago and are back to square one now. I think Joe is starting to lose his football sense a little bit (not going for it on two in the Illinois State game is a perfect example). Little mistakes like that make it difficult to win winnable football games. I think it comes down to more the fact that we are just not at a FCS level as a football program yet. I look at State and the new complex they just completed, plus a new stadium in the future, and realize how far we are behind right now. The basketball arena should have been done years ago and we could renovate now. I compare us to the UNI Dome (have been there on multiple occasions for HS Championship Games) and realize why we struggle in the recruiting area (which translates to on the field). The field itself is superb but everything else is subpar. The offices are small and outdated as is the Locker Room and Equipment room. Right now we don't have the funding or facilities to compete in my opinion. As for if they were to go for a new coach, there are two paths they could take (as I am pretty confident if Glenn leaves that no one on the staff will be retained or promoted to head coach) hire a D2/D3 Head Coach that has proven he can rebuild a program at that level, or try to attack an assistant coach from an FCS team (as I am skeptical that a FBS assistant would step down). To be honest, we have a very good area to be in with Omaha, Sioux Falls, and the Twin Cities within this area. Maybe getting a local coach who knows the area and has a reputation built up could be beneficial. Either that or we need an extremely ambitious person with the ability to have strong structure on the field and on the recruiting trail. Again this is all hypothetical, but we should learn more I would guess as other coaches' fates from other schools are known. Should be some interesting times within the next few months around FCS football.

[obc]

Here is Mick Garry's season wrap up article including comments from Herbster on how he views Glenn as HC

Argus Leader USD FB Season Wrap-Up Article

[obc]

Budgets and facilities are a challenge. USD is behind the rest of the MVfC there for sure. The new BB arena and other slated facilities improvements will be a big step in the right direction.

IMO the problems the FB Team has is more than just budgetary. USD got blown out by the the 8th and 9th place MVFC teams.
How does USD's FB budget compare to William Penn's? Remember the score of that game in the 4th quarter with 8 minutes left? 24-16. USD was able to finally get their act together enough to kick a FG with 7 minutes left, followed by a TD run late. Then they added a fumble return for a TD. Also remember that USD never really stopped William Penn's starting QB - he got hurt and never returned. How did USD tackle that game? Did they look sharp and disciplined? William Penn was middle of the pack in their D3 conference this year.

USDs budget is low, but this squad certainly won't be accused of over-achieving. In fact, I could make a case they are underachieving. USD can and should be doing better than they are.

[Yotes]

Yeah, we are trying to compete with teams who have far greater resources, but that still doesn't account for what is upsetting a lot of people. The team clearly stopped giving 100% a long time ago, and that's why we lost 8 in a row. You can't tell me the low budget is why we couldn't stop WP, why we didn't play the second half against SIU, how we have up our lead against YSU in the blink of an eye, the embarrassment against a bad Missouri State team, and how we went at least half the season with no sacks against D1 competition.

Budgeting is a problem in the long run, but there are clearly big problems in the short run

[yote14]

Nov 23, 2014 14:16:21 GMT -6 GoYotes said:

Here is a comparison of football salaries and other info at USD vs SDSU that I pulled off both schools and the SD state salary websites

The link did not work for me but I myself did this comparison 3 weeks ago and was amazed at USD's lack of commitment with not only the salaries but the huge disparity between how many coaches are on every other team compared to USD. There are probably division 2 teams with bigger coaching departments. IMO this may not be the only reason for the lack of success. The coaches need to take some blame as well but if we do not fix this we have no shot at success.

[yotefootball]

At this point I think it is more about who are we going to get for assistants at this point. Coach Glenn is extremely loyal to his staff and I have a tough time believing he will allow the University to have control over who he has on the staff. It comes down to who they can get. USD is not an idea job right now and not many established coaches are looking for a rebuild job.

In terms of team wise, I understand we were riddled by injuries (mainly offensively) but there is no excuse. I am going to put a lot of our offensive struggles on the O-Line and Coach Harvey. It is inexcusable how fundamentally deficient we were and it displayed as we had literally 0 time to work in the pocket and at the point of attack. Our defense was a train wreck top to bottom. Should be interesting what pans out in the coming weeks.

[fightsd]

Nov 24, 2014 9:01:54 GMT -6 yotefootball said:

I am going to put a lot of our offensive struggles on the O-Line and Coach Harvey. It is inexcusable how fundamentally deficient we were and it displayed as we had literally 0 time to work in the pocket and at the point of attack.

Again, playing with recruits that got passed over by the rest of the conference. To top it off, injuries to center and both tackles.

I can agree with some of the criticism for strategic game plans and choices that we saw this year from the coaching staff, specifically the OC. But I absolutely do not agree with the idea that the coaches aren't coaching up the players, especially at the OL spot. Everyone is doing the best with they can with what they have.

[coyote70]

In my opinion, replacing one or two assistants will not materially (or magically) help the team, especially with our lack of talent. Simply put, we can do better. Some things that need to happen in my opinion are:

1) Get a thorough diagnosis on what the problems are within the current football program. This can only be done within the University and must involve all parties, including players and coaches.

2) In a business-like manner, develop strategies that specifically address each problem, focusing on what can be done in the short term (i.e. one year).

3) Act on those strategies without delay.

Is recruiting a problem? Invariably yes, so let's improve it. Some players that are toxic? Get rid of them. Coaches that aren't developing players? Replace them. Etc., etc.

Obviously, I never will have the expertise to know exactly what's wrong with our program. I just hope others with expertise are working on this so I can have some hope for next season and the years to come.

[fightsd]

Nov 23, 2014 14:16:21 GMT -6 GoYotes said:

Here is a comparison of football salaries and other info at USD vs SDSU that I pulled off both schools and the SD state salary websites

Thanks for this goyotes.

Would just like to clarify that the RB coach is not even on salary. He is paid a stipend of a few hundred dollars a month.

[yotefootball]

I disagree with those who think it is just the players that are the problem. I see a major identity crisis happening right now. We are a team with without a leader on the field. Coaching wise I think the only position we acceled at this year would be running back (with all 4 players succeeding plus Potter), other than that I thought we were awful all around defensively, and subpar offensively. I will give some relief to the offense with the amount of injuries they sustained to arguably the three best offensive players we have. I do think that we should be ready for the Next Man In and be ready to go. What I saw was an offensive line with correctable mistakes not be corrected. That falls upon the player and the coaches. It wasn't only the line but they were the root offensively. Little sloppy play (fumbles, ints, dropped passes) all cumulated in a complete disaster for this season. I'm not even going to get started defensively. Our secondary got shredded every game. William Penn ran successfully on us and everywhere in between. That lies on Petrino. I think they will clean house from top to bottom (and that includes Glenn). Tough to justify retaining some assistants and letting go of others.

[GoYotes]

My opinion is that changes are needed, if nothing else, for the sake of change. Granted the Yotes are still a really young team and have had a lot of injuries. However, to expect better results next year, without making any changes, is the definition of insanity. A large portion of the fan base is growing impatient and the program simply cannot risk going into next year without significant changes. Another year added to the last 3 would put the program in a hole so deep, it would take forever to recover.

The million dollar question is what changes are needed. Joe Glenn, over the last 3 years, has been a huge plus in building a better foundation not just for football, but all of Coyote athletics. To build the program the right way and to have sustained success takes a solid foundation. It takes time to build a good sound foundation. Having Joe leave involuntarily would crumble a portion of the foundation he helped build. Ideally, we need to keep Joe on staff and our next head coach needs to be on next years staff. If that means Joe stays as head coach and the next head coach is an assistant, so be it. Or perhaps we hire a new head coach and Joe stays aboard in some sort of consulting/advisory role. But keeping Joe on staff and having the needed changes made will only be successful if Joe buys in to the plan.

Brighter days are head, but always remember every day is still a great day to be a Coyote.