Eurocat said:

I vaguely recall us having a terrific offense the year Garrick McGee was OC. But he like to throw the ball as I remember and I think coach Fitz was happier with more of a ball-control, slow the game down type of game. But I could be wrong.

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Lot of ups and downs. Lot of turnovers, 19 int for . We did not really win with him as OC. Maybe with time but not in the years he was here. Dunbar was much better and so was McCall

I expect we'll see different guys bringing the ball up all season with a few offensive sets tailored for each of them.

No doubt the Cats will spend a decent chunk of early practices on a variety of press-breaking strategies.

EvanstonCat said:

Stop it. Just stop it.

Iowa won the B1G West last year. That doesn’t mean Brian Ferentz wasn’t the same caliber of OC as Mick McCall presiding over god awful offenses.

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Sorry but McCall put together a lot of good years here. Ferentz, not really in the same ballpark

Just Gary said:

Who recruited Thorson?

I’m am truly asking as I am not sure.

How would you rank all the OC since 1993? This is again an honest question because we tend to bash our offensive coordinators. We had some great seasons under Fitz so I think the OCs deserve credit. I just don’t know how to determine a fair system. I would think the criteria would be wins and losses, bowl game appearances, complimentary football, recruiting, development, objective/selevcive split, and good/bad luck. Just set one set of criteria, assign points (some you can allow zero points) and stick to your system for all the OC. It is hard to fairly rank when the criteria keeps changing. If you feel you must include Walker and otters, that is fine as long as you include the on field success and bowl record/success because that is the ultimate measure (again distribute the points as you see fit. Please make the total points add up to 100 and you can use fractions. No negatives.

And if you don’t like my rules in the rules for this “bored in summer”? Create your own and apply it to all the OCs since 1993.

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He, Alviti, Siemina and Colter were all recruited by and under McCall. As far as OCs deserving credit when Fitz was HC, there is basically McCall and the 2020 season under Jake where we had successful seasons. McGee not so much. Maybe if he had stayed but his O led to a good number of turnovers while he was here

Going back to 93? Was Barnett as HC also OC in 1995-6? Cannot really find anything. For the most part it was an O (strong OL) that paired with a top D and was big on the run with DA gaining as much running the ball as Schnurr threw the ball 1785 and 1792 for Schnurr passing. Got a little more balance in 96 but while D coordinator listed nothing for OC.

Other than those, the others were associated with Walker and that included Kevin Wilson who together with Walker put together the spread. But part of being prolific was that we had no D. He is likely number one generating a lot of yds and points but not sure he would have matched well with the strong D centered team we went to under Fitz and Hank. Still reasonable to put him #1 But he was also known as an ass. Other than that I probably put McCall, especially since he meshed so well with the D centered team. I liked Dunbar could put him on par with McCall but he left after RW passed Sorry to see him go. McGee never really showed that much here but only here for a couple years. So overall, Wilson probably 1st, Dunbar and McCall about even at #2 and McGee and Jake similar behind.

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hdhntr1 said:

The only stat that truly matters is wins and losses and 9/12 seasons with McCall had 6 wins or more during regular season. These also included 3 overall 10 win seasons 2 9 win seasons etc. His Os paired well with the rest of the program to help deliver those seasons.

And if numbers went down because we went away from the spread because Fitz decided to go that way, why then is McCall blamed for lower producing O? Again wins and losses are the important stat and if it helped accomplish that, then he was still doing his job.

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Stop it. Just stop it.

Iowa won the B1G West last year. That doesn’t mean Brian Ferentz wasn’t the same caliber of OC as Mick McCall presiding over god awful offenses.

Eurocat said:

I vaguely recall us having a terrific offense the year Garrick McGee was OC. But he like to throw the ball as I remember and I think coach Fitz was happier with more of a ball-control, slow the game down type of game. But I could be wrong.

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The starting QB under McGee was CJ Bacher, who was definitely more of a gunslinger.

CappyNU said:

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Those aren’t pillows!

I did not start road cycling until I turned 40, and my body had had enough of weights and all that nonsense. I dropped 25 pounds and greatly improved my fitness. I did a bunch of organized road rides like the Hilly Hundred in Indiana, and Horribly Hilly in Wisconsin, along with a bunch of MS 150 fundraisers and the Diabetes 100. 17 years later, it is still my favorite activity.

Chicago is not great for road cycling--just too much traffic on the lakefront trails and too dangerous on the streets. I sometimes ride early Sunday to Lake Cook and back, which is pretty nice. But mostly I sit on a Peleton and chase watts.

The real treat is gravel cycling--much less traffic, better views, more interesting terrain. I have cycled NW Arkansas, the Black Hills (gravel Mecca, IMO), the Scottsbluff area, and selected parts of Colorado and Utah.

Pro cyclists, especially the climbers on the grand tours, are easily the toughest athletes. They suffer more than anyone--for hours and days. Those guys are unreal.

Hkjb said:

There are trains.

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IGNORE2 said:

And planes

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Hungry Jack said:

And automobiles

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phatcat said:

"A key foreign tour awaits in August."

I was excited for about 5 seconds because I am going to the Europe in August, but I'm in the north and they are in the south

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I love NU hoops, but you don't go to Europe to watch American basketball. Go see a museum and drink the local drink of choice! I'm sipping some red wine in Sevilla as I type this!

And automobiles

WaveJumper said:

I took up mountain biking on dirt trails when I turned 70, but eventually the hills were just too much for me so I converted a hard tail mountain bike to a 1,000 watt E bike with a 52 volt, 14 amp battery (buying the motor and battery and replacing all of the standard drive parts (chain, gears, chainwheel, brakes, etc.) and now the hills are the easiest part. It was really a great experience doing the build, because I learned how to maintain and tune everything else on the bike. I can't ride the bike on paved streets since it can exceed 40 mph and is not legal on streets, but wouldn't ride on pavement anyway. Mostly, I ride blue and green dirt trails and sometimes black, but they invariably kick my a$$. Just an awesome sport being out in the woods, and seeing dear, fawns, fox, snakes, possums, wild turkeys, etc. Hard for me to relate to riding in any other environment.

Agree with you about tour riders. They are some of the most incredible athletes on the planet.

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I can only imagine what your new sport of choice will be at 80. Cliff climbing?

Hkjb said:

There are trains.

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And planes

I expect BB to be the primary ball handler at the end of close games. Otherwise Leach or even Berry can run the offense.

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I took up mountain biking on dirt trails when I turned 70, but eventually the hills were just too much for me so I converted a hard tail mountain bike to a 1,000 watt E bike with a 52 volt, 14 amp battery (buying the motor and battery and replacing all of the standard drive parts (chain, gears, chainwheel, brakes, etc.) and now the hills are the easiest part. It was really a great experience doing the build, because I learned how to maintain and tune everything else on the bike. I can't ride the bike on paved streets since it can exceed 40 mph and is not legal on streets, but wouldn't ride on pavement anyway. Mostly, I ride blue and green dirt trails and sometimes black, but they invariably kick my a$$. Just an awesome sport being out in the woods, and seeing dear, fawns, fox, snakes, possums, wild turkeys, etc. Hard for me to relate to riding in any other environment.

Agree with you about tour riders. They are some of the most incredible athletes on the planet.

I vaguely recall us having a terrific offense the year Garrick McGee was OC. But he like to throw the ball as I remember and I think coach Fitz was happier with more of a ball-control, slow the game down type of game. But I could be wrong.

pschatz25 said:

I'm not too concerned about the temperature for games at Martin Stadium. As others have said, the weather on the lakefront is often lovely in September and October. I will say that I was tossing a football at the beach this weekend- a beach within sight of Martin Stadium- and passing could definitely be a challenge.

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I'm hoping for some wild wind, along with some offensive innovation that takes unique advantage of it.

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PurpleWhiteBoy said:

I thought I heard Special Assistant James say Barnhizer would be "a primary ballhandler" after saying "Barnhizer will handle the ball more than he did last year." It wasn't definitive. They don't seem sure that Leach can run the offense (so far).

It sounds like a work in progress with a bunch of different pieces, but not necessarily a point guard.

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Heard James also share conflicting view that Leach would be the primary ball handler. So who knows?

hdhntr1 said:

I believe that Persa was Walker's last QB recruit (he was in class of 2007 but recruiting started under Walker) McCall did not get here till after as his first year as OC was 2008. He had a lot to do with developing Persa, Kafka and Bacher and did well with all three but did not recruit them. Over all, it would seem reasonable to rate him as weaker at QB recruiting (or at least inconsistent) but would have to rate him as reasonably strong at QB development

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Who recruited Thorson?

I’m am truly asking as I am not sure.

How would you rank all the OC since 1993? This is again an honest question because we tend to bash our offensive coordinators. We had some great seasons under Fitz so I think the OCs deserve credit. I just don’t know how to determine a fair system. I would think the criteria would be wins and losses, bowl game appearances, complimentary football, recruiting, development, objective/selevcive split, and good/bad luck. Just set one set of criteria, assign points (some you can allow zero points) and stick to your system for all the OC. It is hard to fairly rank when the criteria keeps changing. If you feel you must include Walker and otters, that is fine as long as you include the on field success and bowl record/success because that is the ultimate measure (again distribute the points as you see fit. Please make the total points add up to 100 and you can use fractions. No negatives.

And if you don’t like my rules in the rules for this “bored in summer”? Create your own and apply it to all the OCs since 1993.

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