Another portal loss
- Thread starter CatQ
- Start date
Hard to develop as a WR when your football team is incapable of producing a competent QB
And when you hate throwing and putting your play makers in space even when we have one.
And when your position coach has been at the school forever but still has no track record of success
NOT TRUE NOT TRUE NOT TRUE.
Austin Carr!!!!
Also, isn’t running a reverse for a loss of six yards ‘getting a playmaker in space’?
I thought, until this year, that Fitz was only not interested in offense. The rent has come due.
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I've pondered this question about whether Dennis Springer is a "good" coach, and what his body of work says about his abilities. He joined the Wildcats coaching staff on Jan 2011, and he's been WR position coach for the past 9 years now.
Successful receivers from 2013:
Christian Jones (54 catches in 2013, injured)
Kyle Prater (51 catches in 2014)
Austin Carr (90 catches in 2016)
Flynn Nagel (#10 all time NU receptions)
Ben Skowronek
Riley Lees (51 catches in 2019)
RCB (2020 sr year)
So he's had some success, but makes one wonder if someone else might have been able to do more. It's not easy to determine, since other factors are critical such as who is chucking the ball to the receivers, and the general belief that the receivers "don't get separation" since they are not a very talented crew as a whole. You can only do so much "development" if the physical talent is limited.
Well just compare Springer against Kevin Johns. Andrew Brewer, Jeremy Ebert, Ross Lane etc. How much more physically talented were those guys?
Fair enough, and the record would suggest that Johns was a better position coach than Springer.
Johns was WR coach from 2006-2010, and some successful receivers under his tutelage:
- Ross Lane (30-49-60) 2006-2008 soph-sr
- Eric Peterman (23-66-59) 2006-2008 soph-sr
- Rasheed Ward (22-46-51) 2006-2008 soph-sr
- Kim Thompson (46 catches as sr.)
- Zeke Markshausen (91 catches in 2009)
- Andrew Brewer (57 catches as sr)
- Jeremy Ebert (15-21-62 from fr-jr, 75 catches as sr under Springer)
- Sidney Stewart (0-17-42-40)
Whether it’s talent or development or both, the fact is there’s a relatively poor track record. At this point that probably negatively affects recruiting, regardless of whether his coaching is poor, so it’s going to be a cycle and a perception that’s hard to shake without a coaching change. Perhaps since our passing game was so poor, when we recruited a new OC they should’ve gotten a new WR coach as well.
The only WR to be drafted under Springer is Ebert, who had one glorious season.
Honestly, I think Washington’s relative emergence this year is possibly the best story Springer has had in a while, but that ignores that Dennis and GHP have been totally unproductive from that same class, while Kirtz has been hurt.
Honest evaluation would have had him out with McCall.
Springer has also spent the entirety of his prime coaching years at NU without moving up in coaching responsibility. That is quite unusual. Good coaches should be moving up within the program or moving on to a bigger program or another program where they can take on more responsibility. To see someone static for so long during their prime professional years isn’t great
I can’t say for sure that springer is a bad coach - I don’t think we’ve had much talent there either - but ultimately there isn’t any reason to believe, unless he’s doing something else that’s hidden from the outside, that he’s anything better than a replacement level coach either.
It’s not really fair to compare him to KJ, who has proven to be an exceptional rider we were lucky to have.
Given the inertia of our offense in the recent past, and now with no defense, it is difficult to see a short term solution. A great mobile QB who can pass may be the band aid that allows the bleeding to stop. Thorson did it, Ramsey did it, so let's hope. However they both had a defense to rely on. It's going to be an interesting off season.
I mean, there’s a pretty large space between me calling Ds a “replacement level coach” and KJ an “exceptional coach,” so…
Good thing Fitz has all of us to guide him. He’d be lost otherwise. /s
Kevin Johns hired as Duke OC yesterday.
Wasn't there some scandal involving recruiting with him or am I thinking about a different coach? I honestly don't remember. Did he just want to tag along with Kevin Wilson?
www.wralsportsfan.com
Wasn't there some scandal involving recruiting with him or am I thinking about a different coach? I honestly don't remember. Did he just want to tag along with Kevin Wilson?
Elko hires Kevin Johns to be Duke's offensive coordinator :: WRALSportsFan.com
Duke head football coach Mike Elko announced Monday that Kevin Johns will join the Blue Devil gridiron program and serve as the offensive coordinator. Johns will also coach Duke's quarterbacks.
www.wralsportsfan.com
Kevin Johns hired as Duke OC yesterday.
Wasn't there some scandal involving recruiting with him or am I thinking about a different coach? I honestly don't remember. Did he just want to tag along with Kevin Wilson?
Elko hires Kevin Johns to be Duke's offensive coordinator :: WRALSportsFan.com
Duke head football coach Mike Elko announced Monday that Kevin Johns will join the Blue Devil gridiron program and serve as the offensive coordinator. Johns will also coach Duke's quarterbacks.
Yes that was KJ. Flubbed the Sean Cotton recruiting situation pretty badly.
He'll enjoy Mississippi. There's a restaurant in Starkville, and two Motel 6's.
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Playing for Mike Leach’s offense is pretty fun for receivers.
Unless you find yourself… uh… “trapped” on the depth chart.
I've been there. There is a small downtown which is okay and the rest is the university and a lot of strip mall and chain places like Applebee's. A lot of college towns are like that, Gainesville Florida and Tuscaloosa Alabama are like that except for the nicest area's of campus (the Sorority quad area of Alabama is beautiful, like a movie set). Perhaps a Big Ten comparison would be Champagne Illinois.
He most certainly will get more receptions playing for Leach.
And he will not have a Northwestern degree that would hep him forever.
Not that I want to use Bleacher Report as a source, but these old stories are pretty good:
The Bonus: Mike Leach: My biggest regret was not cutting Adam James
Mike Leach took Texas Tech to new heights, going 84-43 in 10 seasons, including an 11-2 finish in 2008. Leach was fired by the university in December 2009
www.si.com
Pretty good names in the Leach tree: Lincoln Riley, Holgorsen, Eric Morris, etc., etc.
When NU played Mississippi State in Jacksonville, “Go back to Oxford” seemed to really piss off the Bulldogs fans.
