Critical take on the program and staff by Greenstein

[EvanstonCat]

Not many on this board were in favor of Cushing in his present role as OL coach or were comfortable with Springer as WR coach last year. Don't recall hearing anything against Macpherson. McCall had at least shown success here (including QB development). Remember when after 2012, there was concern of losing him? Though some were concerned with his predictability.

Thorson is improved this year and is ready to start. That said, he is not getting much help from his OL, WR or the running game (see again OL). OL play in the last game was about as bad as I have seen in a long time. WR not getting open and dropping balls. Not sure what you expect him to do when no one else is winning their matchups.

Brain fart. I meant Springer not MacPherson. There were people here who defended those jokers and said we were out of line calling for their jobs.

Need someone to pull together the team and just win. Doesn't matter how. It's not happening now. May not be Thorson's fault, but we should try something new, because what we are doing now isn't working in the least and hasn't for the past 15 games.

 

[hdhntr1]

Are you delusional? I've been calling for new coaches at the OL and WR positions for at least four years. Regarding Thorson, you have been ignorantly calling for his benching since early last year. Not only is he a good and rapidly improving QB on an absolute basis, he is far and away the best QB on our roster. Anybody who knows anything about football can see that.

As far as McCall is concerned, I stand by my position. He is a very good OC and talent developer who is handicapped by a sub par offensive staff. He is not the problem. It's easy to see our offense struggling and just make a blanket statement saying to get rid of all the coaches. You would be throwing out the baby with the bath water. MCCall, Heffner and Coach Mac are good coaches. Cushing and Springer are just awful and their poor performance have completely handicapped the offense. Replace them with two experienced and accomplished talent developers and you'll see how quickly this offense would improve.

I agree with most of what you say. I think McCall is a good coach but he been a little predictable. Maybe that is a function of the handicaps. And to the extent that he is responsible for retaining OL and WR coaches...

 

[hdhntr1]

Well, to be fair, I may be mixing you up with others who have defended those two jokers. I used to think McCall was decent but I simply cannot support retaining him after the last two years of utter futility. Performance wise, it's indefensible. He may be handcuffed, he may be handicapped, he may be unlucky. But, he has not produced and it's time to try someone else, just to get a fresh start. This is what happens in the real world to competent people. Miss your numbers, and you are going to be sent packing. Shouldn't be any different here.

If Fitz can't make the right staff decisions, then he needs to go as well. Watching that Saban video of him ripping Kiffin's head off just makes me sick thinking of how much we stomach downright incompetence in this program. This is the difference between Bama and NU. It's not the recruiting, it's the coaching.

Don't recall many defending the two. At best they got a temporary pass.

Yah, all those 4-5 star athletes that Bama is loaded with make no difference. Not saying that there are not better position coaches out there ( at millions per year) but saying that the players they have to work with make no difference??? And most of those players couldn't even sniff their way through NU admissions.

 

[wildcatpn]

Don't recall many defending the two. At best they got a temporary pass.

Yah, all those 4-5 star athletes that Bama is loaded with make no difference. Not saying that there are not better position coaches out there ( at millions per year) but saying that the players they have to work with make no difference??? And most of those players couldn't even sniff their way through NU admissions.

Of course the talent level of Bama makes a huge difference. Having said that, is there any doubt we would have beaten ISU by at least 14 and probably more if Saban and his staff were coaching NU in camp and the first 2 games? That says a lot about this current NU staff(at least on the offensive side of the ball). Saban demands perfection from everyone including his staff. There is no way our Oline would play so soft under his staff.

 

[mikewebb68]

Well, to be fair, I may be mixing you up with others who have defended those two jokers. I used to think McCall was decent but I simply cannot support retaining him after the last two years of utter futility. Performance wise, it's indefensible. He may be handcuffed, he may be handicapped, he may be unlucky. But, he has not produced and it's time to try someone else, just to get a fresh start. This is what happens in the real world to competent people. Miss your numbers, and you are going to be sent packing. Shouldn't be any different here.

If Fitz can't make the right staff decisions, then he needs to go as well. Watching that Saban video of him ripping Kiffin's head off just makes me sick thinking of how much we stomach downright incompetence in this program. This is the difference between Bama and NU. It's not the recruiting, it's the coaching.

Did Saban fire Kiffin after the game? Coaches antics on sidelines rarely have anything to do with assistant coach competency or stomaching incompetence or not; Kiffin's salary was double in the offseason, so I think the administration is quite happy with him.

 

[mikewebb68]

Of course the talent level of Bama makes a huge difference. Having said that, is there any doubt we would have beaten ISU by at least 14 and probably more if Saban and his staff were coaching NU in camp and the first 2 games? That says a lot about this current NU staff(at least on the offensive side of the ball). Saban demands perfection from everyone including his staff. There is no way our Oline would play so soft under his staff.

With the way the players actually played on ISU, especially in areas that have little to do with coaching, I can safely say that it may not have mattered if Saban and his staff were coaching NU in camp and the first 2 games? Coaches can only do so much.

 

[wildcatpn]

With the way the players actually played on ISU, especially in areas that have little to do with coaching, I can safely say that it may not have mattered if Saban and his staff were coaching NU in camp and the first 2 games? Coaches can only do so much.

Are you kidding? The talent between NU and ISU is not even close. If they were coached properly at certain positions and ready to play there's no way they lose. I guarantee Saban would not have to say "we play with no passion" after a game. He wouldn't tolerate it.

 

[TejasCat]

ok we've hit a new low here, our coaches are just as good as Bama's.

 

[willycat]

ok we've hit a new low here, our coaches are just as good as Bama's.

OMG, thought I was on the BB board from a few years ago and BC was back.

 

[mikewebb68]

Are you kidding? The talent between NU and ISU is not even close. If they were coached properly at certain positions and ready to play there's no way they lose. I guarantee Saban would not have to say "we play with no passion" after a game. He wouldn't tolerate i.

Ok, guess I wasn'T communicating clearly. A number of mistakes in the ISU game were NOT due to coaching, imo. Thus, who was coaching would not have mattered. It was not in any way a statement on our coaches or Alabama''s.

 

[WoodersonCat]

I agree with most of what you say. I think McCall is a good coach but he been a little predictable. Maybe that is a function of the handicaps. And to the extent that he is responsible for retaining OL and WR coaches...

Let's just stipulate for argument's sake that he's the greatest offensive mind in the history of the game.

Let's also assume we could hire an average offensive mind that has gotten average results wherever he's been...

The cold hard realty is that that would garner us a MASSIVE improvement in performance!!

And that's why McCall needs to go. If he's lousy he needs to go and if he's an offensive genius he's still underperformed to the point that he needs to go.

 

[Gladeskat]

You need to go. What's that? You already did? Twice?!!