Defense vs Offense

johncu

johncu

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Let me preface this by saying I’ve been a pretty severe CGC critic from the beginning. I knew the transition would be difficult, but I also knew that a great coach would find a way to win - especially by Year 3. We are not a good football team, and there is no excuse. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the dude for at least one more season, so I’m trying to think of anything that will allow me to give a shot about GT football next year. Here’s what I’ve got:

The transition would obviously be the hardest on the offense. In Year 1 we were hot garbage, Year 2 we were just bad, and this year I think we’re mediocre. That’s not exciting, but it’s at least meaningful improvement. I’ll admit that we do still have a lot of issues on the OL that can’t be corrected in 2 years, and we do have a lot of young skill talent, so I can be somewhat optimistic on that side of the ball. Probably foolish hope, but it’s something.

Defensively, however, it’s an absolute ööööshow. 3 years in and we’re every bit as bad, if not worse, than the terrible CPJ-era defenses with as much talent and experience as we’ve had since 2008/2009. I can’t see any way that Thacker and probably some position coaches are retained for next season. He seems like a great dude, but he’s not getting it done. Collins is a defensive guy and did have some legitimately good defenses as a DC. I just looked it up again and they ranked 15, 14, 14, 8 in 2 years at MSU and UF, respectively.

So my question is… if we fire Thacker and clear out some of the defensive staff, would you be more optimistic about next season?
 
We are probably stuck with Thacker. Who in their right mind would want to jump into our dumpster fire knowing that Geoffrey is on coaching death row?
 
johncu said:
Let me preface this by saying I’ve been a pretty severe CGC critic from the beginning. I knew the transition would be difficult, but I also knew that a great coach would find a way to win - especially by Year 3. We are not a good football team, and there is no excuse. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the dude for at least one more season, so I’m trying to think of anything that will allow me to give a shot about GT football next year. Here’s what I’ve got:

The transition would obviously be the hardest on the offense. In Year 1 we were hot garbage, Year 2 we were just bad, and this year I think we’re mediocre. That’s not exciting, but it’s at least meaningful improvement. I’ll admit that we do still have a lot of issues on the OL that can’t be corrected in 2 years, and we do have a lot of young skill talent, so I can be somewhat optimistic on that side of the ball. Probably foolish hope, but it’s something.

Defensively, however, it’s an absolute ööööshow. 3 years in and we’re every bit as bad, if not worse, than the terrible CPJ-era defenses with as much talent and experience as we’ve had since 2008/2009. I can’t see any way that Thacker and probably some position coaches are retained for next season. He seems like a great dude, but he’s not getting it done. Collins is a defensive guy and did have some legitimately good defenses as a DC. I just looked it up again and they ranked 15, 14, 14, 8 in 2 years at MSU and UF, respectively.

So my question is… if we fire Thacker and clear out some of the defensive staff, would you be more optimistic about next season?
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If someone raises up the money to hire Gary Patterson for DC or head coach. His choice.
 
savbandjacket said:
We are probably stuck with Thacker. Who in their right mind would want to jump into our dumpster fire knowing that Geoffrey is on coaching death row?
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Thacker’s defense is a sunk ship at GT. The UNC game proved that we have the players to cause problems for opposing offenses, and the rest of the season proved that we don’t know how to coach them.

If Collins tries to throw him a lifeboat, he’s going down with him.
 
GTRules said:
DC and head coach in waiting. He only has to wait two more years.
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I’m good with that though he will be slightly younger than coit. I have a feeling though he wouldn’t appreciate practices if they as as described.
 
Are there any HC who are their own DC in the P5 anymore? Collins can delegate gameday decision making to someone else because he's not doing that at a high level anyway.
 
I dunno if we are getting a new DC or if that's the magic bullet. Collins is a defensive coach and this is supposed to be his defense. Maybe he will become more like a Co-DC in addition to head coach. I am not a big X and I guy, so I dunno who out there is running 4-2-5 (effort based). I just think it is going to be on Collins himself to fix this defense
 
smokey_wasp said:
I dunno if we are getting a new DC or if that's the magic bullet. Collins is a defensive coach and this is supposed to be his defense. Maybe he will become more like a Co-DC in addition to head coach. I am not a big X and I guy, so I dunno who out there is running 4-2-5 (effort based). I just think it is going to be on Collins himself to fix this defense
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Is that really the solution, though? Many people made the argument that CPJ being OC took his attention away from a lot of the CEO type duties that a head coach should be fulfilling. I think those things are probably CGC’s strength. IMO we’re better off going with the Dabo model of trying to find great coordinators and focus on recruiting talent that they can work with.
 
johncu said:
Is that really the solution, though? Many people made the argument that CPJ being OC took his attention away from a lot of the CEO type duties that a head coach should be fulfilling. I think those things are probably CGC’s strength. IMO we’re better off going with the Dabo model of trying to find great coordinators and focus on recruiting talent that they can work with.
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Probably right but I am more talking about what I expect to happen vs what should ideally happen. But I could be wrong and maybe Collins has someone in mind who shares his philosophy on D.
 
ee8384 said:
How often does the "flavor of the month" coaching hire work out?

Cincinnati would be challenged to compete for the ACC Championship if they were in the league.
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He’s on the right path, and he’s been successful on all of his stops.
LB coach - Kent State
LB coach - Purdue
DC - Cincinnati
 
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