I don't understand all the gripe on Womack

BarrelORum

BarrelORum

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I remember in 1999 after we went a disappointing 8-4 in Joe Hamilton's senior year, I was talking with some friends about our need to hire a great defensive coordinator. At the time, Southern Miss was a school that was just downright nasty. In the latter half of the 90's, they were that team that popped up on a few big teams schedules and almost laid down or did lay down the upset. I remember them playing FSU really tight in a low scoring game. During the period that Womach was Southern Miss's DC, they were a damn good team.

Anyway, at the time, Womack was considered a bad ass DC. He was a name that was often talked about.

He has a lot of experience and I think our defense will be respected under his guidance. Besides, I trust Paul Johnson to make good hires.

I really don't place a lot of value on Womack's career at Arkansas. He had some pretty decent defenses there, but working for Houston Nutt is probably not a good indicator of his talents. There was a revolving door policy on assistants at Arkansas for years because the AD put pressure on Nutt to make changes often to please the fan base.
 
We will all just need to wait until next season, watch how well the defense performs and then judge this move. If Tech has another top 20 scoring and total defense, it was a good hire. If Tech doesn't, then it is time to question this hire.
 
Just received an e-mail from a friend who is close to the USM program...

"Dave is a good guy. Started out (if I remember correctly) as a Def.Back Coach under John Thompson's 'fly-around-attack' scheme. Tyrone Nix was on JT's staff too - we were pretty nasty back in the JT days - DW knows the system. He bounced around some (DW) and was actually out of a job when he came back to us this year. DW is not going to 'wow' you in a shirt and tie - and is a bit country (which plays well in recruiting in the South). Bottom line - he's a good recruiter, solid coach.. I'd wished he'd got a shot as our DC on Fedora's staff."
 
I think most are disappointed, because we were wanting JT, but we all deep down knew that probably wouldn't be happening. Honestly if we digressed to a top 70 defense, I still think we will have a nice product to put on the field. Not that I am settling for less than stellar D than we are used to, but let the program change and judge the product as a whole when CPJ has completed building his system. We don't know if ANY of the recent coaching changes will pan out, so reserve judgement until we have seen results of these hirings.
 
I think most are disappointed, because we were wanting JT, but we all deep down knew that probably wouldn't be happening. Honestly if we digressed to a top 40 defense, I still think we will have a nice product to put on the field. Not that I am settling for less than stellar D than we are used to, but let the program change and judge the product as a whole when CPJ has completed building his system. We don't know if ANY of the recent coaching changes will pan out, so reserve judgement until we have seen results of these hirings.
 
Good info. Thanks for the poop!

I wanna hear the guy talk. Press Conference! Press Conference!
 
Global Bee said:
We will all just need to wait until next season, watch how well the defense performs and then judge this move. If Tech has another top 20 scoring and total defense, it was a good hire. If Tech doesn't, then it is time to question this hire.
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Wow, patience is thy middle name. Newsflash, we are losing 8 defensive starters plus the best punter in the nation. We were not going to be a Top 20 defense next year with CJT as DC.
 
cyclejacket said:
Wow, patience is thy middle name. Newsflash, we are losing 8 defensive starters plus the best punter in the nation. We were not going to be a Top 20 defense next year with CJT as DC.
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HOGWASH!!!

We just might have our best Dline talent in recent memory, and some great talent in Barnes, Burnett and some other young ones at LB and DB. I don't buy into that argument " we don't have the defensive talent". I believe Tenuta even said this, and I believe I heard Wes mention that we will still be good on defense next year. We have talent on defense and it depends on coaching as to how good we are on defense.

There will be NO excuses next year on defense!
 
1gtfan said:
HOGWASH!!!

We just might have our best Dline talent in recent memory, and some great talent in Barnes, Burnett and some other young ones at LB and DB. I don't buy into that argument " we don't have the defensive talent". I believe Tenuta even said that, and I believe I heard Wes mention that we will still be good on defense next year.

There will be NO excuses next year on defense!
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Uhh, we still have Cornerback issues and we will be losing our two most productive LB's and the third LB spot was a question mark all season. Our DLine may be great, but on defense you have to have LB's who can make plays, and you have to have cornerbacks who can cover. We don't have any proven players at either of those positions so I find your Hogwash to be a little Hogwash.
 
I am putting my trust in our new HC until i see differently, he knows its his ass on the line. Lets dont judge till we have reason too.
 
1gtfan said:
We just might have our best Dline talent in recent memory, and some great talent in Barnes, Burnett and some other young ones at LB and DB.

There will be NO excuses next year on defense!
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Correction, we might have our best DT talent in recent memory. We lose both starters at DE and have only one returnee with experience there. We lose 2 Sr LB's with All-ACC mention. Only one backup LB has experience and it is at the same position we have a returning LB starter.

We sure couldn't be any worse at DB despite losing 3 Sr's with starting experience. I am hoping a new DB coach will make a difference here. The backups you are counting on to move up at LB and DB bring only ST experience so I'm not sure why you have expectations from them, is it their star count from Rivals? And if these "talented" DB's couldn't get a lot of playing time in that sieve we called a secondary in 2007, what makes you think we should get that much improvement next year.

One thing you're right about, there are no excuses. But some people came up with plenty of them the past six years.
 
Every team has issues. But, to start making excuses on defense next year will not cut it, that is hogwash!

We have talent on the defensive side of the ball, and it is up to this DC to produce, if not, it would not be because of lack of talent. We may be young at CB I give you that, but there is talent there, Morgan Burnett, Mario Butler, Word Daniels.

What I dont want to see, is the arena football scores of losing games like 41-38 or 45-41. If we start giving up that many points again over the next 2 years, it will reflect on our DC and ultimatley the head coach.

Again, we will have to wait and see.
 
I doubt we'll win or lose games in that fashion. Womack seems like a solid DC. I certainly feel more comfortable with him than Ted Roof or Giff Smith. That said, I wish Tenuta would have stayed. As I understand it was Tenuta's decision to leave. I think part of that is that Tenuta didn't want to be a distraction on the new coach with the current players.

As far as talent goes. Lets not confuse potential with actual results. Morgan Burnett playing CB is not his natural position. Mario Butler is unproven. We were all hoping based on what we heard that he would produce immediately, but we didn't see that. Word Daniels is our most proven CB and although I think he is solid, he has had his bad games.

I expect good things from the defense, but its delusional placing a top 20 defense expectation on them. I seriously doubt that is going to happen. I still think we will be solid.
 
cyclejacket said:
Correction, we might have our best DT talent in recent memory. We lose both starters at DE and have only one returnee with experience there. We lose 2 Sr LB's with All-ACC mention. Only one backup LB has experience and it is at the same position we have a returning LB starter.

We sure couldn't be any worse at DB despite losing 3 Sr's with starting experience. I am hoping a new DB coach will make a difference here. The backups you are counting on to move up at LB and DB bring only ST experience so I'm not sure why you have expectations from them, is it their star count from Rivals? And if these "talented" DB's couldn't get a lot of playing time in that sieve we called a secondary in 2007, what makes you think we should get that much improvement next year.

One thing you're right about, there are no excuses. But some people came up with plenty of them the past six years.
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A few good points you made.

But, we lost a couple of quality Def. ends, but actually we will be more talented at DE next year.

MJ is a beast and Derrick Morgan will be All-American before it is over and the new transfer will give us a rotation of 3 that will be very good and Hall isn't that bad either. So, I see the Dline as a whole as the most talented we have had in recent memory.

We are talented elsewhere also. Barnes may have more talent/Potential than any in recent history. Great size/upside. Morgan Burnette and Butler have the potential to be a very good CB combo for us.
Here is where coaching comes in..imho on the defense over the next couple of years. That is why this hire is so critical.
 
I may not be the smartest with football analysis...but I thought Morgan Burnett played great in his limited time at cornerback. The #1 (Mossaquoi) vs. #1 (Burnett) matchup in the UGA game was a good one, and he made an amazing athletic play in knocking down that pass over the middle. He definitely just seemed to be better in man coverage. And as it was obvious on replay, that PI in the end zone (called on someone else, but clearly supposed to be him), well Mossaquoi pushed him down, not the other way around.

That said, getting the ball knocked out of his hands while running back the fumble return really hurt.
 
Tenuta would have produced ...

... a top 20 defense next year. He did it every year with different question marks every year. Someone always filled the positions and stepped up enough to keep the D as one of the best. Next year's D has no more personnel question marks than past defenses and I would feel very confident in it if CJT was staying. In regards to personel, there are no excuses on defense.

However, there is room for excuse in the new DC implementing a new system/philosophy. Tenuta's first year here was his worst by far (ranked around 40ish), even with great personel (Smith, Fox, Wimbush, Hargrove, etc.). So, next year's defensive excuse is not with the player's talent but with their learning to play and produce in the new system. The DC will also have to become acclimated to the offenses in the ACC and to what his players can do in games. These excuses are only valid for the first year. In 2009, it will be time to turn the screws if the D doesn't produce.
 
Womack is a mean SOB!

This cat is one fired up bad arse MoFo. If you do not play like you're hair is on fire for this dude your butt will be sitting on the pine.

He will kick your arse and then wade into the crowd and deliver bodily harm to the masses. I think you are going to see a big change in the attitude of our defensive personnel. There are probably a few of the choir boys that will want to catch the first train out of town. Those that remain will be some RTMMF's.

The Wo Mack Attack will make you forget about Tenuta's two step.

Go Jackets!
 
Re: Tenuta would have produced ...

Jacket59 said:
... a top 20 defense next year. He did it every year with different question marks every year. Someone always filled the positions and stepped up enough to keep the D as one of the best.
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Well, close. For the last 4 years reading backwards, we were 11, 27,22 and 12 in total defense yards allowed and 17, 27, 23 and 22 in points. So top 25 maybe, but not top 20. (I know it's nitpicking, but it's a slow day).

But I do agree. We will have some personnel issues to deal with, but it may be interesting to see another approach to how to use those players. You don't actually have to blitz every play to get pressure or to confuse an offense.
 
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