New DC?

Since I was the one that posted the scary stuff, how about something positive?

"As defensive coordinator, the 2000 defense finished second in the nation in total defense, eighth in scoring defense, fifth in pass defense and fourth in pass efficiency defense. The Golden Eagles collected an 8-4 record that season and won the GMAC Bowl, 28-21, over No. 13 TCU.

His 1999 defense was No. 7 in the nation in turnover margin and No. 8 in rushing defense, scoring defense and total defense. All-American Adalius Thomas and T.J. Slaughter were the defensive leaders. Southern Miss posted a 9-3 record that season and won its second Conference USA championship and won the Liberty Bowl, 23-17, over Colorado State.
The 1998 squad was No. 18 nationally in scoring defense and finished with a 7-5 record and made an appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl.
The 1997 Golden Eagle squad posted a 9-3 record and won the second Conference USA championship. Southern Miss defeated Pitt, 41-7, in the Liberty Bowl, the first bowl game for the Golden Eagles since 1990. All-American cornerback and Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain was No. 10 in the nation in interceptions and was drafted No. 44 in the NFL Draft. Defensive back Jamaal Alexander was a sixth-round pick.
The 1996 defense was No. 3 in turnover margin and No. 8 in rushing defense. Southern Miss ranked No. 7 in interceptions with 18, led by Surtain. The Golden Eagles posted an 8-3 record and shared the conference title with Houston. During his first season at Southern Miss in 1994, the Golden Eagle secondary ranked second in the nation with 25 interceptions. Those interceptions contributed to the Golden Eagles' national-best 41 takeaways."
 
I have to think that Tenuta has already told our new HC that he's LSU bound regardless, information that we're simply not privy to as of yet.

Let's give this guy a break and see what's going to happen before we start a nine month doom and gloom period.
 
Interesting hire. I hope our players will remain focused & intense during the preperation for the bowl game. I hope they play hard for each other & for their coaches...They've got to focus on being in the moment & letting the things that are out of their control fall where they may...I hope to see a team playing for their team mates & for the coaches that believe in them...I hope to see a GT Team & coaches that are proud to wear that GT logo all the way through....GO JACKETS....
Having said that it will be interesting to see if PJ addresses the team or the press now that the information is out there....especially since it doesn't have the "big name splash appeal" b/c he'll have to sell the DC to the defensive recruits we have & the ones we hope to pick up. He should also go ahead and let us know which coaches on the defensive side will be retained. Wonder how long we can realistically expect to keep Giff Smith around? ....However the timing of all this is especially interesting...Did SMU's HC leak this to the press....wonder why if it was indeed him....?
 
Why does GT always have to find a way to shoot them self in the foot? This guy is a total joke. My brother went to UA and all he ever did was complain about this guy. He is an awful recruiter and the players could not stand him. This is the worst hire we could have made. Way to put a damper on my excitement. Off to puke now.
 
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Just to throw out an old cliche' "Coaches are hired to be fired."

OTOH, I'll be happy to see if we can upgrade our secondary play. For years our DL and LB have carried our defense with very little help from the secondary....whether it be not being able to cover opposing receivers, tackling, or just breaking up a pass in a crucial situation.

Hopefully, our new offensive scheme will help our defense many times over.
 
This is the worst hire we could have made. Way to put a damper on my excitement. Off to puke now.[/quote]

I was feeling the same way last night. 1st off, I was excited and into the Navy game, looking for some positive clues at what our new offense was going to look like (ironic that defense lost the game for Navy at the end, reminisent of the Oleary years....PLEEEZE tell me that is not what we are in for) then I hear the news on our new DC..It has put a damper on my Christmas a little (I say a little, because we ALL really don't know how the new DC will eventually pan out) BUT, it raises some serious doubts.

I was really impressed how Spurrier approached his hiring process for his new DC and was hoping PJ would have done the same thing (In the end, I hope PJ was right and all of our doubts are proven wrong)
Spurrier settled for nothing more than a huge upgrade at DC. I know for a fact, we had the money to bring in a respected DC Tenuta made 400k and we could have gotten a good un between 250k- 400k per year.

I was thinking that Sothern Miss had some pretty good defenses in the late 90's and hopefully PJ knows why and sees something there, he would know better than us!

In any event, this will prove to be the most important hire/decision in PJ's tenure here..He will rise or fall over this decision..
Mark it down.
I'm hoping PJ knows best.
 
bsakoff said:
Why does GT always have to find a way to shoot them self in the foot? This guy is a total joke. My brother went to UA and all he ever did was complain about this guy. Not only does his schemes suck, he is an awful recruiter and the players could not stand him. This is the worst hire we could have made. Way to put a damper on my excitement. Off to puke now.
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Well that says it all doesn't it? :rolleyes:


I'll also have to take the wait and see approach. As has been posted, CPJ's a pretty smart cookie. What's going through his mind here?

Will this guy be in the press box? Will the position coaches still be coaching it up on the field and at practice? Somehow this man's experience may bring something to the table, a piece of the puzzle as it was, that makes us better. If not it at least sounds like he's someone we'll all be able to agree to lay blame on.

I'm still curious as to how CPJ arrived at this decision. What's the connection? Surely not just a blind interview that graded out better than the others.

As long as we don't go back to 'break but not bend' or whatever that 'lack of' defense was and we recruit well on defense I see the new guy as totally having to deal with being the following act to Mr. Tenuta. Big shoes to fill. Maybe the man needs our prayers.

We shall see.
 
gnats67 said:
Well that says it all doesn't it? :rolleyes:


I'll also have to take the wait and see approach. As has been posted, CPJ's a pretty smart cookie. What's going through his mind here?

Will this guy be in the press box? Will the position coaches still be coaching it up on the field and at practice? Somehow this man's experience may bring something to the table, a piece of the puzzle as it was, that makes us better. If not it at least sounds like he's someone we'll all be able to agree to lay blame on.

I'm still curious as to how CPJ arrived at this decision. What's the connection? Surely not just a blind interview that graded out better than the others.

As long as we don't go back to 'break but not bend" or whatever that 'lack of' defense was and we recruit well on defense I see the new guy as totally having to deal with being the following act to Mr. Tenuta. Big shoes to fill. Maybe the man needs our prayers.

We shall see.
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Bros. and sisters (As ole Al ciraldo used to say)
Watch very closely the next 2 years at recruiting.
IF, we continue to bring in the DEFENSIVE talent like last years class, we should be alright, BUT, if PJ does like Oleary and puts all the best players on the offensive side, we will never win a championship or come close. It all starts with defense.
 
1gtfan said:
if PJ does like Oleary and puts all the best players on the offensive side, we will never win a championship or come close. It all starts with defense.
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Yeah, that's proved true the last 6 years.
 
cyclejacket said:
Yeah, that's proved true the last 6 years.
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I don't know about you, but, I want championships, you win with defense as any great coach would tell you, but you can't win with a great defense and one of the worst offenses in college football. If we were only slightly better on offense under Gailey, we would have beat ugag a couple of times and been ACC champs last year vs. Wake.

So, dont give me that crap, as to you win without Defense!
 
1gtfan said:
I was thinking that Sothern Miss had some pretty good defenses in the late 90's and hopefully PJ knows why and sees something there, he would know better than us.
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They did. In fact they were awesome defenses and this was a time when Southern Miss was scheduling out of conference games against major BCS opponenets.

the only reason Wommack is a position coach is because when he was out of a job before the season, S. Miss already had a DC in place so they hired him back as a position coach.
 
cyptomcat said:
My bad, I couldn't find any stats on that, so how many points and yards did the defense average per game at Georgia Southern?
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1999: Ga. Southern
#33 in rushing defense
#12 in pass efficiency defense
#18 in total defense
#5 in scoring defense

2000: Ga. Southern
#70 in rushing defense
#24 in pass efficiency defense
#45 in total defense
#23 in scoring defense
 
In 1999, his USM defense held a 12-1 Nebraska team to 20 points (they lost 20-13). The only other team to do that was Texas.

They also gave up 35 to a 10-3 Alabama team that scored 28 or more in 6 of their SEC games (Vandy, Ark, UF, Ole Miss, Aub, and UF again in the SEC champ).

Now obviously that's only one season but it seems to me that with the right talent, the guy can actually put together a darn good defense.
 
bsakoff said:
No mater how you sugar coat it. This is a big step down from JT.
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So, we're going to give up 4 1st quarter TDs to Virginia next year? Or let the fourth string QB from Maryland torch us?

No mater (sic) how you sugar coat it. You have no idea whether this is a step up or down.
 
bsakoff said:
No mater how you sugar coat it. This is a big step down from JT.
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JT feasted on paltry ACC offenses with a gimmick defense. In his next job maybe we'll see if his 'when in doubt blitz' philosophy works against top rated programs. The old adage 'You live by the blitz you die by the blitz' was experienced several times during his tenure at GT.
 
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