Thacker demoted

79tech said:
'Good move - if you didn't see this coming then well ....... A change had to be made and it shows to players as well as coaches that poor perfromance has consequences. I know in my Company a change would have been made given the performance. It's business. He may can coach safeties - he was in over his head and was surprised when we kept him for this year. Would like to know the story on why Thacker was retained.
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He was over his head as a DC. He may be a good recruiter and position coach. No need to fire him unless he causes locker room problems. If he does, you fire him for cause. But if he is a stand up guy, he gets shakes it off and does his job to the best of his ability.
 
OptionJacket said:
Just an overall problem we have since ditching the option is that Collins, and now Key, are running the exact same vanilla system as everyone else both on offense and defense. We are as vanilla as vanilla gets and I believe that is all Collins and Key know since they came from programs who could simply out talent their opponents. Same with Faulkner.

The past 3 years and yesterday, the offense‘s we play know exactly where to have their WR’s sit in our zone because they all run that same system. That is why 3rd and longs are no problem for our opponents. They know exactly what we are doing because they do it themselves. You could literally see it all game long from the upper deck. Our defense runs to the same spots and the WR’s know where the holes are so 3rd and 12 is just a pitch and catch. Ole Miss did the exact same thing.

When we blitz and go man to man we at least take the pitch and catch away and make the QB make a quick read. Sure we may be burned as we did in the Ole Miss game on occasion but at least we make them earn it with a good pass. What we saw yesterday was what I see from 2nd stringers late in a high school game where we don’t trust them enough to make a play so we just run a zone that gets picked apart. Sure, we need more talent, but I think we run such a junk defense that I believe our current defensive players aren’t nearly as bad as they’ve played.
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100% incorrect. We do not run what everyone else runs on defense, that has been a huge problem. We've been leaving fewer defenders in the box against the run than any other team in the country. We spot drop in zone to cover space rather than people. Our backside leverage takes themselves out of every play. We leave DEs in single coverage on wheel routes. We have LB run fits that do not match their assignments for passing down so they are unable to recover if there is even a feign of play action. These are all DC issues that would be improved by going vanilla.

On offense, if we run the same vanilla thing then explain why our offense is more effective this year than under either Chip Long or Pnode. Just because you don't have an eye for the nuance between offensive systems doesn't mean that there is none.
 
It's pretty simple....Thacker has been DC since 2019 and his defenses have given up 32.4 points per game. That's really bad. Hard to win games win you are giving up that many points.

The defense seemed to show improvement after Collins was fired and Thacker was given more free reign. We brought in Scherer as LB Coach and Co-DC in the offseason. It would not be surprising if Thacker was told when retained that he needed to show continued improvement to keep the DC position. Everything I hear is that Thacker is a really outstanding person that everyone would like to see him be successful. Unfortunately, it did not work out.

People who are complaining about the offense or Haynes King have just lost their minds. We are clearly better on offense. Last year we only averaged 17.2 points per game and only averaged 20.2 from 2019-2022. We are averaging 32.4 ppg so far this year and QB play is WAY BETTER.
 
Hoping VPI continues to be crappy. That way, maybe they'll can Brent Pry after the season and we can get him to be the next DC. Pry had a good run as DC at Vandy and Penn State. Folks I know in Statesboro who knew him when he was Monken's DC at Georgia Southern speak very highly of him. Maybe he's one of those guys who is a good coordinator but not really a good HC.
 
JTS said:
People who are complaining about the offense or Haynes King have just lost their minds. We are clearly better on offense. Last year we only averaged 17.2 points per game and only averaged 20.2 from 2019-2022. We are averaging 32.4 ppg so far this year and QB play is WAY BETTER.
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Let me get this straight. We went 39 minutes without scoring against Bowling Green and you say there's no reason to complain about the offense? Louisville: 30 minutes. Ole Miss: 43 minutes with only a FG. WF: 28 minutes with only 2 FG.

There are most certainly issues on offense. Chalk it up to injuries? Maybe. Chalk it up to playing conservative? Maybe. But the offense is definitely a contributing factor.
 
coit said:
Let me get this straight. We went 39 minutes without scoring against Bowling Green and you say there's no reason to complain about the offense? Louisville: 30 minutes. Ole Miss: 43 minutes with only a FG. WF: 28 minutes with only 2 FG.

There are most certainly issues on offense. Chalk it up to injuries? Maybe. Chalk it up to playing conservative? Maybe. But the offense is definitely a contributing factor.
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Well, the defense literally couldn’t get off the field so yes they had a great effect on the offense not getting opportunities.
 
coit said:
Let me get this straight. We went 39 minutes without scoring against Bowling Green and you say there's no reason to complain about the offense? Louisville: 30 minutes. Ole Miss: 43 minutes with only a FG. WF: 28 minutes with only 2 FG.

There are most certainly issues on offense. Chalk it up to injuries? Maybe. Chalk it up to playing conservative? Maybe. But the offense is definitely a contributing factor.
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The Offense as said by the QB gets in lulls and can get it cranked up right away granted with a 1st year OC It's learning so I understand your point, but a 5th year DC has no reason for that performance.
 
JTS said:
It's pretty simple....Thacker has been DC since 2019 and his defenses have given up 32.4 points per game. That's really bad. Hard to win games win you are giving up that many points.

The defense seemed to show improvement after Collins was fired and Thacker was given more free reign. We brought in Scherer as LB Coach and Co-DC in the offseason. It would not be surprising if Thacker was told when retained that he needed to show continued improvement to keep the DC position. Everything I hear is that Thacker is a really outstanding person that everyone would like to see him be successful. Unfortunately, it did not work out.
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Now do the previous 4 or 5 DC’s Tech had to fire. Can’t understand why, but the defense at Tech has been bad for over a decade now.
 
GTWannaBee said:
Now do the previous 4 or 5 DC’s Tech had to fire. Can’t understand why, but the defense at Tech has been bad for over a decade now.
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Would say it's talent, but It's a mix of that and extremely questionable coaches

edit: Nate Woody actually wasn't awful but not a world beater
 
Walton said:
Well, the defense literally couldn’t get off the field so yes they had a great effect on the offense not getting opportunities.
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they are probably tired because the offense gave the ball back so fast
 
Walton said:
Well, the defense literally couldn’t get off the field so yes they had a great effect on the offense not getting opportunities.
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Not getting opportunities? Here's the drive chart.

1696258052933.png


After the first two TDs (first one being a blow coverage by BG), we went 3 and out, 3 and out, 5 and fumble, then two 8 play drives, a 2 play Pick 6 after which we then managed to actual get into the end zone.

The issue was not the defense being unable to get off the field, it was our offense being unable to stay on it.
 
coit said:
Let me get this straight. We went 39 minutes without scoring against Bowling Green and you say there's no reason to complain about the offense? Louisville: 30 minutes. Ole Miss: 43 minutes with only a FG. WF: 28 minutes with only 2 FG.

There are most certainly issues on offense. Chalk it up to injuries? Maybe. Chalk it up to playing conservative? Maybe. But the offense is definitely a contributing factor.
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Not saying that the offense played well against BG, but they still played well enough to win with even an average or even slightly below average performance by the defense. The offense has shown significant improvement over where we have been over the past few years. Haynes King's arm strength spreads the field and is a big reason for the improvement.
 
AlabamaBuzz said:
Well, either Key decided to be cagey at his presser, or J Batt told him if he wants support, he better do something. With that said, hard to believe that everything is Thacker’s fault since he was co-DC with the new DC.

I hope it makes a difference, but color me skeptical with our current jimmies & joes. Defense, unlike the O side of the ball, comes down to hosses with “want to”. Hopefully with Thack out of the way, Sherrer will show us we have hosses who now have “want to”, but I doubt it.
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Well, Thacker has a lot of data points, Sherrer doesn't and won't for quite awhile. I suspect we will go after a couple of 4* SEC LB's riding the pine behind 5* and older players (which will help IF they can already tackle, because we ain't gonna teach em how)---no program does.
 
JTS said:
Not saying that the offense played well against BG, but they still played well enough to win with even an average or even slightly below average performance by the defense. The offense has shown significant improvement over where we have been over the past few years. Haynes King's arm strength spreads the field and is a big reason for the improvement.
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Defense played great last week. And they have shown improvement as well, given the injuries at very key positions. Prove me wrong.
 
JTS said:
Not saying that the offense played well against BG, but they still played well enough to win with even an average or even slightly below average performance by the defense. The offense has shown significant improvement over where we have been over the past few years. Haynes King's arm strength spreads the field and is a big reason for the improvement.
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Against BG? No they didn’t show they played well enough to win.
 
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