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College Football 2017: Butch Jones' Locker


Ded As Ned

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Just now, sperry said:

Sucks for Oregon. That Helfrich hire was an absolute killer.

Well, sorta. We did go to the national championship two years after he was hired and have a Heisman winner, and obliterate FSU 59-20. But yeah, it sets the program back a bit.

And Taggart doesn't have a ton of HC experience, but neither did Chip Kelly. He seemed to do okay. 

I mostly think this is a sign that Oregon may slip back into something resembling the also-ran game - if people see Oregon as a stepping stone coaching situation instead of and end state, that's a big deal, and that's clearly what Taggart sees it as. It's going to be hard to maintain continuity and improve things there if that's the case. 

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2 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Well, sorta. We did go to the national championship two years after he was hired and have a Heisman winner, and obliterate FSU 59-20. But yeah, it sets the program back a bit.

And Taggart doesn't have a ton of HC experience, but neither did Chip Kelly. He seemed to do okay. 

I mostly think this is a sign that Oregon may slip back into something resembling the also-ran game - if people see Oregon as a stepping stone coaching situation instead of and end state, that's a big deal, and that's clearly what Taggart sees it as. It's going to be hard to maintain continuity and improve things there if that's the case. 

He clearly did, but I don't know that everyone will see it that way.  Willie came from USF, so going back to Florida isn't a stretch.  Getting someone with more west coast ties might make that less so.

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1 minute ago, Rhom said:

He clearly did, but I don't know that everyone will see it that way.  Willie came from USF, so going back to Florida isn't a stretch.  Getting someone with more west coast ties might make that less so.

I do think that Taggart is precisely the kind of coach that Oregon should go after - someone young, innovative, successful and not necessarily distinguished. Look for the higher risk ones. Taggart also could recruit super well, which is something Oregon really could use. 

And yeah, I don't blame Taggart for taking FSU. It's a dream job for him, just like the NFL was for Kelly. But I worry that this means  that Oregon isn't going to be seen as a particularly safe school. 

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1 minute ago, Kalbear said:

I mostly think this is a sign that Oregon may slip back into something resembling the also-ran game - if people see Oregon as a stepping stone coaching situation instead of and end state, that's a big deal, and that's clearly what Taggart sees it as. It's going to be hard to maintain continuity and improve things there if that's the case. 

I think this is a risk more when you hire someone from another part of the country.  A West Coast guy might want to stay a West Coast guy and Oregon is one of the places where a title is a definite possibility.  Chip proved that Oregon can at least get in the discussion.

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Pruitt does not have the easy baggage that Schiano had for UT fans to latch onto; but let’s not kid ourselves... the only reason they are okay with this hire is because of the hilarity of the last ten days.

Objectively, I don’t think you can look at Schiano vs Pruitt and come to the conclusion that Pruitt is the better coach.  (Connections to Sandusky notwithstanding.)

And I say all that thinking Schiano is a pretty mediocre coach at best.

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These programs hiring defensive coordinators as head coaches in the SEC boggle my mind. It's a recipe for years of 7-5 seasons. Go hire someone who knows what they're doing on offense. That league is ripe for the taking if someone comes in and brings a quality offensive system. Still mad that Chip didn't take the Florida job. Can't believe he chickened out and didn't want to topple the mighty SEC.

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21 minutes ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

Oregon has hired interim Mario Cristobal for the permanent gig. 

I like it. He's long past due getting another chance to be head coach. He did a good job at an impossible place to win (FIU) and was fired much too quickly. 

Isn't he another guy who is likely to take the first job that opens up in the southeast if he has any success?

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Cristobal could be a holding pattern for Wilcox.  Pure speculation but perhaps Wilcox didn't want to jump after one season.  In my scenario, Cristobal becomes a longer term interim coach.  Not an ideal situation, but Taggart left them too late for ideal choices.

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1 hour ago, sperry said:

Isn't he another guy who is likely to take the first job that opens up in the southeast if he has any success?

It's true he's not a West coast guy. I think the only ones he would immediately jump at would be one of the Florida big 3, which are all now spoken for. 

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Wilcox was asked early on and said he was happy at Cal. 

Cristobal was absurdly loved by the kids. They had a petition where 73 of them signed it, during finals week. The seniors were stumping for him. he's really good at recruiting and defending the kids.

I don't know how good he'll be at xs and os, but he has a lot of the other stuff down, and the continuity will help in a fairly ugly situation.

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40 minutes ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

Can y'all help me out with the reason why Wilcox is perceived as such a hot commodity? He went 2-7 in a mediocre Pac-12. 

I know he beat Ole Miss but believe me that was no great shakes...

The difference between the defense was night and day when compared to the previous year. And I reject the premise. The Pac12 was strong and will show it in the bowl season. I haven't compared the record with other conferences, but I think our record against other power 5 will stand with anyone. If someone less lazy wants to do the calculations, if be curious

 

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4 minutes ago, Bronn Stone said:

The difference between the defense was night and day when compared to the previous year. And I reject the premise. The Pac12 was strong and will show it in the bowl season. I haven't compared the record with other conferences, but I think our record against other power 5 will stand with anyone. If someone less lazy wants to do the calculations, if be curious

Fair enough. They certainly shut down our offense in the second half of that game (our best player left in the 1st quarter with an injury but it was still impressive).

The offense didn't look exceptional but that may have been a personnel issue.

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Well WVU plays Utah in the bowl and I’m fully prepared for that to be an L.  There’s always a chance of course, but Grier won’t play (he shouldn’t anyway) and that’s pretty much the end of us, so you can chalk one up for the PAC right there.  I think Wittingham is probably a better coach than Holgorsen and Utah would be a tough game regardless but we won’t even be bringing our full strength to bear besides.  I’d like us to win close with Grier, without him I don’t think our O can compensate for the deficiencies on D.

i like the match up in general though, WVU doesn’t often play western teams.  The W against Arizona State in the Cactus Bowl a few years back was the first time I can think of playing a western team since the home and home with Colorado a decade or so ago.  Before that Colorado series it’s pretty foggy, can’t really recall any other western match ups in football (though Colorado was a Big 12 team st the time).  Anyway, I like drawing Utah for the unique match up even though I expect to lose the game.

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