New OL Coach?

[Apathy]

Sweet!!!!

Doesn't Brandon Stai do the post wrap up show after football games on 1110? I always enjoy listening to that after every game makes my 2 1/2 hour trip home from Lincoln go much faster.

 

[mmmtodd]

i like the giving Barney a chance under Beck angle, in a way. Ive talked my thoughts about Watson and his suffocation of the offensive capability in general over and over. Barney always seemed to me like a guy that wanted to hit people in the mouth, and Im not so sure, other than the Washington game at the beginning of the year where its on record that the line said let us do this damn thing on that one drive, he ever really got the chance. Watson's on the fly changes with no real stick 'em point never let the line shine. To busy getting fancy for his 'clever' offensive packages. There is no doubt we have the bodies and the talent there. Let them plow.

 

[Pedro Guerrero]

Imo, Barney deserves a chance to work under a competent OC. SW was a total disaster at NU but maybe Beck is a HUGE improvement for NU & Barney. We'll see....

Should Gilmore have gotten that same chance to work under a “competent” OC as well? :dunno <_< Maybe his hands were tied just like people are assuming Barney’s were.

 

[knapplc]

There is semi-credible evidence that Gilmore was not putting our best players on the field for what amounted to arbitrary reasons. That's a pretty big problem, and it is undeniable his position was underwhelming over the years. Was that Gilmore or a factor of the OC? None of us know, but if it was Gilmore as the evidence suggests, that alone would be a reason not to retain him.

I have heard nothing like that about Barney. I have heard he teaches very little technique and the proof on the field has been undeniably underwhelming as well. I'm of mixed feelings regarding keeping Barney around, and I strongly suspect that had he not had deep roots in this program, not to mention two kids playing right now, he'd be gone as well.

I think we'll all agree that the O Line cannot continue to collapse like it has the last few years. I have strong doubts about whether Cotton can fix the problems, but it's no longer just Cotton's problem to fix. Maybe this experiment with Garrison and Stai will work. Here's hoping...

 

[LNCBorn]

I actually think this kind of staffing change will be the wave of the future. To only dedicate one or two coaches to the offensive line when it comprises almost half of the players on the field seems an oversite. I think Stai will be a great addition to the staff. It seems the performance of our o-line was partly due to the lack of enthusiasm to block for Martinez so I hope that doesn't happen again.

 

[zoogs]

There is semi-credible evidence that Gilmore was not putting our best players on the field for what amounted to arbitrary reasons. That's a pretty big problem, and it is undeniable his position was underwhelming over the years. Was that Gilmore or a factor of the OC? None of us know, but if it was Gilmore as the evidence suggests, that alone would be a reason not to retain him.

Favoritism. Well, not sure if people like it being called that. You could call it 'a matter of trust', in which case it essentially amounts to 'poor judgment' as far as deciding which guys are most trustworthy. But I think it's probably simplest to say, misguided favoritism.

It's a fairly heavy charge to make, but there've been rumblings that this is a bit of a phenomenon with this staff. I think Gilmore would have been one of the culprits, but I don't think it was limited to that, either. I'm not sure if Barney is guilty of it or not, but Barney has a host of other strikes against him in my opinion.

I think secondary is one area where I'd point the finger. We have eaten a lot of asphalt on the way to finding our top emerging performers in the secondary over the past few years. Prince, Osborne, Gomes, etc. These guys all had to be put in after a lot of time spent running with the likes of West, Thenarse, Thorell and so on. Prince wasn't even starting at the beginning of '09 or something crazy like that, was he? Maybe it was '08, I don't remember.

Anyway, the doghouse thing has been pointed out a few times before. I just hope that Middleton (it was Middleton, right?) gets out of that before large chunks of his career are also wasted. If he's one of the best corner talents we have, get him on the field!

 

[Hercules]

Everybody is accused of playing favorites at one point or another. Whether they're a football coach or a teacher or a parent, they get accused of playing favorites, and it seems to me that about 95% of the time it isn't a fair accusation to make. Football coaches care about the bottom line - winning. If you go about your business the right way and can help the team win, you're going to be on the field (as long as the coach can accurately assess performance - but that's a different discussion entirely).

Really, I don't think there's any reason to think that Gilmore wasn't putting our best players on the field. Who was really better than Niles Paul, Mike McNeil, and Brandon Kinnie? Before that, who was really better than Todd Peterson, Nate Swift, and Terrence Nunn?

I think it's fair to say that the receiver position has not met expectations over the past few years, and I think it's fair to say that the players at that position were not developed or used particularly well by the coaching staff. I think it's unfair to say that Gilmore intentionally put less deserving players on the field simply because he liked them more on a personal level.

 

[zoogs]

I agree with much of what you say Hercules. But was Tim Marlowe really the #3 receiver last year? What happened to Enunwa was criminal.

It doesn't necessarily need to be called favoritism. But some guys deserved some shots and didn't get them, for a variety of reasons. Some of them don't seem very reasonable, but that's to us fans, we don't know anything.

It is really hard to say in this area though, you're right.

 

[bshirt]

I agree with much of what you say Hercules. But was Tim Marlowe really the #3 receiver last year? What happened to Enunwa was criminal.

It doesn't necessarily need to be called favoritism. But some guys deserved some shots and didn't get them, for a variety of reasons. Some of them don't seem very reasonable, but that's to us fans, we don't know anything.

It is really hard to say in this area though, you're right.

zoogies, where is the real evidence for those guys "who deserved shots and didn't get them"?

 

[Hercules]

I agree with much of what you say Hercules. But was Tim Marlowe really the #3 receiver last year? What happened to Enunwa was criminal.

It doesn't necessarily need to be called favoritism. But some guys deserved some shots and didn't get them, for a variety of reasons. Some of them don't seem very reasonable, but that's to us fans, we don't know anything.

It is really hard to say in this area though, you're right.

Tim Marlowe wasn't even the #3 receiver last year. When did anyone get the idea that he was better than Niles Paul, Mike McNeill, or Brandon Kinnie? They're not heavyweights, but McNeill and Paul are legit NFL prospects right now - Tim Marlowe is not. Furthermore, he's 5'10", 175, and at that size he better be the type of bulldog that we saw with guys like Reggie Baul and Abdul Mohammed if he's going to block in our offense. So far all I've seen from Tim Marlowe is that he's really fast, but runs sideways on kickoffs and reverses and doesn't get downfield.

Quincy Enunwa played in 9 games this year, and he made one reception against Western Kentucky. I guess you could argue that he should have redshirted, but then why the heck are you saying that he was kept off the field by "favoritism?" What do you mean, "some guys deserved shots and didn't get them?" Both Enunwa and Marlowe saw playing time - if they were ready to wow us and challenge for a starting spot, they would have done it!

The idea of "favoritism" gets way overplayed on this board sometimes, I suppose because people just get tired of boring but real reasons like, "Well, this guy is just better than that guy." I mean, I still see people talk about how Taylor Martinez is Bo's "favorite," and that he's the starter because, "Bo likes Martinez, and Lee is in the doghouse." I see that stuff EVEN AFTER THIS happened:



If that's what favoritism looks like, I must be using a different definition of the word.