Sportingnews Ranks the B1G Coaches

knapplc said:
We're starting walk-ons while scholarship athletes ride the bench. Again stealing material from Sam's chat yesterday - we've probably offered schollies to several guys who should not have scholarships in the last couple of years. We need bodies, but we need to get better bodies.

This time last year we heard all about how much depth we had across both lines. We didn't have depth, we had bodies. They're not terrible players, but they're not Conference Championship players, and we need to get those guys to make the next step up. Even if we'd have stayed in the Big XII we wouldn't have had the horses last year.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Our roster is in rough shape right now when it comes to the scholly guys. We're way under 85, and we've got a good chunk of scholarship players that shouldn't have them. And it's not that they didn't pan out - they just shouldn't have gotten one in the first place.

We've got ourselves at a disadvantage from the get-go. You could easily say we're playing at 75, 10 under. That's the same thing that USC just got sanctioned...and we're doing it voluntarily. And unfortunately with a graduating class of 20+ this year, I don't see us signing 30 guys to make up the numbers. We'll sign 25 and go into another year being short.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just like always...programs are built on recruiting and player development. Without it, programs will fail...or at the very least, plateau. I'm not convinced Nebrska is there yet.

 
Recruiting is hard to measure... unless you have time to evaluate (over 3-4 years anyway). While it is true that detailed assessment requires that time, some impressions can be made. Bo has put together reasonable recruiting classes (it would seem) --- not top 10... but also not bad (maybe top 15?).

Where Bo has been really bad is in player management (roster management), the motivation of the players (to play hard & play smart) and player development. He has as well assembled some truly mediocre assistant coaches. I think ranking Bo 6th is rather generous --- probably 2 slots too high.

 
robsker said:
Recruiting is hard to measure... unless you have time to evaluate (over 3-4 years anyway). While it is true that detailed assessment requires that time, some impressions can be made. Bo has put together reasonable recruiting classes (it would seem) --- not top 10... but also not bad (maybe top 15?).

Where Bo has been really bad is in player management (roster management), the motivation of the players (to play hard & play smart) and player development. He has as well assembled some truly mediocre assistant coaches. I think ranking Bo 6th is rather generous --- probably 2 slots too high.
Click to expand...
Isn't that an assessment best made in retrospect, much like you say regarding recruits? How do we know these guys are mediocre? This staff has only been together for one year, and we've had quite a bit of turnover in that one year.

 
knapplc said:
robsker said:
Recruiting is hard to measure... unless you have time to evaluate (over 3-4 years anyway). While it is true that detailed assessment requires that time, some impressions can be made. Bo has put together reasonable recruiting classes (it would seem) --- not top 10... but also not bad (maybe top 15?).

Where Bo has been really bad is in player management (roster management), the motivation of the players (to play hard & play smart) and player development. He has as well assembled some truly mediocre assistant coaches. I think ranking Bo 6th is rather generous --- probably 2 slots too high.
Click to expand...
Isn't that an assessment best made in retrospect, much like you say regarding recruits? How do we know these guys are mediocre? This staff has only been together for one year, and we've had quite a bit of turnover in that one year.
Click to expand...
You can't say they are proven or in any way above average, and they haven't proven they are terrible either - so to me that means they are mediocre (at this point). Maybe they'll get better...but it's not like he's gone out and put together a "Hoke" like staff.

 
Rather than say "mediocre" I would say "insufficient information." Labeling them good, bad or otherwise implies that we know enough about them and the guys they have to work with to make an assessment. I don't think we do.

 
i'll go with "uninspiring" :P - and for me this only applies to Beck/JP. To me Beck has a little more potential than JP though. I like the Kaz/Joseph hires.

 
For me the honeymoon ended last season. The Holiday Bowl was a horrific event in our collective football modern history, but the reality is we were an under motivated team playing some scrubs from the Pac-10 we'd already beaten silly once before. Our limping QB wasn't up to it and yack yack blah. Excuses rain down.

My real reason for concern is that there seems to be a downward trend on defense, the one thing I previously thought was going to anchor this team forever. Part of this has to do with shifting conferences, and part of it has to do with the fact that we're so thin at DT, if we'd had a spring game, there would have been guys playing two ways. This is after last year's disastrous defensive showing at all levels. I have no hope--none, nadda, nil--that the defense is going to be any better this year than it was last year. And if anyone has a single good reason to think it might, be prepared to hear the name "Lavonte David" combined with "absent" a lot in my followup response.

Pelini is a mediocrity at this point. 9 wins a year is great. I don't think he can sustain that very long with the kind of 'talent' he had in the secondary last year. I'm also utterly underwhelmed with his appointments at both coordinator spots.

I see this as a crucial season for Pelini. Not that I think he'll be fired if he has another letdown year like last year, but fan perception is a funny thing. It can shift, and once it starts to shift, it just gets worse and worse.

 
GM_Tood said:
Bo #6...

Trending: Flat. No one confused Pelini with Tom Osborne when he was hired, and no one confuses them now.

http://aol.sportingn...a-mark-dantonio
Click to expand...
what a stupid list, i dont even know how much credibility you can take out of this, you have some new coaches, and a coach who was in his first year in the BIG, Urban Meyer the best coach in the BIG, well sure he is most likely the best, but it's his first year, he could choke next year. Bielma i can agree with, Mark Dantonio is mehh, Kirk ahead of Bo is crazy. How do you even judge how good a coach is? you have programs that fluctuate is tradition and fan bases and interest. For all we know Jerry Kill is the best coach but just surrounded by a$$ hats and no tradition to work with. Obviously you are going to be better at a bigger program that can reel in better talent

 
I think he'll be able to maintain 9 wins for the the foreseeable future. I don't see any reason why he won't. There were like 45ish teams with 9+ wins last year. I don't see us falling below that - maybe 8...but that would be a rough year.

 
knapplc said:
Isn't that an assessment best made in retrospect, much like you say regarding recruits?
Click to expand...
Define retrospect--after they've moved on (and thus judging their career at Nebraska as a whole), after so many seasons have elapsed?

If we go with moving on, then one would have to say that the Raymond hire was a failure at best--especially if the late season reports of Bo stepping in to coach the secondary were true.

But other than the hires Bo was forced to make (e.g. Watson), the only hire that is suspect so far appears to be Raymond. Everyone else has either panned out or hasn't had an opportunity to present themselves yet.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
matthew_m_g said:
knapplc said:
Isn't that an assessment best made in retrospect, much like you say regarding recruits?
Click to expand...
Define retrospect--after they've moved on (and thus judging their career at Nebraska as a whole), after so many seasons have elapsed?

If we go with moving on, then one would have to say that the Raymond hire was a failure at best--especially if the late season reports of Bo stepping in to coach the secondary were true.

But other than the hires Bo was forced to make (e.g. Watson), the only hire that is suspect so far appears to be Raymond. Everyone else has either panned out or hasn't had an opportunity to present themselves yet.
Click to expand...
I'd say four to five years is necessary. But even that has caveats, like Bo having to adjust offensive and defensive styles, not to mention recruiting, to an entirely different conference in his third year.

 
I have a hard time putting UM 1st. He hasn't coached in the B10 yet, plus something about him makes me think used car salesman. Pat Fitz probably does more with less. Jerry Kill is a great coach. I would put Belima 1st and Dantonio 2. Right now BP, Fitz, and Ferentz are about the same in my book. I wouldn'[t rank any coach that hasn't coach a year in the big10. I also don't think 1 year is enough to evaluate Hoke. I think they have a set back and go 8-4 this year.

 
kchusker_chris said:
I would have put Fitz at #4, Bo at #5, then Frentz, then Hoke. Hoke is overrated as a coach IMO. Hoke's staff however is not. He put together a top notch staff, so he doesn't have to be the best guy on the field. I guess that goes into his ranking as an HC but if we're just talking about the man at the top, Hoke isn't above Bo.
Click to expand...

no,but he was smart enough to get some good help......Pelini didn't get experienced help and that will set him back at least 2-3 years. that is the part that could have been different for us........and it wasn't!

 
I agree with the opinion that while Urban Meyer has been a national championship coach, he hasn't been one in the B1G. I'm also suspicious of a person who leaves their team in their hour of need like he did Florida. If he would've stayed and taken his lumps when they were doing poorly and righted the ship instead of jumping it, I might have more respect for him. I would put Bielema at #1. Ferentz should NOT be ahead of Bo. Is flat better than being down? Hoke is too new. So he had one good year. Will it continue? I say save this list and then look at it again post season to see how these coaches fared.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top