Barney Cotton

[carlfense]

You said yourself that you can bend stats any way you want, but you're acting like yours are just absolute and can't be bent.

 

Stats can be bent to fit a particular agenda that's certainly true.

 

However, I didn't bend the stats at all to prove my point.

 

Someone made the statement that there wasn't any real difference between the OL from '07 to '08.

 

I simply looked at the numbers from those two seasons, saw that there was improvement and posted the numbers as is...without any qualifiers or saying well, if you exclude this game or take away that one play, etc.

 

Except . . . no one said that there wasn't any difference between the OL play in '07 and '08. They referenced the previous OL coach, not a particular season. Wagner was the OL coach from '04 - '07 (I think) and therefore you manipulated the stats by only picking one season that serves the point you want are trying to make.

[skersfan]

If he is good enough for Bo, he is good enough for me. I have not heard a word about him leaving or being asked to leave.

 

Why do we have to question everything, grade everything. If he wasn't doing his job satisfactorly we would have heard about it it seems to me.

 

He is Nebraska guys, give him the chance to fail before you try to put him the coffin.

[carlfense]

If he is good enough for Bo, he is good enough for me. I have not heard a word about him leaving or being asked to leave.

 

Why do we have to question everything, grade everything. If he wasn't doing his job satisfactorly we would have heard about it it seems to me.

 

He is Nebraska guys, give him the chance to fail before you try to put him the coffin.

 

Who was putting him in his coffin?

 

And what else do we have to talk about relating to Husker football in the offseason?

[Enhance]

How long was Cotton the O-line coach during his first tenure here?

 

I think the best way to judge him might be to go off how the o-line produced here in 2003 and any other years he was here. That way we can see what to expect. The only tough thing is that now he has to focus on the passing game since we were still fairly run heavy in 2003.

[carlfense]

I think he was just here for 1 year the first time round.

[shyndy]

Here is kinda the way I look at it. The O-line was pretty disappointing last year for most I think, of course it doesn't help that we were told it was the strength of the team all off-season. But just as or more disappointing was the secondary, and I don't think very many of us feel like Marvin Sanders has much to prove to us as far as being a good secondary coach. I suppose as fans we feel just because this is Nebraska, we should have the most dominating lines in the country, and the expectation of the past is skewing our view right now. Hopefully we will see quite a bit of improvement over the next two years up front, I think we got better as the year went on last year, more or less.

[T_O_Bull]

It takes awhile for linemen to move into the system they are expected to play.

The per-season predictors usually don't have enough information to say anything more than a predicction made on the info they have and that can be sketchy at best.

I just want to get better every year.

T_O_B

[skersfan]

O linemen are a pretty hot topic in the NFL. If they have talent they get drafted.

 

Its just the sniping at coaches, we had plenty of it the last staff, and I just hate seeing us question his ability. It questions our head coach in the long run.

 

I think he has done an adequate job. I think with better talent, with the strength training and more time under his guidance we will see very good results. He lives and breathes Nebraska. I have never heard a negative about him. Sometimes when you are doing a great job it goes unoticed until you don't do so good. I would rather feel that is the situation. He improved the line play this year, teaching pass blocking schemes and run schemes from the spread. This was all new for him and the players it would seem.

 

I never played at the college level or coached there. I have to trust that our Head Coach knows who is doing the job and who isn't.

 

In my mind, and nothing negative here, there are more questions about Bo doing the best job than Barney.

 

We have seen problems with Bo. Although he has worked hard to correct them. Again I am totally behind him, that is why I totally support Barney. Bo knows and if he doesn't he works hard on learning, there is no question about that.

[Hunter94]

IMHO it is just too early to evaluate the coaching staff as a whole or even individually. the cohesiveness of this group is just beginning to form (just beginning year 2) so relax, let's not go on a witch hunt before Halloween even arrives!

[skersfan]

Spot on 94.

 

I know most are not on that witch hunt, but sure as hell if someone says something the other boards will say Well over on the other board, la de la, on and on.

 

Positives is what this program needs. Blindly following I guess, being a jar head that is easy.

[HuskerJen]

You said yourself that you can bend stats any way you want, but you're acting like yours are just absolute and can't be bent.

 

Stats can be bent to fit a particular agenda that's certainly true.

 

However, I didn't bend the stats at all to prove my point.

 

Someone made the statement that there wasn't any real difference between the OL from '07 to '08.

 

I simply looked at the numbers from those two seasons, saw that there was improvement and posted the numbers as is...without any qualifiers or saying well, if you exclude this game or take away that one play, etc.

 

Except . . . no one said that there wasn't any difference between the OL play in '07 and '08. They referenced the previous OL coach, not a particular season. Wagner was the OL coach from '04 - '07 (I think) and therefore you manipulated the stats by only picking one season that serves the point you want are trying to make.

 

Well I didn't have the time to conduct a comprehensive research project on this subject...

[Husker_x]

If he is good enough for Bo, he is good enough for me. I have not heard a word about him leaving or being asked to leave.

 

Why do we have to question everything, grade everything. If he wasn't doing his job satisfactorly we would have heard about it it seems to me.

 

He is Nebraska guys, give him the chance to fail before you try to put him the coffin.

 

Well before you go breaking a blood vessel in your brain, let me just emphasize the openness that the topic was supposed to emphasize. I wasn't expecting people to bash the hell out of Barney, or grade him harshly for a missed block against Oklahoma. But when he was hired there was a significant part of the fanbase that questioned the hire. After a year it's a fair question to ask if these people have changed their minds. Personally I think he's doing a fine job. The Oline is one of those positions that you only seem to notice when it fails. Given all the extra things like a coaching change going into Barney's performance, it's probably not realistic to think anyone can grade him perfectly. But if you got something better to talk about between now and September, post it. It's going to be a long wait.

[Pedro Guerrero]

I’m on record multiple times saying that I thought the Barney hire was “ole boy networking” at its best. We had too much of that from 04-07 and look where it got us. I questioned the Barney hire in 03 as OC and I questioned bringing him back. I don’t have the time to get into this debate again. I will ask this though:

 

If the line struggles for the next few years will Bo have the balls to let Barney go or will we be stuck with another Cally situation where he won’t fire his friends?

 

I’m also not for the following Bo blindly stuff. If I can question the direction the President of the United States is taking this Great Country and the one I love I can question the decisions of the Head Coach of this Great University and Team that I love. They both have my support though because at the end of the day that is the way it has to be.

 

Keep on rockin in the free world.

[Spooky Tooth]

I’m on record multiple times saying that I thought the Barney hire was “ole boy networking” at its best. We had too much of that from 04-07 and look where it got us. I questioned the Barney hire in 03 as OC and I questioned bringing him back. I don’t have the time to get into this debate again. I will ask this though:

 

If the line struggles for the next few years will Bo have the balls to let Barney go or will we be stuck with another Cally situation where he won’t fire his friends?

 

I’m also not for the following Bo blindly stuff. If I can question the direction the President of the United States is taking this Great Country and the one I love I can question the decisions of the Head Coach of this Great University and Team that I love. They both have my support though because at the end of the day that is the way it has to be.

 

Keep on rockin in the free world.

 

 

Fair questions.

 

But at what specific point do you give BC credit for a dominant OL (assuming he produces one)? Not calling you out, (and this is for everyone) but what is his measuring stick?

[HuskerJen]

If the line struggles for the next few years...

 

Define and quantify "stuggles."

 

will Bo have the balls to let Barney go or will we be stuck with another Cally situation where he won’t fire his friends?

 

Let's not worry about this bridge unless we have to cross it okay?

 

I’m also not for the following Bo blindly stuff. If I can question the direction the President of the United States is taking this Great Country and the one I love I can question the decisions of the Head Coach of this Great University and Team that I love. They both have my support though because at the end of the day that is the way it has to be.

 

No one that I can see is saying you should follow blindly.

 

However, let's get to a point where at least a solid majority, 55-60% of Husker fans actually agree that there is a problem before we start talking about how to solve it.

 

Bottom line: For me, Bo thinks Barney is a great football coach and can get the job done. That's good enough for me.