Staff Changes

[HANC]

Now that the season is officially over, this is when changes are made or not made.  There has been an outcry on HB all season about staff.  I am interested to see your opinions on which staffer needs to go or needs to stay.

 

[Husker in WI]

I wouldn't make any changes this year. 

 

Verduzco - seat is getting warmer, but I do think a lot of our offensive issues (other than TOs) aren't on the QBs. 

Held - This was a bad year for RBs, but I think they've really been understating how many injuries/illnesses were being dealt with. 

Lubick - You don't fire a guy after one year unless he's Bob Diaco, and I do think the receivers improved over the year. They just started really bad.

Beckton - Ace recruiter in the Southeast, and TE is probably our strongest position on offense

Austin - Not the jump I expected to see, but I think we all assumed the influx of talent this year would outweigh the loss of expeience. It didn't, but the future (and some of this last season) is bright.

Chins - Defense has improved every year. At the midpoint 3rd down defense was changing my opinion of him for the worse, but he got that fixed in the second half.

Tuioti - DLine is looking pretty solid

Ruud - ILBs looked much better than last year, and by the end of the year we didn't have many guys left. Excited for the future there.

Dawson - Still not a consistent pass rush from the outside, but that may be personnel (and Nelson did make strides there). But we also didn't leave huge creases on the edge, and it was his first year back.

Fisher - DBs played really well other than the Illinois game, and he's brought in some dudes. Excited to see what guys like NPG can do. He's probably in line for a raise again.

 

You can make arguments for Verduzco, Held, and maybe Austin - but especially with the latter two they're still developing as coaches, and I think the good outweighs the bad by a fair amount. 

[Caliborn72]

Sorry for long post but here’s how I view it:
 

Beckton - Untouchable. Not only did his position group make great strides but he hit a grand slam in recruiting this year. 
 

Tuioti - Position group looked tough and stout all year. Robinson and Rogers are developing into all conference caliber players under him.

 

Fisher - Hit hard with weird attrition but our DBs have looked so much better than they did under Riley and he coached the only all conference player on the team.

 

Chinander - I know he’s polarizing among our fanbase but hard to blame him this year when our offense constantly let the defense down and the defense still gave us chances to win.

 

Held - He’s a tireless recruiter and has great JUCO connections. I know that they haven’t all worked out but he’s relentless on the trail. Need to see his position group take a step forward next year though.

 

Austin - Has stocked us with some incredible potential going forward. The position group has frustrated under him but I’m willing to wait until it’s a unit with all his guys. UCF’s OLine pushed Auburn around.

 

Ruud - Finally got Honas looking like he knew what he was doing and wasn’t just running around hoping to connect on a tackle. I still have some questions overall but think there’s potential in his group. Next year will really see his coaching chops.

 

Dawson - Sort of the same thing as Ruud. Can he replace Domann? Lots of questions here. Really needed to make a splash in recruiting. Can he pull in a transfer?

 

Lubick - Just like with Walters, I’m not really sure what he does, what’s his fault, or what to praise him on. Expected more from WRs this year and I’m not saying it’s all his fault but.. I expected more. Frost calls the plays, that’s fine, but we need an OC who isn’t a yes man. Not sure Lubick fits that, but he feels an awful lot like Walters.

 

Verduzco - With Frost’s ability to coach the position, this is probably the easiest staff member to replace. Disappointed in QB play and wouldn’t shed a tear if we make a change here.

[Decked]

Verduzco: Canned

Austin: Warmer 

[RedSavage]

I don't think we see any changes this year but think we could see some major changes next year if certain areas don't improve

[Hilltop]

1 hour ago, Husker in WI said:

I wouldn't make any changes this year. 

 

Verduzco - seat is getting warmer, but I do think a lot of our offensive issues (other than TOs) aren't on the QBs. 

Held - This was a bad year for RBs, but I think they've really been understating how many injuries/illnesses were being dealt with. 

Lubick - You don't fire a guy after one year unless he's Bob Diaco, and I do think the receivers improved over the year. They just started really bad.

Beckton - Ace recruiter in the Southeast, and TE is probably our strongest position on offense

Austin - Not the jump I expected to see, but I think we all assumed the influx of talent this year would outweigh the loss of expeience. It didn't, but the future (and some of this last season) is bright.

Chins - Defense has improved every year. At the midpoint 3rd down defense was changing my opinion of him for the worse, but he got that fixed in the second half.

Tuioti - DLine is looking pretty solid

Ruud - ILBs looked much better than last year, and by the end of the year we didn't have many guys left. Excited for the future there.

Dawson - Still not a consistent pass rush from the outside, but that may be personnel (and Nelson did make strides there). But we also didn't leave huge creases on the edge, and it was his first year back.

Fisher - DBs played really well other than the Illinois game, and he's brought in some dudes. Excited to see what guys like NPG can do. He's probably in line for a raise again.

 

You can make arguments for Verduzco, Held, and maybe Austin - but especially with the latter two they're still developing as coaches, and I think the good outweighs the bad by a fair amount. 

Solid report on each - couldn't agree more.  Verduzco probably is the warmest seat but it's challenging for him to do his job developing when he is spending a fair amount of time teaching QB's how to over come bad snaps, poor O-line play, terrible receiver play, and lack of stable running backs for the majority of the season.  

[Xmas32]

This seems pretty easy.

 

Step 1: Can Verdurzco, Frost takes over coaching QBs. 

Step 2: Lubick takes over playcalling. 

Step 3: Hire a S/T coach.

Step 4: ??

Step 5: Profit

[deedsker]

5 minutes ago, Xmas32 said:

This seems pretty easy.

 

Step 1: Can Verdurzco, Frost takes over coaching QBs. 

Step 2: Lubick takes over playcalling. 

Step 3: Hire a S/T coach.

Step 4: ??

Step 5: Don't look completely lost anytime a kicker/punter is on the field.

FIFY

[WVhuskerXX]

7 minutes ago, Xmas32 said:

This seems pretty easy.

 

Step 1: Can Verdurzco, Frost takes over coaching QBs. 

Step 2: Lubick takes over playcalling. 

Step 3: Hire a S/T coach.

Step 4: ??

Step 5: Profit

Dan Jackson please

[Touchdown Tommie]

The only change I feel that needs to happen for NEXT year is hiring a special teams coach. It was a complete gong show on ST this year!!

[FrantzHardySwag]

Just now, Touchdown Tommie said:

The only change I feel that needs to happen for NEXT year is hiring a special teams coach. It was a complete gong show on ST this year!!

we’d have to fire someone

[Touchdown Tommie]

4 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

we’d have to fire someone

You are correct...forgot about that! Lubick/Verduzco would have to go then. Seems to be crossover in those two spots. How about a ST analyst. We can pull an Alabama and get a former coach to come in.

[Huskers93-97]

1 hour ago, Husker in WI said:

I wouldn't make any changes this year. 

 

Verduzco - seat is getting warmer, but I do think a lot of our offensive issues (other than TOs) aren't on the QBs. 

Held - This was a bad year for RBs, but I think they've really been understating how many injuries/illnesses were being dealt with. 

 

Verduzco- has martinez gotten better every year he has been here? He has been here for 3 years

Luke- is he really a quarterback? Has he gotten better since he has been here? He has been here for 2 years.

Have we recruited anyone other than Martinez that has looked good at QB. Other than Adrians Freshman year?

 

Held- has any runningbacks gotten better in the last 3 years? 

Have we recruited anyone that has looked solid at RB? Consistent week in and week out. Knows their assignment. Makes plays. If you say Mills you are discredited. 1 great game against a pathetic rutgers is not good enough. 

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

2 minutes ago, Touchdown Tommie said:

You are correct...forgot about that! Lubick/Verduzco would have to go then. Seems to be crossover in those two spots. How about a ST analyst. We can pull an Alabama and get a former coach to come in.

I think Verdu for a ST coach would be a upgrade. I like @WVhuskerXX suggestion of Dan Jackson for ST coordinator. Good coach and would recruit the hell out of the 500 mile radius. 

[Husker in WI]

3 minutes ago, Huskers93-97 said:

Verduzco- has martinez gotten better every year he has been here? He has been here for 3 years

Luke- is he really a quarterback? Has he gotten better since he has been here? He has been here for 2 years.

Have we recruited anyone other than Martinez that has looked good at QB. Other than Adrians Freshman year?

 

Held- has any runningbacks gotten better in the last 3 years? 

Have we recruited anyone that has looked solid at RB? Consistent week in and week out. Knows their assignment. Makes plays. If you say Mills you are discredited. 1 great game against a pathetic rutgers is not good enough. 

 

 

Fair critiques of Verduzco, but the answer is I really don't know. The numbers were absolutely better his freshman year, but so was the talent around him. I'm not even sure I buy it, but there's an argument he is better and the circumstances around him have contributed to the poor numbers. And for McCaffrey/other QBs, it's hard to say. McCaffrey probably has improved, but hasn't seen the field much and clearly has a ways to go (as we knew he did when we recruited him). They're high on Smothers, but this was not the year to chuck a true freshman out there.

 

I'm not sure why saying Mills would discredit me, he wasn't exactly a one hit wonder - he had good games last year too. Not consistent though for sure, but I think a lot of that is injuries and OL. So the answers are no, but with Mills hurt he was pretty much starting over with freshmen who also kept getting hurt. Held is to blame for the lack of depth sure, and that's not trivial. But losing both RBs from their initial class early was unforeseen, so my biggest beef with Held is not getting another experienced guy along with Mills so we had more depth. But I really believe if Morrison, Scott, or Thompkins were healthy through camp and the year we would feel fine about our RBs. Morrison is like Washington if you took a relatively small chunk of his talent away, but in doing so removed his issues as well.

 

With the year this was, I'm willing to give out Incomplete grades and that's what I'd give Held. Concerning, but with a lot of potential reasons that are a bit out of his control.