Ross Els

lionsfan93

lionsfan93

Special Teams Player
In my humble opinion, Ross Els needs to go. He is the special teams coach, linebackers coach and the recruiting coordinator and he isn't getting the job done in any of his areas. Our special teams are absolutely horrendous; we can't even field a punt! I have never seen any other team have as many issues with that as we do now. He was blessed to have Levonte at LB last year, but other than that our linebackers have been a weak point of our defense. Honestly. recruiting has been alright the last couple of years. But we have struck out on some big targets that we have needed to bring in. There are plenty of coaches out there that have a better resume than Els and could do a better job.

I'm not trying to troll, or anything like that. I just have thought this for the last few weeks now and I want to know if anyone else out there agrees with me.

 
He doesn't need to go, he just shouldn't have as much on his plate. Hard to be successful when you don't have the time to juggle everything.

 
We should give someone else st, but part of the reason we dont have a lot of commits right now is the staff does not pressure kids into committing. They want kids who are 100% on board with the program. But we've had some good classes the last couple years and we still have some pieces that can fall into place with this class that can make it great.

We need another look at our punt return team, try something different. Shatel and I think mckeown both mentioned having 2 returnmen. I think that would be a good solution as the return man who catches the ball won't have as far to run.

 
:facepalm: He hasnt even completed his 2nd year yet. Linebackers are not playing that poorly. Special teams could be better. Recruiting is improving. Have you ever been fired for not being perfect at your job after only 2 years on the job?
 
devnet said:
So...he's responsible for shanking punts and shanking field goals? Maybe Maher is just having a bad year?

As for Linebackers...2 of our linebackers are having STANDOUT years in making stops and we have another who has a possibility of being a stud next year. I'm not seeing our problem with our linebackers (other than lack of closing speed...soon to be remedied by recruits).

Els is also a NOTORIOUSLY AWESOME recruiter....so I'm not sure where you find fault there. Sure our specials teams took a small step back...but how much of that is out of the coaches hands?
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I didn't even bring Maher into the question because I don't think that is Els's fault. But finding one player on your team that can catch a punt? Yes, that lands squarely on his plate. And which linebackers are having a standout year? Yes, Compton leads the team in tackles. But your linebackers need to be your leading tacklers. Our Safetys are our number 2 and 3 on the team. And Els is a "notoriously awesome" recruiter? Says who? Please give me some examples.

 
Mills said:
Clam down, Quailman!
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Haha...who doesn't love Quailman? But really I am quite calm. I just am not too fond of Nebraska being a project school for coaches. And when these projects are not successful, we need to move on. And in my opinion, I have not seen Els bring anything to the table.

 
Ross Els isn't completing all of his jobs? He hasn't even been here for 2 years, and our recruiting class for next year seems to be one of the best of Pelini's, thats if we get them to to sign LOI's. Special Teams is not that good on the receiving core, but WE HAVE the best players for that job in. Not his fault they try to look for gaps and run before they have complete control of the ball. Ameer, Turner and Bell are the most dangerous players to do that, and that is what is being done. LB's are playing exceptionally well. Whaley is much better than he was in the first 3 games, Santos is just a beast, and Fisher and Compton are doing quite well.

I think you are absolutely nuts for thinking he has to go. You go do all Special Teams, LB's AND do RECRUITING on top of that, and see how much you are able to focus on one thing. We should have Garrison do special teams to be honest. Els is doing more than anyone on the team, besides Bo.

The last thing we need to be doing, is firing coaches, and yet you wonder why recruiting is hard for us. Glad people like yourself aren't running things, otherwise no one would want to come here with all your coaching changes.

 
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Go back through the laurels of Husker Football and post the % of coaches that started their professional college coaching careers at Nebraska. I bet you will be surprised to find that it is a high %. If not the level, the positions they hold. It will probably show you that Nebraska is THE project school for coaches. It is what it is.

Ross Els is not a project coach by the way. He is proven and has been rather successful everywhere he's been, dating back to some very good and talented teams at Hastings College, which goes back 13 years ago.

Any issues on the staff do not pertain to just one man. It's the staff as a whole. There has been a lot of turnover the last couple years. If I read it correctly, Bo himself and Barney Cotton are the only 2 coaches on the staff that were here and/or doing the same job they are doing now a mere 3 seasons ago (or 2010). It takes time to develope the chemstry philosphies needed with wholesale changes like that. Some have just developed faster than others (Beck as OC).

 
lionsfan93 said:
In my humble opinion, Ross Els needs to go. He is the special teams coach, linebackers coach and the recruiting coordinator and he isn't getting the job done in any of his areas. Our special teams are absolutely horrendous; we can't even field a punt! I have never seen any other team have as many issues with that as we do now. He was blessed to have Levonte at LB last year, but other than that our linebackers have been a weak point of our defense. Honestly. recruiting has been alright the last couple of years. But we have struck out on some big targets that we have needed to bring in. There are plenty of coaches out there that have a better resume than Els and could do a better job.
I'm not trying to troll, or anything like that. I just have thought this for the last few weeks now and I want to know if anyone else out there agrees with me.
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The recruiting coordinator part is off base.

 
EZ-E said:
lionsfan93 said:
In my humble opinion, Ross Els needs to go. He is the special teams coach, linebackers coach and the recruiting coordinator and he isn't getting the job done in any of his areas. Our special teams are absolutely horrendous; we can't even field a punt! I have never seen any other team have as many issues with that as we do now. He was blessed to have Levonte at LB last year, but other than that our linebackers have been a weak point of our defense. Honestly. recruiting has been alright the last couple of years. But we have struck out on some big targets that we have needed to bring in. There are plenty of coaches out there that have a better resume than Els and could do a better job.
I'm not trying to troll, or anything like that. I just have thought this for the last few weeks now and I want to know if anyone else out there agrees with me.
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The recruiting coordinator part is off base.
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And I think recruiting is what he has done best. But I'm just not certain is has been him verses our Ohio connection that has done well for us.

 
Teams go through slumps. Right now, we are in a punt return slump...which I think has more to do with Rex Burkhead's injury than Coach Els resume.

Why are people so quick to say, 'Coach __ needs to be fired'? Does it make you folks feel smart or something? It sure doesn't sound smart.

What sounds smarter is constructive criticism based on the actual game of football, not devolving into Trump's boardroom antics of The Apprentice.

First thing.. I'm not even sure how much "coaching" goes into catching punts.

If you take someone with good hands and is comfortable being on the field with 2-3 dudes running full speed at you and say :

'catch the ball with your hands, and following it in with your eyes', I think you're done.

Maybe there is more to it like scouting the other teams punter and figuring out how he kicks it and practice catching punts that carry/spin like his punts...

Certainly there is the coaching decision of WHO to put in ...but we don't know how much input Bo has on that.

I say but Ben Cotton back there. Dude catches everything thrown his way, and it'd be fun to watch gunners bounce of him...but he might be the first tight-end to ever field punts in a college/pro football game..so it's probably not a good idea for some other reason.

 
jsneb83 said:
He doesn't need to go, he just shouldn't have as much on his plate. Hard to be successful when you don't have the time to juggle everything.
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Agreed. We need someone to help him out though. We are far too passive on returns. You watch all of the other games/teams and many teams flip the field with a nice return while often times our return man watches the ball bounce and roll past him as the opposing team's punter racks up a career long punt against us. We seem to even muff fair catches as well with AA and Marlowe. I wouldn't mind seeing Turner as our return guy not just calling for fair catches. Is is a problem that our guys can never block the other team's gunners or what?

 
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