UST82Gopher
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- Nov 12, 2008
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Lots of comments on Fleck here - but nothing really on the one issue that concerns me the most.
HC need to be a lot of things - recruiters, motivators, administrators, PR masters, fundraisers, tacticians, game mangers, etc. It is very rare to find a college football coach who is successful at each and every one of these things. I am concerned that with all things PJ is good at, there may be one serious weakness that he must address or we will never be successful.
In roughly 1½ seasons, I have yet to see a meaningful in game adjustment that takes away something on defense and/or exploits something on offense that the other team is doing during the game. We seem to have a very detailed game plan for what we want to do based on scouting - but don't seem able to on the fly make adjustments based on the flow of the game.
The one thing that impressed me, even in the early years of Coach Kill when we were getting trounced, was his staff's ability to adjust at halftime. If a team was beating us with something, we'd open the 2nd half by taking that away. Forced the other team to do something different. The other team might make a change that was even more successful (I remember one early game in Kill's tenure where Kill had his cornerbacks press up to stop the 7 yard out at halftime only to get beat deep) but at least we forced the other team to change. Kill and his staff always seemed willing to try something different as in game managers even if it might stretch the ability of this players.
I simply don't see Fleck having the knack yet for in game management - starting with his clock management all the way to in game tactics. That is very concerning as I don't see this as a culture things, a recruiting thing, a "young team" thing, etc. To me, game management is a key trait. I am starting to be concerned that this is not a strong suit for PJ.
If so, it's not a deal breaker for PJ. He simply needs to surround himself with a couple of key coaches who are excellent game managers. That will need to start very quickly - with likely a change at DC next season.
What say the rest of you?
HC need to be a lot of things - recruiters, motivators, administrators, PR masters, fundraisers, tacticians, game mangers, etc. It is very rare to find a college football coach who is successful at each and every one of these things. I am concerned that with all things PJ is good at, there may be one serious weakness that he must address or we will never be successful.
In roughly 1½ seasons, I have yet to see a meaningful in game adjustment that takes away something on defense and/or exploits something on offense that the other team is doing during the game. We seem to have a very detailed game plan for what we want to do based on scouting - but don't seem able to on the fly make adjustments based on the flow of the game.
The one thing that impressed me, even in the early years of Coach Kill when we were getting trounced, was his staff's ability to adjust at halftime. If a team was beating us with something, we'd open the 2nd half by taking that away. Forced the other team to do something different. The other team might make a change that was even more successful (I remember one early game in Kill's tenure where Kill had his cornerbacks press up to stop the 7 yard out at halftime only to get beat deep) but at least we forced the other team to change. Kill and his staff always seemed willing to try something different as in game managers even if it might stretch the ability of this players.
I simply don't see Fleck having the knack yet for in game management - starting with his clock management all the way to in game tactics. That is very concerning as I don't see this as a culture things, a recruiting thing, a "young team" thing, etc. To me, game management is a key trait. I am starting to be concerned that this is not a strong suit for PJ.
If so, it's not a deal breaker for PJ. He simply needs to surround himself with a couple of key coaches who are excellent game managers. That will need to start very quickly - with likely a change at DC next season.
What say the rest of you?