The most important lesson to learn from Robb Smith's firing

Donate To GopherHole
G

Gophers_4life

Banned
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
15,846
Reaction score
3,986
Points
113
As another poster put it, the difference in defense from Smith to Rossi was striking and immediate. It really was, and still is, shocking how mostly the same players can play so, sooo differently.

It badly begs the question: how on earth did this guy get hired???????? .... ????????????????

From what I understand, he similarly ran the Arkansas defense into the ground, prior to coming to Minnesota.



So, this really isn't a question for the fans. Though of course we can comment on it. But it's something that PJ Fleck **MUST** take some time in the off-season, to look himself in the mirror, review his notes, etc. and figure out how he allowed this to happen. Fleck hired him. It was Fleck's blunder.

He simply can never allow that to happen again. So he needs to get a decent grasp on what went wrong, and how he can put measures in place to make sure it never happens again.
 

The Smith era is over. I have forgotten it.
 

check the WCCO interview thread for Fleck's comments on Smith and the change of coordinators.
 


Lessons learned:
1. That I was right going back to year zero...the guy was a joke.
2. That I was right it, it wasn't the players...it was the scheme.
3. That I was wrong that players weren't being developed on D...he was that bad and holding them back.
4. I now have hope in the direction of the boat. I could see improvement and potential on offense all year long. With Rossi, I now see we have hope to be competitively successful again.
 


Gophers_4life said:
As another poster put it, the difference in defense from Smith to Rossi was striking and immediate. It really was, and still is, shocking how mostly the same players can play so, sooo differently.

It badly begs the question: how on earth did this guy get hired???????? .... ????????????????

From what I understand, he similarly ran the Arkansas defense into the ground, prior to coming to Minnesota.



So, this really isn't a question for the fans. Though of course we can comment on it. But it's something that PJ Fleck **MUST** take some time in the off-season, to look himself in the mirror, review his notes, etc. and figure out how he allowed this to happen. Fleck hired him. It was Fleck's blunder.

He simply can never allow that to happen again. So he needs to get a decent grasp on what went wrong, and how he can put measures in place to make sure it never happens again.
Click to expand...

This was a buddy, I've worked with him before, he's got experience hire that was likely done w/o a lot of questions. I'm sure he learned, as did all GHers, that canning a buddy (circa '16 Claeys) isn't a pitchfork nation move.
 

OddStack said:
Lessons learned:
1. That I was right going back to year zero...the guy was a joke.
2. That I was right it, it wasn't the players...it was the scheme.
3. That I was wrong that players weren't being developed on D...he was that bad and holding them back.
4. I now have hope in the direction of the boat. I could see improvement and potential on offense all year long. With Rossi, I now see we have hope to be competitively successful again.
Click to expand...

Was definitelt a scheme issue, or, more likely, a communication and teaching of the scheme issue. However, I still think we have a team speed issue. We match up much better with conservative offenses than we do with spread big play offenses.

That being said, the team did a great job against Purdue. So maybe I’m wrong.
 

Some guy said:
Was definitelt a scheme issue, or, more likely, a communication and teaching of the scheme issue. However, I still think we have a team speed issue. We match up much better with conservative offenses than we do with spread big play offenses.

That being said, the team did a great job against Purdue. So maybe I’m wrong.
Click to expand...

The elements helped a lot vs. Purdue. Even Brohm admitted as much. When the flakes fell in the 3rd quarter, the Boilers just wanted to get back on the plane.
 

Fleck can never again put friendship above his program and Players.

Almost everyone knew bringing in Rob Smith was a bad move.
 
Last edited:



I was arguing it was talent related but when we lost to Illinois I felt we had to make a change because it got so bad.

I didn't think a DC could make that much difference.

I was wrong.
 

The most important lesson I learned is to keep it simple stupid. The defense has been simplified and they are not thinking too much but rather instinctively Attacking the ball.
 

Nomellini said:
The elements helped a lot vs. Purdue. Even Brohm admitted as much. When the flakes fell in the 3rd quarter, the Boilers just wanted to get back on the plane.
Click to expand...

I'm not buying the weather excuse for the Boilermakers. I personally think that Brohm didn't have the nuts to credit Minnesota for flat out manhandling them. He didn't expect it, and he didn't want to admit it.
 

OddStack said:
This was a buddy, I've worked with him before, he's got experience hire that was likely done w/o a lot of questions. I'm sure he learned, as did all GHers, that canning a buddy (circa '16 Claeys) isn't a pitchfork nation move.
Click to expand...

Yeah both Fleck and Claeys showed guts that Kill never had. Had Kill stayed healthy there is 100% chance Limegrover and Zembrowski would be coaching at the U.
 



loki said:
The most important lesson I learned is to keep it simple stupid. The defense has been simplified and they are not thinking too much but rather instinctively Attacking the ball.
Click to expand...

I think that is the heart of the matter. I once heard Kenny Smith define "playing hard" as "playing without thinking about it." An carefully designed but complex scheme does no good if it takes the players off their game and they can't execute it.
 

Gophers_4life said:
As another poster put it, the difference in defense from Smith to Rossi was striking and immediate. It really was, and still is, shocking how mostly the same players can play so, sooo differently.

It badly begs the question: how on earth did this guy get hired???????? .... ????????????????

From what I understand, he similarly ran the Arkansas defense into the ground, prior to coming to Minnesota.



So, this really isn't a question for the fans. Though of course we can comment on it. But it's something that PJ Fleck **MUST** take some time in the off-season, to look himself in the mirror, review his notes, etc. and figure out how he allowed this to happen. Fleck hired him. It was Fleck's blunder.

He simply can never allow that to happen again. So he needs to get a decent grasp on what went wrong, and how he can put measures in place to make sure it never happens again.
Click to expand...

I'm sure Fleck analyzes everything and listens to his staff and players. Has every coach hired the right coaches right off the bat? Heck no. Row the boat. Lets go forward.
 

Nomellini said:
The elements helped a lot vs. Purdue. Even Brohm admitted as much. When the flakes fell in the 3rd quarter, the Boilers just wanted to get back on the plane.
Click to expand...

Interesting comment...seems rather negative. And didn't both teams have to play in the snow? Plus, why do we care what Brom says? Gophers were the better team. Stop making excuses for why the Gophers won.
 

Gophers_4life said:
As another poster put it, the difference in defense from Smith to Rossi was striking and immediate. It really was, and still is, shocking how mostly the same players can play so, sooo differently.

It badly begs the question: how on earth did this guy get hired???????? .... ????????????????

From what I understand, he similarly ran the Arkansas defense into the ground, prior to coming to Minnesota.



So, this really isn't a question for the fans. Though of course we can comment on it. But it's something that PJ Fleck **MUST** take some time in the off-season, to look himself in the mirror, review his notes, etc. and figure out how he allowed this to happen. Fleck hired him. It was Fleck's blunder.

He simply can never allow that to happen again. So he needs to get a decent grasp on what went wrong, and how he can put measures in place to make sure it never happens again.
Click to expand...
Seems like instructing the Titanic's captain to keep a sharper eye out for massive icebergs.
 

OddStack said:
Lessons learned:
1. That I was right going back to year zero...the guy was a joke.
2. That I was right it, it wasn't the players...it was the scheme.
3. That I was wrong that players weren't being developed on D...he was that bad and holding them back.
4. I now have hope in the direction of the boat. I could see improvement and potential on offense all year long. With Rossi, I now see we have hope to be competitively successful again.
Click to expand...

I thought the same things. I will add one more. I found it annoying that people kept saying it was the players...and players that were good in the past were not good now. Glad to see that wasn't the case. Hopefully they stay healthy next year, would be fun to see what they can do.
 

I get the question about why was Robb Smith hired because many of us were skeptical, but the reason why was:

1. Fleck knew him.
2. Fleck coached with him before and they agreed on schemes.
3. Smith had ample experience (although mixed at best).
4. Smith knew the scheme Fleck wanted.

For the amount of turnover and items that Fleck wanted to install here at the U in the first year, delegating defense and offense to coaches you worked with before seems like a wise decision.

Fleck said with hiring Rossi, they are keeping him because it's the same scheme defensively they ran this season and previous seasons all the way to WMU and it's a good scheme.
So the assumption has to be that it seemed like a good hire for those reasons and it turned out it wasn't. 3 games in they were top 10 in defense in the country, then the wheels came off, and by game 9 Smith was fired.

A lot of things we can argue about in timing of firing him, but it looks like the window to fire him would have been after game 4 through after game 9 when he did get fired.
After game 4 and 5 seems a little premature, but it could have been done I guess.
 

Face The Facts said:
I was arguing it was talent related but when we lost to Illinois I felt we had to make a change because it got so bad.

I didn't think a DC could make that much difference.

I was wrong.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your honesty and accountability when you yourself must face the facts. Hopefully his defense will continue to perform to these new levels.
 

harley_gopher said:
Interesting comment...seems rather negative. And didn't both teams have to play in the snow? Plus, why do we care what Brom says? Gophers were the better team. Stop making excuses for why the Gophers won.
Click to expand...

My initial thought was that Brohm had Louisville on his mind during that game. I have since changed my mind.
 


Face The Facts said:
I get the question about why was Robb Smith hired because many of us were skeptical, but the reason why was:

1. Fleck knew him.
2. Fleck coached with him before and they agreed on schemes.
3. Smith had ample experience (although mixed at best).
4. Smith knew the scheme Fleck wanted.

For the amount of turnover and items that Fleck wanted to install here at the U in the first year, delegating defense and offense to coaches you worked with before seems like a wise decision.

Fleck said with hiring Rossi, they are keeping him because it's the same scheme defensively they ran this season and previous seasons all the way to WMU and it's a good scheme.
So the assumption has to be that it seemed like a good hire for those reasons and it turned out it wasn't. 3 games in they were top 10 in defense in the country, then the wheels came off, and by game 9 Smith was fired.

A lot of things we can argue about in timing of firing him, but it looks like the window to fire him would have been after game 4 through after game 9 when he did get fired.
After game 4 and 5 seems a little premature, but it could have been done I guess.
Click to expand...

Fresno is a great team and Miami OH actually ended up having a pretty nice year in the MAC.

It’s still kind of shocking that these teams didn’t find a way to dismantle us the way that Maryland did.

But we also had Winfield ....
 

Johnny Olson said:
Fleck can never again put friendship above his program and Players.

Almost everyone knew bringing in Rob Smith was a bad move.
Click to expand...

I don’t think he ever put friendship above the players. If you hire someone you know, you think you know what your are getting. Obviously, it wasn’t working out so he got the boot. PJ is too determined in what he wants to accomplish to ever let the friendship of an incompetent coach get in the way.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Face The Facts said:
I was arguing it was talent related but when we lost to Illinois I felt we had to make a change because it got so bad.

I didn't think a DC could make that much difference.

I was wrong.
Click to expand...

Obviously, it takes a certain degree of both to have a great team. You can have the most talented players in the world, but they are not going to tackle anyone if they are coached to be in the wrong places. And you can have the best coached team that gets burned in long races to the end zone.

You hope to have a good enough scheme that puts players in the right spots and can adjust to changes. Fill it with the most talented players you can get and then coach them up with the right winning attitude.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

The problem with Robb Smith was his defensive schemes. I always thought the talent and skill level was fine if not good. However, when your formation allows one missed tackle to be a touchdown that's a big problem.
 

alchemy2u said:
Obviously, it takes a certain degree of both to have a great team. You can have the most talented players in the world, but they are not going to tackle anyone if they are coached to be in the wrong places. And you can have the best coached team that gets burned in long races to the end zone.

You hope to have a good enough scheme that puts players in the right spots and can adjust to changes. Fill it with the most talented players you can get and then coach them up with the right winning attitude.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That is exactly what the Jerry Kill staff did on defense. Tho, Jerry had pretty much maxed out the level of athlete he could attract. There was nothing better coming along on the O side of the ball.
 

From an overall scheme standpoint the defense is similar according to PJ. I haven't broken film down, they just simplified schemes.

Hopefully we can show the improvement vs spread teams with mobile QB's, that is what gave us the most fits
 

Gophers_4life said:
Fresno is a great team and Miami OH actually ended up having a pretty nice year in the MAC.

It’s still kind of shocking that these teams didn’t find a way to dismantle us the way that Maryland did.

But we also had Winfield ....
Click to expand...

I think you hit the nail on the head - that is a measure of how good Winfield is. He covered a lot of sins. He found ways to impact plays he had no reason to be involved in (based on where they were on the field). It was almost like Smith's defense was predicated on having that type of player, which are few and far between.

I think promoting Rossi was the right move based on timing, what he's done, etc. He maintains the same essential system, terminology, etc., but brings a different philosophy. I really hope it continues to work well!
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
I think you hit the nail on the head - that is a measure of how good Winfield is. He covered a lot of sins. He found ways to impact plays he had no reason to be involved in (based on where they were on the field). It was almost like Smith's defense was predicated on having that type of player, which are few and far between.

I think promoting Rossi was the right move based on timing, what he's done, etc. He maintains the same essential system, terminology, etc., but brings a different philosophy. I really hope it continues to work well!
Click to expand...

A good coach adjusts the system to best fit the players. Smith didn't do that at all.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom