What a Difference a Coach Makes

I’m confused what can be done in one year… if you mean second season, yeah we need to show improvement next year …

It’s Kiffen’s third season he was 5-5 in 2020, 10-3 last year and approaching the meat of his schedule this year .. he also had Matt Corral 20-21 and Dart now

Vols were 7-6 last year with Hooker for most of the season and obviously this year are having a quarter-centennial season… where they escaped Alabama at home by the thinnest of margins, and let’s be fair, Bama seems to have regressed to the pack a little , this was their third vulnerable game in four against teams with any kind of pulse…

Don’t know much about TCU and Kansas… but on the surface Kansas seems to be coming back to reality …

But totally agree, We need to see a major jump from AR and the defense needs to take a step up to mediocre .. from historically awful from 20-22’ …

Next year Bryce is gone, Hooker is gone, Stetson is gone, Nevis is gone, not sure about KJ or Rogers, but things really open up if we get our crap together and AR takes a step

 

The SEC IS a LOS league. No talent, you don't win games.

We are lacking talent, especially along the D-line.

 

Optics are a powerful thing.
Vols 7-6 last year, coming off a 3-7 year prior.
So there is a marked shift/improvement.
I certainly don't see an on the field shift like that at UF this year.

Whatever. Just tired of always losing to LSU. Excuses, same mistakes seemingly for years now, coach speak that makes me insane, and just having no identity as a program.

 

Even Dan Mullen the quitter showed what a first season turn around is. From 4-7 in 2017 to 10-3 the next with Danny boy. Our games in 2017 and 2018 vs Michigan were a great illustration too- lost embarrassingly 17-33 in 2017 then embarrassed them 41-15 the first season under Dan.

Obviously Dan wasn't interested in CEO-ing, but he could definitely coach. Billy seems very into CEO-ing but so far I don't see evidence of coaching. It's concerning but I'm not at the ledge in season 1. If we see no improvement starting game 1 season 2 we might be out of luck.

 

Lane Kiffen’s first year at Ole Miss, 5-5 (Covid year), Kirby at Georgia 7-5, Saban at Bama 6-6 and these guys are building or have built programs. Kirby and Saban won their respective bowls games in those seasons as I predict we will win our bowl game this year
I am frustrated this year but also encouraged bye the positive things happening with our football program thus I am withholding Judgement on Billy Napier until his THIRD YEAR.

 

We knew coming in this year that this was not a reload, but a rebuild. And that it will take time. I guess this thread is full of outliers in that line of thought.

Every week it’s the same old same old. Defense looks awful and everyone is surprised, gets pissed off and go on message board rants. It’s the same personnel and coaches from week 2… and it ain’t gonna change in week 8. But next week we’ll hear the same whining because it hasn’t.

 

it is not too much to ask for the coaches to make some sort of adjustments on defense by game 7. Off the field things look positive, but on the field results suggest less than stellar coaching... which is not acceptable. expected a mediocre season, but it is embarassing to be a gator right now.

 

yes, Lane and Ole Miss went 10-3 but went to the Sugar Bowl. I bet we get no where close to that next year. Maybe the Outback lol

 

In these days of high expectations and high CEO type pay, I think any new coaching staff has to show immediate signs of improvement. Triage the train wreck if you will.

CBN has shown immediate signs of improvement in the recruiting and marketing aspects.

The staff and on the field adjustments are fair to evaluate as much of the staff does not have long track records for us to have faith and hope. Ymmv

Is a shutout at home too much to ask for

Go Gators

 

I did say during the game, I hope we don't go off tackle again. I don't say that because we dont run well up the middle, often, but because we aren't stretching defenses and forcing them to miss completely. But we do have some darn good run plays.

 

Bama, UGA are never rebuild programs. Ever. Too many resources.
Kirby took over I think a 10 win team. Talent pool returning, etc. Ditto Bama.
Ole Miss has always been a pretty mid lower tier apart from Freeze cheating years and Eli timeframe. I don't equate them in the same conversation a a program. That and it is easy to go upward when you're trolling the bowels of the league for years.

Point being, yes, it is year one. But there is zero (IMO) to point to, on the field, that has shown progression, particularly on defensive side. In fact, it is worse. FLA has the worst 3rd down defense in the entire country. That is insane. That is digression. Nothing this season from game one to now has shown marks of improvement in terms of performance. Sample size is 7, small for now, but this has to be a telltale sign. They aren't getting better and are worse than last year.

I really like Billy Napier and root for him. We shall see.

 

I believe there is some humor in your reply.
Just in case, It was just not Grantham's fault (he was a big source). It was also the Head Coach Dan Mullen's fault for letting the Gator D die on the vine.

 

Not meaning to quarrel with you but it seems to me that if Kirby and Nick inherited a team that did not need rebuilding that makes those guys first seasons at UGA and Bama a heck of a lot worse than Napiers.
I have trouble with the poor performance of our defense too. I’m not in any way defending Our defensive performance, but I will point out that we are not the only SEC team giving up a lot of points. Bama and Tennessee come to mind.

 

All good, healthy discussion here!
Richt was fired bc he could never win "the big, important ones." Kirby was a first time coach. Obviously had some things to work out, which he has done very well. He also went 13-2 in his second year. I feel confident with what we have now, even with a good recruiting class coming in, we are no where near that level. Not even close.

Saban is just on another level so weird to really throw in equation. Dan M went 10-3 first year (4-7 previous year). Big swing. Same for Heupel at Tenn to a less extent.

I guess the optics are just a massive part of everything. Perception. This morning the optics are our defensive is absolutely horrendous, this is going to be a long rebuild, and we are not very good.

 

Points well taken.

 

So were you expecting a SOS or an Urban Meyer like season from Napier?
Are you aware that under Mullen the wheels were not the only thing that fell off the bus? The engine and the transmission fell out too.

Please note that SOS and Meyer had a lot of talent on their first year teams. Napier inherited a program that had not so good prior recruiting years, a lot of players going out via the portal, and a team that was poorly coached for a good while. As for the identity, that is going to take some good recruiting seasons and a lot of coaching.

 

No I was not expecting a massive turnaround. They were tempered, 8-4 maybe 7-5 range.
What I wasn't expecting was to go from awful to downright horrific on defense. Dead last in the entire country. It is not like this issue came out of nowhere. As for other coaches inheriting better players, well this is a pretty unforgivable vocation. Not enough DT on roster? Well get them in the portal (which he tried to his credit but could not land), ditto with slot receivers, DB's. Lane Kiffin and certainly Josh Heupel figured this out. Same with Lincoln Riley.

I like our coach, I really do. What I don't like are the trends of the team.
Whether it is players, scheme, coaches, bi-poplar QB play, DB's, clock management.
A lot of people again point to Kirby first year. Poor example IMO. He had them playing for the national title in his second year. With what we have now and infront of us with recruiting (positive!) there is no way in hell we will be competing for title next year.

 

We got some very highly rated recruits when Mullen was here..
And now our D is worse than ever.

Guy playing 10 yards off the ball on 3rd and 6.

That’s not the prior guys fault. that’s the scheme they
run.

Guys totally lost in coverages who have been here for 3 years and look worse now than the day they walke on the field.

 

good post. I’m so sick of the lazy posting and people who are so reactive. We have an awful roster with no depth and most of the defense has had terrible coaching their whole college careers. Not saying we don’t need changes but give it sometime.

 

I keep hearing complaints about lack of talent which quite honestly rings hollow with me as we aren't expecting him to beat Alabama or UGA or win a title in year one. We are expecting him to not have, as someone pointed out above, things like the worst 3rd down defense in the entire league. We're not expecting offensive performance that gets progressively worse as the season progresses.

A good coach can take mediocre talent and beat better talented teams. They win games they should and a couple they maybe shouldn't. Nobody is asking for a miracle but when both sides of the ball are unimproved from last season when we didn't actually have a head coach you're not going to get away with blaming lack of talent. Just rewatch the USF game then go check the USF schedule and w/l record/margin.

I'm not being negative just honest. I still have a lot of hope for BN.