What Pat's excuse at Temple? Their offense was horrible there under him and it had nothing to do with TFG trying to avoid the option offense from the previous staff. Coach Pat was a poor fit for any P5 program wanting a competent offense.
I am the farthest thing from a Patenaude apologist (I never liked the hire and he did nothing to change my opinion), I will say that I think Collins forced him away from his offensive scheme at temple. The temple offense under him looked nothing like the coastal offenses. I think Collins is likely some to blame.
Um...engineers? Hello?
There are no FEI statistics for FCS programs so it is hard to see how effective his offenses at CCU were relative to their competition, but coach Pat has never coordinated an offense that has been even close to average at the FBS level.
The $ people tired of the option and wanted it gone. It is more correct to say that TFG used this knowledge and former ADTS's fixation on branding to sell his interview and secure the job. As long as TFG sold this vision, ADTS was going to be in his corner. Under these circumstances, Patenaude was a round peg going in a square hole.
I don't know if Patinaude is a good coordinator with or away from TFG, just that he was a poor fit for what TFG was trying to sell at GT.
I agree. Key has to overcome the 3 years of awful play and it will take awhile.
I hate to put it this way, but it looks to me like he believes the style of play that UGa has used is the style to emulate, within limits. They are tough, run-based on offense. They dominate on defense. They do just enough to control every game and win without stressing or humiliating their opponents. I suspect that Key respects Smart and what he has accomplished at UGa. One can be competitive as hades and want to beat the other guy's team badly, and still respect what he has done as a professional.
Smart and Key both saw what worked while working under Saban, what worries me is trying to beat uga at their own game. I think we can win a lot of games in the ACC with this model but trying to beat a vastly more talented team with the same plan is going to be very tough, like the Gailey years tough. Maybe great coaching coupled with a talented class will push us over the top occasionally?
Definitely! Defensive staff showed improvement as the season progressed, for sure, particularly once they were given autonomy to make decisions.
Totally agree about keeping Thacker and the defensive staff. Made improvements -- and necessary adjustments.
Totally agree. Thacker is looking around now, too, which is a shame and which wasn't his plan. Key should let his defensive staff know that's he's keeping them ASAP. Why mess with the part of the program that showed immediate improvement after Collins left?
Thacker should be our guy. I get the "shiny penny" theory, but that flies in the face of why so many supported Key to begin with. Key should focus on his offensive staff.
We don't know who initiated the interview or for which job. Even if for Thacker's job, I'm OK with us staying active in the market. I want us to have the best staff we can afford.
My "social" is confined to a bi-weekly bridge game with geriatrics, and my mom's maiden name is Brunhilda. Now whisper me your little secret.
