I have to admit, I kind of object to the wording used in the original post. To me it sounds a bit like a drive by shooting, laced with some subtle anger, intended to do nothing more than stoke the fire rather than solve a problem. I guess, like many others, I am wondering what the definition of disaster is? In any case, without a precise understanding of what JD is after, I will offer these thoughts:
For those who say we need to move away from the base of the offense, being TO, and towards something else utilizing fewer cut blocks and more formations etc, I caution you. We have already done that THIS YEAR and you have seen the results - they have been mixed and cause for some concern. We barely ran any TO this season. I just got done watching the bowl on my DVR. There wasn't a whole lot of option run and the stuff that was run was incoherent and terrible. IMHO we need to re-establish a sound TO game and consistently make the excellent execution of that group of plays the core of what we do. I have no objection to passing a little more and running an option package out of the shotgun as well. We DO need to pass better. We DO need better come from behind capability. I get that. Cleanly executing the option concepts puts a huge strain on the defense that will make the ancillary stuff way more effective. Our focus should be to identify a QB who can run the base as well as a typical NAVY QB and train him adequately to do so. The guys playing around him are better than NAVY. The offense should be better. That should be the platform from which to launch an effective passing game etc. I don't mind passing 30% of the time, but we HAVE to be able to run the bread and butter. In retrospect, trying to shape our offense around Vad was not a "disaster" necessarily, but at least, a step in the wrong direction.
One of the typical responses I hear frequently is "we need good coaching" without any further clarification of any kind indicating what phase of the coaching has been poor or what you would do differently in a specific sense. Implying that CPJ can't coach is just talking nonsense. So many of his teams have executed extremely well through the years that it renders such comments laughable. You can argue that his offense doesn't work at this level, or we can't recruit to it for the kind of athletes needed at the FBS level, fine. Just don't tell me he can't coach. He hasn't forgotten how to do that. We threw our entire bag of marbles on a QB that wasn't getting it, despite the coaching this year. That was the major problem. Apparently, none of the other guys were ready to grab the job away either. That is a tough position to be in as a coach. CPJ is responsible for bringing in the right guys. None of the guys he brought in were truly ready this season. Hold him responsible for that, fine. Once again, don't tell me he can't coach. I watch a lot of DVR film compared to most. He makes adjustments and he schemes well. He was just trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip this season.
In addition to my second paragraph, we need to stay the course with Roof on defense and keep building. In my mind, if we are going to make major changes, they should revolve around recruiting. The players are out there who can excel in our offense whether they are future NFLers or not. We need to fish in the right ponds and spend the money required to identify the right kids. More money and more resources. If we are hung up on finding future NFL draft picks, make them on defense first please. The right kind of QB for our offense probably won't play in the NFL at that position anyway, so what? We can certainly use another BayBay and Deisel for sure, but we don't HAVE TO HAVE them to have a pretty dynamic offense. They would be icing on the cake that would make for very special seasons. Those will happen every few years but what we really need is just a little higher level of consistency.
