At a minimum he was indecisive. If he was going to consult the chart he should have figured that out before he sent the FG team on the field. I would have supported either decision there, but he could not decide on the call. He has to think ahead not in the moment.
If you’re going to use the chart and the percentages, you can have a grad assistant with the chart who knows that stuff next to you at all times, and they say “kick” or “go for it” before the refs even start the clock (or about the same time), and you signal the play. Also, when you call the third down play, you should already know what you’re going to do on 4th and 3 vs 4th and 1/2. You should be thinking at least one move ahead, if not more, on your play calls.
I remember when Bill Curry became coach. He freely admitted he did NOT know how to coach as a HC on game day when the bullets are flying. So after EVERY game, he sat down with Bobby Dodd and they dissected the game ... what worked and why, what did not work and why, and things to pay attention to next time.
It's amazing to me that an NFL Champion and 3 time Super Bowl player freely admitted he needed the help. Geoff doesn't strike me as nearly as knowledgeable and honestly, he's a bit on the arrogant side as he builds his "elite system" ... that isn't working. I wonder WHO he should sit down with after each game so he can learn to be a better head coach. George O'Leary? Bobby Ross? Why not?
As to execution, Bear Bryant spoke about this a lot. Very few drives are perfectly executed. In fact, you can bank on making a mistake ... missed assignment, penalty, etc. So, you had better have a game plan that includes at least one 35 yd gainer to overcome the disadvantage created by the inevitable mistake. As Bryant observed, no one gets upset because of a mistake. (Ok, maybe Saban does.) It's what you do about it that counts.
Personally, I think Geoff is clueless as a head coach. And it's questionable if he is even that good on defense. I'm just wondering if this was all baked into the decision that TStan made ... "Geoff ... you are going to be terrible. Here's $23 million dollars. Now, go take those arrows in the back and all of the abuse you're going to get. TStan."
Curry was starting to get kind of decent later on. The first years were ROUGH. There are only so many hours in the day, and Collins’ day has got to be more than full, so fitting in that kind of review might need removing something else from your day. However, a coach like Collins only gets to a P5 head coaching position with a lot of mentoring, so he should have the mentors out there.
Who would he get? I’m sure an O’Leary would say “there’s a discipline and toughness problem you need to work on”. Fridge would probably point out mechanics and fundamentals before every getting into wrinkles.
I remember reading about how people repeat mistakes. A clueless person will just keep repeating mistakes. An above-average person will try something different each time. A smart but overconfident person will keep trying the same thing again and again with the belief that they can figure out how to make it work.
This doesn’t look quite like that, but we have many of the same problems to kick off this season as we did for the last two years, and they’re not fixed.
I listened carefully to the post game conference. He was asked by two different reporters why he burned two timeouts and changed his decision. We can all have different interpretations of what was going through his mind but listen to the actual questions that were asked and then tell me if he actually answered the question.
I heard a word salad and obfuscation. I do not like criticizing a Tech coach and it always pains me when others do it. But my criticism would be that if your whole bread and butter is communication, changing the atmosphere around a program, and giving a clarity of vision, you ought to be able to answer a straight forward question in such a way that there is no doubt what was going through your mind. If you are the one totally responsible for planting the right thoughts in everybody’s minds then you better be super clear about what those thoughts are.
Frankly, his response the first time he was asked enraged me. He focused on how “we almost made it just missing by inches.” That totally missed the point of the question. I personally would still be just as concerned if we had made the touchdown as to why it took 2 timeouts and why he couldn’t give a straightforward answer to why he changed his mind. That is what two different reporters asked about and he has yet to give a clear straightforward answer.
Football is a game of inches. Missing by an inch is the same on the scoreboard as missing by 20 yards. Even in coachspeak, you don’t say that.
