Ted Roof's job

[Augusta_Jacket]

You may be right about the fanatics. I went to Northpoint Mall to buy a Tech ball cap and they didn't have any. No demand.

But ... the AJC clearly covers Tech. How much would it hurt to try and have cordial relations? Tech is hugely important to the region and sometimes it helps to reinforce that. Not to mention a decent population of Tech alumni. Rent a steakhouse, invite a bunch of a Tech alumni and talk football, and throw a bone to Ken, Jeff and Mark. Total cost is $1-2k. That's a great start to a booster club.

And re Jeff Schultz, I would've called him up and asked, "wtf?". I do for you and you don't do for me? He'll get it or he won't.

I was in Luziana many years ago attending a shindig. A big shindig. And it was made very clear that invites are for friends. And friends support us. And if you don't support us, we'll ... don't come back.

Or Tennessee. Back when I lived in Knoxville, it was not uncommon to go shopping and see the Vols at the Mall, downtown, or other events building goodwill. Lots and lots of outreach.

Wishful thinking maybe.

These are all things our AD should be doing. The HC has too much on his plate to be wooing the media outside of interview sessions. And again, I'm not sure how much it will help. Sure, the AJC "covers" GT. We get KS, sometimes Roberson, and MB or JS when they have an axe to grind. KS is the only one who even tries to do a good job for GT. Conversely, take a gander at "dwagnation" one day. uga gets 5x the articles and positive spin on all of them. We have a media problem, but we had it long before CPJ came to town, and we'd have that same media problem if Mark Richt was our coach.

As for good will outings, our SA's are very active in that regard. It just never gets publicized.

 

[Techster]

A candidate I'd be interested in:

http://fanonawire.sportsblog.com/posts/16176884/ucf-needed-erik-chinander.html

Young guy who's considered an "up and comer" that's a really good recruiter. Likes a 3-4 defense (a system if run well is made for a school like GT that finds it hard to recruit good DLs). Not married to the 3-4, and preaches multiple defenses, but emphasizes that defenses must ATTACK! Coached under quite a few really good coaches.

UCF's defense currently ranks 14 on defensive FEI.

 

[Jmonty71]

A candidate I'd be interested in:

http://fanonawire.sportsblog.com/posts/16176884/ucf-needed-erik-chinander.html

Young guy who's considered an "up and comer" that's a really good recruiter. Likes a 3-4 defense (a system if run well is made for a school like GT that finds it hard to recruit good DLs). Not married to the 3-4, and preaches multiple defenses, but emphasizes that defenses must ATTACK! Coached under quite a few really good coaches.

UCF's defense currently ranks 14 on defensive FEI.

Agree... 100% agree. However; I think Rook will stay. We'll see if the AD's friendship w/ CTR will interfere with the logical choice of firing him.

 

[BuzzStone]

I hope the new AD can look at the empty seats and know his main job is to fix that first. People like me who live 3 hours away have a hard time making that trip when I know our defense is going to be painful to watch. I still support my Jackets and watch every game. I just have a hard time paying the money it takes to load up the kids and buy tickets to watch a painful game. If I lived closer I would still have season tickets and still go to every home game but for fans like me who have a hard time driving 3 hours to see the game I want to see improvement. I don't even care about the wins so much as we have the same problems over and over again.

 

[mj claz]

I thought it was pretty much consensus after Groh that GT is NOT a good place to run the 3-4. I'd say it's easier to find two Cerge-Henderson/Glanton types than 1 Brandon Adams type. It's tough for us to find an effective NT

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I thought it was pretty much consensus after Groh that GT is NOT a good place to run the 3-4. I'd say it's easier to find two Cerge-Henderson/Glanton types than 1 Brandon Adams type. It's tough for us to find an effective NT

This. Getting a beast NT is key to a successful 3-4 and was our major downfall.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

People like me who live 3 hours away have a hard time making that trip when I know our defense is going to be painful to watch.

That's a personal issue you have to fix. It's called fair weather fan syndrome.

 

[BuzzStone]

That's a personal issue you have to fix. It's called fair weather fan syndrome.

Call it what you will, we should see more heart out of the entire program including fans I won't deny that, I was still at a couple games last year. But at some point you have to give some sort of return if you want to continue to fill the seats.

 

[Techster]

This. Getting a beast NT is key to a successful 3-4 and was our major downfall.

That's a big misnomer of the 3-4 defense is you have to have 350 lb monster at NT. Does it help? Same way it helps with having a 350 DT in a 43 defense. But just having a 350lb guy at NT doesn't mean you're going to do well...as we saw with TJ Barnes, quite possibly the most physically imposing human during CPJ's tenure until Shamire stepped on campus. As with most things in football, it all depends on how you run it.

If you run a 34 with two-gap schemes, the big war daddy NT are a necessity. That's one of the things that got Groh in trouble is that he consistently tried to run a defense he didn't have the depth for (among a litany of other things). Because in this scheme the NT has to occupy two blockers instead of attacking a gap, physically you want someone like TJ Barnes and Brandon Adams...but they also have to be strong with good leverage, they can't just be a fata$$.

Now if you run a one gap 34 scheme, those giant NTs become less a necessity because now you're attacking gaps, and attacking upfield. In this scheme, you still want a NT around 300 lbs (and you could go lighter/heavier depending on the player's skillset), but quickness and strength are more of a necessity.

Just because Groh was horrible withe the 34 doesn't mean it doesn't work or isn't for GT. Same way you would view Roof's 43/425 defense. Just because it's not working for us right now doesn't mean it won't work for another coach who knows how to coach/teach it better.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Call it what you will, we should see more heart out of the entire program including fans I won't deny that, I was still at a couple games last year. But at some point you have to give some sort of return if you want to continue to fill the seats.

Again. That's a fair weather fan. I drive 2 1/2 hours every home game to cheer on our boys. Even if we went 0-12, I'd still be in my seat cheering them on. Our SAs deserve our support whether you agree with coaching philosophies or not.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Just because Groh was horrible withe the 34 doesn't mean it doesn't work or isn't for GT. Same way you would view Roof's 43/425 defense. Just because it's not working for us right now doesn't mean it won't work for another coach who knows how to coach/teach it better.

Two things:

1. You're correct that a 3-4 could work at GT. Experience has taught a lot of schools that the 3-4 is difficult to recruit because of the NT. Even if you aren't putting a 350 NT in the center of the line, you have to have a very talented smaller player to shoot those interior gaps. Recruiting for the DL is already hard for schools like GT, so IMO, adding extra burden by running the 3-4 doesn't make sense from a risk/reward standpoint.

2. Please let @Jmonty71 & others know that the 43/425 defense that Roof runs could work here. I've been told incessantly that it's outdated and that's the main reason we suck.

 

[Techster]

Two things:

1. You're correct that a 3-4 could work at GT. Experience has taught a lot of schools that the 3-4 is difficult to recruit because of the NT. Even if you aren't putting a 350 NT in the center of the line, you have to have a very talented smaller player to shoot those interior gaps. Recruiting for the DL is already hard for schools like GT, so IMO, adding extra burden by running the 3-4 doesn't make sense from a risk/reward standpoint.

2. Please let @Jmonty71 & others know that the 43/425 defense that Roof runs could work here. I've been told incessantly that it's outdated and that's the main reason we suck.

1. Because recruiting DTs is hard at GT you want to run a scheme that requires MORE DTs? Not seeing the logic in your argument against a 34 defense if you speaking of lack of recruitable DTs. Much easier to find athletic LBs or turn big safeties into LBs than find stud DTs and DEs.

2. Any scheme will work at any school if you know how to coach and teach it. It goes for offenses and defenses. Don't let bad coaches convince you that something doesn't work at a particular school.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Two things:

1. You're correct that a 3-4 could work at GT. Experience has taught a lot of schools that the 3-4 is difficult to recruit because of the NT. Even if you aren't putting a 350 NT in the center of the line, you have to have a very talented smaller player to shoot those interior gaps. Recruiting for the DL is already hard for schools like GT, so IMO, adding extra burden by running the 3-4 doesn't make sense from a risk/reward standpoint.

2. Please let @Jmonty71 & others know that the 43/425 defense that Roof runs could work here. I've been told incessantly that it's outdated and that's the main reason we suck.

It's harder to find the guy who can play 0-technique than it is to find guys who can play 1-technique. The problem with Groh was he wanted that guy who could control both gaps, and that guy is really, really hard to find unless you're an elite factory team. Even then, it's tough.

 

[iceeater1969]

Again. That's a fair weather fan. I drive 2 1/2 hours every home game to cheer on our boys. Even if we went 0-12, I'd still be in my seat cheering them on. Our SAs deserve our support whether you agree with coaching philosophies or not.

Wife and i drive 5 hrs from pensacola , get hotel one or 2 days, make player walk , sit by Dodd statute, get in early to see players warm up and coaches meet at midfield and bs, , love sit behind defense huddle, stand and yell, dress crazy, last to leave. Yea we have issues on defense but that's part of the drama. so happy we can come.

Wife will be having back back surgery so she can keep sitting by players and visit w coach wives.

Am i lucky or what. Wife gets it.

We will not yeild - we will be there -
( full disclosure -except for thanksgiving family reunion in texas 7 grand kids ).
GT WILL ARISE .

 

[Jmonty71]

Two things:

1. You're correct that a 3-4 could work at GT. Experience has taught a lot of schools that the 3-4 is difficult to recruit because of the NT. Even if you aren't putting a 350 NT in the center of the line, you have to have a very talented smaller player to shoot those interior gaps. Recruiting for the DL is already hard for schools like GT, so IMO, adding extra burden by running the 3-4 doesn't make sense from a risk/reward standpoint.

2. Please let @Jmonty71 & others know that the 43/425 defense that Roof runs could work here. I've been told incessantly that it's outdated and that's the main reason we suck.

OK. 4-3 / 3-4 / 4-2-5 are all just a defense sets (formations). It's not a scheme. You can run 50 schemes out of each set. You can zone man, run zones, run zone blitzes, run stunts, the list continues. Those are schemes. AKA (playbook). It's not the formation that the defense runs, it's the schemes that are ran out of the formations. I, personally, think that the 4-3 is a sound formation. Yes, for 3-4 to work, you need a few key things. One are D linemen, that know how to play a 2 gap system. The other are some speedy OLB's. The 4-3 is a little more forgiving, where the D line is concerned. Again, GT does not have the bottom of the barrel, where the skill sets are concerned. Our talents are better than what our overall rankings show. However; I think CTR tries to force players to fit his mold and they just can't. Not at the level that is needed, at least. Usually a DC will take the players he has and make a scheme that revolves around their talents. I would like to see some attack to the defense. I would like to see disguised blitzes. I would like to see an A gap blitz, performed properly, just once. I would like to see some bump and run coverages. Just to name a few things that just aren't being done. These are things that can be coached. It takes 0 athletic ability to fake a blitz. It takes 0 athletic ability to hide a blitz.

I would ask people this. Before you go blaming the players on this, that and the other. At least understand the whole story. Missed tackles are on the players. The player totally lost on the field, is on the coaches. Having the same read and react defense set up, is on the coaches. The inability to run a blitz is on the coaches.

 

[Techster]

I would like to see some attack to the defense. I would like to see disguised blitzes. I would like to see an A gap blitz, performed properly, just once. I would like to see some bump and run coverages. Just to name a few things that just aren't being done. These are things that can be coached. It takes 0 athletic ability to fake a blitz. It takes 0 athletic ability to hide a blitz.

That's why I like a 34 for GT. I think there's so much more versatility with 34 OLBs, and more angles of attack in blitzes. Coverages and blitz schemes are more malleable in a 34 because of what you can do with the 4 LBs as opposed to 3 LBs. Unless you get some STUD DEs that can drop and play in space, which to be honest GT will struggle to get because those are few and far between and the ones that exist end up at places like 'Bama or Ohio State, the DL personnel of a 4-3 is limited in what they can do.

Offenses now are tilted towards "space" players. WRs, TEs, RBs that can act like receivers. Not to mention the increase popularity of having dual threat QBs. If you don't have defensive personnel that can handle playing in space, you're really at a disadvantage. 34 personnel give you one more guy who can play in space and minimizes the guys who have can't (the DL).

Obviously there are positives and negatives to base personnel of a 34 and 43, but given GT's recruiting and where offenses are going these days, a 34 IMO makes more sense for us.

 

[bke1984]

34 or 43 doesn't really matter. What matters is 1) blitz more often and disguise it, and 2) play tight coverage when you blitz rather than sitting 8 yards off

If we do those two things a few things will happen:

1) We will get more stops
2) We will get more turnovers
3) We will give up more big plays

1 and 2 are good, 3 is bad. But the alternative is what we're doing now:

1) We never get stops
2) We never get turnovers
3) We let the other team death march us down the field and give up big plays in between

 

[RonJohn]

Read this article. I posted it previously. Look at the results of Dabo's actions. He was able to make a very strong hire by taking less personally.

http://www.espn.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/40610/swinney-gives-clemson-bang-for-the-buck

IIRC, the 2014 contract extension mainly benefited the assistant coaches. His salary didn't increase dramatically, but he had more money(though still nowhere near other schools) for assistants. People are complaining that he should take a cut to pay more for assistants, while ignoring the fact that he could have lobbied for a larger personal increase in 2014 for himself than for the assistants. The vitriol aimed at him while objective views show he is doing the right things are baffling to me.

 

[g0lftime]

I would releive TR of DC duties and ask him to join AD's office as an assistant with Stansbury. Of course he would not make the same salary but it would keep him at GT and give him a chance at a new career. I think his days as a DC are over at any Div 1 school based on his body of work. He was a disaster at Duke at DC and HC after Franks was fired. He actually was an interim HC at that time and they beat us in Durham. That game probably won him the HC job. It was all downhill after that. There is no way our talent level is as bad as the D has performed. We don't have Bama talent but we are not as bad as some of the stats are showing. It is the scheme and defensive situational calls that are just not good enough.

 

[Jmonty71]

That's why I like a 34 for GT. I think there's so much more versatility with 34 OLBs, and more angles of attack in blitzes. Coverages and blitz schemes are more malleable in a 34 because of what you can do with the 4 LBs as opposed to 3 LBs. Unless you get some STUD DEs that can drop and play in space, which to be honest GT will struggle to get because those are few and far between and the ones that exist end up at places like 'Bama or Ohio State, the DL personnel of a 4-3 is limited in what they can do.

Offenses now are tilted towards "space" players. WRs, TEs, RBs that can act like receivers. Not to mention the increase popularity of having dual threat QBs. If you don't have defensive personnel that can handle playing in space, you're really at a disadvantage. 34 personnel give you one more guy who can play in space and minimizes the guys who have can't (the DL).

Obviously there are positives and negatives to base personnel of a 34 and 43, but given GT's recruiting and where offenses are going these days, a 34 IMO makes more sense for us.

Very well put and pretty much right. It requires some speedy OLB's. Which we don't have. But, it does work. Some of the best defenses are 3-4.