Thacker out at DC, now Safeties coach

[Eli]

Its a 3-4 win team with 3-4 win mentality. That change means nothing. It’s a coach saving early face for crap on the field he is now in charge of

In short. Tech knows they are losing fans and alot of interest. The program is on life line. Every move now is a hail marry. Period.

No fan was lost yesterday that hasn’t been lost over the previous 4 years. I find it hard to imagine a program that had its worst 4 year stretch ever folded the towel yesterday.

 

[stech81]

Your concern is misplaced. I've completely gotten over it to the point I'm just sitting waiting for the next 2 and a half to three years to go by more than anything. Probably easier than trying to do the mental gymnastics it would take to delude myself into thinking Key is going to accomplish anything here.

Great see you back here in 2 1/2 to 3 years. Good luck

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I will say at the very least this shows that Thacker will not inexplicably remain a coordinator on the staff like Nix did under Gailey or Coach Pat under TFG. I agree with fonts that Key should have cleaned house with the defense in the off-season like he did with the offense, but that is in the past. I have no hopes for vast improvement this year, but I also doubt we will be as bad as we were yesterday. So, some improvement, but not much until we invest in a better DC.

 

[lv20gt]

You can lie to yourself. But please don't lie to us. You would NOT be here posting on the FB forum if you felt that way.

I mean compared to years past I pretty much haven't posted on the FB forum the past 10 or so months. Came back to twist the knife in a little but that is more just the petty in me than actual interest in the score. It's not like this game is going to be the reason Key is fired in 2 to 3 years.

 

[LargeFO]

I mean compared to years past I pretty much haven't posted on the FB forum the past 10 or so months. Came back to twist the knife in a little but that is more just the petty in me than actual interest in the score. It's not like this game is going to be the reason Key is fired in 2 to 3 years.

Same guy who made 1000 excuses for Pastner for years but you’re calling this early on Key. Sorry but the hypocrisy is pretty hilarious.

 

[Jacket4Life]

I love the move. Key did what needed to be done.

 

[katlong]

We don't know that he didn't ask to be retained in some capacity while he gets his job search going. Happens all the time with executives.

Also, I had predicted earlier that Sherrer may have been hired as a backstop to Thacker in the event this needed to happen. That's likely why he was made co-DC.

Edit to add: We will have plenty of posters who find the negative side of this event. I try to look at it as a positive in the sense that Key took decisive action. Also, we may not have seen all of the decisions yet.

I really don't know anything about Sherrer...but if he was co-D, then I'm not sure I'm understanding how things will get better, although I am happy something was done.

 

[bobongo]

I mean compared to years past I pretty much haven't posted on the FB forum the past 10 or so months. Came back to twist the knife in a little but that is more just the petty in me than actual interest in the score. It's not like this game is going to be the reason Key is fired in 2 to 3 years.

Twist the knife? Key is 6-7 as HC. He took over for a coach that won ~ 25% of his games over 3+ years. He's trying to pull this team up by its bootstraps.
There's no knife to twist, unless you actually expected any HC taking over from the Train Wreck to have us in the top 20 in one year.

 

[bke1984]

We’ve seen some bad play calls. However, all defenses look bad when people whiff on tackles

All defenses also look bad when linebackers stand flat footed five yards behind the LOS and wait for ball carriers to arrive.

 

[lv20gt]

Same guy who made 1000 excuses for Pastner for years but you’re calling this early on Key. Sorry but the hypocrisy is pretty hilarious.

5 years aint early chief.

 

[bke1984]

I like the move, but also think it's delusional to expect to now be able to go down to Miami and stonewall them. Their QB is playing at an elite level. I do hope and expect that our D plays with a sense of urgency and energy going forward. If we suddenly learn how to tackle, well, I will be happy to be wrong.

I’m not sure stonewall is the expectation. If our offense gets going just forcing 3-4 punts in the game could be enough to lead to an upset. We can’t let a team control the clock and score a TD on every possession. That’s a losing scenario. Just get off the damn field one way or another.

 

[Eli]

5 years aint early chief.

Dang Key has been the head coach 5 years? I’ve must of been asleep

 

[stech81]

Dang Key has been the head coach 5 years? I’ve must of been asleep

I would give up on him. Was hoping he wouldn’t be back for 2 1/2 to 3 years. By tomorrow he’ll add the years he coached at UCF.

 

[g0lftime]

Moved to safeties coach. Kevin Sherrer is the new DC

Guess Thacker will hit the transfer portal now.

 

[Techastrophe]

Who knows whether Sherrer is "better" than Thacker. At this point I think the more important thing is an opportunity for all the athletes and coaches and staff to make a pivot. A reboot is much more credible if you have someone new leading it. Unless the new guy is a total ***, this is a cheap way to break with what everyone can see wasn't working.

 

[g0lftime]

All defenses also look bad when linebackers stand flat footed five yards behind the LOS and wait for ball carriers to arrive.

The DB's played too soft against BG and they just kept hitting quick throws underneath. Our rush didn't have time to get to the QB with the quick passes. We needed to tighten the coverage in the second half to make the QB hold it longer to have a chance at a sack. Looked like we wanted to not get beat over the top but they just kept hitting possession passes. The time of possession difference was off the charts in their favor.
We also had trouble tackling Stewart. He was breaking tackles and dragging the pile at times. That's a different problem and our DB's weren't tackling him low enough and wrapping.

 

[ibeattetris]

I hope this is a wake up call for Thacker and he coaches the safeties to being the best unit in the ACC. He’s not a high paid coach, but he still will have earned close to 2.5M while coaching here and should be fine.

I’m not expecting miracles with the new DC, but anything better than one of the bottom defenses in the country will be a marked improvement.

 

[roadkill]

We don't know that he didn't ask to be retained in some capacity while he gets his job search going. Happens all the time with executives.

Also, I had predicted earlier that Sherrer may have been hired as a backstop to Thacker in the event this needed to happen. That's likely why he was made co-DC.

Edit to add: We will have plenty of posters who find the negative side of this event. I try to look at it as a positive in the sense that Key took decisive action. Also, we may not have seen all of the decisions yet.

Just another random thought as to why Thacker was retained in some capacity…we are only weeks away from early signing day, and Thack has connections with several recruits – including our highest-rated one. Perhaps Key did not want to jeopardize his first recruiting class. ?

 

[GTJason]

I'm in the boat of take anyone who will teach the guys to tackle. Sure there has been horrible coverage in the secondary but we've missed a ton of tackles that would have ended drives. It's like our defender hits the ball carrier and then immediately turns into a dead fish

 

[GTBandit22]

I’m of the mind that Thacker should not have been retained after 100-0, and wanted him canned after ole miss last year. We had a decent defensive end to the season, so maybe that colored Key’s opinion, but he should have been replaced last year. Even us football morons knew that losing Charlie, Ace, Keion, Knight, and some other depth to transfer would make an “okay” defense look much worse this year. It calls into question Keys mindset when this happens. If you brought in sherrer to be the backup, why didn’t we just cut ties with him in the offseason and hire Sherrer. Offer Thacker the safety coaches spot in the offseason, then hire someone else if he balks.

You have had multiple years on the same staff, and had this man as your DC for most of a season and one offseason. If you had doubts about his coaching, why did it take to week 4 against a MAC team to figure out he shouldn’t be your DC.

There are probably machinations behind the scenes we will never know. Did we not have money to hire someone we liked, did we just cheap out, did we reach out and get laughed at when they saw our returning starts?

I applaud the move, but the timing does make me question Key’s judgement.