In our loss to Northwestern, our offense faced a 3rd and short situation 9 times. The play-by-play shows that we ran the ball 3 times and passed it the other 6. The three times we ran the ball, we got a first down EACH TIME. When we passed the other SIX times, we only got a first down ONCE. That one stat has fully convinced me that our team is in real trouble. SE made a terrible hire that will haunt us for probably the next 3-4 years, at least.
Many simply point to the 3-5 record to make the claim that Riley was a bad hire. Since our record is a direct reflection of Riley's incompetnece, I agree. But, I feel it is necessary to explain that on its face, the record itself could be forgiven if it was clear that our team was being coached at a competent level. It is clear to me that this is not the case. A competent coaching staff plays to their team's strengths; they don't try to fit a round peg in a square hole (i.e., Billy C in '04).
For those who say you can't judge a coaching staff on their first season, I say BS! Whether it be the first season or the fifth, it makes no difference when one simply looks at how the coaching staff perfoms on a whole (e.g., play calling, clock management, penalties, etc.). I would likely feel differently if we had a rookie headcoach. At least then you could hold out hope that the new coach would learn from his mistakes. In our case, having a headcoach who has 15+ years under his belt doesn't give one much hope for change. The very issues that OSU fans said his teams had at OSU are the same issues that our team has now. That's not going to change, no matter how much we hope it does.
I think a reasonable person could forgive a coach for any one of these issues if they were the only problem, or even if these issues only happened once. Unfortunately for our team, these are not one-time issues. In the 8 games our team has played so far this year, we have seen these issues cost us a win on more than one occasion. As much as I would have liked for Riley to succeed here, it has become abundantly clear that he is not the one who will get us 'over the hump'. The 3rd and short stat from Saturday's game speaks volumes to this.
Many simply point to the 3-5 record to make the claim that Riley was a bad hire. Since our record is a direct reflection of Riley's incompetnece, I agree. But, I feel it is necessary to explain that on its face, the record itself could be forgiven if it was clear that our team was being coached at a competent level. It is clear to me that this is not the case. A competent coaching staff plays to their team's strengths; they don't try to fit a round peg in a square hole (i.e., Billy C in '04).
For those who say you can't judge a coaching staff on their first season, I say BS! Whether it be the first season or the fifth, it makes no difference when one simply looks at how the coaching staff perfoms on a whole (e.g., play calling, clock management, penalties, etc.). I would likely feel differently if we had a rookie headcoach. At least then you could hold out hope that the new coach would learn from his mistakes. In our case, having a headcoach who has 15+ years under his belt doesn't give one much hope for change. The very issues that OSU fans said his teams had at OSU are the same issues that our team has now. That's not going to change, no matter how much we hope it does.
I think a reasonable person could forgive a coach for any one of these issues if they were the only problem, or even if these issues only happened once. Unfortunately for our team, these are not one-time issues. In the 8 games our team has played so far this year, we have seen these issues cost us a win on more than one occasion. As much as I would have liked for Riley to succeed here, it has become abundantly clear that he is not the one who will get us 'over the hump'. The 3rd and short stat from Saturday's game speaks volumes to this.