Thoughts for discussion

[TruHusker]

I have been reading the many threads of coaching and portal transfers, who we should get and why and my head hurts reading all of them. It did make me think about a few things and thus, the name of the thread.

1. Does Nebraska (football and basketball) have a reputation as a place coaches come to die? We don't see a lot coaches that come here as heads or assistants go on to bigger and better things but I am sure to have not thought of some. Are other schools and coaches contacting our coaches trying to get them on their staffs? I realize some like Riley were in their twilight years but not all fit that category. In BB, Miles still doesn't have a job does he? All the talk about hiring the best OC or DC or ST coach is just that. Is NE really a good place to start or finish your coaching journey?

2. Why would a WR in the transfer portal want to come to NE? We have how many WR's on the roster now? One can justify that they shouldn't be afraid of competition, etc but if one is going to transfer you want to go where they throw the ball a lot and throw it well so you can get recognized. I don't see us having that appeal but there are those opining for a WR in the portal. So I ask myself the question, if I were a WR seeking to transfer would I go to Nebraska for 1 or 2 years to make my splash for the NFL?

3. When I watch games on replay I have to ask myself a question. Does the bad play reflect poor coaching or the inability of the player to make the play, i.e. he isn't athletic enough. We hear the term, being very athletic, which is important but then you look at teams like Northwestern who seem to find a way to get guys to play at a very high level. I admire that trait in a coaching staff. Do we generally develop our athletes right now per position group?

Opinions and thoughts?

 

[ThereIsNoPlace]

....a little ditty about Jack & Diane....

...Jackie gon' be....a football star...

 

[spartanhusker]

....a little ditty about Jack & Diane....

...Jackie gon' be....a football star...

Kind of like that song....

As to Tru's question, I have many thoughts, but one CENTER thought is that we are NOT the least bit nasty...not one bit..... we can look defeated quicker than anybody I know...

I will also say...well, no, I won't...

Maybe more later...

 

[CatColumbia]

In my opinion:

1) I believe that to succeed at Nebraska we need to have assistant coaches that aren't star struck by the limelight. I feel like several of the guys we currently have are still in awe that they are at Nebraska. I feel like we need some coaches that can come in with a chip in their shoulders and strive to want to go to a bigger gig like in the NFL or Bama, etc. In essence, i feel like a lot of the assistant coaches are complacent once they get here and don't really develop as coaches and aren't developing our kids to the fullest.

2) The "N" is a very powerful brand so I think anyone should want to come here and thrive. Now I will say that I don't think there is much trust from NFL GM's and our school. Most of our best players in the NFL have been undrafted free agents. We need to get some guys drafted in the early rounds to start building that trust and have something to show for in recruiting.

3) From what I heard, this staff practices tempo so when a player messes up, they keep moving on. That explains why we look like ish on gamedays. Do these issues get corrected in film? who knows but I don't think so. What I do know there's a huge disconnect from Frost saying "We had our best week of practice" and what we see on the field.

 

[TruHusker]

To the point about the NFL, I remember "in the day" when the common comment/belief was that players from Nebraska were said to have already reached their peek in college. That was due to the fact the coaching staff got the most out of them and their athletic ability.

 

[Crazyhole]

I have been reading the many threads of coaching and portal transfers, who we should get and why and my head hurts reading all of them. It did make me think about a few things and thus, the name of the thread.

1. Does Nebraska (football and basketball) have a reputation as a place coaches come to die? We don't see a lot coaches that come here as heads or assistants go on to bigger and better things but I am sure to have not thought of some. Are other schools and coaches contacting our coaches trying to get them on their staffs? I realize some like Riley were in their twilight years but not all fit that category. In BB, Miles still doesn't have a job does he? All the talk about hiring the best OC or DC or ST coach is just that. Is NE really a good place to start or finish your coaching journey?

2. Why would a WR in the transfer portal want to come to NE? We have how many WR's on the roster now? One can justify that they shouldn't be afraid of competition, etc but if one is going to transfer you want to go where they throw the ball a lot and throw it well so you can get recognized. I don't see us having that appeal but there are those opining for a WR in the portal. So I ask myself the question, if I were a WR seeking to transfer would I go to Nebraska for 1 or 2 years to make my splash for the NFL?

3. When I watch games on replay I have to ask myself a question. Does the bad play reflect poor coaching or the inability of the player to make the play, i.e. he isn't athletic enough. We hear the term, being very athletic, which is important but then you look at teams like Northwestern who seem to find a way to get guys to play at a very high level. I admire that trait in a coaching staff. Do we generally develop our athletes right now per position group?

Opinions and thoughts?

To point #1:

I dont really see a whole lot of difference here than most P5 schools. No, we don't churn out head coaches like Bama but not many places do. Assistants generally seem to move on from here like they do anywhere else. As far as head coaches here, we are still a top 15-20 job so its hard to really move up from that. Compare what happened to Alabama in the 90s and 2000s to what we've had since then and it's not that much different. Same with Texas, USC, Michigan, etc. I guess you could say any top job is either a place to go and either die or succeed, as opposed to say a coach going from Kentucky to South Carolina. Its not an upward or downward move.

 

[dinglefritz]

To the point about the NFL, I remember "in the day" when the common comment/belief was that players from Nebraska were said to have already reached their peek in college. That was due to the fact the coaching staff got the most out of them and their athletic ability.

The most important factor for Northwestern this past year was that they landed a stud QB transfer. They sucked last year. On top of that, Northwestern is a very experienced team who had experienced and very talented linebackers in particular. Mature players, experience, great QB play and a good staff. That IMO is why Northwestern had success this past year. Add to it that other than the QB, those guys have been in their system all of their college careers.

 

[Mack In Motion]

3) From what I heard, this staff practices tempo so when a player messes up, they keep moving on. That explains why we look like ish on gamedays.

Have heard this several times.

What does "practicing tempo" mean? Not being a smart ass.

What is it?

Our offense has been routinely running up against the time clock in years 2 and 3, so offensive tempo can't be the focus.

 

[oldjar07]

Have heard this several times.

What does "practicing tempo" mean? Not being a smart ass.

What is it?

Our offense has been routinely running up against the time clock in years 2 and 3, so offensive tempo can't be the focus.

Ignoring mistakes players make in practice and moving on to the next thing just to get more reps in from the sound of it.

 

[CatColumbia]

Have heard this several times.

What does "practicing tempo" mean? Not being a smart ass.

What is it?

Our offense has been routinely running up against the time clock in years 2 and 3, so offensive tempo can't be the focus.

You know that one drive in every game where we stay on schedule and look amazing. It’s usually our opening drive. That’s the tempo offense. But to your point, the tempo vanishes after the first drive.

 

[HominidHusker]

To the original question #3

I think it’s a combination of coaching and athletes. Not being able to fill a roster and have the depth to handle some of the injuries that come along has hurt. There’s been a lot of bad attrition (i.e. losing your athletes) so the transition has been tough.

Given that, I still put the most onus on the coaching. I’ve seen far too many examples where we simply don’t look like a well coached team.
Taking off the Frost fan subjective blinders (and I want him to succeed more than anything), I just don’t see a lot from him and his staff that is any better than any average to sub-average coaching staff out there.
Our coaches get paid way too much to give us average/sub-average coaching outcomes... not just talking W-L, but actually seeing players develop and prepared for their role.

I’ve mentioned it a couple times, but it’s only an “indicator” of the issue. We gave up TWO 4th & long fake punt runs (once where we didn’t have enough players on the field), plus a punt return TD for second year in a row.
These are things $5 million dollar per year coaches should not allow to happen.

 

[dinglefritz]

You know that one drive in every game where we stay on schedule and look amazing. It’s usually our opening drive. That’s the tempo offense. But to your point, the tempo vanishes after the first drive.

Teams all over college football but especially in the NFL try to use tempo to prevent opposing defenses from subbing in situational packages. Frost wants to be able to run his whole offense with the same position group that he has on the field at any one time. I'm not sure if it's a great tactic or not. I'm not a big fan of the check with me play calls at the LOS but I guess I'm just old school on that.