No Smack Talk-Coaching Observation

[BC_Overlord]

For the last 4+ years our D-Coordinator Spaz has been substituting our entire front 4 and at times our entire front 7 every other series. Twice during the BYU game we punted and pinned them on their own 4 yard line. Both times we substituted our front 7 with 2nd and 3rd stringers and both times we allowed them to drive out to their 46 yard line and our 18 yard line respectively. We threw away the advantage we were enjoying with good field position! On the first drive, once they got the ball near the 50, we placed our starters back in and they forced a 3 and out. This means, potentially, that instead of BYU punting from their own end zone, we allowed them the luxury of punting from the 50 which pinned us inside our 15 yard line! The BYU coaches, to their credit, noticed this so when we pinned them again on their 4 yard line in the second half they went to a no huddle and we were not able to get our starters back in until they reached our 18 yard line!!! We also corner and safety blitzed every play, with our 2nd and 3rd stringers?!? I have many issues with the O'Brien coaching staff, and I admit many of those may be debatable issues, but throwing away field position regularly is just plain bad coaching and I believe a change in philosophy on defense, or a change in D-Coordinator, is overdue!!!

Any thoughts?

[block_somebody]

I've always had luke-warm feelings about the BC coaching staff, but it's usually Bible that irks me more than Spaziani.

While the subs may have hurt at times yesterday, I didn't have a problem with it considering BYU had been moving the ball well against the starters, and they would have had nothing left in the tank for the 4th quarter and OT had they decided not to sub as often.

No doubt, it was an ugly ass win yesterday, but it's too early for me to start getting on the coaches, especially when BC is 3-0. I'll get back to you in October.

[BC_Overlord]

:confused: BC-15 NCS-17: Should we still wait until October? I'm here if you'd like to get an early start...

[block_somebody]

Spaz isn't responsible for teaching these kids how to tackle. They should have learned that in high school.

BC fans are killing TOB for this one right now, but I put the blame squarely on the players this time. 3rd and 1 with 1:30 left, NC State out of timeouts and they run two broken plays in a row and put the ball back in State's hands. That is terrible. I don't care about the missed PAT, the playcalling, etc, if you can't get that first down, you don't deserve to win.

[BC_Overlord]

I absolutely disagree with you on the tackling issue. Tackling is fundamental to playing defense. If you are a D-coordinator and you see atrocious tackling from your players, which has been with us most of O’Brien’s tenure; you spend time at practice teaching the fundamentals again. You can’t just stand there and say “It’s not my job” and “These guys should have learned to tackle in high school.” Bill Belichek spends the first two weeks of camp each year teaching the fundamentals at each position, including tackling!!! And if the Pat’s defense starts to have breakdowns in tackling during the season he puts the pads back on them and they practice tackling.

I personally think the issues you raised, including the tackling, are a symptom of the poor coaching on defense. We need to take a step back and look at the last 10 years and we will find the same old crap. I believe the issues we are having, with tackling in particular; have more to do with our defensive coaching staff not putting our players in a good position to make plays. A D-coordinator breaks down his opponent’s tendencies and employees a defensive scheme that defends the offense he is currently going up against. BC does not do that….ever! We ALWAYS come out in our Canadian-Style 2 to 3 deep umbrella zone whether we are playing against the U of Miami or the U of Maine. Our next game is against U of Maine and I can guarantee that we will give up at least 300 total yards. BC uses the same defense that Spaz used in his days as a coordinator in Canada, which would probably be a good defense to use up there given the larger size of their field. When Spaz first came here and started using this defense I thought it was a great idea because of the lack of talent and speed we had on defense, but it has been years since Miami or Virginia Tech has come in here and run away from us. Even Doug Flutie has said recently that BC currently has the most talented bunch of athletes in the history of Boston College Football. We should be able to play a more flexible style of defense and actually attack our opponents, instead of backpedaling to avoid giving up the big play.

I honestly believe that if we simply replace Spaz with a D-coordinator who understands college football we could be consistently in the top ten and challenge for a BCS bowl every year. I have my concerns about Dana Bible and Tom O’Brien, but no one can complain with the job the current staff has done with recruiting. Being a BC football fan has definitely taking years off my life........but still.........GO EAGLES!!!!

[block_somebody]

The coaching staff, TOB in particular, has been placed on my shit-list since I made that last post. I defended him Saturday night, but I can't believe he publicly stated that they are sticking with Ohliger and not even giving someone else an opportunity to win the job. That is one TOB trait that enrages me - he is loyal to a fault. Last year he stuck with Porter too long and it cost BC a spot in the ACC championship game. This year he's sticking with Ohliger, and it will no doubt cost the team again (if it hasn't already).

I couldn't tell you historically that teams under Spaz are bad at tackling or not. It's not the kind of thing I remember long term. What I do know is that last year this team was Top 20 nationally in total defense and Top 10 nationally in scoring defense. You don't get there if you don't know how to tackle. The coaches and philosophy, as you stated, are unchanged. It's the players that are different this year, and I think the new starters just don't tackle as well as Kiwi, Washington, Brown and Henderson. I agree that if the coaches see this is a chronic problem, it's on them to try to fix it, and I do worry that after 4 games the team hasn't shown much improvement. But is this due to the coaching staffs ignorance or apathy, or is it a question of talent?

That said, I don't think change would necessarily be a bad thing. This staff has arguably the safest jobs in the conference right now, and their reluctance to roll the dice every now and then despite having nothing to lose has me thinking that they have plateued. But I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon. The fact that no other schools (many who undoubtedly pay better than BC) have come calling after 7 straight winning seasons tells me that the word is out on TOB & friends, and it's not good.

[BC_Overlord]

Very well put. I'm glad my Dad and I are not alone in our observations. Now if we could just get someone at BC to listen.....

[block_somebody]

I know, no one over there is listening. BC administration is content with DeFillipo as long as they keep graduating players and run a clean program. DeFillipo is content with TOB and his staff as long as they go to a bowl game every year. They both have a good thing going for themselves, and I'm not surprised that they don't want to rock the boat. But it sucks for BC fans. One Top-10 finish every ten years is not much to ask for, and BC has done it in the past, but it won't happen under TOB.

Most alumni bases could cut off donations if they were unhappy with the coaching staff. However, the tailgating situation on campus virtually guarantees the athletics department a huge chunk of change every year. The only way alumni can truly make a difference is to stop buying tickets, and I don't think the product on the field warrants such a drastic response.

[BC_Overlord]

The alumni base and football season ticket holders are in for a rude awakening very soon. BC is already starting their strong-arm tactics to fill seats at the BC basketball games. Let’s say you have four season tickets to BC basketball, each year when you are renewing your season tickets the BC ticket office “strongly suggests” that you purchase additional season tickets. If you say no, then they inform you that you “may” loose all of your season tickets the following year. If you inquire further and tell them you think it’s unfair, they respond by telling you not to add tickets at your own risk. Imagine that for a minute. Some of these tickets have been in a family for two or three generations and BC is threatening these people to invest even more in the school!!! Over the last two years BC has been loosing football season ticket holders at about 10% each year. Most football season ticket packages are in the name of people between the ages of 60 and 80+ years old. My Dad is almost 80 years old and if I didn’t love college football so much no one in my family would continue to purchase our season tickets once, God forbid, my Dad passes. I plan to continue with our season tickets, but my attitude might change if they start demanding that I purchase more seats, especially if the “O’Brien Decade of Mediocrity” continues. Instead of bringing in a good coaching staff and beating everyone on our schedule, we are content to let BC dumb down the schedule, lose games we should win, and go to bowl games that end up costing BC money just so we can say “we’ve gone to 7 straight bowl games.” Who cares!!!!

Does anyone else care that BC has not been ranked in the top 10 in the O’Brien era? We’ve only beaten one ranked team at home in the O’Brien era? We are guaranteed at least 4 loses every year in the O’Brien era? We are guaranteed that BC’s schedule gets easier every year in the O’Brien era? Every year in the O’Brien era is filled with missed opportunities? And there is absolutely no outrage within the alumni community or in the media that holds this coaching staff and athletic department accountable. That’s true job security!!! Not one other school or NFL team has even talked to any of our coaches in an attempt to hire them away. This is my short list of issues with the athletic department and football program, and BC still thinks they can strong arm the people who are currently supporting the school into purchasing more tickets? I guess this is just BC trying to take the easy way out of a problem. Instead of going out into the community and exciting people about college football by fielding a team that can compete at the upper levels of division 1A, BC decides it’s easier to just abuse the current season ticket holders by raping their wallets even further. I think the root of the problem is the pussy we have at Athletic Director. All I keep hearing from the AD is all the “problems” O’Brien came in and cleaned up…….WHAT?!!? The NCAA investigators came in and decided there was nothing to even investigate!! Can someone explain to me exactly what O’Brien cleaned up???? Ridiculous!!:mad:

For the record, I think the players we have are great! I really feel for them being stuck behind, and having to overcome, their own coaching staff in every game. God bless them.