When it looked like we were going to stay in-house with the hire, I naturally thought it was going to be Orlando. He was named the interim coach and started to act like a head coach in interviews and press conferences. Plus Orlando was an ABOVE AVERAGE Defensive Coordinator. We would have insured that we would have been above average on one side of the ball.
When I found out that they went with Applewhite…I was shocked. MA was always a BELOW AVERAGE Offensive Coordinator and I felt our defensive would ultimately suffer. When I heard what the Miami fans said about D’onofrio, my concerns only increased. We are now stuck with my worst nightmare…an un-creative below average Levine type WTF style offense and a defense, despite plenty of talent, that is devoid of schemes and packages to highlight our strengths. Sadly, our defensive talent will start to decline after what Gibbs and Orlando built up.
Seriously…WHY DIDN’T WE KEEP ORLANDO? Was that a Tilman move?
Can we still hire Orlando for next season? Admit we made a mistake.
Orlando, didn’t have all the high school coaches in Texas writing getting reviews. Or Orlando knew his worth didn’t want the buyout. Major also knew his worth and said yes to that buyout immediately.
Orlando certainly wanted this job so it didn’t have anything to do with the buyout. Orlando would have probably been more like Herman as a head coach as far as being emotional and loud…but between the two I still think Applewhite was the better pick for stability and recruiting. That said, Applewhite has a lot of proving to do starting against Memphis.
There is no doubt in my mind that when Allen did not pan out early as the quarterback everything started going south. So Applewhite went with Postma, a guy he has been around for a while and now that is not working out.
At this point we need someone who can lead at quarterback, a kid who has a decent arm and great wheels. Enter either King or Bryson Smith. But for some reason Applewhite remained true to Postma the entire game yesterday and we all know how that worked out.
Once again I see absolutely no reason for Allen sticking around if he is no longer an option. It is time to go a different route…
I don’t think there is really any way of knowing if Orlando would have been a better coach. As we can see with Applewhite, it is all about the coordinator and position coach hires. Under Orlando, we could have been better, or we could have been worse.
What talent do we have on defense besides Oliver? Seriously, Adams is ok, but he’s no Derrick Mathews, Elandon Roberts or Steven Taylor; three inside linebackers who controlled the middle of the field. Our senior safeties are hit or miss, literally. Our corners are below average. We generate NO pass rush. This is a recruiting problem as much as it’s a coaching problem.
Agree with CougarJim on this one…Applewhite needs some time to get his kids in here and develop them…I expect progress as early as next year.
As long as he continues to go with Postma and the play calling stays the way it is we are going to struggle on offense. Everyone is calling for a new OC, and those folks may have a point, but I remain concerned that OL has way too many let downs.
I figure Applewhite has his reasons for not putting Allen in yesterday, but frankly I am wondering if the team lost confidence in him? And I also noticed the huge letdown yesterday when our qb made that Gawd awful pass between two defenders on a freakin’ bubble screen, resulting in a Tulsa interception which ended up at our one yard line…
I did not expect us to win our conference this year and I still don’t. But I am disappointed that our coach is so hard headed that he literally threw out qb to the wolves yesterday.
IMO, and I have considered our options, if he is not going to give Allen another shot, maybe it’s time to move King to qb and at least try him there. Not sure I would be willing to pull the redshirt on Bryson Smith, but I certainly would give it some consideration…
We’re seeing the result of Levine’s later seasons and Herman’s hiring and leaving. Depth is hurting and the guys we’ve tried to bring in to fill holes haven’t produced.
When Applewhite was hired, he made a comment about Herman’s style of recruiting. He stated that Herman would go by position quota, i.e. if we need three o-lineman, we get the best three o-linemen we can find. The problem is if the third one on the list is barely a 2* athlete you suffer from lower talent coming in.
Applewhite said he was going to change the philosophy. We would go after the most talented players we could get regardless of position. Obviously, you have to care a little bit about what positions you bring in, but if you can get high-level 3* and 4* talent, you get it while you can even if it means you bring in two o-linemen when you wanted three and four linebackers when you needed two.