The more I think about the toughness and culture that has been created here the more I am all in for CTO. I understand some people are about candidates with their flashy offense, etc., but I still think that defense wins championships and that has been proven for us big time this past year.
Some complaints I have heard was CTO blew it against Navy, SMU, and Memphis. Let’s look at some facts.
Navy: We were down 3 starting LBs including our play caller, leading tackler, etc. We did give up 306 yds rushing but only 382 yds overall. I contribute the rushing yds to the loss of our LBs. However, the deciding factor in this game was not the defense but the offense. We had 3 turnovers that game, 2 INTs and 1 fumble. One of the INTs being a pick 6 and the other being just past mid field. The fumble being on our side of the field. The latter INT led to a field goal and the fumble led to a touch down. Then you take into consideration of the safety, that is a total of 19 points I contribute to the offensive blunders. Without the safety we are still talking about 17 points that I feel the offense is responsible for. If you want to split hairs, you can say the offense was accountable for the pick 6 and that would still put us with the W.
SMU: This was just a horrible game all together. This of course was right after we found out we were not getting into the big 12. The defense did not play great but I think this one still is on the offense. The first two drives I think set the mood and tone for the game. We fumbled twice when it looked like we were marching down and about to score. One within the redzone and them going down and scoring a touchdown immediately. Luckily the second fumble led to a missed FG. It seriously looked starting out that we were dominating them but after that it was all down hill. We then followed up with 3 - 3 and outs with them scoring a touchdown after each punt. Note we had several more 3 and outs or 4 and outs the second half and the rest is history. I think the defense did not play well but the offense was horrible and did not set the tone.
Memphis: I think the rumors didn’t help none but let’s still look at facts. We won’t count the fumble at the end because it was a moot point but the interception was costly. It was on our side of the field and led to a touchdown and a big swing in the game. Instead of scoring and being down 27-24, we go down 34-17. To add insult to injury we go 72 yds all the way down the field after they score and we don’t get a field goal or touchdown. Horrible offensive time management and play calling that you can march 72 yds down the field in 1:17 and get nothing out of it. I feel like the same could be said about us taking the lead toward the end of the game and then after they take the lead our “2 minute” drill at the end was abysmal. I think better offensive management could have been done to put us in a better place to win.
Granted there have been some blunders on defense this year but I feel that there have been some that were way more noticeable and serious when you look at our offense. In addition, our defense has bailed out our offense way more times than the other way around. The most glaring this year was the Cinci game.
My only concern with CTO is that just because he’s a good (arguably great) DC, we have no idea how that will translate to being HC. Obviously, the same is true of some of the other candidates, but there are other concerns with CTO.
First, he’s an old school mentality, but kind of dry. I wonder how well he’ll be able to keep the fan base excited. The former coach was a master at being out on the campus and in the community ginning up goodwill and excitement about the program. I see Orlando as more of a “stay in my office watching film” kind of coach. That’s great for coordinators, but he’ll need to expand his responsibilities if he’s HC.
Second, except for the last 2 years, he has no recruiting ties in Houston or Texas. Of course, he can hire coordinators that can help with that, but he’ll need to establish his own relationships with Texas HS coaches. If I’m right about wanting to stay in his office and watch film, that’s obviously going to be a problem.
I may be 100% wrong about all of this, but it’s my take based on what I’ve seen from Orlando. I have no doubt he can get the players on board with his program as far as on-field product, but I have some doubts about all the other things a good HC has to do.
I think you have some very valid points. First of all, defense does win championships. However, that does not equate to a Orlando being a great head coach because of his defensive prowess. I do believe he would do well though. I could be wrong, but I believe Miles is still a candidate. He certainly has not been known for the flashy offense. Here is one comment I want to make about the Flashy offense and all those advocating this. Texas Tech wants to score in two minutes or less. That means I don’t care who they hire as DC, they will never have a great defense. I truly believe that to be a great defensive team you have to be able to run the ball and be able to at times control the clock some. In the AAC i think you could probably have an air raid type offense, outscore people and win some games and maybe even conference championships. I do think thought that ultimately we will be in a p5 and have the talent to compete for a national championship. An air raid offense like Leach, Kingsbury, etc will not get you a national championship. Alabama has opened it up more this year, but Saban still consistently tells Kiffin to get back to running the ball, and as many people on here complain about, running it up the middle. I know I went off topic a bit, but I agree with you that defense wins championships, but not sure who the best hire is. I hope we get the best person for the job.
Very well said. Very good points. I think we have had a good balance the past two years with running and passing, more so the first year. We did seem to go to the pass more as we struggled with the run. Maybe that I am hopeful that he would be a good coach by seeing first hand how that works and that he can continue that balance along with he defensive strategy.
Patterson, Strong, Saban and Stoops are ones that come to mind that came up through the defensive ranks. I don’t believe any of them are the PR types that CTH is but all have been effective. [I expect Strong to be effective again at Cinci or wherever else he lands and expect CTH to benefit from his young movement and player cleansing.] There are probably many defensive promotion failures and maybe more than on the offensive side but you can be very successful without the promotion aspect as long as you’re willing to let someone run your offense – again like Patterson, Saban and Stoops.
Well, of course it was fake. But are you denying that he was able to generate a lot of excitement while he was here? It may have been fake for him, but it wasn’t for us. Are you saying you’d rather have someone who doesn’t generate excitement as long as they are willing to stay for a really long time? We have so many factors working against us being in a G5 conference that we need someone who can fire up a fan base and get them in the stadium. Winning is a big piece of that, but it’s not the only thing.
Very good points, 2002Coog. I think that’s one of the reasons Miles is still a strong candidate for the HC position. His overall experience in running a program is very valuable, notwithstanding the past issues on offense.
I don’t know a single person that bought tickets to see Herman kiss players on the helmet and wear a grill. Every person I know went because they love UH football and/or because UH was winning.
Lots of good points. Of course when we brought in Sumlin and Herman neither had been HCs. Orlando has the advantage that he gets this culture and has the personality to keep that going.
As for recruiting, hasn’t he been doing that in the Houston area for two years now? And high school coaches in the area know him and respect him. I know because a couple of them have told me so.
CTO is smart enough to know UH fans demand a flashy offense. And Major Applewhite provided exactly that at Rice. Other places he coached at were more run oriented, so he knows both.
The offensive screw ups are 100% on Tom Herman. He was zeroing in in job options and being UH’s HC wasn’t his priority and it showed every single time, Chalk up every single loss, including Navy, to Herman’s wandering mind, going back to the first event with South Carolina, just like with Sumlin. You can’t phone this stuff in. Your head has to be 120% into this job, which is why we don’t need another Tom Herman such as Lane Kiffin. Miles might work if he really commits to being here. But my money is on CTO.
Not quite sure what that means. I’ve had season tickets for the most part of 40 years. I go win or lose, but when we are winning definitely the crowds are bigger - even in the days when that meant 25,000 fans were in the stands.
Same with basketball. Win, and they will come. Having said that, UH fans over all demand an explosive, high scoring offense. Again, same with basketball. Plus we almost never have the O-line talent to pound the ball when playing good teams.
Well, I respectfully disagree with you on this one. The grill, the selfies with Houston celebrities, the twitter memes, the radio interviews. All those things got recruits fired up and the vast majority of fans and students as well. Obviously the winning helped a lot, but I firmly believe his antics pulled in the casual Houston sports fan. I’m not talking about the people on this board who will be fans through thick and thin. But, to each his own.
For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all to see CTO become the HC. I was just stating my views on a couple of concerns. My biggest concern is his ability to be the head honcho when it comes to recruiting. But ultimately I trust RK and TF to find the right guy.
You have many good points. I don’t think U of H demands a flashy offense. I think we all want to win. If we went 12-O by running pro set eye (tight end, two backs), and playing great defense I don’t think U of H fans would care. Am I wrong on this? I may be.
Hiring any coordinator is a roll of the dice. That’s why proven winning HCs are in demand. Our problem is not being P5, so our selection is more limited. At least now money is not an issue.
Very well thought out shawnterry, but you left out another tiny distraction…
Navy - LSU had just fired Miles and rumors already had begun about Tommy
SMU - Herman even stated in interview after being hired by uta, that the coaching rumors probably had an affect on the game
Memphis - Again, coaching rumors even more rampant, actually by ESPN during the game
I think it worked extremely well for us. No other UH coach comes to mind that coalesced our students, alumni and general fan base with our team as effectively than TH. Hated the way he left. Totally inconsistent, maybe even troubling, with the standards he appeared to have brought to the program. Truth is he established a firm foundation for our program. Attendance. Season tickets. Rankings (okay, not the 2nd year). Even games won.
Worked for me. I think it worked for UH.
From what I saw, in the Navy game we were just missing too many key pieces against a very good option team. The SMU game I flelt like the offense struggling early on led to the defense getting worn out. Also I was at the game and Herman did not look involved at all, barely saw him talk to anybody, I’m sure that played a big role. Probably the same thing for Memphis too, but there was bad defense in that game. Orlando should have adjusted on the last drive, they wanted us to blitz as they had hot routes to one on one coverage for easy completions.
I was really frustrated by our corners this year, particularly Winchester. I can’t count how many times we had the other team at 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 8, and our corners were lined up 10 yards off the receiver. Was that Orlando’s scheme, or just cushion because our corners are slow or don’t cover well?