OT: The tale of two five-star recruits who played in Mark D’Onofrio’s defense at Miami

Most of us wanted coach No D gone after year 1 but it was unrealistic due to his contract. Our D fell of significantly after Orlando under No D. Some blammed the lack of talent and the talent we lost to graduation. Other blamed it more on No D. Looking back I think it was more No D being a passive coordinator versus having the lessor talent. But overall it was a combination of both. In the end, CMA hiring No D ended up cooking his ass.

He hasn’t posted since January so I’m imagining he was related to coach no D in some form or fashion and that’s why he was posting sunshine.

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Maybe it WAS coach no D :sunglasses:!

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Why would you have wanted him gone after 2017? We finished 23rd in interceptions, 37th in fumbles recovered, and 42nd in scoring defense. And this was with a defense that lost three players to the draft and others who caught on to NFL rosters. Plus we were #109 in TOP, and that was more because of an ineffective offense than anything else. Frankly, I don’t think people are doing much independent thinking. I wanted him fired after this year, but I recognize he was put in a bad position and that he’s had success in his career as a coordinator. Whatever. Not important.

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Ward and King hid a lot of coaching deficiencies. That said, the injuries played a role, but the back-ups looked like they never practiced!!

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The backups looked like Freshmen, which they were.

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This is correct. There were some poor hiring coordinator decisions by Applewhite. There were some good ones, but you have to pair your offensive style with your defensive style. When he hired Kendal, it put D’Onofrio in an untenable situation. I contend that Johnson was the worst hire he made.

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Thanks to good ole Tom Herman and his decision to barely recruit (or maintain) defensive players other than Ed Oliver.

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+1000. And they were true freshmen playing DL at 240 pounds. Vince Lombardi couldn’t have gotten more out of those kids. I do look for guys like Willie Smith, Logan Hall, and a couple more to get bigger in the offseason and be good players for us down the road

It wasn’t just me, there were plenty of Coogs that knew he wasn’t in for the long run here during year 1, but we also knew that wasn’t realistic and it would probably take 2 or 3 years before he was out of here. Our total defense immediately dropped undernearth No D from the low 30s to mid 40s. But it was far more of his approach and strategy, and coming from 4 years of aggressive and highly successful defense to his bend and don’t break approach and far less aggressive D, most of us knew it was just a matter of time and we turned out to be correct. The D jumped into the 120s for most of 2018 and he slit his own throat with the TT game. It was obvious that CMA had to jump in to attempt to change No Ds approach after the TT game.

It was obvious from the get go he wasn’t going to be a long term DC at UH. It was a bad hire from the get go and his history at UM and their fans reaction and lack of respect of him was a key sign . CMA pulled him off the scrap heap from Kendall Boys and Girls Club which was another sign besides his tenure at UM. The posted article was evidence of issues also. Lets see how long he is on the scrap heap again and what his next job is to see how respected he is in the profession. It wouldn’t shock me if he didn’t return to this level of football in the near future, at least not as a DC.

Why did YOU think that it was a bad hire given the personnel losses and statistics I provided? Actually it looked like a good hire given his first year. You sound as if you’re simply jumping on a bandwagon and really not thinking for yourself.

The proof is in the pudding. The smartest football minds are not in CFB, they are scouts in the NFL. These guys live eat and breathe football. Look at what they had to say about how Ed Oliver was used during his last 2 years here, not 2016 CTO moved him around the line. Pathetic. Our school was put down almost daily on some channel during draft season.

Sorry, I am not just jumping on the band wagon. Typical response by you claiming those that have different opions from you aren’t thinking for ourselves. I am stating how I felt two years ago upon first year observations. I wasn’t impressed by the defense that I saw him play. I was pretty vocal about it also. This was a defense that couldn’t stop Memphis in the 2nd half if their lives depended on it. It was an obvious change in style from the aggressive D we witnessed played here successfully for 4 years under to different DCs. We were told that CMA asked Orlando who he would bring in here that would bring the same defense or similar defense that Orlando played. Just like Tony when he said that he wasn’t going to change anything with our successful offense when he came on board, that claim didn’t turn out not to be true this time around either but with our defense this time.

No D wasn’t successful at Miami, got fired and their fan base had an extreme negative opinion of his performance. He was sitting on the sidelines when CMA came a calling. The significant change in style from Orlando to No D was a significant sign that all should have thought through with what to expect going into the future. It wasn’t going to be a successful D here going forward and he didn’t appear to change from his system although he was hired to maintain the same D we had under Orlando. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he wasn’t going to be a long timer at UH and he was lucky to make it through 2 years. He probably would had been fired after the TT game if we had any experience on the D side that could handle the DC responsibilities.

Again, lets see where his next job and role comes from. That is a true sign of what the college football world thinks of his capabilities. I am betting he won’t return to a comparable DC position anytime soon. How fast he got fired post our last regular season game was an obvious sign that neither CMA nor the AD was impressed by his performances over the course of his two year tenure here. Sorry if you didn’t see it from the get go, but it was pretty obvious. Like I said, I was far from the only Coog fan that didn’t like his D from the get go. The numbers were high with that opinion. The Memphis performance was just one example.

Excellent point regarding how EO was used!

That was No D that deserved the criticism, but it was communicated as a UH FUBAR. The UH mistake was hiring NO D. CMA made a huge mistake that set his tenure up for failure with that hire just like Tony made coordinator mistakes from the get go that set his tenure up for failure also.

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This quote right here is further proof of NO D’s and his boss at UM at the time ability to properly assess players. The guy turns into a successful NFL pick at the position that No D claimed he wasn’t good enough to play at UM.

" Chickillo, meanwhile, overcame the long odds of being a sixth-round pick in 2015 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and signed his second NFL contract with the team that drafted him in March. He’s playing outside linebacker – the position Golden and D’Onofrio said he wasn’t athletic enough to play."

After UM and UH, it is pretty difficult to defend No D. Whoever hires him into another DC position after his failed tenures at UM and UH needs to have their brain examined.

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One person got it :slight_smile:

I thought he won the Outland Trophy? Must not have been used that badly.

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He won it despite the horrible coaching.

Oh! Okay.

Actually, Levine should get credit for Ed Oliver too. He recruited Marcus Oliver (Ed’s older brother) and their father laid down the law that Ed would go where his brother was.

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