7-6 or 8-4 he’s gone
No exceptions
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The examples that prove this statement absolutely ridiculous are so numerous I’m not even going to go through them. Coaches look that look amazing at G5 schools go on to be average or flop at P5 schools (with significantly more resources) all the time, without looking at the numbers I would be willing to bet it’s actually more common than not. It’s not at all a 1 for 1, in fact, I can’t think of one coach that did better at a P5 school after being hired away from a G5
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I think you are basically correct. Along with the X&Os and recruiting, coaching on any level is all about how you develop/utilize the resources/talent you have available to be successful.
I do know that I hope our next coach and his whole staff are very strong in, and have a keen focus on, player development. It is the only successful path forward in a G5 if you want to be consistently successful year over year. Based on what I saw of the WVU recruiting classes, Dana is used to getting a 1-2 4 stars a year, but mostly had 3 star recruits. That could bode well on the player development front.
It will be interesting to see what kind of budget he will have for staff. This is a key component to success.
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I would settle for a AAC West Division title every year, that would move the needle…
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It would. If we are like most teams, our first team goal each year is to win the division. Next goal builds on that, etc.
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So at this moment in time, you believe that CMA is on par with CDH as a head coach ?
The difference is we knew major couldn’t coach his way out of a wet paper bag with tons of talent. If he goes 8-4 in his first year with almost no talent (thanks major) against next years schedule, I think plenty of people would be very happy.
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Probably more talented starting 2019 than we were starting 2017.
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I would disagree on the talent in 2019. We really have big holes at defensive tackle, cornerbacks. The inside linebackers are going to be new and we have seen how the backup talent does not appear to be developed by the coaching staff.
On offense, I really question the talent of our offensive line. Clements is a good coach and we improved some but not nearly as you would have liked to see.
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I agree. The key to being successful at the G5 level is being able to evaluate raw talent and players who have not fully developed and then taking them and molding them into the equivalent of 4 and 5 star players during the time in the program.
Vincent Marshall as RB coach is okay by me too
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No because CDH is not
- A first time head coach.
- A Longhorn.
- The 2nd best coordinator out of 2 coordinators in his last job.
Next question.
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Comparing DL, it’s just not possible to compensate for Ed, but it looks to me that if you only consider upperclassman (those probably most ready to contribute) 2019 might be better than 2017 overall
Think we still have holes at CB.
Overall? I think the O is much improved. OL was horrible in 2017, but showed much improvement in 2018 (Clements influence for sure). I think 2019 will be better yet even with the loss of Nobke.
WRs are better than 2017 even if they have trouble holding on the ball at times (whatever happened to stickem? 
).
While Apple made some questionable calls on transfers, imo, I think he did us a solid on what would be his recruiting classes (minus those transfers).
We’ll see how it goes…
To an extent. You also have to figure in where he coaches. Today it’s not appreciably easier to win in the Big 12 at WVU than it is at Texas Tech or Iowa State. They have no natural recruiting base (something like FOUR WV high school players signed FBS scholarships, and WVU has recruits in this class from 11 different states), their facilities are no better than ours, and they’re not going to surpass Oklahoma and a resurgent UT. I think he’s a really good coach who will do very well at UH.
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Not sure why a couple people on here don’t get it. West Virginia is not an A tier team in the Big 12, UH is an A tier team in the AAC. West Virginia is tougher to recruit to than most of the Big 12 schools, UH is easier to recruit to than most of the AAC. West Virginia does not have top tier facilities in the Big 12, UH has probably the best facilities in the AAC. West Virginia has no appeal with the city it sits in, UH is in one of the best cities for 18-22 year olds.
Applewhite would have won 3 to 4 games a year at West Virginia. No way in hell he would have won an Orange Bowl in year 1 or coached there more than 3 seasons.
Happy new year!
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What I remember about Dana H is that he won’t tolerate sloppy play at any position. Improve the tackling and DB coverage on our team and we will be a lot better. You can bet the WR will learn to run better routes and block better as well. I expect our team to be a lot tougher on both sides of the ball, more like the Coach whose name shall not be spoken.
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While I agree with all your points, I’ve often thought that because there are no natural rivalries for WV with the big 12-4+2, it would seem hard to me to recruit players that would be excited about playing the “middle of the country” teams.
I feel we suffer that at UH also, as it cannot be easy selling the local recruits on playing Tulsa, Tulane, UConn, Temple, ECU…hell, throw smu in there !!!
At least , Cincy, Memphis, USF, UCF and Navy have some allure.
JMHO
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2019 d-line more talented than 2017? Is this a joke?
Ed Oliver
Reggie Chevis
Thurman
Jerald Carter
Aymeil Fleming
Payton Turner
Not to mention an experienced LB crew, all-conferenence DB’s and a great DC
We had a consensus all-American DL in Big Ed. That alone counts for a talented DL. I mean, we’re talking about a player that led the entire country for tackles for loss. He was a one-man wrecking crew, and flanked by two sold players in Thurman and Carter, two guys that wrecked havoc against FSU in our bowl win.
What does the 2019 class have that makes it so special? This, I think, is our biggest weakness going into next season. Hopefully we hang onto the commits but with the new transfer rules that’s an unknown. Regardless, we only return Chambers, Fleming, and Turner with a host of inexperienced defensive linemen and LB’s. Most of the players that recently singed are unproven or young and inexperienced at the D1 level.
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Then what we need is to have coaches who can train them up and motivate them. Something that the current staff clearly didn’t do on either level based on the sloppy tackling and terrible schemes the defense was content in playing.
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No doubt about it. I look foraard to seeing what kind of staff is put together. If it’s DH then I have no doubt he hires coaches that can coach players up. I remember his comments about the payers he inherited back in the day when he was the OC at UH. He specifically called out the WR’s that couldn’t catch the ball. That issue was promptly resolved by the start of the season.
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