Our current problem. Please respond

[Fedog]

While I hope that Mack is leaving I think one of the biggest reasons for his departure is his lack of offensive identity. I wont even touch the Diaz hire in this post

What is or has been our offensive identity? Has there ever been a Mack Brown offensive identity? I think he would like to be pro style like Alabama but he has changed the philosophy so much over the past 15 years. Maybe it has been successfull as he has changed with each recruiting class but I believe he has always tried to plug a square peg into a round hole.

We were pro style with Ricky Williams and I thought that was great considering he was new and he went to our strength of a Heisman running back. We then more less continued that trend until Vince.

We then moved to the zone read which was amazing. We actually started that trend but we continued to recruit drop back passers. We then moved to Colt and the run and shoot offense. Again with great success but as you can see the trend, we are changing identies every few years.

Then he wants a pro style attack because we were too dependent on amazing qb play but we had not recruited to that philosophy.

Then we get harsin who brought a little bit of both. Not sure what his offenses were but a manufactured identity. Next came applewhite with hopes of a high paced oregon/baylor offense. That lasted all of about one game. We have now gone back to a run offense due to the structure of our team.

Bottom line look at the big time teams. Alamaba recruits to a system. Oregon has had three coaches in the last 8 years and they run a system. Briles runs a system. Sumlin runs a system. Meyer runs a system. They all recruit to a system whether they are 5 star or two star. We recruit the best in hopes we can mold them into whatever system is the flavor of the month.

We have no system and havnt had one since Mack has been here. Thats why I think we have struggled without a perfect QB. We have no identity and never have. Each year is a different offense. I say you implement what you want to do and recruit to that and go for it.

Thoughts from the board?

 

[Mr. Cosell]

You are correct -- Mack Brown has never had an identity. He doesn't know what philosophical approach he wants to take on the field.

Not only does that lead to confusion , it makes leadership look unsure of their own abilities. It creates an atmosphere of instability.

Tear it down. Reload. Tear it down. Reload. Tear it down. Reload. ... Tear it down. Rebuild. Tear it down. Rebuild...

Oh nevermind.

If a team takes on the personality of their coach (or leader), well, that explains why this has finally caught up with Mack Brown.

He's been lucky to get this far.

 

[Brasky]

It didn't help that somewhere along the way he decided that offensive lineman were irrelevant.

 

[Topstarr]

we will have a offensive identity in the fall upcoming nd you will love it. This is the truth!!!!!!!

 

[LongviewLobo01]

The most interesting part of the whole situation is that Mack was an offensive coordinator before he became a head coach. You would think that he would be able to work well on that side of the ball, but he never has. He's definitely meddled more than he needed, but he's not a guy like Gundy or Briles who has installed a system and then recruited to it.

It' a good thing that Mack and GD were able to mold the offense to fit the talent they had, going from a pro system with Simms to a spread, read option with VY and then the spread pass first offense under Colt, but as soon as the super talented QB's were gone they couldn't cope. Rather than keeping Gilbert in a spread system that he ran so well in high school, they changed into a pro set and that was the beginning of the end. And anyone who has seen Gilbert's numbers this year running the SMU spread can see that the kid had talent if it was utilized correctly.

One of the biggest things that I think we need to look for in our next coach is that they are very good in regards to X's and O's on one side of the ball or the other. I'd prefer someone with a defensive mindset because I think it is easier to install an offense, recruit to that system and keep the system in place with OC's moving on periodically than it is to have the same turnover on defense, especially in an offensive league like the Big 12. There's absolutely no reason for schools like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, etc to be able to install an offensive system and basically just plug and play. OSU played three different QBs last year and their offense didn't seem to change very much. Baylor lost a Heisman Trophy winning QB a couple of years ago and seems to have gotten better at the QB position. Oregon lost the guy everyone thought was the brains behind that offense, promoted the OC to head coach and Frost to OC and they are just as good as ever.

The most amazing thing I read a couple of years ago was when Alabama's former OC took a head coaching job elsewhere and they brought in Doug Nussmeier to run the offense. He thought so much of how effective their offense was that rather than coming in and changing things he learned their current terminology and kept everything the same. That's unheard of.

One of the biggest factors that we need in our next coach is that they are a great COACH. I don't care who it is, but they need to be able to scheme one side of the ball as well as anyone we will face. Then they need to recruit to that system. Sometimes taking the higher ranked player isn't going to work because they aren't going to fit, but that's just going to be how it works.

If we miss on the big guys like Saban, Meyer and Fisher, I have no problem going after someone like Gus Malzahn because you know at the end of the day his offense is going to move the ball and put up points. He's done it everywhere he's been as head coach or coordinator. He's done it with a ton of talent and with lesser talent. Give me a guy like that over a CEO type any day of the week.

 

[Hoekem]

Mack got by in the ACC because...well it sucked. He got by here because of talent. When it comes down to actually coaching...well look no further than the last 4 years.

Mack is like the drunk uncle trying to tell you how to grill, he can't do it himself but he can sure as hell try and confuse you. IDK how anyone could work for him, has to be frustrating as hell.

 

[Black Scholes]

It didn't help that somewhere along the way he decided that offensive lineman were irrelevant.

I think it was Espinoza's class where he went 3-4 months telling everyone he'd decided to take zero OL that year. He was finally guided to his senses by his assistants. But seriously - WTF? How could you coach for over 20 years and think that was a sound decision? We ended taking Espinoza, Hopkins I think and maybe one more? Crazy.

 

[UTK66]

The single biggest mistake Mack made was abandoning the zone read/spread attack after VY and Colt left. Dumbest decision he's ever made by far. The majority of high school programs in the state are running some form of the zone read/spread attack and that is what the players are used to. Mack wanting to switch to a Bama style, smash mouth offense was just a plain dumbass move.

Rant over, for tonight. Maybe.

 

[Brasky]

I think it was Espinoza's class where he went 3-4 months telling everyone he'd decided to take zero OL that year. He was finally guided to his senses by his assistants. But seriously - WTF? How could you coach for over 20 years and think that was a sound decision? We ended taking Espinoza, Hopkins I think and maybe one more? Crazy.

Right. And when you look at Saban's teams or really any teas that have lasting success what do they have in common? They are freakin' tough in the trenches. On another thread where OU came up... that's what they used to do too. Just plug in OL and DL. Obviously that isn't all it takes but I'd argue it's the fundamental building block. Even aggy had this figured out to a certain extent, though it was never across the board on both sides.

 

[Brasky]

The single biggest mistake Mack made was abandoning the zone read/spread attack after VY and Colt left. Dumbest decision he's ever made by far. The majority of high school programs in the state are running some form of the zone read/spread attack and that is what the players are used to. Mack wanting to switch to a Bama style, smash mouth offense was just a plain dumbass move.
Rant over, for tonight. Maybe.

Well this is why some say, and I would agree, that Mack never recovered from '09 Alabama. He literally died that night (as a coach). He took a ton of heat for being far too reliant on a single player and decided that the SEC formula of plugging a serviceable but mistake free quarterback into a more vanilla system would ultimately make you more versatile by virtue of the fact that a single player didn't decide your fate. My $.02 anyway.

What's funny is the SEC is moving more to what we were doing years ago.

 

[Lord Vader]

Key thing in that post is "mistake free QB". We never played one, and never found out if three other guys could have been said player.

 

[Setxhorn]

Key thing in that post is "mistake free QB". We never played one, and never found out if three other guys could have been said player.

I agree with this. We never used Sherrod Harris and ended up losing any chance of him helping us. It would have been nice to see what he could of done against Alabama.

 

[DocHorn]

I agree with this. We never used Sherrod Harris and ended up losing any chance of him helping us. It would have been nice to see what he could of done against Alabama.

I agree completely, never had a backup ready. Putting an untested Freshman into that situation was insanity

I feel our biggest issue is the culture. We seem to have an entitlement culture going on in the program.

The new guy needs to bring a toughness with him to build a tough and nasty football team, something we have not seen much of under Mack.

DKR was famous for those kinds of teams.