Yesterday I sat and watched in amazement as the IU coaching staff continued to put the boys in bad situations that eventually cost them another ball game. There were key plays that didn’t help. The first was the pick 6 thrown by Ben Chappell. Chappell made a young mistake, he stared down Hardy from the time he came under center, allowing the linebacker to gamble and it paid of big for Northwestern. Chappell did make a mistake, but I will not, and can not blame him for the stupidity that came from the sidelines. He is a red shirt freshman, has had very limited game time this year, and most of that has been handing the ball to a running back to run out the clock. At the point that Chappell entered the game, IU was facing a 3rd & 6, with a 14-3 lead. Not a knock on Chappell, but at that point you hand the ball to Payton, if they don’t get the first down, you punt the ball away and ask your defense to make a play.
Except for that one play, IU done most everything right in the 1st half, the running game was working. They had a 4 point lead at half, and got the ball back after half. To start the half, they were flat, the play calling went conservative and nothing was working. They fought back from behind, and took the lead again at 28-24 with just over 3 minutes left. This is where the coaches proved how inept they are. All season long IU has played the 4-3 defense, for those of you that are not familiar with the 4-3, it is a basic staple of football. It uses 4 down lineman (2 ends, 2 tackles), 3 line backers, 2 corners, and 2 safeties. Were the ineptitude shows is the cover 2 set the run out of the 4-3, were your pass coverage is in a zone. This will line up the safeties to protect against the deep ball, but leaves guys open underneath.
On the last drive by Northwestern, IU went to the cover 2, and allowed them to march down the field again. This was the whole game, but early they would man up (every DB plays a certain man) when they reached the red zone. For some reason, known only to the IU coaching staff, they played a cover 2 on 3rd and goal from the 3. This allowed the slot receiver to run a 4 yard hitch and catch a TD pass with no coverage close. This TD ended up being the deciding score after Kellen Lewis yet again fumbled away the football as the offense was driving and just short of field goal range.
This was our game to win. They lost it on crucial mistakes, mostly made on the sidelines. There is no excuse for the play calling, no excuse for not protecting the ball. This is all on the coaching staff, all on Bill Lynch.
The future of this program depends on the future coaching staff. Bill Lynch has not done enough to be retained as the head coach of this program, so options have got to be discussed about the future coaching. Coach Hep was a steal for this University, but you’re not going to find the caliper of coach he was for $500,000.00 a year. They are going to have to look at ¾ to a million a year for a top coach, and one might be available.
13 comments:
Sadly, very sadly, I agree.
KevinK
Mike, I have to admit I don't know anything about other coaches, but I will agree that Bill Lynch is not our man. It is a sad day when I have to admit it, because I want to like him. I agree with both you and Megan. Yesterday we handed that game to Northwestern. Poor Ben. Not his fault.
He seems like a great guy, but it probaby is time to part ways. The Chappel play was a ridiculous call and it's hard to imagine anyone defending it. But, I guess I appreciate the blind allegiance of some of our fans....and Peegs will censor you if you say anything negative anyway. And those damn runs to the sideline that never gain more than 2 yards and put us in a 3rd down hole.
In addition to coaching, we still need to improve our recruiting and that is another area where I just dont think Lynch can get it done. People have related this situation to that of Mike Davis a few years ago. The thing most similar to me is that if neither had been at IU when they were, and these jobs came open--they would not be candidates. Plain and simple.
Even if we pull off the Bucket and sneak into a bowl, I don't know that Lynch and company will be able to get us to the next level.
Then, of course, who do we get? It's got to be viewed somewhat as a coaching-graveyard and mother of all challenges. Fulmer would be great, but I cant imagine hed want to come here even if we come up with the money. Who else is there? I often think that we hired Cam the same year Purdue hired Tiller. We're still looking for our guy and look at everything they've done in 10 years. Look at what Zook has done...maybe a big name for the sake of recruiting is the way to go. And, a new coach, wouldnt take over a team in complete shambles like the last 3 have.
Anyway, it just seems like some things never change...the only real difference this year is that we didnt play the big 2 and we didnt piss one away against a non-conf team.
So I guess that was just a rant, but I'll go with a question too: who else is there besides Fulmer? And, would an up and coming sort of person like the guy at UC come here knowing that it could be a career ending decision?
anonymous (2) - Great post.
I have yet to find anyone defending the call for Chappell to throw the pass. Some, like myself, are defending Ben, in that he doesn't make the call.
As far as censorship on this blog, I will only censor any post due to language. If you disagree with me or Megan, but keep it clean, and take no personal shots, I will always allow you to voice your opinion, don't worry.
I agree that Bill Lynch would have never been hired as head coach if he was not already here as Hep's right hand man, that is evident by him not even getting a look when Hep was hired.
Recruiting in my opinion is only a small piece of the puzzle. I can not believe I am going to say this, but the coaching job done by Ron Zook has been un-real. You remove Rashad Mendenhall, and Illinois is in BIG trouble. He is the real talent on that team. Without him, Juice would be horrible. When IU lost to them this year, I watched us lose to an inferior team. I believe we outplayed them in every facet of the game, except protecting the ball.
As for your last question about who is available, I will keep my ears open over the next week, and see if I can put together a short list, with details about each coach.
Thank for the post.
Fyi I have personally spoken with Ben and as the quality young man that he is he takes full responsiblity, makes no excuses,and does not blame the coaches, but he also will NOT QUIT and will face the adversity with his head high.
While I don't know Ben well, he knows my son very well. Ben is a very classy young man, I have no doubt that he would take responsibility for his mistake, as he should take responsibility for his part of it. However, I will say again that Ben should have NEVER been put in that situation. That was a coaching call to run a pass there, and it was the wrong one.
For clarity, I would have thought it was a bad call if it was and IU touchdown.
It was a combination of bad coaching and sloppy play that lost this game. Not that one play in the first half.
And it's easy to say Poor Ben, and we all know, he did NOT make the play call, but while that changed the momentum of that game, it was early, and a few smart (or just awesome) plays could have easily swung it back in our favor. I won't let the weight of this game rest on that play, but I do think it was what started the push in the wrong direction.
Thanks, Mike P.
Of course, I wouldnt personally attack Ben about it. I'm sure he's a great guy and he didnt make the call.
I did see at least one thread on Peegs defending that play call. Amazing.
No problem with the naughty words censoring, but it seems to have become practice on that board to censor someone who steps out of line in their thinking. And, no, I wasnt a regular poster just reader, but anyway...who cares?
You say recruiting is only a small piece of the puzzle. Ill bite. While I'm sure you know more and follow football recruiting more closely, isnt it true that we're are still using players on both lines at LB and elsewhere that were offered at no other Big 10 schools? I think overall we are better talent wise than we have been, largely because of the diamonds in the rough of Hardy and Lewis, and some other fast players, a great kicker, etc....But, people still say and it seems to me that we are not up to par as a whole. Maybe we've closed the gap. Enlighten me on this topic. Because it seems to me that recruiting is everything.
What scenarios do you see IU keeping Lynch? Any? Thanks
I will answer your last question first. The only scenario I can see Lynch being kept on would be who is available and for what price tag in the offseason. While Lynch may not be the long term answer for coaching, he may be the best available for what the athletic department wants to pay for a head coach.
As far as the recruiting issue, I have never been one who puts much weight in what a recruiting class and their rankings mean. While not always true, most 5 star recruits peak in high school, and fizzle out in college, others are just peaking coming into college and become superstars. I look at recruiting on what positions are hurting, and what can we get to beef up those position why we continue to develop the talent we have. Guys like Hardy, Lewis, possibly Bryan Payton are the guys who were good in high school, but did not stand out on the national scene, and as they have physically and mentally matured, they have become much better players.
Another part of it is what can be done with them once they are here. Some games can be one off pure talent, but most have to be won by proper coaching, putting your players in the right position, and exploiting another teams weakness. This goes far beyond how good a recruiting class is.
Take Illinois for example. They have been on top of the recruiting rankings since Ron Zook has took over. I will say again, we were a far more talented team than the Illini, and our mistakes cost us a win. Ron Zook and his staff has done a good job of making those boys play, just like this weekend, Ohio State has superior players to the Illini, yet they went into the Horse Shoe, and pulled off the big upset. This was not a case of talent, this was a case of a perfect game plan, and players buying into that plan, playing there positions, and just making it happen.
These are my opinions, they are based of of 24 years of first hand football experience (playing and coaching). In the last two years, I have attended almost 90 football games live, this is between youth, high school varsity, jv, freshman, and college games. This doesn't even account for the amount of practices I have been involved in, or ones I have sat to watch.
Hope this helps.
I was foolish enough to watch the debacle first hand Saturday. Surrounded by the strange surroundings of Ryan field I appreciated even more the tremendous job that Gary Barnett did as head coach at Northwestern. Mr. Lynch is a fine man but not a div 1 head coach. Mr. Barnett needs an opportunity to dispell the deamons of his tenure at Colorado just like Coach Mallory. Would be money well spent.
Is Gary Barnett still out there? He done great at Northwestern, winning 1 out right, and 1 co-championship in the Big Ten while there. His tenure at Colorado was good, from a W-L perspective. The thing that worries me about him is the continued off field problems that Colorado had under his leadership.
Thanks, Mike P. I'd agree that recruiting rankings, hype, etc is overrated. And, I'd agree that just because a player isnt highly touted doesnt mean he cant be as good or better than others in that position. But, it seems to me that IU relies almose entirely on that premise because we rarely get any of the higher rated talent. To say that we can go out and assess talent and mold it and be just as good is fine with me. To say we're going to do that at nearly every position is a stretch I think. You say sometimes talent is enough to win a game. Yes and that seems to be the case any time we play half or more of the Big 10 teams. Granted it's been a little better this year, but we're still fighting our way into the top 10 of the Big 10.
Your assessment of Illinois seems fair, but...Mendenhall, Benn, and that LB are all studs. Higher ranked recruits than probabaly anyone we've ever had except AT. Again, I agree it's not about winning the recruiting rankings war, but it seems like we've got to be in the hunt for some bigger players and step it up as a whole. While it's not ALL about the players, you cant do it without them.
Taking the Purple to Pasadena by Barnett is an awesome book, pick it up if you've never read it. Parallels our situation in a lot of ways.
Thanks for the book tip. I will put it on my list of books to read.
I agree that it seems IU only gets players that have to be molded and guided. Last year we had to top players change their minds on signing day and go to large, non Big Ten programs. The IU football program does not have the success on it's own to pull top recruits. We do however have anice campus, good academics, and soon will have some top notch training facilities. Those will still not be enough without a big name coach. If I was in these kids position, and offered from programs as well as IU, knowing the coaching situation here would make it hard for me to want to come here.
It is time IU stepped up to the challenge and brought in a top coach.
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