Looking at Baylor and other links

This isn't specifically BC-related, but I recommend this Wall Street Journal article on Baylor's offense. The beauty of college football is that you can have above average success by being totally unconventional (see Navy, Baylor, the Mike Leach teams, etc). Is it hard to win championships like that? Perhaps, but good unconventional schools often outperform their talents and limitations. The other reason I look to places like Baylor when we struggle is that I feel at times that our offensive approach is broken. Injuries happen, but if you have a consistent approach and an emphasis on certain aspects of offense (Baylor it is big plays, Oregon it is tempo) you can score points. In Addazio's first two years, our approaches were also pretty simplistic. This year we clearly lacked identity, direction and execution. Those are fixable. I am not saying become Baylor, but look to their approach and figure out what BC can be. (HT to AR for the article).

The Globe had a nice feature on Eli Carter. So much of this season depends on how much he can carry this young team.

(I am leery to post this because it is not really sports, but it is a hot college topic...please be thoughtful in the comments section.) BC students held a "blackout" in a show of solidarity with Mizzou students and other college campuses dealing with speech and race issues. There were a very similar series of protests when I was a student at BC in the '90s. My issue then and now remains, that these issues and topics are very real and very serious. They deserve discussion and debate and solutions. But in the '90s and now, college kids are not always the best ones to lead the debate. They clearly have the passion, but too often lack the perspective, appreciation or the ability to articulate real change.

Ryan Day will be the new Offensive Coordinator

Long-time readers and my critics can hopefully chuckle at this post's headline. I don't think think anyone expected the twists and turns it took to get the job. His results in Temple were not good and there are many BC fans that think he is all hype, but I like the move. My hope is that Addazio will give him free reign and we will finally have a consistent and competent offense.

Day got screwed by Gene and Spaz. He could be coaching in many other places, but he wants to be at BC. Obviously as Bates has just explained, that desire to win at BC means a lot to the administration. 

I will obviously have more opinion as this all develops. 

Can Martin make Chase Rettig better?

I don't blame Chase Rettig for our offensive problems. Behind a better offensive line or with consistency from his offensive coordinator, the results could be very different for him. I predict that Rettig will make significant progress this year under Doug Martin. But how much progress should we expect? To get a better understanding I tried to measure that last two times Martin took over an offense as an offensive coordinator/play caller. The most recent example was last season at New Mexico State. Prior to that, Martin's last Year 1 rebuilding job was as offensive coordinator under Dean Pees at Kent State in 2003. I didn't get into Martin's years at ECU because Steve Logan was calling the plays and I didn't consider Martin's time as Head Coach at Kent State as he was recruiting to his own system, not trying to make an inherited player better.

New Mexico State 2011 After seven seasons as Head Coach in Kent State, Martin did not waste any time getting back into football. He took the OC job at New Mexico State last year with the hope of sparking their offense. He inherited Matt Christian as quarterback. A Senior, Christian started as a JR after transferring from Junior College. As a JUCO Christian completed 58% of his passes. In his Junior year at NMSU, he completed just 49.6% of his passes and threw 7 TDs and 6 INTs. Under Martin, Christian showed solid improvement. His accuracy improved to 52.3% and he also improved his TD/INT ratio to 15/8. That seems pretty mundane, but when you consider a 5.44% improvement in accuracy and a 114% improvement in TDs, that sort of spike could help Rettig.

Kent State 2003 Josh Cribbs was a phenom before Doug Martin got to Kent State. But entering his JR year (2003) Cribbs needed to bounce back from a sophomore slump (48.9% completion percentage, 4 TD/14 INT). Under Martin's tutelage Cribbs improved his efficiency and productivity even though his completion percentage remained flat. He completed 48.9% in 2003 but improved his yardage by 1410 yards and his TD/INT ration to 14/9. But even though it wasn't in Martin's first year, Cribbs also showed that an inaccurate passer can improve dramatically as he completed 64.5% of his passes as a senior.

Regardless of the coaching Rettig should get better next year. Most of our playmakers returns and the offensive line can't get much worse. Martin might not be a miracle worker, but there's nothing to suggest he's going to screw Rettig up. At this point all we are asking for his some excitement and a little hope.