Hayden Rettig will be visiting his brother and the campus during his Spring Break. He'll also visit Rutgers and former BC staffer Dave Brock. BC needs to land a quarterback in this class and is looking at plenty of QBs beyond Hayden. But I think landing him would be a good endorsement of Spaz and Martin.
BC is also looking at Florida lineman Kyle Schafenacker.
Mgoblog has a contributor who does a lot of interesting work on football analysis. His latest post explains how the traditional down and distance philosophy is outdated. Wisconsin -- with their very successful QB and RB combo -- is the test case, but there is a lot that BC could apply. A quick summary is that a passing play from a QB has a better upside than one from an elite RB and that a premier running back is overrated.
Now even without great players like Russell Wilson and Montee Ball, balance on offense is outdated. BC needs to be more aggressive and make our passing game more explosive.
I know Spaz doesn't call the plays, but his selections of Coordinators and his endorsement of their approaches, shows he's more comfortable with a "balanced" attack. I would hope that Doug Martin would open things up, but his one year at New Mexico State was also very run heavy. Below are some reference points. And what does it say about BC, when Wisconsin -- the Big Ten team used as an example an of old school approach on offense -- looks pass happy compared to BC and New Mexico State.
Run/Pass mix
BC 2011 -- 57.42% run, 42.58% pass
BC 2010 -- 56.93% run, 43.07% pass
BC 2009 -- 57.35% run, 42.65% pass
New Mexico State 2011 -- 49.72% run, 50.28% pass
Wisconsin 2011 -- 35.01% run, 64.99% pass
Martin has said the right things about next season. He runs a West Coast, single back offense but is less about scheme and more about taking advantage of the team's best players. I don't know enough about New Mexico State to judge if a heavy dose of run made sense. Let's hope he does want to take advantage of our best players because that would mean plenty of passing from Rettig to Larmond and Pantale.
As a Special Teams coach losing Brock is not a big deal. Losing him as a recruiter hurts. Spaz's current staff doesn't have a collection of sweet-talking, road warrior, closers. Whoever they hire to replace Brock better be a diehard recruiter.
Ben Johnson -- who served as the interim Tight Ends coach this fall -- will be moving on. Per NCAA rules, he cannot move back to his Graduate Assistant spot.
On paper, I think this is the best staff of Spaz's four seasons. We will see if the results on the field change. The best moving of the pieces might be what Gene and Spaz did with Brock and Devine. Both are valuable recruiters, yet had questionable results as OC and OL coaches. Now we keep them on staff, yet have a tactical and teaching upgrade at those key positions.
What's interesting is that despite all the rumored grumbling, that most of the guys stayed. BC certainly has its drawbacks, but the grass is not always greener.
Me: Given his connection to Jags and Logan, would Doug Martin actually take a job under Spaz and Gene?
Him: Very little chance.
Why after picking Spaz over Steve Logan three years ago and scrapping his offense are we bringing in a Logan-disciple? Why are we changing offenses from a more prostyle to spread when we have been recruiting players into a prostyle scheme for three years. And why would a guy who clearly can get an inside opinion on all the nonsense that goes on between Flip and Spaz take the job?
When guessing about unanswerable questions, I revert to Occam's razor. My guess is that Gene and Spaz talked to a lot of guys and felt that Martin was the best candidate willing to take the job. Switching from prostyle to a more modern spread might lead to growing pains, but production was so bad there was no reason to lock into the other scheme. Also, I am sure Martin feels he can adapt his scheme to the current BC personnel. As for Martin taking the job...Jags and Logan both liked what BC represents and the type of kids you coach at BC. Logan's son even worked for Gene. Regardless of how things ended they probably spoke highly of BC as a program. Martin might know there are issues and Spaz is on the hot seat, but all things being equal, he is being well paid to coach at a BCS program.
There are a million things to analyze as far as what Martin will do, but these are my short Day 1 thoughts. Some are good. Some are not.
-- I like that Martin is a well know personality in Ohio. He won't be a key recruiter, but he can help our efforts, especially in Northeast Ohio.
-- I've always liked Martin's ability to find under the radar skill guys like Joshua Cribbs, Eugene Jarvis, and Julian Edelman.
-- I like that his offense has been pretty consistent. Martin is no Mike Leach, but I think he is our best OC since Steve Logan.
-- I wonder what he will want to do with the offensive line. Do we go back to a more strict zone blocking scheme?
-- Will the other staffers support him or does he have input on staff changes?
-- Why didn't the players know more about the pending change (see the twitter responses)?
-- How will we use our deep roster of Tight Ends?
-- Does he want a QB who can run or will he adapt year to year based on player's strengths (like Logan did with Ryan and Crane)?
I thought keeping Brock in place was the best solution for BC's 2012 season. Now I am talking myself into the Martin hire. If he can recapture any of the Logan magic, we could be a surprise team in 2012. But my fear is that his two new bosses Coach Flip and Coach Spaz will screw it up in some other way.
Wednesday, numerous message board posters on Eagle Action claimed that current Virginia Running Backs Coach Mike Faragalli would be named the new offensive coordinator and play caller. By late morning the football coaching sites were claiming a done deal too.
Spaz was on the road recruiting (with Dave Brock) so there wasn't any official confirmation. But by late Wednesday the earlier rumors were being shot down. The afternoon updates were worse as the reports said Spaz offered Faragalli and the Running Backs coach turned the job down.
Now we are back to square one. Based on the rumors and the fact that he is still on staff, I hope that BC has been upfront with Brock. Letting him twist in the wind would be unkind and leave BC looking stupid if the end of with Brock as OC again. For now let's hope he is onboard with the change and ready to help BC win again.
The struggles to land Faragalli -- when this would be an obvious step up from position coach to coordinator -- speaks to the challenges BC will have filling the spot. Being Offensive Coordinator at BC is not that great a job right now. Outsiders will wonder about our talent level, the Gene-Spaz relationship, Spaz's track record with Coordinators, Spaz's future, what happened with Rogers, the cost of living in Boston, and inheriting a bunch of position coaches. With all those issues, BC will have a hard time convincing someone with a stable job to take the risk with Spaz.
There plenty of good coaches looking for work. BC will find someone. But based on whats happened so far I don't think we will have an A-List blockbuster hire. Instead we will hire a coordinator who has as many questions as BC does. Until then, we will let you know what the rumor mill is saying.
Dave Brock
Brock needs to come back. Although our offense was terrible this season, it is not fair to Chase Rettig or the other offensive players to make another change. Brock is who Spaz wanted all along (over Day or Rogers) so I assume he is safe. If Brock comes back, he needs to have 100% control of the offense from Day 1. If he wants to scrap everything and switch to an option or a spread or whatever, it needs to be his call. He has BCS experience and has been the lead recruiter on many of our key offensive players. I also think that Brock should have a say in the offensive staff. If he thinks we need to make a change on a position coach, then we should make it. We can't have dissension on the staffs. We cannot have guys undermining each other based on their offensive preferences or cliques. If Brock returns, Spaz has his guy in place for the most critical BC season in 13 years.
Ben Johnson
Johnson received a battlefield promotion when Rogers was fired. The Tight End play remained consistent and supposedly Johnson has been good on the recruiting front. Johnson also has a history with Brock. There is absolutely no reason to make a change here.
Sean Devine
Sean Devine may be a great recruiter. He may be a really hard worker who is passionate about BC. He may have a great feel for Chip Kelly's offense. Those are all great attributes. But he's paid to coach our offensive line and the offensive line play has been declining for three years. I hear from football alumni at random times, but one recurring theme is former BC Olineman frustrated watching our current squad. They are never throwing players under the bus. Instead they are pounding their keyboards about technique and assignments. The coachable things. Perhaps Devine should stay on, but not as OL coach. BC needs to find a great OLine coach who can restore our tradition and help the guys on the roster develop.
Mike Siravo
People who following recruiting closely complained about Jags's approach to recruiting. Many of those same recruitniks are upset with Spaz's disappointing recruiting results. The one constant is recruiting coordinator Mike Siravo. Although we were in the same class, I don't know Siravo personally but he has plenty of defenders. They will tell you Mike works very hard but is undercut by his head coaches. The head coaches' folks will conversely throw Siravo under the bus and say he is Gene's boy. Who knows at this point? Siravo's career has been closely tied to Gene. I doubt he is forced out unless Gene decides to cut him loose.
Bill McGovern
Everyone talks about Spaz's loyalty, but Bill McGovern had a stint at BC well before Spaz hit the scene. McGovern is also a BC parent. I don't want him out. If anything I hope that like Brock he gets more autonomy in 2012. The rumors surrounding Spaz and McGovern are always interesting. Some people have referred it to an old married couple. But if the breakdowns in this year's defense are due to Spaz's meddling, then I want him to leave McGovern alone. Or, if Spaz is going to be the DC and call the plays, then let the public know about it.
Take a look. Wetzel and Vardaro are supposed to double team the R DT (who is a true freshman BTW). It's a standard double team in a zone play. A good, well coached team drills this over and over. They should be able to execute it without problem. Not BC.
The image below is about a half second later. The DT used a simple swim move and went by both guys! How does this happen? Vardaro's head is down so he probably didn't even see the swim move. Wetzel is reaching but you can see he is slow getting off and his balance is terrible.
Now Wetzel has shown some good moments. He was recruited by BC, UConn, Pitt, some MAC schools and UNH (this will be important in a moment). He was evaluated by Jags and Bick JR (two guys who have good eyes for raw OL talent). Is he a future first rounder? No, but he could and should be much better than he is. Now you could say Sean Devine inherited him, but the problem is Devine recruited him when he was at UNH! Wetzel has been in our program three seasons. This isn't age or youth. It is about coaching and consistency.
That left BC at 3rd and 21. Now points have been an issue all year. Wasted possessions have been an issue all year. You need to win this game to keep alive any hope of any postseason alive. The home crowd is asleep and just hoping for any sign of life. What does BC do? Run again. Of course the crowd booed.
FSU knew a run was coming too. Just look at this clip below. Their Left DE is playing wide and tries to shoot past Anderson (who is getting no help). Meanwhile our left side is chop blocking. But they don't take their men down nor push them back. The right side guys are pulling but don't block anyone. Meanwhile FSU's right side didn't get faked or downblocked so they are crashing into the backfield ready to break things up.
Of course we punted next and it was the best play of the drive.
This may seem like cherry picking bad moments, but it is not. Roster management, execution, protection and ultra conservative play calling have been hallmarks of the Spaz offenses. This drive just happened to capture them all in three plays.
Now there are a whole host of reasons as to why the offense has struggled. But all those issues cannot rationalize the end results. We are failing on offense. We are failing in how we plan it, how we execute it, how we teach it, and how we practice. When the parts are greater than the whole and areas of weakness are not addressed through recruiting or schemes, then you are failing.
Spaz's background has been defense. But as head coach it is also his job to empower the offensive decision makers and help them build for success. We are not doing that.
Focus on the positive. Let's hope we get better soon, but ignoring the elephant in the room is not going to change the scoreboard.
The blame for the sudden changes lies with Gene and Spaz. Since allowing TOB to walk, Gene has used his position to go beyond the norms of an AD's responsibilities to be sort of a football GM. Spaz gets blame for being the ultimate enabler. He played his cards with Gene to stay on staff and has deferred to Gene enough to get the job when it opened and get an extension last year. Spaz is not unique. Jags played a similar game with Gene to get the job in 2006. But despite both of their relative successes, that is not healthy.
A good program would hire a head coach and let him build the program how he saw fit. It wouldn't be about who is part of the staff or what influence the AD wanted or needed. We would set measurable benchmarks for success (wins, ACC championships, player behavior, and graduation rate). I am not calling for anyone's head yet, but when we make our next football change, the new head coach needs to be empowered and needs to start with a clean slate. If not, we will keep facing these same sort of disruptive problems.
We don't know what could have been with Rogers but we do know who is impacted the most by his departure. Here are the parties who will shape where we go from here.
Dave Brock
It made sense to promote Brock. He's the only one on the staff who has been an Offensive Coordinator in a BCS conference. And he recruited Rettig. If this season is salvageable, we will need Rettig to buy in and execute. Promoting the guy on staff who brought him in makes most sense.
Brock also has Spaz's trust. His connection to Spaz is via Tranq and he is not part of the Gene, Jags, TOB or UNH crowds. As pressure builds, Spaz will need people he trusts, so it makes sense to have his guy calling the plays.
Brock sat next to Rogers and Tranq in the coaches box. He understands the pace of the job and the assets on hand. And unlike a new face that BC might have bought in -- even on short notice -- no one will have the perspective of what we used to run vs what we are trying to do now.
I think we will be fine with him calling the plays. His record as OC at Kansas State and Temple was to use a spread-ish approach and was dependent on passing. I imagine he'll take whatever nomenclature we've adopted from Rogers, tweak it a little and use the plays that he thinks will work best.
Chase Rettig
Imagine what Rettig is thinking now. He committed to one OC only to have it change after his first full ear as the starter. Now the new guy is gone only to be replaced by the guy who recruited him to BC.
Rettig pressed a little last Saturday. Maybe Brock will find the balance between being aggressive and pressing.
How Rettig responds will probably determine the season and Rettig's career. If he doesn't not succeed now, he will probably see another OC before his time as BC is done.
Spaz
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Regardless of how involved Spaz is on the offensive side of the ball or how much input he had in hiring Rogers, this is his show now. He needs to do everything in his power to make sure Brock succeeds. He also needs to let Brock challenge downfield or whatever else might allow for more big plays.
Gene D.
This is Gene's get out of jail free card. If the season is a total collapse, Gene can point to this moment. "After suffering numerous injuries, the Eagles then lost their OC..." It will allow him to spin Spaz's results and say Spaz deserves to coach BC in 2012.
The fans
We lose nothing. I don't know about you, but I was unemotional Saturday night. After a certain point I didn't believe we would score. That was with Rogers. If the ineptitude carries over to Brock, it won't feel much different. However, there is always upside. Maybe this is the break we need.
My gut reaction is that this is an improvement over Tranq but not the perfect fit. Rogers' track record is mixed at best, he's been away from play calling for a long time, he's been away from the college game for a long time, and he favored "dual threat" QBs in the past.
We'll see how this plays out. This post is not some hedge either. I've been right on some things before and wrong plenty of times. I am just passing on rumors that have legs, so take it for what it is worth. I am still holding out hope that this is wrong and my original Day post turns out to be true.
Gene has done many great things for BC. I don't need to rehash them all. Gene's unconventional style also led to the hiring of Jags over more obvious candidates (which I applauded). So can I complain when Gene's micromanaging leads to results and decisions I don't like? I don't know, but I think I can. If I liked the Jags hire or the Ryan Day promotion that doesn't mean the path we took to get to those decisions was healthy, professional or good for program stability.
Gene holds all the cards. He has a coach that he just bought off with an extension and who isn't going anywhere over the OC position. He has an ambitious young assistant who wants to move up but wants to do it at BC. I still think we will end up with Day, but all we've done is kill momentum and plant serious questions in the whole staffs' heads about how things are run around BC.
2003: Quinton Porter vs Paul Peterson
The situation: Porter was the groomed product of the TOB system. Peterson was a undersized JUCO transfer.
What happened: Porter was the starter, while Peterson got a series or two in the second quarter to get him game experience. To many fans, Peterson looked good in his limited time but he never did anything to set himself apart. Porter injured his hand against WVU and Peterson nearly helped BC steal the game in a comeback. He started the next week and ended up being one of BC's most effective starters.
Verdict: In a way I think this situation is closest to what we have now. The coaching staff had a lot invested in Porter and wanted him to succeed for many reasons. Peterson was new on campus and "not ready" or whatever rationalization they told themselves at the time. Ultimately Peterson's ability to come in and win despite being smaller and not having the arm, show how you can't always measure a QB based on practice.
2005: Matt Ryan vs Quinton Porter
The situation: Porter was the fifth year SR ready for his time. Ryan was just a goofy kid who looked overwhelmed in the Syracuse game the year before.
What happened: Porter looked terrible and got injured against Florida State. Ryan came off the bench and looked good. He also played well in his start against Clemson. Once Porter got healthy, the job was his again. He had a terrible game against Wake Forest. Ryan came off the bench and led a miracle comeback. Porter blew the UNC game the following week. Ryan was named the starter and had a great close to the season.
Verdict: This will always be the biggest mistake of TOB's tenure. If we had won the UNC game we would have gone to the ACC Championship Game. After the Wake game it was clear to the whole world that Ryan was special and better. Yet the staff stuck to their guns. I will give Spaz credit for not making this mistake. It didn't take him two losses to admit Shinskie was not the guy.
2008: Chris Crane vs Dominique Davis
The situation: Crane was the physically talented guy who had waited his turn behind Ryan. Dominique Davis was a flyer recruit that had moved up a very shallow depth chart.
What happened: Crane was pretty bad from the start. When BC lost to Georgia Tech, the staff struggled with every option and elected to roll with Crane. Fans, including this blogger, felt they should have given Davis a chance. Just as Crane was improving he got hurt and Davis took over.
Verdict: Although Davis did enough to get BC into the Championship Game once he played most fans realized the staff was right to stick with Crane.
I wish Spaz had handled this process differently, but I think playing Rettig Saturday will benefit everyone now and in the future. I just hope he plays well enough that we look back on this and say, "we found the right guy."
Suntrup seems like the type of QB we would and should recruit. Preppy, pro style, mid westerner who went to a Catholic High School. His transition to a place like BC should be pretty seamless. Suntrup is the type of guy who wants to be the next Matt Ryan. We might as well leverage that on the recruiting trail. Speaking of Ryan...the only downside I see of landing your top choice is that sentimental favorite and legacy John Loughery will probably go elsewhere.
Let's hope Suntrup gets plenty of press this summer and helps build momentum for this class.
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