Head Coach Upgrade First Sign

BillySee58 · December 21, 2022

I’m not normally a huge fan of these comparisons but this really stood out to me. During Littrell’s opening press conference he said that he hired defensive coaches based on whose defenses were the toughest to score against, from his experience. I remember not liking that comment and feeling it was overly simplistic.

Later, during I believe the 2020 season, our defense was struggling and he was asked by Vito or someone else specific questions about the defense and his response was “I’m not a defensive coach. You’d have to ask them.” Coming from the head coach that is an atrocious response.

Today Eric Morris, when speaking about defense and special teams talked much more in depth about how he learned in his previous HC role how important it was to put a solid game plan together there and what it takes to really be effective there. That was arguably the most impressive thing he said today IMO.

We hire HCs to win games, not just score points. Morris has really said the right things to understand he is coming here to run the whole program, not just “tee it high and let it fly.”

97and03 · December 21, 2022

He also said the defense needs to compliment the offensive style.

El Paso Eagle · December 21, 2022

1 minute ago, BillySee58 said:

During Littrell’s opening press conference he said that he hired defensive coaches based on whose defenses were the toughest to score against, from his experience.

Unfortunately, that worked against teams that ran the same offense, but not others

UNT Texas Hooligan · December 21, 2022

2 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

I’m not normally a huge fan of these comparisons but this really stood out to me. During Littrell’s opening press conference he said that he hired defensive coaches based on whose defenses were the toughest to score against, from his experience. I remember not liking that comment and feeling it was overly simplistic.

Later, during I believe the 2020 season, our defense was struggling and he was asked by Vito or someone else specific questions about the defense and his response was “I’m not a defensive coach. You’d have to ask them.” Coming from the head coach that is an atrocious response.

Today Eric Morris, when speaking about defense and special teams talked much more in depth about how he learned in his previous HC role how important it was to put a solid game plan together there and what it takes to really be effective there. That was arguably the most impressive thing he said today IMO.

We hire HCs to win games, not just score points. Morris has really said the right things to understand he is coming here to run the whole program, not just “tee it high and let it fly.”

Agreed. Morris feels like a breath of fresh air from his demeanor, to the way he talks about the game, and his energy and excitement about this place. #LittrellForeverOut

BillySee58 · December 21, 2022

3 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

He also said the defense needs to compliment the offensive style.

Right. It just seems a solid step more nuanced than the “three phases” non-sense. I know every coach wins the press conference, but this was something in particular that I was looking for going into the press conference and I thought he sounded competent addressing the topic.

BillySee58 · December 21, 2022

4 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Unfortunately, that worked against teams that ran the same offense, but not others

Yeah, that and the fact that there are a lot more factors going into those results than just the position coaches. It wasn’t an entirely bad basis for choosing coaches, just overly simplistic and flawed, as I said.

Wag Tag · December 21, 2022

Never forget we were playing Army and they had established a long dive. Our defense was gassed and I’m screaming call a time out! It never happened they score and we ended the 1/2 with 3 time outs remaining. The only time I saw even say anything on the defensive side was saying something to one of the twins who just had a penalty! Excited for change!

aztecskin · December 22, 2022

7 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

Right. It just seems a solid step more nuanced than the “three phases” non-sense. I know every coach wins the press conference, but this was something in particular that I was looking for going into the press conference and I thought he sounded competent addressing the topic.

yeah caught the complimentary football bit as well. I felt like Seth caught on that a little too late. Every offensive guy has that tendency. Defensive guys too -- I was just thinking about Ryan Walters at Purdue hiring Harrell.

The "three phases" thing is true -- but they do compliment each other. There were sometimes that I wished our offense would have taken the foot off the gas just to let the defense catch their breath a little.