So Much For That Excuse

[AppinVA]

Despite the hurricane, App has enjoyed an outstanding fall campaign across the board. So far, both cross country teams won conference championships, the volleyball team is the SBC East champ, the field hockey team is tied for the MAC regular season title, and soccer is doing better than fair-to-middling, despite losing three straight. Outstanding—except for football.

This begs the question if we can use the hurricane as an excuse for the abomination the football season has become? I was sort of in the camp that if it was decided to bring Clark back because of the floods, then fine, though I really didn’t agree. Now, the only excuse team Clark had is indefensible.

[kornegaylw]

Really can't defend his retention.

If he is the financial situation needs to be explained to be explained...If ULM can do it then why can't we?

[Pikapp79]

There is no excuse. After this much time you know exactly what you have. You either care about the program or you kick the can.

[Yosefus]

I will not understand any excuses if this guy gets another season at the helm. If he is back next season it will only dig a deeper hole for the football program.

[huskie3]

If APP plays I will be there

[MrCraig]

As I’ve said before, the hurricane devastated the area and it could be years before we really know all the effects that ripple out from it. But how much did it really affect the football team? Did they miss a ton of practice? And what’s the excuse for the poor play BEFORE the hurricane?

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

If we just cover better, tackle better, get more pressure on the QB, force more turnovers, turn the ball over less, block better and get fewer penalties, we would be pretty good.

[BeauFoster]

If we just cover better, tackle better, get more pressure on the QB, force more turnovers, turn the ball over less, block better and get fewer penalties, we would be pretty good.

Throw in clock management to that mix

[Saint3333]

BGP post-game show asked an excellent question. What is something that this team does great consistently? The most optimist of fans on that show couldn't name one thing.

[Bootsy]

If we just cover better, tackle better, get more pressure on the QB, force more turnovers, turn the ball over less, block better and get fewer penalties, we would be pretty good.

Throw in clock management to that mix

While you're add it, you may as well include garbage DJ music at KBS between plays...and cups of ice, too.

[BeauFoster]

BGP post-game show asked an excellent question. What is something that this team does great consistently? The most optimist of fans on that show couldn't name one thing.

Marshall and Kanye run consistently well (and hard), even when the line doesn’t open up gaping holes. That’s all I got.

[311neers]

BGP post-game show asked an excellent question. What is something that this team does great consistently? The most optimist of fans on that show couldn't name one thing.

Marshall and Kanye run consistently well (and hard), even when the line doesn’t open up gaping holes. That’s all I got.

Our uniform reveals are about the only good thing going on right now.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

BGP post-game show asked an excellent question. What is something that this team does great consistently? The most optimist of fans on that show couldn't name one thing.

Marshall and Kanye run consistently well (and hard), even when the line doesn’t open up gaping holes. That’s all I got.

Our uniform reveals are about the only good thing going on right now.

Eeeehhhh, I’ve stopped watching them became they’ve become cheesy. Marshall, our receivers and Harrington is about all I’m high on.

[hapapp]

We are perfect on PATs and 9-11 on FG attempts. Been impressed with Jackson Moore filling in for Hughes.

[Bigdaddyg1]

Thought about creating a new topic for this broad question but I didn’t see the need in continuing the redundancy. Here goes. We obviously have lots of extremely qualified people on this board who are wasting their time doing regular jobs and should instead become either college football coaches or athletic directors because the ones at App being paid for years of experience aren’t getting it done. That being said how would some of you experts really fix the problem with our football team? Let’s assume that paying out huge NIL is off the table because that’s probably not going to be an option. Do we need to recruit better players? If we can get 4 stars out of high school do we need to play them as freshman no matter what because if that level of talent does come to Boone they most will probably leave for a payday so in reality we will continue to sign pretty much the same 3.135 level high school kids- occasionally grabbing the hidden gems. How about the portal? Do we need to simply restock every year with 20 new guys to replace the 20 who bolt? On average can we expect to find legit players who will insure us 10 wins? On to coaches. Can we find and retain that young genius coach and keep him beyond a year because the average P4 assistant coach makes the same or more than our head coach and more than any coordinator we can legitimately bring in. Can we realistically expect 10 wins a season with constant roster turnover and new coaches every season or every other season? I only ask these questions because I really haven’t seen suggested realistic options or solutions just screaming for change. And this is also not a “keep Clark” camp question.

[Saint3333]

This really isn’t difficult.

Put together a short list over the next month, it should already to updated honestly as any good AD will have a list for high profile positions.

Start with a new staff shortly after 12/2.

Give them a chance to recruit better, to develop players, to display in-game abilities to win games. We don’t have to understand every nuance of the job to notice we need a change, it’s that evident that even all of us low IQ fans can see it…

If they are successful and leave rinse and repeat like the other successful G5 programs do.

[BallantyneApp]

Thought about creating a new topic for this broad question but I didn’t see the need in continuing the redundancy. Here goes. We obviously have lots of extremely qualified people on this board who are wasting their time doing regular jobs and should instead become either college football coaches or athletic directors because the ones at App being paid for years of experience aren’t getting it done. That being said how would some of you experts really fix the problem with our football team? Let’s assume that paying out huge NIL is off the table because that’s probably not going to be an option. Do we need to recruit better players? If we can get 4 stars out of high school do we need to play them as freshman no matter what because if that level of talent does come to Boone they most will probably leave for a payday so in reality we will continue to sign pretty much the same 3.135 level high school kids- occasionally grabbing the hidden gems. How about the portal? Do we need to simply restock every year with 20 new guys to replace the 20 who bolt? On average can we expect to find legit players who will insure us 10 wins? On to coaches. Can we find and retain that young genius coach and keep him beyond a year because the average P4 assistant coach makes the same or more than our head coach and more than any coordinator we can legitimately bring in. Can we realistically expect 10 wins a season with constant roster turnover and new coaches every season or every other season? I only ask these questions because I really haven’t seen suggested realistic options or solutions just screaming for change. And this is also not a “keep Clark” camp question.

Do you even want to be in FBS? Legitimate question here.

[appdaze]

The average P4 assistant does not make more than our head coach. Those stats have been posted on here multiple times and they can be googled.

One way that App can build a team is to take a page out of Mike Krzyzewski's book when he had to transition from building 3-4 year players and developing them to the one and done era.

Focus a lot on building a bench and rotation players who fit the mold of your offense and defense. Focus a lot on their development. The vast, vast, majority of them will not transfer or go pro. They tend to value being a part of a great program above the 10k someone wants to throw at them to ride the bench at some school 5 states away. They are highly valuable as injuries happen and rotations are made, your play level doesn't drop off nearly as bad if you've spent a lot developing them in your style.

Focus a lot on the Oline and Dline. This is another group less likely to transfer. We've sent our fair share of defensive players to the nfl since our 3 nattys and that should be highlighted in recruiting. Build an Oline and Dline that fits your scheme before skill players. Spend a lot of time on them and develop strong relationships. Some might get 30k thrown their way, but we should be able to match enough NIL money to keep a quality Line on both sides.

Skill players are the issue. I think G5 teams these days have to build a program from the bench up instead of the stars down. The top 10% of your players are going to cost solid NIL money and may transfer if they feel their talent can get them more. If you've built the other 90% of your program to perfectly fit your schemes and plays, then you can only bother with the transfer portal to replace some skill players while you try to develop fresh high school talent. I'd take a 3 star transfer who perfectly fits the system over a 4 star looking for more play time. This isn't the NBA draft where often you take the best talent regardless of fit. Fit matters more than ever.

The target should still be developing high school talent. You are more likely to get 2-3 years out of a high school talent that blossoms for you before/if they transfer vs. a portal player who comes in from say an SEC, rocks the stats sheet, and has a mid tier P4 throw 200k their way and they leave. The portal is mostly for mercenaries. Build the HS talent. They will make friends on the academic side and build a "home" in Boone. A "first" college is more likely to retain loyalty than a third college. Once upon a time we did a lot of that. The App family was strong. Build back from the bench up.

I'm not an insider so I cant say much about what we could do from an administrative/departmental standpoint, but at least from a player development perspective, that's what I would try. If pieces of paper on a wall make my opinions more valuable, then one of my masters is in sports administration. So sure, on paper I'm qualified to be a college AD. But I'm just a fan.

[BambooRdApp]

IMO, championships are typically won and lost based upon the talent level of the guys in the trenches on both sides of the line.

[Rekdiver]

Doug Gillen is running a business. he will not wait th lose "customers" before he makes a change. so all of you "boycotters" calm down and keep your money going for next season. If no change is made THEN you can hobble the programs by saving your money and watch UNC.