Staff Changes

[Husker in WI]

Yes, I hope transfer portal or JUCO help

I think Payne and Nelson both flashed a little bit, and I'm hopeful we see a bigger jump next year. But I would never turn down a potential impact OLB, especially not this year. Randy Gregory isn't walking through the door, but I would gladly take some Pierre Allen/Barry Turner/senior year Eric Martin impacts. And I think Nelson/Payne/Tannor are capable of that, but we'll see if it happens.

No idea how we replace Jojo - Javin Wright better be the real deal. Otherwise I image we just see more of a true nickel, and play a guy like Farmer out there against spread teams/on passing downs and 2 true OLBs the rest of the time. A lot more substitutions.

 

[seaofred92]

The difference is those guys were hired as an assistant then promoted internally because they knew what they had from first hand experience. Also when they were hired as an assistant it was 1 position coach. We have an entire staff learning on the job.

I mean what are you even saying? Frost had more head coaching experience before coming to NU than either Day or Riley (combined zero years of experience). Frost worked with all of these guys in some capacity previously- you don’t think he knows them from first hand experience?

How exactly do we have an entire staff learning on the job? 
 

Austin- worked at Oregon as a GA then was assistant OL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for 3 seasons and then coached UCF OL for 2. 2021 will be his 11th season coaching

Matt Lubick- started coaching in 1995. 2021 will be his 5th season as an OC

Verduzco- began his coaching career in 1977. He’s been a QB coach for over 30 years at various stops

Fisher- began coaching at UCF in 2013. 2021 will be his 7th season as a DBs coach

Held began his coaching career in 1997. 2021 is his 5th year coaching RBs. He’s also been a head coach at 4 different schools...

Tuioti has 9 years collegiate coaching experience and 2 in the NFL. He’s also spent 3 years in recruiting administration and was a HC in high school 

etc etc etc 

The only coach that is “learning on the job” would be Ruud- and guess what? His position group made one of the biggest improvements year over year in 2020! Your original post said all the OSU staff “have credentials”- that’s just not true. Hartline is Ruud with less experience. Day had zero credentials to be a head coach- again he’d only been a coordinator for 3 separate one year stints. Same for Riley- he was OC at ECU for 4 years and then took over after a year at OU. Just because it’s working out for those schools (who guess what- have multiple 5* kids everywhere) doesn’t mean it’s “different” than what NU is doing or that our entire staff is incompetent. 

 

[Canadian Fan]

I’d actually like to see Payne a little lighter next year.  The one thing I think I saw with him is he appeared much more comfortable dropping back into zone coverage than Nelson. 
 

I wonder it Eteva Mauga-Clement (sp?) has the quickness to try to replace Domann.  The way that Domann was being used, you almost want to find a JUCO or Grad Transfer “large” safety as he was put into man coverage more than you would normally want to see with a traditional OLB.

 

[Hilltop]

Great post sea of red.  All that logic is falling on deaf ears for many.  Legitimate reasons are not acceptable to much of our fan base.  

 

[Stumpy1]

I mean what are you even saying? Frost had more head coaching experience before coming to NU than either Day or Riley (combined zero years of experience). Frost worked with all of these guys in some capacity previously- you don’t think he knows them from first hand experience?

How exactly do we have an entire staff learning on the job? 
 

Austin- worked at Oregon as a GA then was assistant OL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for 3 seasons and then coached UCF OL for 2. 2021 will be his 11th season coaching

Matt Lubick- started coaching in 1995. 2021 will be his 5th season as an OC

Verduzco- began his coaching career in 1977. He’s been a QB coach for over 30 years at various stops

Fisher- began coaching at UCF in 2013. 2021 will be his 7th season as a DBs coach

Held began his coaching career in 1997. 2021 is his 5th year coaching RBs. He’s also been a head coach at 4 different schools...

Tuioti has 9 years collegiate coaching experience and 2 in the NFL. He’s also spent 3 years in recruiting administration and was a HC in high school 

etc etc etc 

The only coach that is “learning on the job” would be Ruud- and guess what? His position group made one of the biggest improvements year over year in 2020! Your original post said all the OSU staff “have credentials”- that’s just not true. Hartline is Ruud with less experience. Day had zero credentials to be a head coach- again he’d only been a coordinator for 3 separate one year stints. Same for Riley- he was OC at ECU for 4 years and then took over after a year at OU. Just because it’s working out for those schools (who guess what- have multiple 5* kids everywhere) doesn’t mean it’s “different” than what NU is doing or that our entire staff is incompetent. 

Lincoln Riley is a part of the Bob Stoops coaching tree.  He started at TT under Leach, then went to EC under McNeill and finished at OU under Stoops before taking over.  Both Leach and McNeill coached under Stoops at OU.  

Ryan Day started his career under Chip Kelly at New Hampshire by playing for him and then becoming a TE coach for a year before becoming a GA at Temple and at Florida for Urban Meyer.  Day also spent 2 years in the NFL as Chip Kelly's QB coach before being hired by Urban at OSU.  

Those guys have had multiple stops in the college ranks and come from solid coaching trees.  Frost went from a GA at K State to UNI to Oregon and then to UCF as a HC. 

 

[Born N Bled Red]

Lincoln Riley is a part of the Bob Stoops coaching tree.  He started at TT under Leach, then went to EC under McNeill and finished at OU under Stoops before taking over.  Both Leach and McNeill coached under Stoops at OU.  

Ryan Day started his career under Chip Kelly at New Hampshire by playing for him and then becoming a TE coach for a year before becoming a GA at Temple and at Florida for Urban Meyer.  Day also spent 2 years in the NFL as Chip Kelly's QB coach before being hired by Urban at OSU.  

Those guys have had multiple stops in the college ranks and come from solid coaching trees.  Frost went from a GA at K State to UNI to Oregon and then to UCF as a HC. 

 

[Husker in WI]

I’d actually like to see Payne a little lighter next year.  The one thing I think I saw with him is he appeared much more comfortable dropping back into zone coverage than Nelson. 
 

I wonder it Eteva Mauga-Clement (sp?) has the quickness to try to replace Domann.  The way that Domann was being used, you almost want to find a JUCO or Grad Transfer “large” safety as he was put into man coverage more than you would normally want to see with a traditional OLB.

I agree with Payne, and the funny thing is I don't think they planned on him as an OLB until he (reportedly) got sick and lost a bunch of weight that way. 

I'd definitely be interested in EMC out there, but I'm wondering if he's just too straight line - he's supposed to be fast, but if he's not agile enough he's going to get toasted. Totally worth a shot though. I'd think they guys who have the potential to fill the role would be:

• Javin Wright - by all accounts he's the plan 
  
• Myles Farmer - thought initially there were rumors about growing him into an OLB, but may be better at Safety
  
• EMC
  
• Isaac Gifford - Luke got real big and still ran a 4.5 at his pro day
  
• Koby Bretz - no way he could handle this next year, and he'll probably stick at Safety anyway
  
• Kpai/Malcom - not sure they have the speed, but they are both supposed to be very athletic
  

I expect it to be Wright, but also just a lot more true nickel with a DB and true base with OLBs. I don't think we'll have a guy who does both all the time like Domann has.

 

[Decoy73]

Not directed at me but I'll give my 2 cents.  

The snaps have improved dramatically. 

Holding - every team holds on almost every play.  We get called for it and our opponents rarely do.  Even the announcers during the Rutgers game were beside themselves that Rutgers didn't get a holding call several times.  That said, it is pretty understandable that a bunch of rookies are going to get beat a little more frequently than an experienced offensive line.    

False Starts - We brought the average down to under 1 per game - with a bunch of freshman linemen!  We had 7 false starts in 8 games.  Piper was flagged for a false start against Rutgers and was pulled for almost 2 quarters.  The penalties are being addressed and the issues are being corrected imo.  

I think people just want to be mad instead of looking at what is actually happening.  We started the season 0-2 against the two teams that played for the championship.  After that, we went 3-3 and showed improvement in several areas of the team.  The glaring issues, poor QB play and lack of a stable running back, continued to grab everyone's attention so they neglect to recognize the progress made in many other areas.  This team got better, even at QB and running back, down the stretch.    

I appreciate your take on this and I’m not calling for anyone to get fired, but it’s fair to ask these questions.  

Bad snaps have improved, but still happen.  This is from a two year starter.  
 

As far as holding, wouldn’t better technique lead to fewer holding calls?  Don’t coaches teach technique?  

False starts—an issue for Piper all season.   So he finally gets benched in the last game.  And didn’t his replacement come in and get one too?  How is that not on coaching?  

You mentioned progress being made in many other areas.  Where exactly?  The D as a whole has been pretty solid all season, but while having some ups and downs, I can’t say that they’ve necessarily improved.   I just didn’t see a lot of progress.  

I see a team with a promising head coach that struggles to get out of it’s  own way far too often.  With the main two reasons being poor special teams and not finishing drives on O.  Fix the St.  Fix the TOs.  Fix the penalties.   Didn’t we say that last year also?

 

[Huskers93-97]

I mean what are you even saying? Frost had more head coaching experience before coming to NU than either Day or Riley (combined zero years of experience). Frost worked with all of these guys in some capacity previously- you don’t think he knows them from first hand experience?

How exactly do we have an entire staff learning on the job? 
 

Austin- worked at Oregon as a GA then was assistant OL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for 3 seasons and then coached UCF OL for 2. 2021 will be his 11th season coaching

Matt Lubick- started coaching in 1995. 2021 will be his 5th season as an OC

Verduzco- began his coaching career in 1977. He’s been a QB coach for over 30 years at various stops

Fisher- began coaching at UCF in 2013. 2021 will be his 7th season as a DBs coach

Held began his coaching career in 1997. 2021 is his 5th year coaching RBs. He’s also been a head coach at 4 different schools...

Tuioti has 9 years collegiate coaching experience and 2 in the NFL. He’s also spent 3 years in recruiting administration and was a HC in high school 

etc etc etc 

The only coach that is “learning on the job” would be Ruud- and guess what? His position group made one of the biggest improvements year over year in 2020! Your original post said all the OSU staff “have credentials”- that’s just not true. Hartline is Ruud with less experience. Day had zero credentials to be a head coach- again he’d only been a coordinator for 3 separate one year stints. Same for Riley- he was OC at ECU for 4 years and then took over after a year at OU. Just because it’s working out for those schools (who guess what- have multiple 5* kids everywhere) doesn’t mean it’s “different” than what NU is doing or that our entire staff is incompetent. 

Prior to coming to Nebraska

Frost- No experience at the P5 level as Head Coach

Chinander- No experience at the P5 level as Defensive Coordinator

Lubick- He does has P5 experience as an OC

Austin- No experience at the P5 level as Offensive Line Coach

Beckton- No experience at the P5 level as a TE Coach

Dawson- No experience at the P5 level as OLB coach

Fisher- No experience at the P5 level as DB coach

Held- No experience at the P5 level as RB coach

Ruud- No experience at teh P5 level as ILB coach

Tuioti- He does have P5 experience as DL coach

Veduzco- He does have experience at P5 level coaching QBs. 5 years at rutgers then he dropped down to FCS level for 15 years. Usually if you are good your career progresses. You dont regress in your career. 

You have 3 coaches who have ever coached at the P5 level for what they are coaching at Nebraska. That is learning on the job. It is pretty evident when we get outcoached nearly every game. Or is that someone else's fault? Clapping? Media Timeouts? Penalties- sloppy play? 

If a coach says we are teaching the kids to do "X" but "X" never gets executed. Year after year you cant blame the kids. Its obvious your teaching/coaching is not sufficient. Are well disciplined teams that way because they have a good coach or do they just have smarter players than us? 

 

[TheSker]

Prior to coming to Nebraska

Frost- No experience at the P5 level as Head Coach

Chinander- No experience at the P5 level as Defensive Coordinator

Lubick- He does has P5 experience as an OC

Austin- No experience at the P5 level as Offensive Line Coach

Beckton- No experience at the P5 level as a TE Coach

Dawson- No experience at the P5 level as OLB coach

Fisher- No experience at the P5 level as DB coach

Held- No experience at the P5 level as RB coach

Ruud- No experience at teh P5 level as ILB coach

Tuioti- He does have P5 experience as DL coach

Veduzco- He does have experience at P5 level coaching QBs. 5 years at rutgers then he dropped down to FCS level for 15 years. Usually if you are good your career progresses. You dont regress in your career. 

You have 3 coaches who have ever coached at the P5 level for what they are coaching at Nebraska. That is learning on the job. It is pretty evident when we get outcoached nearly every game. Or is that someone else's fault? Clapping? Media Timeouts? Penalties- sloppy play? 

If a coach says we are teaching the kids to do "X" but "X" never gets executed. Year after year you cant blame the kids. Its obvious your teaching/coaching is not sufficient. Are well disciplined teams that way because they have a good coach or do they just have smarter players than us? 

Meh....previous P5 experience isn't a guarantee of future results

Regards,

Bo

 

[seaofred92]

Prior to coming to Nebraska

Frost- No experience at the P5 level as Head Coach

Chinander- No experience at the P5 level as Defensive Coordinator

Lubick- He does has P5 experience as an OC

Austin- No experience at the P5 level as Offensive Line Coach

Beckton- No experience at the P5 level as a TE Coach

Dawson- No experience at the P5 level as OLB coach

Fisher- No experience at the P5 level as DB coach

Held- No experience at the P5 level as RB coach

Ruud- No experience at teh P5 level as ILB coach

Tuioti- He does have P5 experience as DL coach

Veduzco- He does have experience at P5 level coaching QBs. 5 years at rutgers then he dropped down to FCS level for 15 years. Usually if you are good your career progresses. You dont regress in your career. 

You have 3 coaches who have ever coached at the P5 level for what they are coaching at Nebraska. That is learning on the job. It is pretty evident when we get outcoached nearly every game. Or is that someone else's fault? Clapping? Media Timeouts? Penalties- sloppy play? 

If a coach says we are teaching the kids to do "X" but "X" never gets executed. Year after year you cant blame the kids. Its obvious your teaching/coaching is not sufficient. Are well disciplined teams that way because they have a good coach or do they just have smarter players than us? 

This is fine but it's completely different than the point you were attempting to make previously:

Exactly, we are a blue blood that behaves like a middle of the pack program. Do you see Ohio state training staff for P5 competition or do they let other programs do that for them? They hire them once they have the credentials 

The difference is those guys were hired as an assistant then promoted internally because they knew what they had from first hand experience. Also when they were hired as an assistant it was 1 position coach. We have an entire staff learning on the job.

I'm not disagreeing with you that there could be better assistant coaches on this staff. But I'm not going to completely discredit NU's staff members without also giving props where due- NU has greatly improved along the front 7 and the TE play has been spectacular. That's 3 guys with "no P5 experience" that I think are doing a pretty dang good job. Not to mention the level of players Fisher/Held have landed to NU during their time here. Dawson and Tuioti have spent time in the NFL coaching. Dawson coached OLB's for the freaking NY Giants last year. We're going to pretend he can't coach OLB's at NU?

When hiring for leadership positions or management roles in any organization, you hire the person first. Everything else can be taught. Clearly Frost places a massive emphasis on culture (and rightfully so- it's the key to any successful organization). These guys know the culture he wants to instill and are able to be culture carriers on the field on a daily basis. Frost has shown a willingness to re-evaluate or move on from players and coaches that don't demonstrate or fit the culture he is instilling at NU. We will agree to disagree on previous P5 experience being a pre-requisite for an assistant coaching gig at NU- if you can coach you can coach. I'd bet you'd be willing to hire Marcus Freeman from Cincinnati to run our defense no questions asked- and he's never served as a sole coordinator for a P5 team in his career. If you're a coach that fits the culture of the organization, understands your craft/position/specialty immensely, and can clearly explain concepts to your athletes, you can succeed at any level, including at NU, regardless of your previous stops and experiences along the way.

 

[seaofred92]

Meh....previous P5 experience isn't a guarantee of future results

Regards,

Bo

Completely agree. There are numerous examples of people that have previous P5 stops that have failed at their next job. Charlie Strong anyone? How'd Mike Riley having 14 years of P5 head coaching experience and 3 years of NFL head coaching experience work out for us when he got here?

Pretending all coaching situations are the same- especially across the P5- is laughable. Is coaching at Syracuse is the same as coaching at Alabama? Are the challenges and issues you face at Washington State the same as coaching at Miami (FL)? Does showing you can succeed at Florida State mean you can move to Illinois and do the same? How'd Ron Prince work out at Kansas State? I mean think about it- name one other school in the P5 that is even remotely similar to the culture of the school and state as NU? Nebraska is a completely unique situation and culture. The most important thing NU can do is hire people that understand that culture and reinforce it on a daily basis that are also good people and coaches. The rest will work itself out.

 

[TheSker]

Completely agree. There are numerous examples of people that have previous P5 stops that have failed at their next job. Charlie Strong anyone? How'd Mike Riley having 14 years of P5 head coaching experience and 3 years of NFL head coaching experience work out for us when he got here?

Pretending all coaching situations are the same- especially across the P5- is laughable. Is coaching at Syracuse is the same as coaching at Alabama? Are the challenges and issues you face at Washington State the same as coaching at Miami (FL)? Does showing you can succeed at Florida State mean you can move to Illinois and do the same? How'd Ron Prince work out at Kansas State? I mean think about it- name one other school in the P5 that is even remotely similar to the culture of the school and state as NU? Nebraska is a completely unique situation and culture. The most important thing NU can do is hire people that understand that culture and reinforce it on a daily basis that are also good people and coaches. The rest will work itself out.

In college football, high level talent is more important than a long P5 resume.

It's why Urban Meyer would only ever coach at select schools.  And Nebraska ain't one of 'em.....

Rather than P5 experience, I like that many of our coaches have NFL experience as either players or coaches.  That is beneficial to our recruiting 

 

[seaofred92]

In college football, high level talent is more important than a long P5 resume.

It's why Urban Meyer would only ever coach at select schools.  And Nebraska ain't one of 'em.....

Rather than P5 experience, I like that many of our coaches have NFL experience as either players or coaches.  That is beneficial to our recruiting 

Spot on.

 

[Decked]

In college football, high level talent is more important than a long P5 resume.

It's why Urban Meyer would only ever coach at select schools.  And Nebraska ain't one of 'em.....

Rather than P5 experience, I like that many of our coaches have NFL experience as either players or coaches.  That is beneficial to our recruiting 

Urban Meyer wanted the N job but we hired Callahan.