Been thinking about this a while. Mike and Brent were obviously a pretty strong pair. I think it's obvious Bob has always allowed his coordinators to do whatever they feel is the right thing to do.....NO MICRO-MANAGING...
Mike leaves, and the aggressiveness kinda left our defense. Brent's teams typically stayed in the base defense and made you work for every first down and force you to kick field goals. Mike comes back, we see some good performances and we see some ridiculous inventions (2 man line, 1 LB sets, etc) in the history of the game. Like Mike got too cute. It's like with Brent and Mike together, Mike comes up with tons of ideas and Brent's conservative nature throws out the shitty ones.
Brent goes to Clemson and is working for a head coach that IS a micro-manager and demands perfection. Brent is forced to take more chances and work harder on his game plans to get an edge.
Many have said that if Mike had gone to OSU, he would be Urban's problem. I disagree....Urban, the micro-manager, would throw out the shitty ideas and force him to come up with strong game plans.
The problem is Bob. Barry was typically looked at as a figurehead coach...not an x's and o's genius, just a master recruiter....a lot like Mack Brown. Bob is no different, without the recruiting prowess. I don't think he has a hand in the plan and wouldn't change it anyway. He makes hires and fires at the end of the year but he does nothing to control his destiny other than the hires and fires. He's a good man and his plan as a head coach is not flawed as long as your coaching staff is amongst the best in the nation......and ours is not and has not been. Likely will not be because he does not demand it of them.
As much as I love and appreciate what he's done here, Bob is the problem and it will not improve.
Mike leaves, and the aggressiveness kinda left our defense. Brent's teams typically stayed in the base defense and made you work for every first down and force you to kick field goals. Mike comes back, we see some good performances and we see some ridiculous inventions (2 man line, 1 LB sets, etc) in the history of the game. Like Mike got too cute. It's like with Brent and Mike together, Mike comes up with tons of ideas and Brent's conservative nature throws out the shitty ones.
Brent goes to Clemson and is working for a head coach that IS a micro-manager and demands perfection. Brent is forced to take more chances and work harder on his game plans to get an edge.
Many have said that if Mike had gone to OSU, he would be Urban's problem. I disagree....Urban, the micro-manager, would throw out the shitty ideas and force him to come up with strong game plans.
The problem is Bob. Barry was typically looked at as a figurehead coach...not an x's and o's genius, just a master recruiter....a lot like Mack Brown. Bob is no different, without the recruiting prowess. I don't think he has a hand in the plan and wouldn't change it anyway. He makes hires and fires at the end of the year but he does nothing to control his destiny other than the hires and fires. He's a good man and his plan as a head coach is not flawed as long as your coaching staff is amongst the best in the nation......and ours is not and has not been. Likely will not be because he does not demand it of them.
As much as I love and appreciate what he's done here, Bob is the problem and it will not improve.
