I know I tend to be critical of coaching decisions. I was critical of how Doc operated and the lack of professional courtesy he showed. I was critical of some - but not all - of his hires. But I also defended him for undeserved criticism more than once, and I also frequently pointed out that most experienced OCs wouldn't stick around a place where the HC (especially one who coached defense his whole career) was directing him how to run the offense, so I didn't necessarily blame him for the inept offense in some games.
I love Huff's immediate change in engaging the fans, alums, former players, etc. I love that he understands the importance of building excitement. On the other hand, many of his hires, to put it bluntly, are head-scratchingly poor. They're even more poor considering the rumored increase in assistant salaries he has been given: Let's review:
DL: Ralph Street - Good guy, good coach, alum, natural progression of his career. I like this hire.
LB: Shannon Morrison - Alum, has been at an FCS for the past five years. He was Marshall's linebackers coach 15 years ago. Snyder fired him for multiple reasons with the icing on the cake being that Morrison made it a habit to not go to the schools he was supposed to when he was supposed to be on the road recruiting. He'd be on his recruiting trips and "just not go to schools" (not my quote). There has been absolutely no progression in his career in 15+ years. That isn't necessarily indicative of anything bad. Some guys are content strictly being a position coach at the same level. But for the past five years, his career has dropped, and head coaches who moved to better jobs didn't bring him along.
CB: Dominique Bowman - I don't know much about him. I was told that he is a high-energy guy at practice. He goes around telling people that he is "The King of Memphis." Isn't Memphis one of the worst cities for crime and poorest in the country? Even the "King of Beech Fork" would have a better connotation.
DC/Safeties: Lance Guidry - I've made my opinion clear on this one. The point: if you're going to hire somebody with that much baggage and risk, you better make sure it's Monte Kiffin 2.0. This guy's production hasn't shown that. We are hiring an assistant from an inferior program in our conference to be our DC. Marshall has fallen lower than what we all believed.
OC/QB: Tim Cramsey - I don't have strong feelings on this. I urged Marshall fans to drop their expectations when he was hired, as they gave him too much credit for what he did at Sam Houston for one season. Obviously, there were severe shortcomings and lack of development with our offense and QB last year.
OC/TE: Bill Legg - I've never coached with him. I watched him up close as a coach many years ago, and I felt he was not only a good coach but also a really good guy. I've always found him to be professional, suitable, and his experience will be an asset to any staff.
RB: Telly Lockette - Telly was just fired from Florida State as their TE coach. He has good connections in South Florida, which is a huge asset to Florida (and many other) schools. The fact that FSU got rid of him, a fan favorite with good South Florida connections, is not a good sign. The fact that FSU didn't try keeping him, a fan favorite with good South Florida connections, even in an off-field role is not a good sign. The fact that Taggart didn't try scooping him up (both FAU and FIU have had openings and staff shifting within the last month) is not a good sign.
STC: Jeremy Springer - This is the most shocking hire of them all so far. This may be more confusing than all of the other ones combined. Springer has had three years of full-time coaching experience. All three have been as the STC at Arizona. We all know Arizona was awful. How far they fell so fast is shocking. The entire program is an absolute mess, and they had to practically beg worthy candidates to even pretend to be interested in the job. But I can't blame that all on every coach on staff. A really bad HC or a really bad coordinator on one side of the ball can be enough to make an entire season bad, and you can't assume every single coach on that staff is bad. So how have special teams been under Springer in his only full time experience ever?
In 2018, his first year, Arizona's overall special teams were ranked 114th out of 130 teams. In 2019, they were ranked 125th out of 130 teams. In 2020, Arizona had the worst all-around special teams in the entire country: 130th out of 130 teams.
Not only have special teams always been bad under him, but they continued to get worse every single year. Just as concerning is the lack of being able to correct anything. In 2018, his kick return unit was ranked 116th. In 2019, it was 107th. It 2020, it was 114th.
In 2018, his punt return unit was ranked 94th. In 2019, it was 130th (dead last in the country). In 2020, it was 91st.
Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it does. In all but two of their kickoffs this year, Arizona kicked it into the end zone for touchbacks. What does that mean? It means that their kicker had a strong enough leg to do what many teams don't have the privilege of doing: game planning and scheming their kicking game around a strong leg. Out of their two kickoffs that were returned, one of them was returned on them for a TD. I have gone over this before: IF YOU HAVE A KICKER WITH A REALLY STRONG LEG, KICKING THE BALL INTO THE END ZONE AND ACCEPTING A TOUCHBACK IS A HORRIBLE STRATEGY! That leg talent allows you so many advantages in the kicking game than just kicking it into the end zone and accepting your opponent will get the ball at the 25 yard line. If anybody wants to spend an hour reading/hearing the stats I have worked on for many years proving why this is a horrible strategy, I am more than willing to take that time. Les Miles texts me with questions regarding it and says he wants to meet to learn more about it (his program's special teams this year were next to last, right in between Arizona and UMass). Sonny Dykes has emailed me going back-and-forth about defending his stance on it and has finally come to realize he was doing it wrong. Trust the fvcking analytics, people!
The nightmare isn't over: In two of the three years at Arizona, Springer had a pretty good field goal kicker (not great, but also not bad). In truth, most college coaches luck out when it comes to that. Most programs don't have a STC who knows much about identifying, coaching, and correcting kicking mechanics, and that plays a part in recruiting good kickers, too. It's why even some very good football programs at the P5 level struggle with field goals and even extra points while some very average to bad programs can have all-American kickers. So this means that not only did Arizona have a kicker with a really strong leg, but two out of his three years, they had a kicker with an accurate leg for field goals (and thus, also accurate in ball placement for kickoffs). This makes their horrible production in special teams even more confusing, which a lot has to do with poor schemes/strategy.
How we hire a STC whose only full-time experience has resulted in three years of some of the worst special teams programs in the country is unbelievable.
There is a lot of excitement around Huff, and I feel it, too. But outside of Street, Legg for experience and professionalism, and Lockette's relationships in South Florida, I am really struggling understanding these hires.
I love Huff's immediate change in engaging the fans, alums, former players, etc. I love that he understands the importance of building excitement. On the other hand, many of his hires, to put it bluntly, are head-scratchingly poor. They're even more poor considering the rumored increase in assistant salaries he has been given: Let's review:
DL: Ralph Street - Good guy, good coach, alum, natural progression of his career. I like this hire.
LB: Shannon Morrison - Alum, has been at an FCS for the past five years. He was Marshall's linebackers coach 15 years ago. Snyder fired him for multiple reasons with the icing on the cake being that Morrison made it a habit to not go to the schools he was supposed to when he was supposed to be on the road recruiting. He'd be on his recruiting trips and "just not go to schools" (not my quote). There has been absolutely no progression in his career in 15+ years. That isn't necessarily indicative of anything bad. Some guys are content strictly being a position coach at the same level. But for the past five years, his career has dropped, and head coaches who moved to better jobs didn't bring him along.
CB: Dominique Bowman - I don't know much about him. I was told that he is a high-energy guy at practice. He goes around telling people that he is "The King of Memphis." Isn't Memphis one of the worst cities for crime and poorest in the country? Even the "King of Beech Fork" would have a better connotation.
DC/Safeties: Lance Guidry - I've made my opinion clear on this one. The point: if you're going to hire somebody with that much baggage and risk, you better make sure it's Monte Kiffin 2.0. This guy's production hasn't shown that. We are hiring an assistant from an inferior program in our conference to be our DC. Marshall has fallen lower than what we all believed.
OC/QB: Tim Cramsey - I don't have strong feelings on this. I urged Marshall fans to drop their expectations when he was hired, as they gave him too much credit for what he did at Sam Houston for one season. Obviously, there were severe shortcomings and lack of development with our offense and QB last year.
OC/TE: Bill Legg - I've never coached with him. I watched him up close as a coach many years ago, and I felt he was not only a good coach but also a really good guy. I've always found him to be professional, suitable, and his experience will be an asset to any staff.
RB: Telly Lockette - Telly was just fired from Florida State as their TE coach. He has good connections in South Florida, which is a huge asset to Florida (and many other) schools. The fact that FSU got rid of him, a fan favorite with good South Florida connections, is not a good sign. The fact that FSU didn't try keeping him, a fan favorite with good South Florida connections, even in an off-field role is not a good sign. The fact that Taggart didn't try scooping him up (both FAU and FIU have had openings and staff shifting within the last month) is not a good sign.
STC: Jeremy Springer - This is the most shocking hire of them all so far. This may be more confusing than all of the other ones combined. Springer has had three years of full-time coaching experience. All three have been as the STC at Arizona. We all know Arizona was awful. How far they fell so fast is shocking. The entire program is an absolute mess, and they had to practically beg worthy candidates to even pretend to be interested in the job. But I can't blame that all on every coach on staff. A really bad HC or a really bad coordinator on one side of the ball can be enough to make an entire season bad, and you can't assume every single coach on that staff is bad. So how have special teams been under Springer in his only full time experience ever?
In 2018, his first year, Arizona's overall special teams were ranked 114th out of 130 teams. In 2019, they were ranked 125th out of 130 teams. In 2020, Arizona had the worst all-around special teams in the entire country: 130th out of 130 teams.
Not only have special teams always been bad under him, but they continued to get worse every single year. Just as concerning is the lack of being able to correct anything. In 2018, his kick return unit was ranked 116th. In 2019, it was 107th. It 2020, it was 114th.
In 2018, his punt return unit was ranked 94th. In 2019, it was 130th (dead last in the country). In 2020, it was 91st.
Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it does. In all but two of their kickoffs this year, Arizona kicked it into the end zone for touchbacks. What does that mean? It means that their kicker had a strong enough leg to do what many teams don't have the privilege of doing: game planning and scheming their kicking game around a strong leg. Out of their two kickoffs that were returned, one of them was returned on them for a TD. I have gone over this before: IF YOU HAVE A KICKER WITH A REALLY STRONG LEG, KICKING THE BALL INTO THE END ZONE AND ACCEPTING A TOUCHBACK IS A HORRIBLE STRATEGY! That leg talent allows you so many advantages in the kicking game than just kicking it into the end zone and accepting your opponent will get the ball at the 25 yard line. If anybody wants to spend an hour reading/hearing the stats I have worked on for many years proving why this is a horrible strategy, I am more than willing to take that time. Les Miles texts me with questions regarding it and says he wants to meet to learn more about it (his program's special teams this year were next to last, right in between Arizona and UMass). Sonny Dykes has emailed me going back-and-forth about defending his stance on it and has finally come to realize he was doing it wrong. Trust the fvcking analytics, people!
The nightmare isn't over: In two of the three years at Arizona, Springer had a pretty good field goal kicker (not great, but also not bad). In truth, most college coaches luck out when it comes to that. Most programs don't have a STC who knows much about identifying, coaching, and correcting kicking mechanics, and that plays a part in recruiting good kickers, too. It's why even some very good football programs at the P5 level struggle with field goals and even extra points while some very average to bad programs can have all-American kickers. So this means that not only did Arizona have a kicker with a really strong leg, but two out of his three years, they had a kicker with an accurate leg for field goals (and thus, also accurate in ball placement for kickoffs). This makes their horrible production in special teams even more confusing, which a lot has to do with poor schemes/strategy.
How we hire a STC whose only full-time experience has resulted in three years of some of the worst special teams programs in the country is unbelievable.
There is a lot of excitement around Huff, and I feel it, too. But outside of Street, Legg for experience and professionalism, and Lockette's relationships in South Florida, I am really struggling understanding these hires.
