Lack of Leadership

[Rock98Dog]

we have no leaders on the field, not much on the sidelines. As I sit in the beautiful Steeler Ketchup Bottle Stadium I am reminded of big road games during the Pruett era when our teams came out fierce. Ohio State, WVU, Tennessee, Georgia, KSU, trading blow for blow. We are not half the team we were in the 90s or early 2000s. Our paper tiger 33 wins in the last three years has very little to do with our team and much more to do with the competition. I will say I think the 2014 team was good, but just think what Doc's record would be if not for Cato coming here. Take away one player and he has a Snyder record against way worse competition, and Snyder was horrible.

Oh well, time for the exciting second half. Maybe they can make this post look like an idiot's rant, but I'm not confident that will be the case.

 

[pdbailey]

we have no leaders on the field, not much on the sidelines. As I sit in the beautiful Steeler Ketchup Bottle Stadium I am reminded of big road games during the Pruett era when our teams came out fierce. Ohio State, WVU, Tennessee, Georgia, KSU, trading blow for blow. We are not half the team we were in the 90s or early 2000s. Our paper tiger 33 wins in the last three years has very little to do with our team and much more to do with the competition. I will say I think the 2014 team was good, but just think what Doc's record would be if not for Cato coming here. Take away one player and he has a Snyder record against way worse competition, and Snyder was horrible.

Oh well, time for the exciting second half. Maybe they can make this post look like an idiot's rant, but I'm not confident that will be the case.

How good would our 96 and 97 teams be without Moss? How good would our 1998 and 1999 teams be without Pennington? How good would our 2001 and 2002 teams be without Leftwich? My guess is they wouldn't have been nearly as good and we may not have won any championships.

 

[Rock98Dog]

But Doc is a super recruiter who has brought in more talent than we have ever had, so I'm missing your point.

 

[bbneutralfan]

Well Rock he has ran half of it off the team for various undisclosed reasons.
It's always a "violation of team rules."

 

[raleighherdfan]

How good would our 96 and 97 teams be without Moss? How good would our 1998 and 1999 teams be without Pennington? How good would our 2001 and 2002 teams be without Leftwich? My guess is they wouldn't have been nearly as good and we may not have won any championships.

Seriously. Those teams were loaded top to bottom with talent on both sides of ball. We even competed against the big boys when these guys were long in the pros. It wasn't until Pruetts final year that you could see some major deficiencies coming.

 

[andy4theherd]

We had more NFL talent from 96 to 02 than we've had the last 11 years combined...

 

[Herd-in-ATL]

But Doc is a super recruiter who has brought in more talent than we have ever had, so I'm missing your point.

I just don't understand the Jekyll and Hyde approach from the players, BUT even more so from the coaching staff. You punt on 4th and 1 or 2 every time during the first half of the Pittsburgh game, yet early in the second half you try, and brilliantly execute an onside kick, which woke the team up. You could see the genuine excitement and "game on" attitude coming from the Marshall bench. This is the 3rd game in a row that I have heard one of the TV commentators say "Marshall needs to be much more aggressive on offense".. well if it's that apparent to them, just imagine what the opposing coaching staff must be thinking... If you're a player why can't you get up for a game against a very good but beatable ACC team, being played in and NFL stadium? With the exception of the Defensive execution and effort I saw in the first half of the Louisville game, why does our game plan always have "we're just happy to be here" written all over it... No one fears us like they did in the past, because do not come out swinging. Yes Doc is a very good recruiter... but it's wasted talent if you don't utilize it. Which leads me to the question... so you give Pittman a token start and then pull him after what 3 or 4 carries..Why?

Also another offensive head scratcher... It's 1st and goal you have a chance to get within 3 deep in he 4th quarter, why do you try 2 up the gut runs with Davis, when you have a battering ram back like Anderson?

 

[MARSHALL77]

A team without a leader does not say too much about the young men that are being recruited. Skill and athletic ability are one thing , leading and setting the or an example takes a totally different mindset and type of young man. The head man needs to take more than athletic ability into consideration when recruiting.

Leaders like Chad and Byron (just two examples)are why their teams won , sure the talent was there as well but they took charge , took command - their team , their field and that type of leadership won us a lot of ball games...unfortunately those type of fellas to not come along every day.

 

[pdbailey]

But Doc is a super recruiter who has brought in more talent than we have ever had, so I'm missing your point.

You are the one that asked how good would Doc have been without Cato. Well, it wouldn't have been as good for sure, but you take NFL players, some of our best ever, away those teams and it wouldn't have been close to the same. We would have been getting 8-3 or 7-4 records in the MAC back then when the conference was even weaker than the current CUSA.

 

[GreenDuke]

You are who you recruit.

 

[Rock98Dog]

You are the one that asked how good would Doc have been without Cato. Well, it wouldn't have been as good for sure, but you take NFL players, some of our best ever, away those teams and it wouldn't have been close to the same. We would have been getting 8-3 or 7-4 records in the MAC back then when the conference was even weaker than the current CUSA.

The fact that you think the MAC from 1997 to 2004 was weaker than the current CUSA invalidates everything else you say on the topic.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Well Rock he has ran half of it off the team for various undisclosed reasons.
It's always a "violation of team rules."

So Doc recruits them thinking they will be on campus and contribute to our program for 4-5 years. But the kids screw up and get booted. Is that Doc's fault or the kids? So the kid is a victim of the rules put in place?

I think Doc needs to look at how he evaluates kids and if he see's ANY red flags, take a pass regardless of talent. Either that or do a better job of communicating what is expected and what will not be tolerated. The high attrition has to end.

 

[herdit44]

The fact that you think the MAC from 1997 to 2004 was weaker than the current CUSA invalidates everything else you say on the topic.

conference games, sagarin ratings
1999: #70, #80, #87, #106, #112, #114, #138, #187
2004: #39, #92, #130, #134, #153, #179, #191, #197
2015: #35, #70, #88, #127, #130, #164, #180, #200

weaker? probably not, but it wasn't any better that's for sure.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

The fact that you think the MAC from 1997 to 2004 was weaker than the current CUSA invalidates everything else you say on the topic.

Oh yea that MAC was sure the murderers row. It was just as top heavy as CUSA is. Even back then we still lost more than we won against the P5/BCS.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

You are the one that asked how good would Doc have been without Cato. Well, it wouldn't have been as good for sure, but you take NFL players, some of our best ever, away those teams and it wouldn't have been close to the same. We would have been getting 8-3 or 7-4 records in the MAC back then when the conference was even weaker than the current CUSA.

PD, I know you like the kool aid but come on. Top to bottom current CUSA is much worse than the MAC was when we were in it. Hell Charlotte couldn't beat Cabell Midland.

 

[Rock98Dog]

Here are the conference Sagarin ratings for the two periods (Sagarin only goes back to 1998 online that I can find).

MAC
1998 - 58
1999 - 58
2000 - 60
2001 - 63
2002 - 64
2003 - 64
2004 - 56

CUSA
2010 - 63
2011 - 66
2012 - 62
2013 - 58
2014 - 61
2015 - 55
2016 - 55

So show me where the current CUSA is stronger than the MAC was while we were there.

 

[marshallsig]

Facts screw up every thread.

 

[andy4theherd]

The bottom line is that CUSA has taken a nose dive each year since realignment. It is on pace this season to be even worse. With the MAJOR loss in TV revenue you can assume it will keep going down. Our budgets compared to the AAC and MWC is quickly approaching the difference between them and P5...

 

[beefcake0520]

hard to argue Andy, you are definitely right. CUSA had its little up year in 2013 with some of the new additions, and gotten worse each year since.