Pennington Rumor
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Exactly Marine!
People that bash the greatest football coach in our schools history are a freaking joke. We had first round NFL draft picks, heisman finalists, multiple players who had NFL careers, won multiple conference championships and bowl games, had undefeated seasons, an unbelievable overall record plus we rarely lost at home.
His last two years which were supposedly his “bad” years he still managed to play Ohio State, UT and UGA down to the wire on the road. We beat the number 6 team in the country and Big 12 champ and BCSbowl participant Kansas State at their place.
Since you people have revised history syndrome had Stan Hill not blew his knee out against UT in03 we wouldn’t have missed a beat and would have had at least 10-2 seasons in 03 and 04.
We literally have one of the most ungrateful fan base in America.
I’m not saying anything one way or the other, but it’s kinda hard to call him retired since he coached at UVA after he left.
And as the guy who ended about a 20 year winning streak and sent us in downward spiral
You can say what you want, but you both refuted it when I originally posted it.
You can’t play the If game concerning Stan Hill. I could say if Chase Litton wouldn’t have left early we could have been undefeated this year.
Facts are Stan hill got hurt. He could have got hurt in another game. Heck, had the two QBs not for hurt Chad Pennington May haven’t ever got to play.
Also another fact....who was in charge when we got caught cheating? That isn’t to say he wasn’t a great coach. Just pointing out all that success happened. We had talented players. Very talented. Some I know personally however did we get caught cheating? That isn’t a bash it is a fact. Why do people want to forget that? We also beat up on some bad MAC teams in the 90s. People want to forget that as well.
Are we as successful as we should be now? Heck no, we are not. We should be winning more and things are struggle. But I am not naive to facts that we got caught cheating. We are lucky Pruett wasn’t canned when he was a part of it.
Refuted what? You’ve never really told the whole story of who all was involved with that to begin with
Same guy who beat the 6th ranked team on the road with a backup QB, and the list goes on and on. You can’t blame BP for the inept football program we’ve had for the past 20 years.
That crap they spew about Pruett is some kind of justification for the mediocrity and sometimes less than mediocrity we see now. That is why it is done.
How so? He didn't have a losing season. His last season they went to a bowl game. The two coaches that followed have bee less successful in every regard. Doc's had a few losing seasons. One recently.
BINGO.
THere is no comparison to the program now and Pruett's years. Not even close.
I don't even know what time we play this weekend. I never missed a game either being there on watching when Pruett(or Donnan for that matter) was coaching. Now, it has to fit my schedule.
That is funny. Blaming Pruett for our current state of mediocrity is hilarious.
We have some who must have an algorithm of excuses for any subject that comes up. Pruett, Doc, Recruiting, Fans, Schewey, etc.
Stan Hill is the reason that leaping chest bumps ought to be outlawed. Isn't that how he blew out his knee?
I love Pruett. But that is a fact ....probation, late very late resignation....all sent us the wrong way .......those things and the late season collapse in 2004. Other than that I loved him inheriting Jim Donna’s Cadillac and running with it 96-04. Recruiting really fell off in the end
People forget how it ended.
They forget about the cheating jobs program. It’s only about wins.
The display of football in Ft Worth at the bowl game was an embarrassment.
Pruett should not have quit when he did. That timing was sad.
But people will keep defending him for his mistakes just like those that defend Doc. There is no difference. One side defends cheating and probation to justify winning.
The others defense mediocrity. The fact is both suck. We won a lot of games under Pruett beating some bad MAC teams. The MAC didn’t improve until Rothlisburger and other came along. We were very good there is no denying that but we got caught cheating so he question a lot of is how many players did we get through cheating?
Snyder was a terrible coach but look at just how many players that were left when he arrived....and don’t forget the scholarships that were lost. Who was the HC that put us on probation that led to scholarship reductions? Had Pruett stayed we would not have done much better. Scholarship reductions are supposed to hurt. We are lucky we didn’t have to vacate wins like everybody does now.
Take Pruett out of the equation. Most people who look at it objectively know the Marshall football program is in a rut. One conference championship in more than 15 years. That taking place in a watered down league that is not near as tough as when we joined it. There are programs in this league who didn't even have football programs 15 years ago. Some with little or no tradition. Some IAA teams that moved up and they weren't stellar in IAA. One championship. We don't even play as hard of OOC schedules. I can't imagine Doc's record if the old CUSA was in tact and he had to play tougher OOC schedules. Probably would mirror Snyder's.
The program is stagnant, stale, and needs a boost. Regarldess of what anyone thinks of Donnan, Pruett, or whoever the program was exciting and winning a lot during those two coaches tenures. The players were better as proven by the NFL level talent and high college level talent. The numbers, banners, and championships don't lie. And, to blame the problems on one coach is absurd. Everybody around Huntington, including the university, knew those jobs were going on. That started before Bob Pruett ever came back to Huntington and if you think some football players getting a job over Chapman Printing to hold a broom was the sole factor in all those wins then, well you are being naive. Somebody still had to recruit, coach them up, develop them, and game plan.
If you can't see we have a football coach hanging on to a career and that is losing a fan base then oh well, that's on you. The fabricated win totals hide the 2nd and 3rd place finishes in division of a weak conference.
Finally, we give this coach more money and better facilities than any coach in history of Marshall.
It is not personal, it is business. The program is mired in mediocrity. The Athletic Director defends it and put the school in a bind by locking in the coach with so much money there is probably no way out until it gets real ugly in every regard.
The program is stagnant, stale, and needs a boost. Regarldess of what anyone thinks of Donnan, Pruett, or whoever the program was exciting and winning a lot during those two coaches tenures. The players were better as proven by the NFL level talent and high college level talent. The numbers, banners, and championships don't lie. And, to blame the problems on one coach is absurd. Everybody around Huntington, including the university, knew those jobs were going on. That started before Bob Pruett ever came back to Huntington and if you think some football players getting a job over Chapman Printing to hold a broom was the sole factor in all those wins then, well you are being naive. Somebody still had to recruit, coach them up, develop them, and game plan.
If you can't see we have a football coach hanging on to a career and that is losing a fan base then oh well, that's on you. The fabricated win totals hide the 2nd and 3rd place finishes in division of a weak conference.
Finally, we give this coach more money and better facilities than any coach in history of Marshall.
It is not personal, it is business. The program is mired in mediocrity. The Athletic Director defends it and put the school in a bind by locking in the coach with so much money there is probably no way out until it gets real ugly in every regard.
One of the best posts I’ve ever read. Awesome post herdman. Also as an FYI, mops for props wasn’t against the rules with the NCAA. What was against the rules was paying props more than the going rate for someone in the job, which they did and the second was the person had to go to do the job they couldn’t just be on the payroll and some of our props didn’t and still got paid.
But even with those two things we would have gotten off with a light punushment without the out of lack of institutional control tag had our big booster who was responsible for the mess not been a complete a$$ to the ncaa investigator. He was cocky and arrogant and the investigator threw in the lack of institutional control. But we still kiss this guys behind because he writes big checks.
It shouldn't be a Pruett vs Doc thing. First, it's completely unfair to compare the two. Pruett was so far above Doc it's just unfair. In reality, the much better conversation is Doc vs Snyder. They are pretty much clones in their football style and results. The only difference is that Doc recruited Cato and Shuler and Snyder played much harder schedules.
The only thing that really matters is if the coach we have right now is good enough to have our team consistently perform in a highly competitive manner, compete for, and win, conference championships, and do that in a way that is not embarrassing to the school, its alumni, and fans. I would say that Doc is running out of time to prove he's that right coach. To me, highly competitive means that you don't play a lot of games in November that don't mean much as far as winning the division goes, or having to sit around with your fingers crossed hoping another team messes up.
The only thing that really matters is if the coach we have right now is good enough to have our team consistently perform in a highly competitive manner, compete for, and win, conference championships, and do that in a way that is not embarrassing to the school, its alumni, and fans. I would say that Doc is running out of time to prove he's that right coach. To me, highly competitive means that you don't play a lot of games in November that don't mean much as far as winning the division goes, or having to sit around with your fingers crossed hoping another team messes up.
People tend to forget that. It was multiple people.
The program wasn’t illegal per se but our Athletic Departement and Head football coach should have been monitoring it. They weren’t. If I didn’t monitor my staff I know what would happen to me. We got lucky we Jen we went on probation to not vacate wins and fire the HC.
Never did I say the football program wasn’t stagnant in my message. I only posted the facts. Yes a lot of people knew about the job program and what was going on. Our HC should have stopped it. He should have monitored it. There is no way it should have happened. Pruett was a great coach and I am really unsure where you see I said he wasn’t and we won based on cheating. It doesn’t matter though as we were busted for cheating and that is what people knew.
Pruett did not recruit well in the end and then scholarship reductions hit. You can’t say he would been as successful had he stayed just like I can’t say he would have struggled. But the facts are we won games, we cheated, we beat up a bunch of bad MAC teams in the 90s, we didn’t monitor a program for kids WE recruited and got jobs, went on probation and lost a ton of players over a 5 year period.
As I said before we are suffering again and something has to change but to sit around and glorify Pruett without the faults is silly. You can’t put blinders on when we knowingly cheated and we’re caught.
Personally I don’t think a change will happen if we end up winning three more games this year which can happen. And to be honest...I want to win the games but that is not me saying I am happy or satisfied, I just won’t cheer against the green and white.
To say that the deficiencies, shortcomings and problems in the Herd football program in late 2018 relate in any way to Bob Pruett's tenure is absurd, IMO.
Snyder bore the brunt of the sanctions and played a much more difficult OOC than Bob or Doc. Snyder also coached in a much stronger CUSA than Doc.
Probation had/has no influence on Docs tenure. None!
Herd fans should get used to 7-8 wins a year and a bowl game. Should we expect a league crown every 3-4 years? Maybe.
Just having 1 crown and two division titles does seem like underachieving to me.
Probation had/has no influence on Docs tenure. None!
Herd fans should get used to 7-8 wins a year and a bowl game. Should we expect a league crown every 3-4 years? Maybe.
Just having 1 crown and two division titles does seem like underachieving to me.
Bwaaa ha ha
Donnan had a lower winning percentage while playing the vast majority of games against 1AA teams. His '95 team lost 2 games to 1AA teams and won 3 more by a total of 7 points.
The next year, under Pruett we went undefeated while playing more ranked teams and no one got closer that 14 points, beating an undefeated Montana team that thrashed Pac 10 Oregon State. The grizzlies beat the previous 3 teams in the playoff by a total score of something like 160 points to 24. We were beating them 46-6 in the 4th quarter until we started subbing.
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I know you are slow....but I wasn't trying to say Donnan > Pruett. I was just saying (concentrate and read slowly) that we were loaded when Pruett showed up and we were.
I think we could have beet Montana by 100 that day. Nothing was stopping the Herd. They were lucky Coach P called the Herd off.
Just as much of an issue was that the athletic department was arranging the jobs. Props were not allowed to receive ANY sort of aid from the athletic department and all those jobs were being arranged by coaches and other staff members.
It must chap the Pruett bashers on game day to have to walk past a building named after him. Maybe some in the football program too. Cam Henderson had his bashers and they probably felt the same way seeing the BB arena named after him...those who were still alive when it was built. But I don't think these bashers like Josh reflect most of the fan base at all. I think they are in a pretty small minority where they belong.
oh yes, college FB coaches that are doing the best thing for their school retire the day before spring ball all the time. and try to recommend their cigarette smoking buddy Kueck for the position.
