Discussion: Lindy's "Opposing Coaches View" section

FreeDawg · May 22, 2012

[*]On the state of the program:
"The talent is going down. Regardless of what people think, they've not
recruited as well as (former coach) Sylvester Croom did. I think
Sylvester did a better job targeting guys he could develop into SEC
players to play against Alabama and LSU. He wasn't so concerned with how
players were rated."[*]On season projections:
"When you start looking at talent level, I don't think you can put them
in the top 5 or six in the leauge. ...When you're not good at that
positiion (quaterback) you're not going o win a ton of games."[*]On last year:
"I think they missed (defensive coordinator) Manny Diaz (who went to
Texas after the 2010 season) a little bit, I was impressed with what he
did at MTSU and Mississippi State.

Click to expand...

For those not familiar with this section, it is in the Lindy's preview magazine and is supposed to be real quotes from an anonymous SEC coach so you can get a feel for how the league feels about your team no holds barred.

My takes on these views

First point- I was pretty surprised to read this because I dont feel like any sane person could believe this. Mullen's recruiting classes rankings vs Croom's recruiting class rankings are not even close in Mullen's favor (notice the secret coach mentions ratings giving him an out). It's clearly a dig at him not beating other west teams yet. Also, who in the world did Croom develop?

Second point- Now I actually agree with this sentiment. We dont have top 5 or 6 in the league talent. Before anyone ***** themselves a top 5 SEC finish has about been good for around top 10 nationally so I dont take that statement too harshly. Also he said "talent", not "on field performance". See Fla and Tenn for more talented teams that arent performing well. The most relevant thing I take from this is the rest of the SEC doesnt respect Tyler Russell. I know we are very wooly because he looked good in the spring but for chrissake, he had on a red non contact jersey and knew he wouldnt get hit and still threw a bunch of picks

Third point- Another pretty dumb statement by the secret coach. We may have missed him recruiting season but we didnt miss him on the field. Our defense played about as well coached as it could have been. We were a very formidable group and had no pass rush. In my 90% eyes Wilson is a much better gameday play caller that manages a game much better. You wont see him make an ignorant call that cost us a game ala Manny Diaz, Auburn, 3rd and Goal from the 25, all out blitz vs Cam Newton.

Food for Thought
- who in the world could this secret coach be? Its gotta be someone with an axe to grind, so Im going to say its and Auburn or Ole Miss coach.
- If you read all of them, we had one of the more critical judgements
-Am I just a maroon homer or do people really believe that Croom was a good recruiter because he beat Bama. Why do they not realize he beat bad Bamma and Arky teams and would be getting skull 17ed right now?

FreeDawg · May 22, 2012

[*]On the state of the program:
"The talent is going down. Regardless of what people think, they've not
recruited as well as (former coach) Sylvester Croom did. I think
Sylvester did a better job targeting guys he could develop into SEC
players to play against Alabama and LSU. He wasn't so concerned with how
players were rated."[*]On season projections:
"When you start looking at talent level, I don't think you can put them
in the top 5 or six in the leauge. ...When you're not good at that
positiion (quaterback) you're not going o win a ton of games."[*]On last year:
"I think they missed (defensive coordinator) Manny Diaz (who went to
Texas after the 2010 season) a little bit, I was impressed with what he
did at MTSU and Mississippi State.

Click to expand...

For those not familiar with this section, it is in the Lindy's preview magazine and is supposed to be real quotes from an anonymous SEC coach so you can get a feel for how the league feels about your team no holds barred.

My takes on these views

First point- I was pretty surprised to read this because I dont feel like any sane person could believe this. Mullen's recruiting classes rankings vs Croom's recruiting class rankings are not even close in Mullen's favor (notice the secret coach mentions ratings giving him an out). It's clearly a dig at him not beating other west teams yet. Also, who in the world did Croom develop?

Second point- Now I actually agree with this sentiment. We dont have top 5 or 6 in the league talent. Before anyone ***** themselves a top 5 SEC finish has about been good for around top 10 nationally so I dont take that statement too harshly. Also he said "talent", not "on field performance". See Fla and Tenn for more talented teams that arent performing well. The most relevant thing I take from this is the rest of the SEC doesnt respect Tyler Russell. I know we are very wooly because he looked good in the spring but for chrissake, he had on a red non contact jersey and knew he wouldnt get hit and still threw a bunch of picks

Third point- Another pretty dumb statement by the secret coach. We may have missed him recruiting season but we didnt miss him on the field. Our defense played about as well coached as it could have been. We were a very formidable group and had no pass rush. In my 90% eyes Wilson is a much better gameday play caller that manages a game much better. You wont see him make an ignorant call that cost us a game ala Manny Diaz, Auburn, 3rd and Goal from the 25, all out blitz vs Cam Newton.

Food for Thought
- who in the world could this secret coach be? Its gotta be someone with an axe to grind, so Im going to say its and Auburn or Ole Miss coach.
- If you read all of them, we had one of the more critical judgements
-Am I just a maroon homer or do people really believe that Croom was a good recruiter because he beat Bama. Why do they not realize he beat bad Bamma and Arky teams and would be getting skull 17ed right now?

CadaverDawg · May 22, 2012

I think I will buy Athlon. I don't know what's worse...that a coach could say that **** with a straight face and clear conscience, or that the magazine would publish such stupidity. We may not be what we all believe we are as a football program....but we are light years ahead of a Croom coached, Mike Henig led, team. And they didn't have quotes like that back in the Henig years. I like it though in a way, bc it shows that we are getting better and coaches don't like us now. You always heard great things about Croom from other coaches, only because they wanted us to keep him so they could keep beating his *** every year. I want our coach and team to be hated by other SEC coaches...means we're a threat.

MSDawg34 · May 22, 2012

For the first point I say look at 2* no offer Johnathan Banks growing into one of the best CB in the nation. I'm guessing Joker, Mullen beats his *** every time.

mcdawg22 · May 22, 2012

Let's ask Houston Nutt about Mississippi State, I'm sure he'll have something fun to say.

thatsbaseball · May 22, 2012

Shmuley · May 22, 2012

Chesusdog · May 22, 2012

We held LSU to 17 points; Bama was the only other team to keep them under 35. Sure we had a couple ******* games, LA Tech, Auburn and Arkansas come to mind, but otherwise our D was brilliant. Wilson is not getting the credit he deserves.

KurtRambis4 · May 22, 2012

guessing this was made by a coach from a team we don't play often. No coach from a team we play every year would say this.

EAVdog · May 22, 2012

I think he gets off being a prick, whether it's accurate or not.

Sauron · May 22, 2012

As far as the talent not getting any better, that is absolutely the most stupid thing I have ever read, and I once read half of a twlight novel. Like wise, the crack about Mullen not developing players kinda doesn't hold water under the fact that we've had back to back first rounders for the first time in forever, looking at number three in John Banks. Two of Mullen's four classes have been rated in the top 25. That aint bad for us.

And while I'm on it, I aint saying Russell will be the next Marino, but when did he throw a lot of picks? He threw SOME in practice, but even a handful of those were due more to Slay's athleticism and luck moreso than Tyler screwing up.

missouridawg · May 22, 2012

camnewtonku

Sauron · May 22, 2012

Chesusdog said:
We held LSU to 17 points; Bama was the only other team to keep them under 35. Sure we had a couple ******* games, LA Tech, Auburn and Arkansas come to mind, but otherwise our D was brilliant. Wilson is not getting the credit he deserves.

We held Bama to their "tightest" win of the season. The 17 pt victory over was the least they won by in any of the games they played and some of the least points they scored all year. Oh, and going back to Tyler, the dude out shined McAron that night. TR threw for the only passing td of the game, amassed over a hundred throwing and that wasn't even with him in the entire time, and threw not one pick against the best D in college football.

Maroon Eagle · May 22, 2012

As mentioned before, it sounds like it's someone in the conference who's not coached against MSU in a while... which would be Dooley or maybe Franklin-- which I discount because last season was his first year there.

FreeDawg · May 22, 2012

were the only one's I could justify. Didnt say I believed that he was bad, I just can understand that thought process. When I referred to TR picks in spring, that wasnt based on that 1 scrimmage, seemed like he threw 2-3 everyday. I was out there enough to have a decent opinion. He looked better but he was good for a few horrible throws a practice (and by horrible, I mean forcing into coverage)

Sauron · May 22, 2012

FreeDawg said:
were the only one's I could justify. Didnt say I believed that he was bad, I just can understand that thought process. When I referred to TR picks in spring, that wasnt based on that 1 scrimmage, seemed like he threw 2-3 everyday. I was out there enough to have a decent opinion. He looked better but he was good for a few horrible throws a practice (and by horrible, I mean forcing into coverage)

To me, he looked a lot better than he did last year, and he was decent last year except for the Arkansas game.

woozman · May 22, 2012

Before I read you post, I was going to post something similar.

The best coach in the SEC (and the nation) stated after the Bama game that he had a ton of respect for us because we played hard, etc. I'll take that any day over what a coach told a joke of a publication "off the record".

Someone who has more time than me - please find Saban's post game comments. They hold more weight than whatever pussysaid "off the record".

woozman · May 22, 2012

FreeDawg said:
He looked better but he was good for a few horrible throws a practice (and by horrible, I mean forcing into coverage)

Practice, we talkin' 'bout practice? Practice, man; we talkin' 'bout practice????

DawgatAuburn · May 22, 2012

A young assistant coach, yes. A head coach is not going to take the time to provide a preseason magazine with any kind of anonymous quotes like that.

FreeDawg · May 22, 2012

DawgatAuburn said:
A young assistant coach, yes. A head coach is not going to take the time to provide a preseason magazine with any kind of anonymous quotes like that.

Thats why I speculated Auburn or Ole Miss because I feel like those are the 2 staffs that have the most disdain for us. But I agree that sounds like an assistant. Spurriers, Sabans, and Miles of the world dont give 2 ***** about Lindy's

dawgman42 · May 23, 2012

Dooley's La Tech team beat us, so I can see him fellating Crxxm in hindsight. And Richt seemed to have a connection with Crxxm (hence him helping us get Jamar Chaney).

I agree, this is not a coach that plays us year in and year out . . . except maybe Joker Phillips.

GreaterCowbell · May 23, 2012

When did they start interviewing J. Short?

nm

Optimus Prime 4 · May 23, 2012

[No message]

kired · May 23, 2012

Considering the fact that Croom came in after 3 straight losing seasons and then led us to 3 more losing seasons, it's impressive the players he got committed. I think Mullen's 10 & 11 classes will be similar to Croom's 05 and 06 classes. Only time will tell, but I think Croom's 07 class was better than either of Mullen's first two although the 2012 class haspotential to be as good or better than 07.

Croom's biggest recruiting problem was he couldn'tget decent WRs or QBs, which obviously stemmed from the fact that our offensive coaching was as bad as it gets. But the fact that he had as many kids as he did buying into MSU is why I would say he was a decent recruiter. He had absolutely nothing to sell other than playing time for the worst team in the SEC but still got good players like Pegues, Fitzhugh, Chaney, Sherrod, Elliott, Charles Mitchell, KJ Wright. Just imagine what he could have done if he'd have had a good OC and actually had something to sell.

I do think Mullen has done a better at recruiting a complete team and not having holes to fill. His biggest mistakes at this point have been not getting a top JUCO olineman in 2010 or 2011, and losing some of the top in state talent to UM (whether they were headcases or not). But the truth is you can't rate any of Mullen's classes because we've barely seen them yet.

Seinfeld · May 23, 2012

even though there isn't a damn fact in the world to back it up. Seriously, I don't know how that 17er managed to brainwash the rest of the free world, but he puts the most powerful dictators in our history to shame.

Coach34 · May 23, 2012

this coach can sign this person or that person- bit it's how you develop them to get the most out of their talent. Fletcher Cox is not a 1st round draft pick if he plays for Crooms instead of Mullen.

We've got more talent on this team than we have had since 2000- and you can bet it will be developed to its fullest while Mullen is here

rebelrouseri · May 23, 2012

fired. I wonder if this coach is crediting Croom not Mullen w/ that class. Also, there is no way in hell that's from a head coach. That would almost definitely be from a position guy and one that liked Croom.

JackShephard · May 23, 2012

were any Croom teams better than this year's team will be?

QB - No
RB - Yes, but only b/c he inherited some serious talent there. Sure he signed Dixon, but Mullen had Ballard so that's a wash. This year's team may not have a Norwood, but they have serious talent and depth.
OL - No. Sherrod or other parts, yes. But again, depth and overall talent the edge goes to Mullen in my book.
WR - Hell to the No
TE - No
FB - No
DL - same as the OL
LB - No
CB - No
S - This is the only one you can legitimately give to Croom on his own. Pegues, Mitchell, and Whitley are all very good and we may suck at FS this year.

FreeDawg · May 23, 2012

And that is where he'll be again. A lot of people get this confused since he's a hard hitting safety. Besides that, I agree with your post

FlabLoser · May 23, 2012

Under Croom, erbody couldn't wait to get rid of Dixon. Danced too much. Too heavy. Tentative.

Under Mullen, Dixon was hell on wheels. He terrorized the SEC. He was so good erbody was worried about how we could replace him.

Sauron · May 23, 2012

There is no way you can make any sort of legitimate argument that Croom is better than Mullen in any way. People have said things like: "The D was better with Croom." No, it wasn't. Sorry. That's just--I honestly don't know from where--nostalgia. Even Croom's 2007 team would have been beaten by nearly any of Mullen's teams with the exception of maybe 2009.
People give Croom way too much credit for that 2009 signing class. MULLEN held that class together. That wasa harder task in some respects than getting those players to commit.

Discussion: Lindy's "Opposing Coaches View" section

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