SO WHAT'S NEXT?

[LUHawkerParticipant]

Rich-

If he isn’t planning on firing anyone, how does that follow from his comment to “reevaluate everything”? I’m not looking for an answer, only raising the inconsistency of his two comments.

[RichHParticipant]

Dont know. Things may change as he evaluates where program is now.Unlikely to do much until after recruiting.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

Firing Sawyer would be, bar none, the stupidest thing anyone could possibly do at this point.

[RichHParticipant]

I would be more concerned with Sawyer moving up to a bigger school.

[Shore_dadParticipant]

There are so many issues surrounding the state of this program and its future that it’s tough to make broad-brush statements with respect to Andy. I think largely he’s done a pretty good job on the recruiting side in this new era. I think the players respect him and he doesn’t seem to get too up or down emotionally. In retrospect this was supposed to be a re-building year and I think he views it in that manner.

On the other side why, if in a rebuilding year (which became very obvious early in the season), weren’t more kids thrown into the mix to see what they have? Why didn’t Andy assert authority on the defensive side of the ball with his coaches instead of allowing them to a) force a system that doesn’t suit the personnel and b) not having the younger players prepared or allowing them the opportunity to prove themselves? I’m sure the defensive coaching staff will argue that the best players were on the field. I find that comical because the starters sucked across the board. Further, the fact that with few exceptions NONE of the younger players were put into the rotation in practice. The young kids were relegated to the scout team, which provided the excuse that the coaches couldn’t play them because they didn’t know the plays as they didn’t practice them. For that and that alone D coordinator needs to be fired yesterday.

On offense the same thing was the mold until injuries forced them to add kids to the mix. A successful OL is every bit 5 playing as one, individual talent is less important than it is on D. To not have OL backups at least somewhat ready to go as the season progressed is an utter embarrassment. The question is who is at fault for this, the OC or Andy? Or is it both?

When the opposing offense tips its hand that they’re going to double Newton and run plays to his side its entirely on the coaching staff to make sure a safety and LB are in position to prevent what happened on Saturday. That’s 100% coaching and only highlights the coaching staff’s inability to recognize what was going on and to adjust accordingly. There was no adjustment. Forgetting how awful the offense looked the game was primarily lost due to the defensive coaching staff not making proper adjustments. I bet nearly every person watching the game was screaming to shore up that side of the D. The defensive coaching staff looked like complete buffoons on national TV.

On offense Nick seems like a nice kid but he’s not Kaepernick. Either make the kid a pocket passer or let him run but not both. The offensive game-plan looked like a 3 year old made it up. If you know you have issues on OL you can’t run the option when you have the opposing defense in the backfield immediately. Not running the offense through Pelletier was a complete joke. Even if he got doubled on every play it just meant secondary routes should have been open.

I get that this was the 150th game and all but that only means you play your guys through the half then re-evaluate. The game was over by the half. The right thing to do especially on D was to run everyone out there and see what they could do then at the end of the game you bring back your seniors for a series or two. The fact that the coaching staff blindly stayed with their awful players is cause enough for dismissal. I’d like to see the entire defensive staff fired and no kids anointed starters for next year. Let them prove their worth to the new staff and the new staff better realize how incompetent the exiting staff was this year.

I stayed in my seat until half-time then spent most of the second half wandering around Yankee Stadium seeing what it’s about, listening to people in the concourse, and, for a bit, I was inside one of the lounges warming up. The alumni for the most part were happy to get together with old friends and tell stories but every one of them was thoroughly embarrassed by the team’s lack of competitiveness. This was a HUGE game for both teams, it was in a large venue, it was on TV and no doubt donors to both sides were in attendance. You cannot underestimate the negative impact this game will have not only in recruiting but for donors to the program. I’d argue that had the game have been competitive there is a chance that future games could have been held at arena’s like Red Bull arena. This game killed any chance at that. The consensus I got from the crowd was that yeah we paid to come and see our friends and prayed the game was good but don’t expect us to do this again. The fallout for this has to fall fully on Andy’s shoulders.

No one knows how the recruiting will be impacted by this debacle. The positive is that at Lehigh academics are as important as athletics to the student-athletes so hopefully there is minimal impact.

The worst outcome is no changes. The best, imho, is completely gutting the defensive staff.

[ngineerParticipant]

I think a change has to be made at DC. To not make any adjustments to shore up the collapsing right side of the LU DL was an embarrasment. The TV commentators, who were in a nearby booth and saw from the same perspective, kept questioning why LU wasn’t making any adjustments to creat a contain and roll up the safety. We all know what LC was going to do. RS all day and did not thing to plan for that. It was a generic 3-4. Little blitzing despite LC with third string QB with no game experience for 1 1/2 seasons! The OC was not ready for prime time, and maybe in year one gets a bit of a reprieve, but I have seen little imagination. And where were the screen passes??!! With such a rush by LC one would expect to see that attempted. And a very good TE goes wasted all year. The kids did not seem as ‘juiced’ as Lafayette’s. I sensed it pre-game. My dream. Gilmore gets released at Holy Cross and we bring him back to head up the defense!

[RichHParticipant]

What to do with D seems #1 issue. Unlikely Tom gets axed but if he did having him back would be a Godsend. Hard to figure what Botts was thinking during game but the failure to make any adjustments to Pard counter or to any other run to the left a real lapse. Did not notice during game. Blatantly obvious watching DVR. His one job was to stop run ad force 3rd string QB to pass. No real effort by Botts to put his guys in position to do that. Botts has a good resume as a DC. Makes it hard to grasp the apparent failure to adjust.

[ngineerParticipant]

Agreed. I watched that entire debacle, again, on my dvr last night when I got home to see if what I thought I saw on Saturday was real…it was. CBS Sportsnet did a very nice job on the coverage.

[LehighGuyParticipant]

Well said shore dad. Concerning the D i made the same argument earlier in the season about putting the younger kids in and seeing what they had. They couldnt have been any worse, ESPECIALLY the Dbs. We kept doing the same thing with the same people and hoping for different results. Obviously that didnt happen and next yr the kids they WILL replace some starters with will have little to no experience at all. This was the perfect yr to get everybody involved and see what happened, especially after the season was evidently lost. I was NEVER sold on Yosha and think Leigh will definately push for the starting spot. All spots should be open IMO and if I was a coach i would make that evident during spring. Cant wait to see what happens during the offseason with the D staff. If there is no turnover anywhere, it will be a long season next yr!

[MillerParticipant]

Whats next? Hopefully the most productive winter in the weight room ever. Find new leaders and enter spring with open competitions at most positions. Find a “new” DC, not a coach that has been on the roster before. Look for a guy that prefers the 4-3 and can coach it. All have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

[RichHParticipant]

Seems unlikely,but its the off season so why not. Whatever is done hopefully will leave us a D that works.
Thanks Miller,the same for you and yours.

[ngineerParticipant]

If there are going to be any changes to the staff for next year, I would think they would be announced this coming week. No sense in leaving people hanging as to the status of their jobs, especially with the need to follow up on the recruiting.

[RichHParticipant]

Logically correct but has not been Andy’s style. From his comments he does not see the issue being staff related. Given the mass TO coming into this year,I dont see him cleaning house.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

Posted in this thread for absolutely no reason, Jim Schaefer, longtime Bagnoli assistant who was the defensive line coach with him at Union and Penn for 33 years, 23 years at Penn, resigned yesterday.

[ngineerParticipant]

Not advocating a ‘house cleaning’, but a new perspective at DC is needed imo. Bott may still be a good position coach, but he certainly was not ‘seeing the field’ last Saturday, nor showed any plan for Scheurerman. Interesting post about Schaeffer resigning at Penn. Andy would certainly know him from his days in Quackerland, though I know nothing of him or whether he would be an ‘answer’. Does Penn have a new HC picked, as Bagnoli announced his retirement a long time ago? The timing of the resignation before an announcement of a new HC would certainly indicate he is leaving for another gig.

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