OT: Oregon president burns Hoke in Press Conference
Seems a bit petty and unnecessary, and not really even that funny.
Oregon president Michael Schill opened the press conference to introduce new coach Willie Taggart with a joke (but it's not really a joke): "I told him I can only give him one bit of advice which probably everyone in the state of Oregon can give him, which is: Go find a great defensive coordinator."
Ducks defense was certainly a step or two below dreadful this year. Certainly hope Brady Hoke finds his level soon and has great success.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^
Oregon's Defense has been shit for years. Hoke was there for a very short time. In all fairness, he had ZERO time to really try to get things in order.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^
That's why I don't think this is necessarily a dig at Hoke.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^
Any other way?
Defense is shit.
Get me a new coordinator.
Not like solving the mystery of dark matter.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
Read the post two spots above your comment.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^
And it does little to change my opinion. If the defense had taken a step forward this season, or even shown life whatsoever, these comments would not have been made.
It's a slap in the face to the man running the defense, short time or not.
You get a job at a company delivering pizzas with notoriously slow time. You do nothing to improve the product. New CEO comes in and says, "I don't care what you do, we need to deliver these damn pizzas faster."
Well, you are the delivery guy. How is that anything but an insult to YOUR work? You couldn't make it better and the guy in charge says shit needs to be fixed.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:51 PM ^
incorrect -- even in your example:
if there is only one delivery guy you are being asked to do too much
it is possible that your delivery issues are related to the amount of time the pizza takes to cook
it is possible that you were provided with a crappy bike with flat tires to deliver your pizza
it is possible that your manager does not do a good job planning the deliveries -- setting you up for failure
December 8th, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^
But coming out to say "Get me a great defensive coordinator," to me at least, is a slap in the face fo the guy directly in charge of the current product.
Yeah, he was set up in a horrible situation, I get that. But he was hired to improve the defense, or at least show they can be functional. He took a bad defense and made them one of if not the worst in the NCAA.
You can say things like, "Taggart brings a new excitement and we'll be focusing on improving both side of the football."
Not, "get me a new D coordinator." That's a low blow.
December 8th, 2016 at 5:39 PM ^
Welp!
December 8th, 2016 at 6:21 PM ^
Yes it refers to Hoke...and it also refers to all of the other shit DCs they've had.
It's a dig at all of them.
It's pretty clear, actually.
December 8th, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^
it's on all of them. Certainly not just Hoke. He was just the last in a line of failed attempts. Although he was arguably the biggest failure: They were 127th of 128 (!!) in DFEI this year. Yikes.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
The correct phrsing of your post would be Defense (has been) shit, get me a new coordinator.
Totally classless thing by a university pres to make it even appear he might be singling out a coach that way.
Did Baylor's even throw shitbags like that previous staff under the bus like that?
Hoke needs get back to a DL position at a MAC or similar school and just enjoy his chosen life of coaching young men, not try to be something he's not...
December 8th, 2016 at 4:46 PM ^
after they both got fired.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
That was my initial thought too. The defense has been so bad for so long and really held them back that he probably lyrics was making a joke without thinking about how it may come across.
OTOH, it does sound similar to some of the not so subtle shots that Brandon took at Rich Rod.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 8th, 2016 at 3:04 PM ^
Weeeeellllll... yeah
December 8th, 2016 at 3:07 PM ^
They had some great weeks of practice though.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 3:28 PM ^
Leave Brady Alone!!!!!
December 8th, 2016 at 6:42 PM ^
anymore (if it ever was). I mean, every single thread referencing Hoke contains the same two jokes: at least they had good practices, and clap, clap, clap. Come up with some new material, guys!
December 8th, 2016 at 7:15 PM ^
We just failed to execute?
I was aware but not completely aware?
The playbook isn't as thin as you suggest.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^
In 2015, leaving out the overtimes in which Oregon gave up between 45 and 61 points, remember that they gave up:
62 to Utah
42 to Oregon State (a team we beat 35-7)
and 42 to East Washington (!!!!)
Then they lost some of their better defensive players. I have no idea if Hoke is a decent defensive coordinator or not because this was an impossible situation to succeed in. Maybe he does suck; maybe he's good. 2016 Oregon was fucking mess that tells nothing.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:59 PM ^
'em Wilford.
Obligatory:
December 8th, 2016 at 5:10 PM ^
Sure hope the Hoke's were renting.
December 8th, 2016 at 7:01 PM ^
last year in DFEI, which is very bad. They were 127th this year which is absolutely horrendous. I mean, that a P5 school with their resources could possibly be that bad is...wow. I mean, we talk about transition costs around here, but when your unit has that much improvement to make, it seems like a change couldn't do anything but at least bring a regression towards the mean.
The perception around here was that he was never really an X's and O's guru, but he could teach DL technique and recruit. Since recruiting doesn't take effect for a couple years, he was never going to be a quick fix guy. Had no chance in one year. I'm not sure about the personnel changes from last year, but to get worse didn't seem possible, either.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:15 PM ^
Brandon's a skid mark. I'd hope the university president would be above that.
December 8th, 2016 at 5:57 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:47 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:47 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
Oregon finished the 2015 season ranked 116th in total defense, surrenduring 485 yards a game. This year, they ended up ranked 126th out of 128 teams (and were dead last for long stretches of the season), surrendering 518 yards a game. I don't know how many starters Oregon returned this year, but Hoke took over an already terrible defense and somehow managed to make it significantly worse.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 3:50 PM ^
take that teams ranked 127th and 128th?
December 8th, 2016 at 5:10 PM ^
They lose a bunch of guys, returning just 5-6 starters. They lost pretty much their entire front 7
http://nationalchamps.net/2016/earlybird/teams/oregon.htm
December 8th, 2016 at 7:04 PM ^
defense isn't the best metric for a fast paced team that is going to give their opponents 2-3 extra drives per game. Last year, on a per drive basis they were 84th, but this year, they were even worse than their total offense numbers were (127th).
December 8th, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^
...Oregon had a top 30 defense going back to 2010, according to S&P rankings. I don't know what happened in 2015 and didn't watch them at all this season, so I don't know know how much is the players and how much is on the coaching. But their defense will be left out to dry if the offense goes 3 and out in 30 seconds.
I don't think it's a coincidence that their defense started sucking once Mariota left. If you don't have a QB that can keep you on the field and score points, your defense will eventually fall apart.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:07 PM ^
Oregon's longtime DC Nick Aliotti, who fielded some pretty decent defenses, retired after the 2013 season. Helfrich elevated his LB coach Don Pellum to DC in 2014, then demoted him back to LB coach upon hiring Hoke in 2016. Pellum and Hoke ran Oregon's defense into the ground.
December 8th, 2016 at 5:23 PM ^
They also lost basically their entire front 7. I know Hoke is MgoBlog's favorite punching bag even 2 years after he moved on, but you can't reasonably expect anyone to succeed in that situation in 1 year.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:41 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
He didn't need to say anything at all about the defense. Everyone saw for themselves.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^
Most Pac12 programs could say this. It isn't exactly the land of limiting opponents' offensive production.
December 8th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^
If Hoke was the problem why didnt he just fire him and keep Helfrich? Kinda of a cheap shot if you ask me.
And I'm the furthest thing from a Brady Hoke apologist you can find.......
December 8th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
I don't know how things are run at Oregon, but I have a hard time imagine one of our prseidents firing a football coordinator.
December 8th, 2016 at 7:09 PM ^
have to sign off on firing coaches though? If so, and if he thought the problems were limited to defense (which these comments clearly imply), it seems like he could have been like, wait, why fire Helfrich if the defense is the only problem?
December 8th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^
If you decide to keep Helfrich with the understanding of getting rid of Hoke, what makes you think Helfrich can make a good hire? After all, he was the one who chose to hire a guy with no collegiate coordinating experience in the first place. That gives me zero confidence he can actually hire a competent DC.
December 8th, 2016 at 3:21 PM ^
I was stating you dont take a shot at a subordinate when the supervisor was the real problem. He obviously doesnt make decisions on the football staff make-up but he knew enough about the football team's struggles to basically call out Hoke as the issue - not Helfrich.
What he SHOULD have said is something like "Welcome to Oregon football. The expectations here are high - we're confident we've chosen the right man to meet them" and not take the opportunity to slam an assistant coach in public.
Jesus....how on earth did I become the guy sticking up for Brady Hoke?
December 8th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
December 8th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
Hoke wasn't the only defensive problem (promoting the LB coach to DC in 2014, as discussed in this thread, seems to have been the start of the trouble) so I don't think firing him would be enough.
And, let's face it, our last two coaches failed in part because their assistant coaches could not get the job done. You could ask almost the same question about Rich Rodriguez and the practicality of just firing GERG. Hypothetically, RichRod with Don Brown as DC is a pretty good combo, right?
But head coaches are responsible for their staffs. Helfrich was incapable of 1. Seeing the problem and 2. correcting the problem.
Much the same way Hoke was incapable of seeing and addressing serious offensive problems early in his tenure when he had time to correct them. Hoke isn't the one who couldn't coach OL technique, and Hoke isn't the one whose mad genius playbook combined with completely unoriginal game-long playcalling to sink Borges, and Hoke wasn't the one who ruined Devin Gardner, and Hoke wasn't the one who couldn't teach RBs to run through holes that were open.
But it was his responsibility to make sure those things were taking place, and they weren't. Helfrich may be a good coordinator, but as a head coach he was unable to manage his program and to properly address problems with defense.
The way he said that was a cheap shot, but he wasn't wrong.