Leavitt/Holtz/Taggart

[CousinRicky]

So let's NOT give credit to the Marketing Dept who gets bashed all the time on this Board. I'm sure the first thing Coach Taggart said to Doug after the hire. Let's remember to send a Xmas card to all the guys on the Bullspen.

[Hem]

Good job marketing. Now keep it up.

[Dhambuc]

Good job marketing. Now keep it up.

This.

[Sitting_BULL]

In my opinion you aren't comparing apples to oranges when comparing Leavitt's tenure to Skip's. Leavitt had a true passion for the program, but really only had a few years to begin to recruit true BCS caliber players. I always felt that it was because of the constant upgrading in level of competition we faced that we were just a couple of players away. With Leavitt's teams (especially 2007 and 2008) I really felt it was a depth problem just because we hadn't really gone through a complete recruiting cycle of being able to recruit the best players yet. I don't care what anyone says, the best players want to play for a team that has a real chance at a National Championship. AS a non BCS team ( like we were prior to BE), we didn't really have access to the highest level of recruit and we really just started to land a few of them. I remember watching the UCONN game in 2008 from the stands and the offense had 8 freshman lined up in the 2nd half. I truly believe that Leavitt got the players to play above their talent level. I don't believe that Leavitt was a good game day coach, but I think he learned and started to grow into it. One example is the voodoo five game. Everyone remembers the voodoo five play, but if he was smart, all Leavitt had to do was a kick a FG from XP range instead of go for the TD. Our D held UCONN to, I think negative yards, the entire second half of that game. I believe we ended up getting back into FG range with time left. Leavitt made dumb decisions, but started to get better.

When I look back on Skip's time here I just believe, for whatever reason, Skip was in over his head at this level. Go back to his first year and the way the team ran the offense. He had no idea what he had in BJ and he was afraid to use him properly. He kept the reins on him. Period. It was pretty evident that Skip wasn't ready to be a good game day decision maker by his consistently poor time management. The problem with Skip is that he kept making the same exact mistakes over and over. Skip ended up a little thin at WR his first couple of years because of injuries and this past year at QB and DB. I just believe Skip did more damage himself because of game management than anything else.

One comment I just read from Taggart that makes a lot of sense and that I had not thought of before, seems like he really gets it. He believes you have to hit the ground running and win now. It makes a lot of sense to me because the kids only get 4 years. It isn't the NFL where you can really build for the future. The team better start winning in year 2 and keep improving into year 3. I don't think in college, unless you are one of the top 8 to 10 legacy programs, you can wait 3 or 4 years until "your kids" are upperclassman to start the turnaround process and I think that's what was happening with Skip.

Just my two cents worth.

Mostly agree with your assessment of Leavitt. Every time he got us competitive, we jumped in competition. We got ranked in top 25 in 1-AA, then BAM, we go 1-A then BAM, we go C-USA then BAM, we go BCS then BAM, we start playing annual ooc series against Miami, etc, etc. He never really had time to get his feet on the ground at any level before that level was raised AGAIN.

Skip was lost on Florida speed. He had no idea how to use it! BTW - he didn't beat Notre Dame. They turned it over like 6 times in scoring position. Take just one of those away and they win!

Tag - we may never know? with the crappy conference situation, we will not be getting top recruits anymore. If anyone saw the Beef Bowl tonight, that's the new future of USF football.

Edited December 22, 2012 by Sitting_BULL

[charsibb]

I don't recall Leavitt or Holtz sending one of these to me!

Why would they send you a card from Willie Taggart?

OK... That was funny

Thanks Grafty, I didn't understand Trips comment until you made yours. I'm a little slow tonight apparently.

[TrujilloBull2013]

with the crappy conference situation, we will not be getting top recruits anymore.

with the exception of a couple big names every year or two, when did we ever get top recruits?

and if we're in a "crappy conference situation," why do we need top recruits? the majority of other teams in the conference won't have any better recruits than we do.

coaching is not just recruiting 5 star athletes and throwing them on the field. coaching is about DEVELOPING players. if Taggart is a good coach, he will develop the 3 star players we get into winners. the idea that all USF needs is 5 star recruits to dominate is simplistic and unrealistic. give USF Alabama's recruits or Florida's recruits or FSU's recruits and even Skip might have won 3 or 4 games in conference.

the point is we don't-- and shouldnt-- need that to win in a conference with Tulane and Temple. we shouldnt have needed that to win in a conference with Cuse and Pitt, either.

[slowdown]

Leavitt was great he brought a ton of energy into the program which he had to, to build it as quickly as he did. On the flip he was always a little quirky which hurt him with the media, local coaches, and probably hurt a little bit in recruiting. I think his downfall was when the program begin stabilizing he never was able to step back and reevaluate. He rightly knew the team was best built around defense but he may have spent too much energy on defense and special teams and never looked enough at the offense, especially later when he had more money and could've at least brought in some better assistants for that side of the ball. The overall lack of coaching always left us asking our QB's to do everything.

Holtz, I don't want to say too much just now. Its too soon. But obviously he made/allowed the defense to became way, way, way too soft. I wonder how much he and the staff believed in these players and the program in general. In recruiting I've heard that we barely went after a lot of the top locals, and were too critical in evaluating the local talent in general. He was more of a balanced mindset compared to Leavitt but I think he missed the mark on defense. His media relations were better but when youre losing the questions get much more difficult.

Taggart hopefully is going to kill it in recruiting. I'm a little leery of the offensive staff but if he wants to focus on offense like defense like Leavitt did on defense, I think it will be okay so long as he brings in a top defensive coordinator. Seems to be a great personality too.

[Sitting_BULL]

with the crappy conference situation, we will not be getting top recruits anymore.

with the exception of a couple big names every year or two, when did we ever get top recruits?

and if we're in a "crappy conference situation," why do we need top recruits? the majority of other teams in the conference won't have any better recruits than we do.

coaching is not just recruiting 5 star athletes and throwing them on the field. coaching is about DEVELOPING players. if Taggart is a good coach, he will develop the 3 star players we get into winners. the idea that all USF needs is 5 star recruits to dominate is simplistic and unrealistic. give USF Alabama's recruits or Florida's recruits or FSU's recruits and even Skip might have won 3 or 4 games in conference.

the point is we don't-- and shouldnt-- need that to win in a conference with Tulane and Temple. we shouldnt have needed that to win in a conference with Cuse and Pitt, either.

Not sure how to put it, but you kinda missed AND made my point all at the same time, if that is possible? Leavitt was starting to bring in a few top recruits each year. Something we needed to compete at the BCS level and something skip failed to do. Now as you say, we don't need the JPP's, Andre Hall's, Jaquan Williams's, etc, etc, because all we have to do is beat SMU, Tulane, E Carolina, Memphis etc. TRUE, but does that make you happy with the direction of our program? NOT ME!

[Who'sYourData?]

Leavitt was starting to bring in a few top recruits each year. Something we needed to compete at the BCS level and something skip failed to do.

How do you define "top recuits"? Skip had exactly two recruiting classes. We don't know how those will turn out yet, but several of the players from his first class were getting playing time and playing pretty darn well last season.

From Leavitt's classes, exactly which "top recruits" did anything the last two years? I count BJ Daniels, Kayvon Webster and Barrington. There were an awful lot of failures in a very large senior class that was all Leavitt recruits.

Thus far, I would say that Holtz may or may not have recruited all that well. But Leavitt's last couple of recruiting classes were dreadful.

[Sitting_BULL]

Leavitt was starting to bring in a few top recruits each year. Something we needed to compete at the BCS level and something skip failed to do.

How do you define "top recuits"? Skip had exactly two recruiting classes. We don't know how those will turn out yet, but several of the players from his first class were getting playing time and playing pretty darn well last season.

From Leavitt's classes, exactly which "top recruits" did anything the last two years? I count BJ Daniels, Kayvon Webster and Barrington. There were an awful lot of failures in a very large senior class that was all Leavitt recruits.

Thus far, I would say that Holtz may or may not have recruited all that well. But Leavitt's last couple of recruiting classes were dreadful.

It's kinda hard to say they were the problem when they weren't coached very well? Skip's system didn't favor speed & athleticism! When you say his recruits played well, to which of our 9 losses are you referring?