CWT is building a program

[Buller64]

It is easy to see that this team is not where we want it to be. It is easy to say fire _____. It is easy to blame the past coach. However, it is not so easy to see what is really happening.

 

What is happening is that CWT is building a program that will be self- sustaining. When fixing a program it is often necessary to tear down what has existed before and start new. This process is painful for those involved, results usually deteriorate, and it is very frustrating. When observing this process you need to look at where the changes are being made and determine if it is an improvement over what has gone before. This is a judgment call since there is always resistance to real change. That is what is happening in USF football.

 

What CWT has done is determine where changes need to be made (and they are extensive) and how these changes are to be made. Most of this work was done over the summer and the implementation of the changes began with the fall practice. If his plan is to work he needs to stick to it, regardless of the early results. Those of you who have gone through major overhauls at their job know what I'm talking about. This is not done quickly and painlessly and a football team isn't any faster than changes in the corporate world. So with that said what do we know of the CWT plan.

 

One, he wants to build the program from beginning to end. This means that you don't go after temporary and quick fixes like JUCO players, that only delays the implementation. You don't adjust to the talent level that is currently here because that delays the development of the newer players as they are constantly learning a different system. It is CWT's plan to improve the program by immersing players in it from the very beginning from frosh to seniors. This means that by the time players are seniors they know the program very well. But in the short term you take some lumps.

 

Two, he wants to alter the strength and conditioning program. The results from this won't be seen for over a year, this takes time for the program to work and show results. 

 

Three, he wants to change the attitude of we competed well to WTF??? we didn't win? That's a cultural change and will require getting rid of some deadweight but first you need to identify it. This process is already happening. We already lost some players to transfer, we will lose more. You need to hold players accountable. Some players have already had their playing time reduced, a couple of players have been benched, and few players have received punishment drills in practice. Others are getting better and getting more time. This one can only be evaluated by observing who gets how much playing time.

 

These are the observable changes that I have seen since the start of the season. I'm not privy to what's going on in the locker room but I do know that coaches are not happy with performance and there will be changes made as soon as they have the ability to make those changes (i.e. the replacements know enough to play).

 

Bottom line is that this is a work in progress and the team will take a couple of steps back before it goes forward. The encouraging part is that we are seeing signs of the program moving forward. The use of Bench (even though he is not ready yet), Tice being looked at as the number 2 running back instead of Pierre (who wasn't getting the job done), more frosh working in the secondary, more rotations on the Dline, etc. 

[Skingraft]

Another solid post

[slick1ru2]

So was Skip Holtz, Lane Kiffin, etc.. Jury is out until he starts to win.. And at WKU he was winning 7 games in his best year (in the Sun Belt) something that would be considered a bad year here not long ago. Wish him the best, hope it works, but don't be shocked it it doesn't, don't blame the AD, blame him just like everyone blames Hotz. If Freeze can take a 2-10 team to 7 wins at Ole Miss in the SEC his first year, it shows that you can turn a team in a year.

[Bullrush33]

So was Skip Holtz, Lane Kiffin, etc.. Jury is out until he starts to win.. And at WKU he was winning 7 games in his best year (in the Sun Belt) something that would be considered a bad year here not long ago. Wish him the best, hope it works, but don't be shocked it it doesn't, don't blame the AD, blame him just like everyone blames Hotz. If Freeze can take a 2-10 team to 7 wins at Ole Miss in the SEC his first year, it shows that you can turn a team in a year.

Houston Nutt won games to. What happended to him at Ole Miss? Yes you can win games now but at what cost to the future of the program?  Coach T has already said this much. Do I modify the offense only to retrain later? They would always be in a state of change. I get the frustration but I do see what he  (Taggart) is trying to do. 

[slick1ru2]

 

So was Skip Holtz, Lane Kiffin, etc.. Jury is out until he starts to win.. And at WKU he was winning 7 games in his best year (in the Sun Belt) something that would be considered a bad year here not long ago. Wish him the best, hope it works, but don't be shocked it it doesn't, don't blame the AD, blame him just like everyone blames Hotz. If Freeze can take a 2-10 team to 7 wins at Ole Miss in the SEC his first year, it shows that you can turn a team in a year.

Houston Nutt won games to. What happended to him at Ole Miss? Yes you can win games now but at what cost to the future of the program?  Coach T has already said this much. Do I modify the offense only to retrain later? They would always be in a state of change. I get the frustration but I do see what he  (Taggart) is trying to do. 

 

 

 

Yeah I know he's doing that. It was my question on facebook that was answered in last week's radio interview on that topic. What I am saying is that it might not work. Hope that it does but keep it in the back of your mind. CWT at HC competed at a lower level and he wasn't winning 10 games a season.

Edited September 29, 2013 by slick1ru2

[Joe]

Winning 7 games at WKU is solid, saying he didn't do better is a tad asinine. I believe Taggart is the type guy who can build a pretty solid program in Tampa. We've already seen it on the recruiting trail.

That being said, people need to quit acting like criticizing him and his current staff for bad playcalling or decisions is off limits...

[JTrue]

That's assuming you think CWT is capable of making a bad decision.

[Joe]

So was Skip Holtz, Lane Kiffin, etc.. Jury is out until he starts to win.. And at WKU he was winning 7 games in his best year (in the Sun Belt) something that would be considered a bad year here not long ago. Wish him the best, hope it works, but don't be shocked it it doesn't, don't blame the AD, blame him just like everyone blames Hotz. If Freeze can take a 2-10 team to 7 wins at Ole Miss in the SEC his first year, it shows that you can turn a team in a year.

Houston Nutt won games to. What happended to him at Ole Miss? Yes you can win games now but at what cost to the future of the program? Coach T has already said this much. Do I modify the offense only to retrain later? They would always be in a state of change. I get the frustration but I do see what he (Taggart) is trying to do.

Yeah, I'd like to see him dumb the offense down. We've got a great running back who can handle a solid workload.

It happens all the time. Meyer dumbed down the spread with Leak at Florida. Harbaugh did at Stanford.

When you throw your offense to the fire of another system it's always a struggle. Rodriguez (Michigan) and Callahan (Nebraska) are glaring examples.

[Buller64]

I think that CWT did build a program at WKU. Petrino is continuing what he started. Kiffen didn't work out in USC. Holtz didn't work either (and its not working in LA either).

 

With a few exceptions I think coaching belongs to certain areas of the country. How many times has a successful coach moved from one part of the country to another and not succeeded? While coaches that move up the coaching tree that are successful tend to stay in the same geographic area? Consider Brian Kelly, has never coached outside of Big Ten territory, Bobby Petrino, never coached outside SEC territory, Charlie Strong, also SEC territory. Holtz moved from ACC to SEC territory and failed (also failing at La Tech). Kiffen moved from SEC territory to Pac-12 and failed. Saban was a SEC coach, who had fair success at Michigan State, but has excelled only when he got back to the SEC. In fact, only Urban Meyer has had success outside of his coaching tree (Big Ten territory) and even then he left Florida and Utah pretty bare. Dare I say George O'Leary is another example of a good SEC territory coach turning around another program in SEC territory (I know Georgia Tech is ACC but it has an SEC flavor).

 

This is why I think CWT can succeed here, he is a Florida and SEC territory coach, that's where is he is coaching and that's where he has coached and recruited in the past. Even when he coached at Stanford his connections were to Florida. CWT is a Florida coach and he is in his element. He is not going to be perfect and not all decisions will be uncontroversial. I think I should also note that Leavitt was the southern recruiter when at K State.

[JTrue]

So 1 win = failing and 0 wins = success? Why not just leave a flaming bag of poop on Holtz's doorstep and take CWT out for dinner and dancing? It's more subtle.