Quinton Flowers

[ckparrothead]

First off, it's not my job to have a plan for the quarterback position that Willie Taggart should have executed. It's his job. He interviewed for the South Florida football job. I did not. If I were to interview for that job I would **** well have a plan.

 

Two unexplored avenues do come to mind though with respect to that position. First he had the opportunity to recruit Brandon Mitchell from Arkansas in the wake of his strikeout with Clint Trickett. I happen to know Mitchell would've entertained that idea but USF had no real interest.

 

Now, Mitchell didn't light anything on fire but he did complete 57 percent of his passes at NCSU and he also converted 36.4 percent of 3rd downs on which he was given the ball. He also personally scored 9 touchdowns in 6 games, with 6 interceptions.

 

That may not look like much but the fact of the matter is our quarterbacks completed 46.5 percent of their passes, scored a TOTAL of 7 touchdowns in 12 games and only converted 25.7 percent of their 3rd downs (putrid). Oh and they collectively threw 16 interceptions.

 

We were beggars, and we decided to also be choosers. And that didn't work out too well.

 

Another avenue comes to mind with respect to Tyler Harris, who was definitely onto USF but ultimately we said no thank you to him and he went to UCF instead.

 

There was also a 6'6" kid at Western Kentucky that Willie Taggart himself had recruited that made it known he's transferring out of WKY, knew the system and could have been eligible to start by 2014. No interest. I don't know if that was good or bad but at worst you've got a different guy to sit the bench.

 

And absolutely when you are bringing along a true sophomore Mike White whom Willie even admits he played too early in his college career, and he starts showing signs of improvement against playable teams like Connecticut and East Carolina, and then comes out and has a legit great game against Tulsa...you don't bench the guy one week later.

 

And if you DO bench him one week later and you go to Steven Bench, and he throws some touchdowns and gives you some good signs that way, you don't turn around and bench HIM one week later too. That just shows that when he benched White in favor of Bench it wasn't because he thought Bench was any good. It was just because he was desperate.

 

And that's what Willie's treatment of the quarterbacks has smelled like for two years. Desperation.

[BullDoug]

"Throwing is overated for QBs."

 

LOL...I know right?...

Edited November 7, 2014 by BullDoug

[Gismo]

Willie Taggart has committed two sins in my opinion since joining USF.

1. He had no idea what he was going to do at QB when he took the job. Or if he did have a plan, it wasn't a good one.

2. He's not been decisive about that position since coming here. He waffles. He commits to one guy and says this is the guy period, but then he takes that guy out to try another guy. Then he takes that second guy back out to put back in the original guy. He commits to never playing the freshman because he doesn't want to throw him to the wolves, then breaks that commitment. Two years in a row he's done that. There's no decisiveness with respect to the quarterback position.

You could make a case that these are fireable offenses. He's building the program with some good recruiting and I think he's got some good assistants, but they're no closer to winning because of the two issues above. They've been wasting time, not building toward anything.

If those are fireable offenses then so be it. Get him out. Bring in someone that won't make the same mistakes. But if you don't think they're fireable offenses, if you think he can learn from it and all that needs to happen is he needs to catch a break with his quarterback recruiting, then you're giving him through the end of 2016.

Maybe if he'd taken a good look at the qb situation before taking the job, he wouldn't have. How can you blame him for not having a good qb plan, or one at all, when he first took the job?? Plans are implemented by the tools you have available and the best made plans can bomb without the tools.

And as far as not being decisive about that position, have you not being paying attention at all this year to the conversations here. To some he's been decisive to a fault, sticking with White until the fiasco in CIncy. The problem is that neither qb has stepped up definitively to grab hold of the job .... maybe Flowers will do that if given the chance ... and it is still possible that it clicks with one of the other two at some point to take the reins.

Absolutely he should have had some ideas about the quarterback position even heading into the job interview. I'm in equities research. If I go interview for a job and they ask me for some stocks I like in a proposed sector and why, what do you think they'll say to me if my answer is "Hire me, I'll do some paid research, and then I'll let you know."?

And absolutely he's been indecisive about the position. He was indecisive in 2013 and he's been indecisive in 2014. When you name a starter, you name a starter. Especially when it's a young guy. He screws up and you let him work it out. And when you decide a guy is too young to play, and you acknowledge that you could ruin him by playing him too early, you STICK TO YOUR PRINICPLES. He hasn't done that in either season.

Back in 2013 he talked about his reluctance to put Mike White on the field because he was young, just a true freshman, and he wasn't ready. That lasted about 6 games and then he put him in for the 7th game, had him starting the 8th game. Of course prior to that he names Matt Floyd the starter, and that lasts all of one game, then it's Bobby Eveld, then it's Steven Bench, then it's Bobby Eveld again, and then finally Mike White.

We're re-living that in 2014. Quinton Flowers is a guy that re-defines the term "raw" and he's a true freshman. You don't want him to play this year. So sophomore Mike White is the starter. But by the THIRD GAME you're already coming up with packages for Quinton Flowers? Really? And the kid throws more interceptions than complete passes. Big surprise.

So then you go back to just playing Mike White. He shows improvement against teams like Connecticut and East Carolina. Forget Wisconsin, we were way outclassed in that game and we were lucky to keep it as close as we did. Then against Tulsa, Mike White leads the team on an incredible comeback, drops all those pretty passes right in Andre Davis' lap, and has a day that I'm not sure I've seen a USF quarterback have since B.J. Daniels, if not Matt Grothe.

ONE WEEK LATER...he's benched partway through the Cincinnati game. Oh and then Steven Bench throws a couple of touchdowns against Cincinnati, gives you a little bit of hope there, and ONE WEEK LATER we're already putting that neon green freshman back on the field.

This is not being decisive on the quarterback issue. Just because you're on the internet and you're part of the 60 nanosecond fan cycle of what have you done for me lately, doesn't mean that Willie Taggart would have to be changing quarterbacks every other pass play before fans start to sit back and realize he's even more indecisive and impatient than they are.

For a COACH, Willie Taggart has been quite indecisive about this position for two years. Yes he's working with chicken **** and trying to make it into chicken salad. But he's not doing it as well as he could.

White sucks. He should be benched if he's not the best guy. 75% of the time White's play sucks. It's dumb to keep the better player benched in some hold out hope the guy who first seemed better actually improves.

White has had what, 1-1/2 good games since being named starter?

[Triple B]

First off, it's not my job to have a plan for the quarterback position that Willie Taggart should have executed. It's his job. He interviewed for the South Florida football job. I did not. If I were to interview for that job I would **** well have a plan.

 

 

You'd have a specific plan for the qb position before you interviewed ..... or am I reading that wrong? 

[NCBull]

Willie Taggart has committed two sins in my opinion since joining USF.

1. He had no idea what he was going to do at QB when he took the job. Or if he did have a plan, it wasn't a good one.

2. He's not been decisive about that position since coming here. He waffles. He commits to one guy and says this is the guy period, but then he takes that guy out to try another guy. Then he takes that second guy back out to put back in the original guy. He commits to never playing the freshman because he doesn't want to throw him to the wolves, then breaks that commitment. Two years in a row he's done that. There's no decisiveness with respect to the quarterback position.

You could make a case that these are fireable offenses. He's building the program with some good recruiting and I think he's got some good assistants, but they're no closer to winning because of the two issues above. They've been wasting time, not building toward anything.

If those are fireable offenses then so be it. Get him out. Bring in someone that won't make the same mistakes. But if you don't think they're fireable offenses, if you think he can learn from it and all that needs to happen is he needs to catch a break with his quarterback recruiting, then you're giving him through the end of 2016.

Maybe if he'd taken a good look at the qb situation before taking the job, he wouldn't have. How can you blame him for not having a good qb plan, or one at all, when he first took the job?? Plans are implemented by the tools you have available and the best made plans can bomb without the tools.

And as far as not being decisive about that position, have you not being paying attention at all this year to the conversations here. To some he's been decisive to a fault, sticking with White until the fiasco in CIncy. The problem is that neither qb has stepped up definitively to grab hold of the job .... maybe Flowers will do that if given the chance ... and it is still possible that it clicks with one of the other two at some point to take the reins.

Absolutely he should have had some ideas about the quarterback position even heading into the job interview. I'm in equities research. If I go interview for a job and they ask me for some stocks I like in a proposed sector and why, what do you think they'll say to me if my answer is "Hire me, I'll do some paid research, and then I'll let you know."?

And absolutely he's been indecisive about the position. He was indecisive in 2013 and he's been indecisive in 2014. When you name a starter, you name a starter. Especially when it's a young guy. He screws up and you let him work it out. And when you decide a guy is too young to play, and you acknowledge that you could ruin him by playing him too early, you STICK TO YOUR PRINICPLES. He hasn't done that in either season.

Back in 2013 he talked about his reluctance to put Mike White on the field because he was young, just a true freshman, and he wasn't ready. That lasted about 6 games and then he put him in for the 7th game, had him starting the 8th game. Of course prior to that he names Matt Floyd the starter, and that lasts all of one game, then it's Bobby Eveld, then it's Steven Bench, then it's Bobby Eveld again, and then finally Mike White.

We're re-living that in 2014. Quinton Flowers is a guy that re-defines the term "raw" and he's a true freshman. You don't want him to play this year. So sophomore Mike White is the starter. But by the THIRD GAME you're already coming up with packages for Quinton Flowers? Really? And the kid throws more interceptions than complete passes. Big surprise.

So then you go back to just playing Mike White. He shows improvement against teams like Connecticut and East Carolina. Forget Wisconsin, we were way outclassed in that game and we were lucky to keep it as close as we did. Then against Tulsa, Mike White leads the team on an incredible comeback, drops all those pretty passes right in Andre Davis' lap, and has a day that I'm not sure I've seen a USF quarterback have since B.J. Daniels, if not Matt Grothe.

ONE WEEK LATER...he's benched partway through the Cincinnati game. Oh and then Steven Bench throws a couple of touchdowns against Cincinnati, gives you a little bit of hope there, and ONE WEEK LATER we're already putting that neon green freshman back on the field.

This is not being decisive on the quarterback issue. Just because you're on the internet and you're part of the 60 nanosecond fan cycle of what have you done for me lately, doesn't mean that Willie Taggart would have to be changing quarterbacks every other pass play before fans start to sit back and realize he's even more indecisive and impatient than they are.

For a COACH, Willie Taggart has been quite indecisive about this position for two years. Yes he's working with chicken **** and trying to make it into chicken salad. But he's not doing it as well as he could.

White sucks. He should be benched if he's not the best guy. 75% of the time White's play sucks. <b> It's dumb to keep the better player benched </b> in some hold out hope the guy who first seemed better actually improves.

White has had what, 1-1/2 good games since being named starter?

And who exactly is this "better player" we're keeping benched?

[BiggTipp]

In the world of "what have you done for me lately" and the obvious importance of "winning now", I seriously doubt Taggart would keep a better football player off the field....that could ultimately cost him his job...im pretty sure he wants to keep getting paid to coach football...

[Apis Bull]

In the world of "what have you done for me lately" and the obvious importance of "winning now", I seriously doubt Taggart would keep a better football player off the field....that could ultimately cost him his job...im pretty sure he wants to keep getting paid to coach football...

 

This.

[TallyBull]

In the world of "what have you done for me lately" and the obvious importance of "winning now", I seriously doubt Taggart would keep a better football player off the field....that could ultimately cost him his job...im pretty sure he wants to keep getting paid to coach football...

This.

Actually, if we were to fire him, he WOULD continue to get paid for NOT coaching football at USF. See Holtz, Skip; Leavitt, Jim; etc. Edited November 8, 2014 by TallyBull

[Triple B]

Actually, if we were to fire him, he WOULD continue to get paid for NOT coaching football at USF. See Holtz, Skip; Leavitt, Jim; etc.

 

We may have just inadvertently stumbled onto CWT's plan ...

[Who'sYourData?]

 

In the world of "what have you done for me lately" and the obvious importance of "winning now", I seriously doubt Taggart would keep a better football player off the field....that could ultimately cost him his job...im pretty sure he wants to keep getting paid to coach football...

 

This.

 

 

Everyone looks at the world in some manner of bias.  Many coaches get enamored with the upside of certain players and believe they can bring out the best in that player.  Clearly, White at his best is the best QB we have.  The problem is that White rarely plays at his best, and his worst (which we see much more often) is worse than other QBs we have.  Taggart has been hitching his wagon to upside, rather than taking lower upside but a better QB 75%+.

 

Of course he would not intentionally pick the player that isn't the best.  He is being deluded by potential, and that may be an even worse trait to have as a coach.  Coaches need to live in reality.