ECU

[1st Down]

Re: ECU

Still scratching my head on this Johnson hire, the guy has no idea what D2 football is and has zero ties to Oklahoma. He has only been apart of big time college ball in Wisconsin and decided to not start until Jan 3rd, over a month after the new SWOSU had been out on the road recruiting. I know he wanted to finish the season with Wisconsin, but you are a GA, not even a position coach, go get things rolling at your new job. So you would think he would hire some guys with Oklahoma or D2 ties for his staff, nope hired a couple of guys that have very little D2 experience with a guy that played at ECU. No one on the staff has any idea about the conference except for a guy that played 2 years ago. Not sure what the ECU Administration was thinking here.
At least SWOSU hired some guys with D2 experience that will know the conferece and D2. Not many with Oklahoma ties to help with reccruiting. Look at the successful Oklahoma D2 guys and they know the school and the conference. Bobeck at UCO played at and coached there beofre going back to be the head coach. Atterbury at SE did the same thing and had been at the D2 level the entire time. Walter who is turning around the NWOSU program was an alum and coached at D2 level for 6 years at a successful university. Just because someone coached at the D1 level and played at the NFL level doesnt always mean they are going to be the right fit. I am an Oklahoma guy and want all the programs to be successful. Time will tell ECU!!!!

[Finishempty Fred]

Re: ECU

Still scratching my head on this Johnson hire, the guy has no idea what D2 football is and has zero ties to Oklahoma. He has only been apart of big time college ball in Wisconsin and decided to not start until Jan 3rd, over a month after the new SWOSU had been out on the road recruiting. I know he wanted to finish the season with Wisconsin, but you are a GA, not even a position coach, go get things rolling at your new job. So you would think he would hire some guys with Oklahoma or D2 ties for his staff, nope hired a couple of guys that have very little D2 experience with a guy that played at ECU. No one on the staff has any idea about the conference except for a guy that played 2 years ago. Not sure what the ECU Administration was thinking here.
At least SWOSU hired some guys with D2 experience that will know the conferece and D2. Not many with Oklahoma ties to help with reccruiting. Look at the successful Oklahoma D2 guys and they know the school and the conference. Bobeck at UCO played at and coached there beofre going back to be the head coach. Atterbury at SE did the same thing and had been at the D2 level the entire time. Walter who is turning around the NWOSU program was an alum and coached at D2 level for 6 years at a successful university. Just because someone coached at the D1 level and played at the NFL level doesnt always mean they are going to be the right fit. I am an Oklahoma guy and want all the programs to be successful. Time will tell ECU!!!!

I agree, but I wish the new staff nothing but success which will only make the GAC more competitive against the so called power D2 conferences.

[Wallst]

Re: ECU

Still scratching my head on this Johnson hire, the guy has no idea what D2 football is and has zero ties to Oklahoma. He has only been apart of big time college ball in Wisconsin and decided to not start until Jan 3rd, over a month after the new SWOSU had been out on the road recruiting. I know he wanted to finish the season with Wisconsin, but you are a GA, not even a position coach, go get things rolling at your new job. So you would think he would hire some guys with Oklahoma or D2 ties for his staff, nope hired a couple of guys that have very little D2 experience with a guy that played at ECU. No one on the staff has any idea about the conference except for a guy that played 2 years ago. Not sure what the ECU Administration was thinking here.
At least SWOSU hired some guys with D2 experience that will know the conferece and D2. Not many with Oklahoma ties to help with reccruiting. Look at the successful Oklahoma D2 guys and they know the school and the conference. Bobeck at UCO played at and coached there beofre going back to be the head coach. Atterbury at SE did the same thing and had been at the D2 level the entire time. Walter who is turning around the NWOSU program was an alum and coached at D2 level for 6 years at a successful university. Just because someone coached at the D1 level and played at the NFL level doesnt always mean they are going to be the right fit. I am an Oklahoma guy and want all the programs to be successful. Time will tell ECU!!!!

And apparently believe that only an Oklahoma guy with ties to Oklahoma can win at an Oklahoma school. Atterbury has been ok since he got there but SE hardly ever beats anyone who is any good (they did beat OBU this year) but since he has been there they are always 6-5/7-4 with their wins against the weak of the conference. As for NWOSU I'm not sure a one game improvement each year is what I would consider a turnaround but at least he is trending the right direction. Yet he still lacks wins over the elite of the league. Johnson might fall flat on his face but if he does it won't be because he isn't from OK. He will fail because he doesn't realize the duties of a head coach are as much off the field than on the field.
If you are an 18yo high school kid and 2 coaches come to your door. One of them know's the kids cousin because his aunt dated the postman and he watched him play football since pee wee league gives his spiel. The next coach comes to the door and he played in the NFL and coached at a D1 school in the big 10. As far as 18yo's go, who has the bona fides? the creds?

[1st Down]

Re: ECU

I just think they should have looked into someone with D2 or Oklahoma ties to build a program. Actually Atterbury was at Texas AM Kingsville for 6 years and took them to the playoffs twice and is winning games in the dump of SE. NWOSU is defnitely trending in the right direction and will win more games this year. I don't get how playing in the NFL and coaching at the D1 level translats to success at the D2 level. I know Carthel had neither and non the the guys that won Championships at NW Missouri had any d1 experience or spent time in the NFL. If I am an 18yo I want to go somewhere that has had success and knows how to win. I'm sure all the HS coaches will be awed and amazed at playing in the NFL and being at Wisconsin.

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

You're right, 1st down. ECU hired someone with no D2 coaching experience and someone who isn't from Oklahoma, but SWOSU hired someone who needs a freakign apple crate to stand on at the podium to reach the mic. How can someone who is only 5'2" has success coaching at a D2 school in Oklahoma???

A lot of people close to ECU program would argue that the program Coach Johnson is getting is already built with a solid foundation. What most people think that have met the man and spoke with him think that the biggest thing Johnson is bringing to the program is a new yougn face, and a new energy/culture which we have seen at all levels could make the difference in winning and losing.

AS to the point where Coach Johnson doesn't know anything about Oklahoma... ECU has one of the strongest alumni networks in the state of Oklahoma. There are a ton of great HS
coaches with ECU ties making sure Johnson knows who is where and doing what. Also, seems like the SWOSU staff sure is tweeting out alot of recruits that have area codes that arent 580, 405, or 918.

Also, ECU has been average and worse with D2 guys with Oklahoma ties, SWOSU has been average or worse with D2 guys with Oklama ties. Same for SEOSU. Why continue this trend? Why not try a guy with an outstanding playing career and a strong young coaching career?

Again, 1st down, I could be blowing just as smoke as you are, but time will tell. The future is bright at ECU.

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

Also, 1st down, who should ECU have hired?

[Finishempty Fred]

Re: ECU

Also, 1st down, who should ECU have hired?

Bob Stoops has Oklahoma ties.

[1st Down]

Re: ECU

Commerce DC Deason who is fresh off a National Chamionship who spent some time at ECU wouldn't have been a bad choice. There are a number of good young coordinators in the conference that I think would have done a good job. Or the numerous of great High School Head Coaches in the state of Oklahoma. Time will tell with Johnson, just don't like what I have seen so far. We will see if they get anyone signed since he didnt start until after the first of the year and then had to put a staff togather to then go out and recruit where they knew no body. Pobolish has had some success in the coaching ranks, but question how he got demoted from OC at Southeaster Louisana.

[TigerGuy]

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

Commerce DC Deason who is fresh off a National Chamionship who spent some time at ECU wouldn't have been a bad choice. There are a number of good young coordinators in the conference that I think would have done a good job. Or the numerous of great High School Head Coaches in the state of Oklahoma. Time will tell with Johnson, just don't like what I have seen so far. We will see if they get anyone signed since he didnt start until after the first of the year and then had to put a staff togather to then go out and recruit where they knew no body. Pobolish has had some success in the coaching ranks, but question how he got demoted from OC at Southeaster Louisana.

This is pretty interesting that someone thinks like this. Do you think Coach Johnson wasn't already trying to assemble a staff before he stepped foot in Ada OK on Jan 3rd? Do you think that no one from ECU recruited while Coach Johnson was still coaching the Orange Bowl? Do you think that Coach Johnson and staff just had to go door to door around OK/TX to find players?

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

According to Twitter, SWOSU and Pobolish signed 50 HS kids and almost half were Texas kids. I'm sure the HS coaches in Oklahoma love that.

[1st Down]

Re: ECU

Maybe he was trying to assemble a staff before he got to Ada, but they werent on the road recruiting. He only had 1 hold over from the previous staff that was an equipment manager, so maybe he was out recruiting. According to NCAA rules coaches can't get out recruiting until they are officially hired by the university, so I don't think they were out recruiting before Johnson arrived. Only signing 22 guys for a team that has won only 3 games the past 2 years doesnt look good. They should be out there signing 50 like SWOSU did.

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

Maybe he was trying to assemble a staff before he got to Ada, but they werent on the road recruiting. He only had 1 hold over from the previous staff that was an equipment manager, so maybe he was out recruiting. According to NCAA rules coaches can't get out recruiting until they are officially hired by the university, so I don't think they were out recruiting before Johnson arrived. Only signing 22 guys for a team that has won only 3 games the past 2 years doesnt look good. They should be out there signing 50 like SWOSU did.

It's clear you are just reading articles and creating your opinion from that and that's fair, but most of what you said in this post is incorrect. What doesn't look good about signing 22 players? I'm not saying that it's great, but what is bad about that in your opinion?

And to be fair, it seems that the number of high school kids SWOSU signed included all walk ons. ECU's 22 does not include the players they are allowing to walk on.

[1st Down]

Re: ECU

What is incorrect? As a new coach coming in you want to clean out some trash and problem guys, there has to be something wrong with the lack of success. Therfore that would create more money to bring more guys in that are YOUR guys. Guys that you want to biuld YOUR program with. How do you know some of SWOSU guys were walk ons?

[TigerGuy]

Re: ECU

Incorrect: To think he wasn't building staff while still at Wisc is just wrong. They had several GA's out recruiting from the previous staff. It was a good transition I think from old staff to new, and the guys that were around helped the cause. The equipment manager did start out as one, but he has been a full time position coach the last two years. Also, what makes you think there were trash or problem guys? If there was, maybe they were seniors and are go. Maybe the problem was the old staff?

Also, I've heard almost zero players left on the SWOSU team from players there currently. Seems weird to since 50 plus with not very many players leaving. One would wonder what type of quality players they are signing with not very much money to give out.

Again, we only know of the HS kids Johnson signed to a scholar ship. We don't know how many walkons he will get, we don't know how many JUCO kids he will get between now and August, and we don't know how many players will leave after Spring Ball.

Just relax little buddy. Every coach is different. Tell will answer all of our questions.