Partridge Right or Wrong?

[Rainy]

So, I'm cruising the internet tonight and run across JP's twitter feed. 11/11/18 twitter post shows Josh Caldwell and says "One of the worst decisions made by one program and one of the best by another one."

That got me to thinking how did this work out for MW? So, I pulled a few stats:

Year Yards Gained Avg Rushing YPC Avg YPG Coach

2018 2,824 5.50 219.50 MW

2017 2,750 5.00 216.70 MW

2016 2,688 4.70 218.10 JP

2015 2,289 4.2 180.50 JP

2014 1,917 3.7 146.00 JP



Don't get me wrong, I think JC is a great guy. However, it doesn't really look like we were hurt at all without him. I will also note that in 2017 (MW's first year) we had a very young offensive line.


The NW posters can let us know from their side if it was one of their "best" decisions.


From my perspective, the tweet doesn't appear to hold water.

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

MW had the best Oline in the conference by a decent margin. Who knows what Caldwell might have done behind it.

[Alfred33]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

The NW posters can let us know from their side if it was one of their "best" decisions.

I think from a statistical results standpoint, it was probably disappointing for both Northwest and Caldwell. I don't put that on the kid though... it's hard to know what might have been if he hadn't been banged up all year long. Add to that, he was part of a committee and Northwest didn't exactly have a road grader offensive line for him to produce behind. He showed some flashes and I think he proved he's a tough kid, because I don't think he was physically "right" for a good chunk of the season. I wouldn't say it was a bad decision or the wrong decision by any means, but it didn't become the perfect storm we had all hoped for.

[ForeverGreen]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

I think from a statistical results standpoint, it was probably disappointing for both Northwest and Caldwell. I don't put that on the kid though... it's hard to know what might have been if he hadn't been banged up all year long. Add to that, he was part of a committee and Northwest didn't exactly have a road grader offensive line for him to produce behind. He showed some flashes and I think he proved he's a tough kid, because I don't think he was physically "right" for a good chunk of the season. I wouldn't say it was a bad decision or the wrong decision by any means, but it didn't become the perfect storm we had all hoped for.

He played in the POs and MOWEST didn't. That is one measure of success.

[NWFanatic]

[Alfred33]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

He played in the POs and MOWEST didn't. That is one measure of success.

Right, and I realize you're just poking at the enemy, but I don't think Caldwell is necessarily the reason for either of those things. That said, maybe I shouldn't assume that it was disappointing for Caldwell, as he got to finish his career in the playoffs.

[Alfred33]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

Right, and I realize you're just poking at the enemy, but I don't think Caldwell is necessarily the reason for either of those things. That said, maybe I shouldn't assume that it was disappointing for Caldwell, as he got to finish his career in the playoffs.

In regards to Rainy's question related to Jerry's Twitter post, was it one of the "best" decisions ever made by Northwest?.... It was a decision that had less impact than I had hoped for. No regrets as a Northwest fan, but I don't think it really affected the trajectory of either team.

[HookemHerd]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

Really don't think he affected either teams year all that much. Better he left, things went south, can't have that attitude affect the rest of the team

[Psycho]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

Right, and I realize you're just poking at the enemy, but I don't think Caldwell is necessarily the reason for either of those things. That said, maybe I shouldn't assume that it was disappointing for Caldwell, as he got to finish his career in the playoffs.

If there's any consolation, his team lost to the team that barely (on the scoreboard, anyway) lost the NC.

[NWFanatic]

[GrifFan]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

None of us really knows what happened that led to Caldwell's departure/dismissal from the team. Without knowing that, it's impossible to say whether Missouri Western's decision was a good one or a bad one.

Certainly from a football perspective, he was very talented: an all-region, maybe All-American caliber performer. If he had continued to play for the Griffons last year and this year and matched his career averages, he would have been the all-time leader in rushing touchdowns, and second only behind Michael Hill in rushing and all-purpose yards. But we had a pretty good collection of backs this year without him; while his addition would have improved the position, and that may have led to even better rushing stats, I don't think that would have resulted in many (or any?) more wins.

From the Northwest perspective, of course it was a good decision. It just didn't have much of an impact, at least by Bearcat standards.

He went from one of the all-time greats at Missouri Western to a footnote in one of Northwest's most forgettable seasons of the last 20 years.* Only he can answer whether the shared conference championship game and two playoff games were a good trade-off.

*To save the snark, yes, that says something about where both programs are at.

[HookemHerd]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

None of us really knows what happened that led to Caldwell's departure/dismissal from the team. Without knowing that, it's impossible to say whether Missouri Western's decision was a good one or a bad one.

Certainly from a football perspective, he was very talented: an all-region, maybe All-American caliber performer. If he had continued to play for the Griffons last year and this year and matched his career averages, he would have been the all-time leader in rushing touchdowns, and second only behind Michael Hill in rushing and all-purpose yards. But we had a pretty good collection of backs this year without him; while his addition would have improved the position, and that may have led to even better rushing stats, I don't think that would have resulted in many (or any?) more wins.

From the Northwest perspective, of course it was a good decision. It just didn't have much of an impact, at least by Bearcat standards.

He went from one of the all-time greats at Missouri Western to a footnote in one of Northwest's most forgettable seasons of the last 20 years.* Only he can answer whether the shared conference championship game and two playoff games were a good trade-off.

*To save the snark, yes, that says something about where both programs are at.

I'd assume it was a no for him. He wasn't the featured back, didn't have a great year. And his teammates that he grew up with at MWSU, he kind of burned a bridge with. Blew a legacy at MW because he was a traitor. Doesn't have a legacy at NW because he wasn't a stand out. In 10 years MW doesn't welcome him with open arms. In 10 years NW maybe remembers the name.

[JR Chaney]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

I'd assume it was a no for him. He wasn't the featured back, didn't have a great year. And his teammates that he grew up with at MWSU, he kind of burned a bridge with. Blew a legacy at MW because he was a traitor. Doesn't have a legacy at NW because he wasn't a stand out. In 10 years MW doesn't welcome him with open arms. In 10 years NW maybe remembers the name.

I think this is a reach. From what I saw after the MoWest game, not all the teammates from MoWest had an issue with him. He seemed like a great kid, he got to play for 2 programs, made some friends, and most importantly he got a piece of paper that will help him in life.

[BearcatDude]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

I think this is a reach. From what I saw after the MoWest game, not all the teammates from MoWest had an issue with him. He seemed like a great kid, he got to play for 2 programs, made some friends, and most importantly he got a piece of paper that will help him in life.

Yeah - I follow him on the Tweet machine, and he appears to still have lots of friends on the MW team that he interacts with. It was just the HC that he didn't get along with there. He took a pretty good hit in that game too which I think limited him a bit, and then the UCO hit really knocked him out of commission for about 6 weeks. But once he was healthy, you could see his power and talent!

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Partridge Right or Wrong?

Was he taking graduate classes at NW?