WT Football

[ASUPops]

Have you ever heard a head coach his first year tell the fans and alumni base "my goal is to just keep the program above water, graduate kids, and just play average football during my tenure"?

That's a silly question. Why are you asking me that?

I don't hear 1st year HC's state they were going to be a perennial top 10 powerhouse.

Hyping the Alum to donate more money and support your program is one thing. Promising a powerhouse perennial power is another. Those type of "Used Car Salesmen" statements are concerning to me. They can be job suicide.

I hope he can deliver that top 10 perennial powerhouse team.

[ASUPops]

https://www.presspass.news/west-texa...football-camp/

Exciting times in Buffoonland!

[Predatory Primates]

That's a silly question. Why are you asking me that?

I don't hear 1st year HC's state they were going to be a perennial top 10 powerhouse.

Hyping the Alum to donate more money and support your program is one thing. Promising a powerhouse perennial power is another. Those type of "Used Car Salesmen" statements are concerning to me. They can be job suicide.

I hope he can deliver that top 10 perennial powerhouse team.

The Pitt coach promised to work hard. In a blue collar area, it was about the best promise he could make as far as locals are concerned.

[BuffaloChip]

That's a silly question. Why are you asking me that?

I don't hear 1st year HC's state they were going to be a perennial top 10 powerhouse.

Hyping the Alum to donate more money and support your program is one thing. Promising a powerhouse perennial power is another. Those type of "Used Car Salesmen" statements are concerning to me. They can be job suicide.

I hope he can deliver that top 10 perennial powerhouse team.

I'd rather have a new head coach come in and set a high aspirational bar. It'd be easy for new guy to say "we'd like to be a consistent winning program."

Who would you rather play for?

[WT_TKW]

I'd rather have a new head coach come in and set a high aspirational bar. It'd be easy for new guy to say "we'd like to be a consistent winning program."

Who would you rather play for?

Time will tell. I think Lynn will be good, but we all also thought Hughes would be good. The difference is, Lynn has been a somewhat successful head coach.

Think back to 2017, Hughes' first year. So much excitement after beating Pueblo. Hughes bragged about making great halftime adjustments and even complimented Ben Arbuckle, whom he kept on the bench most of the year while playing a guy who could not pass or run particularly well. Ben, now the OC at Washington State, quit the team at the end of the year while Hughes brought in Mitch of the Walking Dead the next year. He was going to be great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxfhlERqbc

Result: 3-8. However we were sure Hughes was on the right track, even though Nesbitt didn't have any losing seasons.

Irrational exuberance...

[ASUPops]

The Pitt coach promised to work hard. In a blue collar area, it was about the best promise he could make as far as locals are concerned.

That's a great promise!!!!

[ASUPops]

I'd rather have a new head coach come in and set a high aspirational bar. It'd be easy for new guy to say "we'd like to be a consistent winning program."

Who would you rather play for?

An honest, realistic HC who gets me to buy in by his actions. Having goals and aspirations to be the BEST, with a 5 year plan to get there is what I want.

[Predatory Primates]

Time will tell. I think Lynn will be good, but we all also thought Hughes would be good. The difference is, Lynn has been a somewhat successful head coach.

Think back to 2017, Hughes' first year. So much excitement after beating Pueblo. Hughes bragged about making great halftime adjustments and even complimented Ben Arbuckle, whom he kept on the bench most of the year while playing a guy who could not pass or run particularly well. Ben, now the OC at Washington State, quit the team at the end of the year while Hughes brought in Mitch of the Walking Dead the next year. He was going to be great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxfhlERqbc

Result: 3-8. However we were sure Hughes was on the right track, even though Nesbitt didn't have any losing seasons.

Irrational exuberance...

I would consider what Lynn did at Kearney to be more than somewhat successful.

[BuffaloChip]

I would consider what Lynn did at Kearney to be more than somewhat successful.

I would whole-heartedly agree. Lynn has turned difficult situations into winning programs. Let's be brutally honest here. Portales, NM is not Stephenville (then LSC) or Wichita Falls or Amarillo/Canyon. I've never been to Kearney, but I imagine it had its location challenges as well.

At WT, Lynn will have premier facilities and full funding. All the tools are in place. Amarillo/Canyon is not DFW or Austin. But, it's not Portales, NM either.

[Predatory Primates]

I would whole-heartedly agree. Lynn has turned difficult situations into winning programs. Let's be brutally honest here. Portales, NM is not Stephenville (then LSC) or Wichita Falls or Amarillo/Canyon. I've never been to Kearney, but I imagine it had its location challenges as well.

At WT, Lynn will have premier facilities and full funding. All the tools are in place. Amarillo/Canyon is not DFW or Austin. But, it's not Portales, NM either.

Yeah it will be fun to see what he can do with a checkbook.

[WT_TKW]

I would consider what Lynn did at Kearney to be more than somewhat successful.

I agree. He's shown the ability to build and maintain a good program.

He is a giant improvement over Nesbitt & Hughes, but most anyone would be. When Lynn was at ENMU he beat Nesbitt like a drum. However Lynn's coaching record is still 65-50 with 1 playoff win (over Western Colorado) and 1 win in the Mineral Water Bowl.

Last year a lot of people here predicted 10 or 11 wins for WT. I predicted 6, and felt like I was being optimistic. WT won 5.

Now that we have a real coach again, I'm hopeful. I'm just not thinking about a deep run into the playoffs. If that happens though I'll be delighted.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

That's a silly question. Why are you asking me that?

I don't hear 1st year HC's state they were going to be a perennial top 10 powerhouse.

Hyping the Alum to donate more money and support your program is one thing. Promising a powerhouse perennial power is another. Those type of "Used Car Salesmen" statements are concerning to me. They can be job suicide.

I hope he can deliver that top 10 perennial powerhouse team.

It was more a sarcastic comment than a question.

Even the next head coaching hire at Simon Fraser (if they still had a program) would "promise" improvements with a more competitive team and playoffs in a few years.

[BuffaloChip]

Yeah it will be fun to see what he can do with a checkbook.

I wouldn't call it an open checkbook, but the administration is giving Lynn enough to work with.

[BuffaloChip]

I agree. He's shown the ability to build and maintain a good program.

He is a giant improvement over Nesbitt & Hughes, but most anyone would be. When Lynn was at ENMU he beat Nesbitt like a drum. However Lynn's coaching record is still 65-50 with 1 playoff win (over Western Colorado) and 1 win in the Mineral Water Bowl.

Last year a lot of people here predicted 10 or 11 wins for WT. I predicted 6, and felt like I was being optimistic. WT won 5.

Now that we have a real coach again, I'm hopeful. I'm just not thinking about a deep run into the playoffs. If that happens though I'll be delighted.

I haven't gone back and checked the exact numbers, but if you disregard both first years at ENMU and Kearney (3-8 I believe), his record would be more like 60-40.

[BuffaloChip]

I went to WT practice today. It looked well organized, fast, and intense. The team was energized. As you'd expect them to be on Day 2.

I spent a lot of time watching Lynn work with the OL. He's passionate about the position. I was impressed with the degree of effort the big boys were putting into it. Several times he praised the transfer from ACU and one of the freshmen. I watched the OL go thru at least a dozen drills. I believe OL may be a strength of this team. Several times Lynn said "we don't have room for slow linemen."

We have some speedsters on offense, both at RB and WR. And some pretty good hands catching the ball.

At the end of practice, 11 on 11, there were at least 2 passes for every run. There were 9 QBs in yellow jerseys. I didn't ask about who was who except for Brown and Eget. Spring returner Kyle Brown looked good. However, I was more impressed with the NM State transfer, Weston Eget (eeget). He has a lot of arm. Made some good reads and throws. I was up close to the huddle. I liked his leadership and the way other players reacted to him. He was pumped and enthusiastic.

We've got a couple little guys, you know, the 5'9 180 pounder RB's that can flat out move. WRs were making some nice snatches, several long balls were caught.

Next practice I go to, I'll pay more attention to the D. The secondary looks like they were getting a lot of coaching. They did better during the latter part of the 12 on 12 than early on.

Comparing Lynn's practices to Hughes: it seemed that Lynn and staff were fitting in a lot more drills with each position group. Teaching a lot of fundamentals and techniques. It's not that Hughes' practices were slow, it's that today's practice was at a very brisk pace.

I'm planning on making it to a couple workouts each week.

The transfer kicker from Western Missouri (DFW kid) was booming kickoffs. I chased down a couple balls he kicked out of the field. Pretty good sized kid. I took him for 6'2 and 220. Talked with him. A very nice young man. He's majoring in criminology. Wants to be an FBI agent.