I loved watching the Ole Miss D play because they blitz and play more then a base D the whole game. We need new life as far as D coaching goes. Why is TCU’s D so good and Tech’s is not. Not because of better players just better game planning
(blitz). Great season but feels empty after the last three games.

But I have said it for more than half a season, Defensive coaching staff needs to be reorganized and I can name two to three coaches who need to be given a pink slip.

I too am extremely disappointed in the McNeil lack of a defensive game plan. Basically, There was no game plan!

Playing straight up neutral defense is not a game plan for a bowl game. It sucked more than anything.

How the hell can our secondary get beat time and again in 2 and 3 deep zones? My God that was pathetic! Please Fire the secondary coaches now. No need to wait till January 15th because they suck worse than a 6 man loony bin blitz defense where there is no one in the secondary because all six are rushing the QB! ( saw that once with a game i went to see)

Mike Leach needs to hire new blood secondary coaches and hire 1 coach who will teach proper tackling and technique. Diving at the legs is not tackling and throwing out an arm is not tackling either! Good players run through that lack of effort in tackling. The coaches obviously are clueless about it because it has been there all season long and it hurts and shows up more in a bad loss where people often forgive it in a win game.

The season ened on a sour note because the game looked bad and the lack of a coordination of some form of a proper game plan on Defense made it look worse.
Now We are the laughing stock because we allowed a #20 8-4 team beat us a #7 11-1 team. Thus it sucks!

The question I have is we have to not allow this to continue into the future. Its about the program right now. Eventually we will get there.

The good news is that We are within 4 years of a Big 12 championship and national title.
The bad news is that in order for us to achieve that goal, we need some new blood on Defensive coaching staff who can actually inspire and teach our boys to do the job! Because right now its not there.

We have the players to win a National Championship! We are at the level to be a National championship team. But we need better coaches to help the players.

I will be looking extremely close at the spring game to see if Potts has learned how to throw the touch pass or if Dogie gets the nod. I kind of think that Leach will give it to Potts next year then have a three year run with Dogie. But one never knows.

Because if Potts still throws the 90 mile and hour fast ball 7 yards instead of the touch then Dogie will have to be the selection. Nothing against Potts. He just has never learned to throw the touch pass and has used his cannon of an arm to impress people with his strength. But the truth is that 80% of passes are touch in the NFL and 90% with Tech. So Potts better learn quick.

I am disappointed in the coaches but I am proud of the boys for the season as a whole. A loss is always bad and it hurts worse when everyone knows that effort was left unplayed and unused for the game by both players and especially the coaching staff.

The level of preparation was the difference in the game today. While Tech looked like an ‘elite’ but rusty team, Ole’ Miss looked like an ‘average’ but well oiled machine. Sort of like comparing a rusty Lexus with may be a Toyota Corrolla. Yet in the end it comes down to the commitment of two coaches. One coach (ours) went on a holiday vacation visiting presentation ceremonies and begging for coaching jobs at schools that have performed inferior to Tech in the recent times and spent time haggling over a few million dollars of compensation for a job in which he has never taken the team to a BCS bowl or even won the Big XII ever. On the other hand was Huston Nutt, who prepared his team, got them motivated and did more with less today. Congrats to Ole’ Miss. Tech remains same old Tech. Crappy defense and an opportunistic coach ready to ditch the ship whenever his agent finds a chance. If we have to dish out the kind of money that he is asking, we can actually get a coach who will take us to a BCS bowl or win the division once in a while for that money.
May be I am griping because it was frustrating to see Tech play today and I hope I am wrong, but it just seems so obvious to me at this point.

this was probably a statement by Mike Leach to Gerald Myers for not getting a contract finalized. I did see the news that Rice signed up and coming coach David Baliff to a 5 year extension. I saw Baliff when he was at Texas State and, though he royally screwed up Texas State’s semifinal game, I thought he was going to be “one to watch,” similar to Billy Gillespie when he was at UTEP. Now if Leach bolts — to whom is a mystery — well, at least Tech won’t be forced to hire Lane Kiffin.

with the Texas game and started coming down off the BCS mountain-top.

I am tired of concentraing on offense. This just in, the offense works. It has for years and will for more. However, when Stoops says that he knows what we are running before we run it, it is time to change the game plan.

We need a new DC. Someone who wll grab attention of these players and has experience stopping offenses. Tackling is not taught that much anymore. If it is, people are not doing it. While we did not tackle today, if you will watch even in the pros tomorrow, you will see piss poor attempts at tackling. Everyone seems to want the ESPN highlight with a shoulder shiv.

I would start my search for a new DC at Penn State and look for an assisstant defensive coach who wants to make his bones by creating a real defense in the Big 12. Or get an assistant from Utah, as they seem to be handling Alabama as I write.

I tend to agree that we seem to have been caught up inside the hype. The 60 Minutes piece Sunday will be interesting to watch.

If holding out to get assisstants more cash is the only reason Leach has not signed, then today’s game did not do anything to help his cause. While I don’t think Leach threw this one to make a point (the recruiting potential was too great to lose this one on purpose), I do think that he squandered a month of preparation by allowing the 11-1 accolades to seep into the entire team’s psyche. Before this game, I would have been upset if he went. Now I realize that if he left, we’d be okay.

If I were Leach, I would decide tonight whether I wanted to stay or not. Then tomorrow morning, I would either sign my freaking extension and say a humble thank you, realize that I need to keep my current contract, or tender my resignation.

Also, I was very embarrassed by the behavior of our guys near the end of the game. All of that crap by the O-line was stupid. Boys, look at the scoreboard. You got your asses handed to you. Shut up and get back to the huddle. The time to get that fired up was three quarters ago.

I wasn’t high when I wrote this. Just really, really pissed at our performance today. Why did I feel better about a loss to Alabama in the Independence Bowl than I do about this loss today?

All posts are right on, I’m watching Utah against Bama, Utah looks just like we should watch replay of game if you missed it.

exactly

What about a new AD?

Utah def. Backs are really good

Damn I looked forward to that Tech game all month

4th and 4 and a QB run up the middle, what f-ck was that.

Before this season began, I had been a much more casual fan for years decades. I watched the games if I saw one scheduled on TV (or on radio) and looked for the score the next day if it wasn’t, but I never let myself get invested emotionally in the team. Why? Because for more than 40 years I had been nothing but disappointed. Sometimes more and sometimes less, but always disappointed. Frankly, I had accepted the notion that we were just a less-talented team from a less-dedicated and funded program that could never compete with the big boys.

In my casual fan status, I admit that I was somewhat disgusted that we had settled for a somewhat ‘gimmicky’ coaching philosophy in recent years that was destined to always be second-best. All offense and no defense was the overall impression I had of Leach’s teams. Kind of like running the veer, it was what you had to do if you simply did not have the talent. To me, it seemed the program itself had given up on taking the next step.

When I saw the pre-season rankings this year and read about an improved defense and running game, I got excited for the first time since I was a student. I drank the whole glass of Kool-Aid. While I am happy we had a better than usual season, I’m not sure if it was worth the emotional toll of the late-season collapse.

As I sit here now, I feel we had the same general level of talent as Ole Miss, and Utah for that matter. But those teams have a much more solid coaching staff on both sides of the ball. I don’t think I ever realized before how important that was. Earlier this year I studied the recruiting patterns at A&M compared to us and I was shocked to see how poorly a team with 5-star talent can play when the coaching situation is screwed up. IMO, that lack of coaching is our present limitation as well. Only it is much more crucial to us because we don’t have the 5-star talent. Today’s game and the OU game made that clear as a bell.

I agree completely with the comments above about McNeil. He’s better than what we had, but he is definitely not DC material – not if we want to move forward. And Leach is far from the complete OC or HC. We need serious help on the sidelines or the talent we have in place for the next couple of years will be wasted.

My thoughts on this day:

1) I’m betting that the first thing Mike Leach does this weekend is sign his contract extension. He’s not that hot commodity that he thought he was will nor will he ever be due to his lack of game-planning in big games. I’m his biggest fan, but if he does not want to be here long term, I would rather have a coach who wants to be with Tech down the road.

2) I’m giving Ruffin one more year, before I’m calling for a change. I like his fire and passion—just maybe Leach will be a head coach and get involved too. Plus, let’s get some guys in here who fit Ruf’s scheme.

3) Looking forward to Potts or Doege—I’m hoping one of them has some mobility along with that canon arm.

4) I hope as a fan base we are just as passioniate and enthusiastic about our Red Raiders next year. I definitely feel we have some some momentum going into next year and we are a team on the rise.

Thanks again Seth for all your work with the site. Spend some quality time with your wife and looking forward to further posts.