The football roster is being molded.

We have seen that against OU an UT. It’s heartening to hear that these coaches are great recruiters. Tubs has it right when he talks about speed.

But I believe that the players are only half of the equation, at best, for a team to become successful. The balance of the equation is the staff.

I have been fascinated with emergence of the KC Chiefs this year. They are currently 7-4 after going 4-12 last year. What’s the difference?

They had a fantastic draft and free agent signings which surely helped. But here is the key. The HC, Todd Haley, gave up his play calling duties to recently hired OC Charlie Weiss and Haley replaced the DC with Romeo Crenell. (Great article on Crenell found here.) These are the two coordinators that helped the Patriots win all those Super Bowls.

Matt Cassell, the QB (a backup at USC and with the Pats) , and Dwayne Bowe, a WR (who is a very talented speed guy, but a chronic underacheiver), are lighting up the passing game while the Chiefs ground attack leads the NFL. The defense is rounding into excellent shape as nearly everyone is playing a step faster despite the roster being about the same.

Throw into the coaching mix DB coach Emmitt Thomas, a long time NFL DC and one time interim HC, and they have an experienced staff who understands the art of coaching. They know how to get the best out of their talent AND know how to put them into positions so that those players succeed. They understand the art of play calling, game planning, and teaching technique. This is what is driving the Chiefs success.

I don’t see that with our Red Raiders. Our staff is very green (now 27 years of combined D-1 experience). Most of them are just beginning to master their craft. A majority of our counterparts at UT, OU, OSU, and A&M have largely mastered theirs … and that will be the difference for the next four to five years should our staff remain in tact.

There is no substitute for experience.

was hampered by lack of experience, not ability.

Having players exit the program early is never a good sign.

And don’t trash Will Ford. He’s one of our most talented athletes on that side of the ball.

will make all the difference IMO. We have never recruited very well at Tech but we have always had coaches that could develop players. Tuberville is correct in his method of recruiting speed. In a pass happy Big 12 you needs fast corners and safties that can stay in stride with receivers. Presently, we have some of that but it’s very young talent that’s not fully developed yet. A faster more agile defense will go a long way in stopping the OU’s and UT’s. I’m totally a guy who believes proper recruiting is worth it’s weight in gold. I am very excited that Tuberville puts a huge emphasis on his coaches recruiting ability. 2-3 more years of solid recruiting will give Tech the balance we need defensively.

TT has that Mack Brown grandfatherly feel about him that will put parents at ease about sending kids to Lubbock.
I personally liked Mike Leach, but I am kind of quirky too. I just always wondered how those meetings between parents and Mike went. As much as some of us like to make fun of the “Suit and Tie” you need to put your self in the shoes of a parent sending their child off to collage.

The huge growth in the states population in the last ten years will guarantee even more quality kids will be available.
I feel like the age old problem of Techs remoteness from the major population centers will be offset by our history of graduating players (thank you Mike Leach), quality facilities, beauty of the campus (just don’t bring the parents out in March), and the overwhelming friendliness of the people. Nebraska leaving the big 12 is a plus, this should make a lot of players think twice about going to a place that will never play close to home.

reaction position. If you’re new to a system, or you’re inexperienced, you think about assignments during the play. When you think, even for a blink, it’s enough to get beat at the D-I level – unless you are a burner. And none of our DBs are burners.

I fully expect marked improvement from our secondary next year. They may all have a talent deficit that just can’t be made up for with experience and knowledge, and we’ll have to live with the big play from time to time. But if they are at a point where they simply read and react, the number of big plays should go way down.

But the best thing we can do is teach these kids to TACKLE. I have seen all too often this year a big bang hit but no wrap up. or merely one player sticking an arm out as if to say “run thru this mofo” and of course the man with the ball runs on. Tackle is the type of football we need.

Having coached youth sports for more than 21 years I know that you cannot coach speed or size. Speed kills. If you can’t catch the other guy or beat him to the spot, it never matters if you can tackle or not. We need the guys that can get there. It’s up the the coaches then to make sure they know what to do once they are in position to make the play.

TT’s emphasis on speed will payoff in years to come. I just hate the growing pains to get there.

I fully expect marked improvement from our secondary next year.

  
Weren’t the Peak brothers brought in by TT and Co just a few months ago?

If "Coach Tuberville wanted to change the type of players composing our football team. He has repeatedly stated that the #1 requirement for the men he hired as assistant coaches was that they are very good at evaluating high school players and are able to recrut the right ones to win at TTU, " what happened with the Peak bros?

Did EJ Celestie leave because he was too slow? Because he couldn’t catch a five yard out? Because he had character issues? (Whatever that means.)

Did Emert and Halliburton decide to hang ‘em up because they decided they were too slow or weren’t TT’s type of player?

I’m just going out on a limb here, but maybe, just maybe all of these kids decided to leave for a variety of reasons: discipline, growing up, moving back home, early graduation and the myriad other reasons which affect college kids in every program around the country.

And maybe, just maybe the players’ leaving has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that these players are deemed to be too slow or that they are simply not TT’s kind of guys (not, of course, like our favorite Boy Scout who jogs a 4.4 40, Nancy James).

Out of respect I won’t say where I was, or who he was. Once we boarded, I proceeded to ask the gentleman sitting next to this coach to trade seats with me, which he did, and this poor coach had to spend the next 2 hours being grilled by me on Tech football. here are a couple of themes:

1) Prior to Weber State, the coaching staffed recognized that due to fan unrest, “we are in crisis mode”. This statement gave me confidence that the staff understands the expectations, and understands that the team is under-performing.
2) The injury woes on defense have been crippling. This coach was genuinely at his wits end with what he had to work with personnel wise given the injuries, and he conceded that the last two games of the year could very well be toss ups given the losses we sustained on defense.
3) Regardless of what we thought we had, this coach was decidedly underwhelmed with the starters he had to work with on defense when he got here. He had “better athletes” in his previous role, which was at a much lesser program. This confirmed many suspicions that we simply do not have the talent to run the scheme being implemented.
4) I asked point blank, “is Brown a boy genius who needs time, or is he over his head”? Of course this question was avoided, and I was asked what I thought. In the end, I got the impression the defensive coaches do not talk much with the offensive coaches, and we both agreed the the perception that the offense would perform the same or better was probably a mistake without sufficient time to implement the new system.
5) I of course asked about the QB situation, and of course the question was avoided.
6) The key point made by this coach was that recruiting was going well, and this coach said emphatically, “the fan base will be proud to wear red and black come signing day” and that “surprises were coming” and “defensive recruits like we have never seen” will be joining our ranks.

I came away feeling that defensively the cupboard was bare for 2010, and the injuries amplified the already challenging situation. I came away feeling better that the staff was not taking the situation lightly, and I came away feeling like, if this coach is honest, we are about to turn a corner in recruiting, the likes we have never seen.

I believe the cupboard was and is bare.

This is a strong testament to Coach Leach. I think Tuberville and company looked at Tech’s results for the past several years and overestimated the talent level of our players, underestimated the coaching ability of Leach and company.

They will do fine, but I imagine the job at hand is significantly more difficult than what they thought before last spring.

Cupboard bare? Maybe not bare. Maybe not void, but thin……player-wise as compared to many schools in the Big 12.
Essentially, I’m saying Leach and company did well with not so much.

It would have been easy for a new coach to see Tech’s results for the past 5 years and assume the player talent level was stronger than it actually is.

I look at the talent level at OU, UT, Ok State, Nebraska, T A/M and I have to give them the edge. A few of them a big edge.

I completely agree with your statement about our year in transition. Big learning curves for players and newly assembled coaching staff. Huge challenge for a coaching staff following a popular coach and an ugly situation.