Who is the next most tenured guy on our defensive staff? We really don’t have a lot of defensive coaches that have been around for very long. Maybe Shah? He’s been with us for a while now compared to many of the other assistants, but he doesn’t have much experience outside of coaching the defensive backs. I’m not saying he’s a bad option, but I don’t want Scalley pulling double duty, that never seems to work out very well.
Also, if Shah were to move to DC, that would open the door for a certain retired someone to take his place as DB coach, which would be awesome. Along those same lines, if we could somehow get Weddle, Steve Smith, and Alex Smith on our coaching staff that would be a dream come true.
That doesn’t always work as well as you would like, i.e. Ty Detmer. Great players need time to develop coaching skills. All three of those have high football IQs but they would still need some work. Brian Johnson probably went too high too fast with us and now after a few years with different programs is turning into a very good coach. Morgan also took some time to develop and he had the advantage of developing side by side with Kyle.
What I suggested, and the example you gave are not analogous. I’m not suggesting we make any of the three non coaches coordinators (which is what TSPP did with Detmer). I think any one of those guys would be phenomenal position coaches. If Shah can go from being a lawyer to a DB coach, so can Weddle.
This is a nice idea, or maybe more like a nice fantasy, but there are far more star athletes who fail miserably as coaches, than those who succeed. I’m not sure why that is, but it is true. And I would not be foolhardy enough to suggest which of the three might or might not succeed, but it is not likely that all three would.
That said, those three would certainly be able to recruit.
We have a great head coach already. What is the point of this exercise? It’s coming across as a veiled fantasy that Whittingham is gone. I’ll enjoy what we have and worry about this thing after Whittingham announces his retirement.
Seriously, though, it’s a night and day difference. Detmer claimed his fame by being a successful system quarterback is a system that doesn’t exist anymore. He held a clipboard for a long time in the NFL and then coached high school football. He was never known as a football brain or a cool guy. None of the teams he “played” for had interest in him as an assistant coach.
Weddle, Smith, and Smith started for years in the NFL. Two of these guys have a strong case for the HOF, and the third has run half a dozen different styles of offense during his long NFL career. They are all personable and smart, and they are all current when it comes to football systems and styles. Steve is volatile, and that is the only quality any of the three have that would be a strike.
The funny thing about Detmer was that all the byu fans kept saying something to the affect of: “well now we have an OC who can read defenses”.
Sure, Detmer could quickly read a defense, as a player, and make quick decisions. All the good QBs can do that, it’s part of what makes them good. The byu fans all acted like he would be a superior OC because he could read a defense. Well, I’m quite certain that every single OC in the football can read a defense, that doesn’t mean the OC can change the play at the line of scrimmage, or make the read and throw to the open receiver.
Anyway, great former players don’t always make great coaches. Those guys are all quite wealthy and don’t need the money so their motivation for how much work it takes may not be there.
What is the point?? Well, the point is to start a sports related conversation in a time where sports are non existent. I love Whitt. I’m not anxious for him to go. It was just a thought.
Weddle has said on more than one occasion that he doesn’t have any interest in coaching. Mostly due to the recruiting aspect of it. I’m guessing if Steve Smith wanted to coach he would be coaching in one form or another by now. Nice thoughts but likely not happening.
LOL… you have vastly misinterpreted my tone toward coaches then. I have stated numerous times that the end result of the season was ultimately a failure, but the program, in general, is on an upward trajectory and headed in the right direction. I do not call for Whitt to be fired. Whitt is the reason I am a Ute fan in the first place.
I am still not happy about the way the season ended, and I think, given the talent we had on that team, we underperformed last year (at least the last two games anyways). Was last year a good season? Yes. Was it a failure in the sense that they didn’t reach their goal as a team? Also yes. Does that mean the head coach should be fired? Absolutely not.
I DO think that, had this coming season gone on as planned, Harding should be given until the first conference game to figure the offensive line out, and if the pass blocking isn’t lightyears ahead of last season, he should be canned. Last year they were a young group, this year he gets pretty much everyone back. If they don’t improve significantly, he isn’t doing his job. As for everyone else on the staff… I’m perfectly happy. The receivers have improved every year under the current WR coach. The RB group is great. The QBs took a big step forward last year. Every position group on the defense is in good shape, and the special teams is in good shape also.
That’s fair, you fan how you fan, cool. I didn’t misinterpret your message though, we just fan differently. I’ll never understand any fan criticism of coaching. The coach is just part of a team, along with players, support staff, front office and boosters(fans, advertisers, and donors collectively). Utah’s failures and achievements boils down to all these factors so I never single any of them out I just root for them as they change out of my control.
I don’t think I understand your logic. We fan different therefore you didn’t misinterpret what I said. That makes no sense whatsoever. You believing that coaches should never be criticized by fans doesn’t mean that you correctly interpreted the tone of my comments.
Whatever, this is not even remotely the discussion I wanted to have when I started this thread.
On another subject, I do think it’s kind of interesting (not pointing fingers at anyone, just pointing it out) that nobody has bothered to address the original question posed at the beginning of this thread. Other than Shah, who would replace Morgan as DC if he were to become HC in the somewhat near future?
I may have not understood what you meant but my interpretation of what you said is my interpretation it’s not a matter of accuracy it’s just what I perceived. Your clarification makes me realize I misunderstood you, now I have a different perception and it is that you express yourself differently from me when discussing coaching and performance but we’re both fans none the less.
So I’ll say when Coach Whittingham retires and we thank him for all he’s done to build this program to where it is today, it will be interesting to see who takes over but I have no opinion as to who would be best for that job. I’m hoping it would be one of our guys but I really don’t know so I’ll cheer for whoever it is because that’s how I enjoy the game.