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re: Sumlin's decisiveness

Posted on 12/2/15 at 11:12 pm to
Posted by Warrior Poet
Living Rent-Free in Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2011
7956 posts
Posted on 12/2/15 at 11:12 pm to
Snyder fielded a damn good defense in 2012 when no one expected him to. We were young in 2013 and everyone saw how we were starting true freshmen and inferior talent in the D line. We got some elite recruits and this bought Snyder another year in everyone's eyes. Very few were callin for him to be fired in 2013. In 2014, after it was clear we needed to change our philosophy, Sumlin made his move and brought in a goat. He made one of the best coordinator hires of any CFB school in the past decade.

2014 Spav was blamed on a QB who fell apart after blowing people away against South Carolina. Then, when we went to Allen, it was clear he wasn't ready solely based on familiarity with our Syatem. Spav changed his offensive style to fit KA. People did not know what to mak pe out of our offensive problems in 2014. Again, not many were calling for Spav to be fired. It was all about the defense getting fixed.

McKinney is the only puzzling retention. But McKinney is an excellent recruiter, and Sumlin places a high price for recruiters.

My argument is not Sumlin is better than Fran/Sherman. My argument is Sumlin is more willing to change than any of our previous coaches, yet people seem to criticize him for it unexplainably. Hell, RC was just as stubborn as those guys. He didn't make changes to his offense until he was almost out the door.
Posted by Roger Klarvin
DFW
Member since Nov 2012
46555 posts
Posted on 12/2/15 at 11:29 pm to
The 2012 defense was average, people remember it more fondly because our offense made the scoring gap in many games so wide. It was aided by teams having to go into full blown comeback mode so often as well.

The 2013 defense was unforgivably awful. Chavis could take the defense from Katy High School and not field a defense that bad. It was simply a firable offense, no way around it. Even Billy Liucci was surprised Snyder wasn't fired. I have no idea what you are remembering, but there was outrage when he was retained. The post-Duke Snyder meltdown on TA was top notch. As for Chavis, great as he was he contacted Sumlin and just fell into our lap because he wanted out at LSU.

It was evident last year Spav was playing checkers while DCs played chess. I could and still can call out about 70% of our plays pre snap based on formation, line alignment and down/distance. If I can, Kirby Smart sure as hell can. For two years now our backs and tackles routinely give away run/pass based on presnap actions. That's so pathetic it actually makes me wonder if our coaches are so blind that they just don't see it. Seriously, watch Ifedi before the snap and in about five plays you'll know most of the time where it's a run or pass just based on what he does with his feet.

McKinney hasn't recruited well since 2013 and is supposedly the reason we've lost some key guys.

Sumlin doesn't make changes until he is essentially forced to by AD and donor pressure. Know this: Sumlin would keep Spav as OC if he could. The choice was not his. The big money boys said Spav goes or we cut off your recruiting budget. He has been made aware that if he doesn't knock this hire out of the park, his job will not survive and some very unflattering information will come out to reduce the buyout.

Sumlin is being dragged kicking and screaming across the threshold of change here. Most people have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. The people who think he makes good changes on time are the same ones who think he is the sole reason our recruiting improved so much. Our recruiting improved in large part because the BMA stepped up in 2012 and started playing ball like most other big programs do. You think Sumlin kept Kyler committed? We cut Kevin Murray a five figure check for that. We aren't anywhere near Ole Miss or Auburn or Phio State, but we are definitely giving him some monetary help on the recruiting trail.
This post was edited on 12/2/15 at 11:35 pm
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