re: New OC Melt Thread

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Root fielded a pretty good defense.

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2010

Rush Defense - 30th
Pass Defense - 89th
Total Defense - 55th
Scoring Defense - 34th

2011 (Once Von Miller and Michael Hodges left)

Rush Defense - 12th
Pass Defense - 109th
Total Defense - 59th
Scoring Defense - 70th

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You're comparing him to a guy who sold insurance before he was our coordinator.

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I'm comparing a retread hire to another retread hire.

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retread hire to another retread hire.

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It is football coaching. They're almost all retread hires.

Les isn't changing

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Lots of folks are really overreacting, this is not a bad hire at all. Its not a splash hire but its a solid hire and it makes a lot of sense.

Mazzone brings several things we were lacking last year.

First off he is a highly experienced OC who knows what he is doing. I don't see us having an issue with players yelling at him on the sideline. Spav's youth cut both ways, it allowed him to relate with players but it also made him more of a buddy than a coach and that was a huge problem in the end.

His philosophy is run a basic offense with a handful of plays and then react to the defense and exploit the weakness. That's the EXACT same offense we ran with KK, though the plays may be slightly different. Mazzone is all about executing to perfection and not trying to come up with complex X's and O's to beat people. That's been proven to work at the college level and it makes sense why he wasn't successful at the NFL level. The problem is not the size of the playbook it is the execution of the plays and the timing of when they are called with the right personnel.

He likes balance. UCLA has run and passed very evenly and successfully the last few years. They had a 1300 and 1500 yard rusher the last 2 years to go with 2 different QB's that were top tier in Hundley and Rosen. That's going to be very helpful in attracting QB, WR, and RB talent.

He's not a great recruiter but he is a respected recruiter. The opinions of Mazzone among players seem to be far better than folks on message boards. I don't think it is a coincidence at all 3 players happened to say they were staying yesterday just hours before the deal was finalized. We also are back in the mix for a solid and much needed QB. Mazzone is likely to be more like Chief, the well respected veteran that helps to close the deal. Chief is also not known as a great recruiter but kids want to play for him. He also has strong connections in Texas, Arizona, and California, kids in the Pac know him well.

Don't get me wrong, this hire could certainly be a bust but it is far from Spav 2.0. If anything Meacham is the one who resembled Spav because he was also inexperienced as an OC and seemed to be the up and comer but hadn't been doing it long enough to know if it was him, the coaches around him, or the talent he had to work with. Having good offensive numbers in the BDF and CUSA for a couple of years isn't exactly revolutionary. I would have been fine with him being the hire but I don't get how people think he was such a no brainer over Mazzone. He's never even been a sole OC before.

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I agree.









and, obligatory:

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don't get why hiring a new and better OC is "melt" worthy

We improved at the position that's the bottom line. Yes he's not KK but he's still an improvement

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While I don't love this hire, I'm not really melting about it because it all but insures sumlin is fired after next season.

The thing I AM melting about is how much we are paying him and the length of his contract. Wtf. As far as I know we weren't bidding against anyone, and he wasn't going to be retained. So we give him like a quarter of a million dollar raise and a three year extension? I'm not sure who negotiates these contracts for a&m but they probably should piss off as well.

And as for your opinion that we will be improved with this hire you're forgetting one major piece of info...our qb transferred. So we will again be breaking in a brand new qb this season with a more difficult schedule and with a new OC and scheme. I won't be holding my breath for success, but will befoolishly hoping for it...just like all Aggies and cubs fans that haven't learned their lesson.

I think he actually wants to and just doesn't know how. Everyone thought he was a good coach but the truth is he croots and is a great ceo and that's it

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forgetting one major piece of info...our qb transferred. So we will again be breaking in a brand new qb this season with a more difficult schedule and with a new OC and scheme

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Which one? The interception machine or the one that decided he couldn't complete a pass?

Yes, we would all like to have seen it Allen could have pulled it back together as he had shown us his upside and it was very good. But there was no guarantee that he wasn't shell shocked beyond repair David Carr style

I don't hate this hire, but it really feels like we hired a 20 year older Spavital. Not the end of the world as experience is far from useless, but slightly alarming.

The bigger problem in my mind is that a one million dollar deal for a guy who wasn't even bring retained at his previous job is utterly ridiculous. We have the most inept negotiators in D-I athletics. Everybody we hire fricking fleeces us. It's like our contract negotiators used to be execs at the Make a Wish Foundation and they brought that mindset to A&M. Their only goal now is to make coaches' dreams come true and they pursue that goal with zeal.

My conspiracy theory is that Sumlin intentionally overpaid Mazzone because it would make Sumlin harder to fire.

But that's really all bs

Had we not spent the money and had we gone cheap with an unknown or unproven coach everyone would be screaming "we're rich so why didn't we get out our checkbook!!"