The Brandon/Meyer debate gets a little tiresome. I do think Urban's achievements in Utah are sometimes used to burnish his accompishments here. I also think it's too much of the credit for Brandon's success is given to Meyer.
That said...I thnk that next year is going to be a very important year for Gregg Brandon's career. A big season keeps him on the list of up and comers, a down year moves him one step closer to being Gary Darnel
Flipper wrote:The Brandon/Meyer debate gets a little tiresome. I do think Urban's achievements in Utah are sometimes used to burnish his accompishments here. I also think it's too much of the credit for Brandon's success is given to Meyer.
That said...I thnk that next year is going to be a very important year for Gregg Brandon's career. A big season keeps him on the list of up and comers, a down year moves him one step closer to being Gary Darnel
Agreed, Flip. 2006 is the watershed year for Coach Brandon.
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Why is "next year" always the watershed year for Brandon? We heard that last year after he choked at UT, and now we hear it again.
We made our expectations plainly clear going into this season: Win the MAC. We couldn't even win the MAC lEast in a year where simple mediocrity would've gotten the job done. This season is not a disappointment, it's a dismal failure.
You don't lose to your rival at home when the conference is on the line.
You don't go 1-3 in conference on your home turf.
You don't blame recruiting and god knows whatever on the radio.
I'm really tired of this current regime and I'll gladly throw my vegas winnings into a new suit so the guy can interview elsewhere. Unfortunately nobody else would be foolish enough to hire the guy. I'm sorry, but I'm tired of watching BG football continue to fall into too many penalties, poor execution, and lack of fundamentals. Guess what, it's the coach's job to teach that discipline and we haven't had it for 3 years.
OptionQB wrote:Moe Ankeney was a helluva better recruiter than Gary Blackney. I would assume the talent level inherited by Blackney was a lot closer to being competitive than Meyer's, but I don't know. Meyer walked into an ugly, ugly situation.
I don't know. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but how many of the players Meyer inherited ended up getting NFL tryouts. There was a significant level of talent that was not getting the job done because of the locker room situations you describe. Meyer taught them to win, but there was a lot more talent there than a 2-9 team.
Meyer won with the players Blackney's program recruited.
Meyer's program recruited the players Brandon achieved slightly more with at first.
Brandon is winning less with the more of the players he recruited and what is left of that which Meyer brought in.
I don't think BG should allow excuses such as "its a rebuilding year" to cloud what happens next season. Lord knows people can find endless reasons why Blackney was about to turn things around in theory. Heck I was among those hoping Blackney would turn things around. Thats part of why I don't want to know the coaches personally anymore.
NWLB
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I don't even want to think about next year. It could be a very long one. Let's see ..... Ohio State at Columbus, Wisconsin to be played in Cleveland, Akron in the rubber bowl, Western at Cal. and UT at Toledo. Boise visits BG -- I think. At any rate, does anybody see a win anywhere???? Our "hot-dogs" will have graduated, and our new recruits were ranked very low on the totem pole. Oh My!
OptionQB wrote:Moe Ankeney was a helluva better recruiter than Gary Blackney. I would assume the talent level inherited by Blackney was a lot closer to being competitive than Meyer's, but I don't know. Meyer walked into an ugly, ugly situation.
I do not see how you could have survived the Moe Ankney era and ever expressed that idea!
Unfortunately nobody else would be foolish enough to hire the guy
I just got back from the trip to Ohio which included being at the game. More bothersome than the result was hearing from "those in the know" at the tailgate parties saying that Brandon and his wife have been heard around town saying they expect to receive an offer from a big-time program by riding Omar's coat-tails, which is why they turned down UNLV after last season (obviously, that's now a pipe dream).
BG is a small town. Talk like that gets around, including to the players. I imagine it is de-motivating to think that your coach does not have your program's best interests in mind, but is instead just using you for his own personal gain.
Brandon can say what he wants, but I have my doubts that the job was ever offerred to him in the first place. Like Dan, you have to start to wonder whether Brandon will ever see 7 figures again.
I don't think the offer from Vegas was turned down. Brandon has a buyout clause that was more than U of Vegas wanted to pay. BG is a small town and that type of talk has been linked with other coaches as well. The next two seasons will determine Brandon's future here at BG.
If you're only making $129K (per 1470) than how high of a buyout could you possibly have? Let's just say I have good reason to believe that the offer was never made.