In Defense of Coach Jinks

[guest44]

Why would the program who just won the title, need a coach who would need 5 years to turn around a team that won a MAC Championship? Wow, that’s the dumbest argument I’ve heard yet. Thankfully you don’t run a business. The only thing PJ Fleck and Mike Jinks have in common is that soon they will have both coached in the MAC. Past tense.

[Schadenfreude]

Then why in the summer of 2016 was Jinks singing the praises of the talent he inherited? Comparing some of the roster to big 12 rosters. Either a complete misjudge of talent on his part (problem) or he got nothing out of that talent (also a problem). The media seemed to agree with the cupboard not being bare. BG was picked to repeat in the east by most outlets.

Well said. That's how I remember it, too.

[Schadenfreude]

John Wagner apparently learned how to post on a message board. What do you like on your hot dog John?

Your demonization of John Wagner and other journalists who have been covering the team shows a profound lack of understanding of how the media works.

[pdt1081]

As the AD, you have to keep him for another year or it looks like your department is run by the boosters. What new coach wants to come into that situation?

Any coach that thinks he's going to move up to a better job when he's done here. The donors run the AD's at the bigger schools, that coaches from here move on to. Why would they shy away from BG for that reason?

The closest the Athletic Department has been to this situation was when Christopher was handed a written and signed cheque to buyout Paluch. He handed it back, saying donors don't run this department or something like that. Within 2 years, hockey was on the chopping block, and he found out that donors do, in fact, run athletics.

[kdog27]

This wasn't a rebuild. All the Jinks apologists just painting it that way now. Were things perfect, no but this was at worst a 7-5 or 6-6 team he took over. Well for a competent coach anyway.

[CrazyFan]

John Wagner apparently learned how to post on a message board. What do you like on your hot dog John?

Your demonization of John Wagner and other journalists who have been covering the team shows a profound lack of understanding of how the media works.

I totally understand journalism. Some journalists want to get their hands dirty, some (John Wagner) don’t. Some journalists want to move up in the world and do some hard nose reporting, some journalists want to be best friends and not write anything to stir the pot (John Wagner). Some journalists want to ask a head coach who has the highest arrest record for a D1 Football program in the nation about why that it is, some journalists just want to ask what that head coach likes on his hot dogs (John Wagner). I get it Schad. Briggs has done 50 times more productive reporting on BGSU Football in 6 months than John Wagner did in 3 years, because he’s not scared of or best friends with the Athletic Department like Wagner was. This team has been a disaster for 2 1/2 years, and not once did Wagner draw light to or ask questions about the programs ineptitude, on or off the field.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

This wasn't a rebuild. All the Jinks apologists just painting it that way now. Were things perfect, no but this was at worst a 7-5 or 6-6 team he took over. Well for a competent coach anyway.

Bingo! I also think if we had a competent head coach we would at least have a shot at a winning record and bowl game appearance, with maybe even a slim chance of winning the MAC East if everything broke right. As others have posted we were favored to win the East in 2016 and Jinks was raving about the talent he inherited, and since that moment OU, Buffalo, Akron, and Miami have all passed us in the MAC East, and Kent may join those four in a few weeks.

[mbenecke]

Can we leave John alone? He's retired now. No reason to criticize a man who had given his all and has hung it up.

[Falconwriter]

Interesting stat, kind of out of context, but still with some merit:

Last year, our pass defense was 105th in the country in terms of passing yards per game. This year, our pass defense is 10th in the country, giving up nearly 100 less yards per game through the air than one year ago.

Our pass defense this year is statistically better than at schools like Georgia, Penn State, Alabama, West Virginia, USC, Wisconsin, LSU, Ohio State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida State, and Oklahoma, among many others.

Stats like this are ridiculously misleading.

The ONLY reason BG is rated "good" at pass defense is because teams don't have to pass. They can run all over that defense, win big, and not break a sweat.

One stat listing I found showed the top 130 FCS team rushing defenses...and BG ranked 129th. Yes, it is that bad.

[Falconwriter]

As the AD, you have to keep him for another year or it looks like your department is run by the boosters. What new coach wants to come into that situation?

Any coach that thinks he's going to move up to a better job when he's done here. The donors run the AD's at the bigger schools, that coaches from here move on to. Why would they shy away from BG for that reason?

The closest the Athletic Department has been to this situation was when Christopher was handed a written and signed cheque to buyout Paluch. He handed it back, saying donors don't run this department or something like that. Within 2 years, hockey was on the chopping block, and he found out that donors do, in fact, run athletics.

Wow. Hadn't heard that story before. Just shows how inept some ADs can be. There isn't a UNIVERSITY (let alone a university athletic department) that isn't heavily impacted by what donors want. Anywhere. And why would you want it any other way? If you don't have big donors, your school is going to struggle mightily. Given funding sources and how costs have escalated out of control (for a college education), if donors disappear, then your school will suffer greatly. And it's naive to believe many donors will want to give a school thousands (or millions) of dollars without there being at least some quid pro quo.

[bg1984]

I appreciate all points of view but it defies logic to defend Mike Jinks' record. We can defend him as a good person, because I believe that to be the case. Unfortunately he chose a profession that is harsh when it come to determining the value of an employee: Team Wins vs. Losses. And more importantly that employee is judged by how and by how much his team is losing. In this regard I can't for the life of me see where the "success is just around the corner."

He has been here 2 1/2 years.

These are his recruits

He has installed his brand of football

And here are the results compared to two previous coaches as I posted in another thread:

After Brandon's good fortune to follow Urban Meyer and reap 2 years of benefits from that program, he settled into the next four seasons with 6, 4,, 8, and 6 wins. I looked at points scored for and against us:

Brandon
2005- BG: 372, OPP: 304 +68
2006- BG: 234, OPP: 340 -106
2007- BG: 392, OPP: 417 -25
2008- BG: 332, OPP: 278 +54

Even in 2007 when we were outscored by 25 points he managed 8 wins for God's sake!

After Clawson's decent first year (2009) of 7-6 his cupboard got bare and before the breakout year of 2013 he managed 2, 5 and 8 wins.

Clawson
2010- BG: 255, OPP: 403 -148
2011- BG: 318, OPP: 346 -28
2012- BG: 298, OPP: 218 +80

Steady improvement and of those 7 years between the two head coaches the -148 points differential is the worst.

Jinks
2016- BG: 298, OPP: 460 -162
2017- BG: 304, OPP: 456 -152
2018- BG: 156, OPP: 291 -135

Points differentials of -162 -152 and already this year -135.

Let that sink in for a minute! His teams are not only not trending in any positive direction they are getting outscored at record levels.

7 Wins and 23 losses in 2 1/2 years with 2 of those wins against FCS schools on last second touchdowns and 1 loss to an FCS school!

Nothing moving in the right direction. No ability to even be competitive. No clear answers to HOW it gets turned around.

So HOW exactly is any of this defensible?

What evidence is there that this is somehow miraculously going to get turned around?

Look, I'm a glass half full kind of guy and I know how complicated it is to coach a D1 football program. Supporters of the current staff may be able to rattle off reasons why things are so bad, but as the old saying goes, "Nobody is concerned about how rough the water is, they just expect the captain to dock the boat successfully." The Falcon football ship is crashing on the rocks! The only solution at this point is to get a new captain.

[kdog27]

Interesting stat, kind of out of context, but still with some merit:

Last year, our pass defense was 105th in the country in terms of passing yards per game. This year, our pass defense is 10th in the country, giving up nearly 100 less yards per game through the air than one year ago.

Our pass defense this year is statistically better than at schools like Georgia, Penn State, Alabama, West Virginia, USC, Wisconsin, LSU, Ohio State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida State, and Oklahoma, among many others.

Stats like this are ridiculously misleading.

The ONLY reason BG is rated "good" at pass defense is because teams don't have to pass. They can run all over that defense, win big, and not break a sweat.

One stat listing I found showed the top 130 FCS team rushing defenses...and BG ranked 129th. Yes, it is that bad.

BG's scoring defense is 128th. So yeah, terrible no matter you want to spin it.

[mbenecke]

I'm beyond the point of being able to pretend everything is okay, so don't take this the wrong way.

But Jinks has had 2 full recruiting classes. So the oldest players of his are sophomores... so anyone that's been here longer than that isn't his. It's his responsibility to develop them, but we must remember that they came from Babers' weak classes (7th and 8th in the MAC and 106th and 104th in the nation, respectively).

Jinks is risking his job to build a program the right way. He’s not throwing guys in there before they’re ready. He likes to redshirt guys to get them a year of experience in the system and a year of adding muscle and putting on weight so they’re physically ready for D1 football. It's a very real strategy, and it's used by lots of coaches. The reason it isn't working is because fans are impatient and expect results now from Babers' guys. If he just threw guys out there against Oregon, Maryland, GT, etc., they would get killed.

He’s taking the long approach. It’s VERY risky - especially in the modern age where we live in the moment and expect instant results.

There's a ton of talent that we haven't even seen yet. For example:

We haven’t seen DeAndre Fitz-Henley or Antwaun Jackson yet. They’re red-shirting. They’re both 3-star inside linebackers that have a lot of potential.

We haven’t seen Cameron Stage yet. He’s a 3-star offensive guard. He appears to be red-shirting.

We haven’t seen Jake Papez and Brad Papez. One’s a 3-star tight end, one’s a 3-star tackle. They appear to be red-shirting.

I don't believe we have seen Jevon Henderson yet. He’s a 3-star defensive tackle, and he appears to be red-shirting.

We haven’t seen Jordan Murphy yet. He was a 3-star defensive end in 2017. He redshirted last year.

Again, I'm truly not trying to make excuses. But just imagine the type of guys we have just waiting in the shadows for their opportunity - one that can only come in due time.

A program is not rebuilt overnight.

[guest44]

A program usually is not rebuilt overnight. Nor does a program get ruined overnight. Mike Jinks turned the MAC Champs into garbage as soon as he found a agent, in order for BG to hire him. Don’t blame Dino, blame anyone who didn’t stop the hire from happening. Jinks could have 12 5 star recruits and BG would struggle to beat an FCS team, just like the last 3 seasons have proven. It’s over. The book has been finished.

[Class of 61]

I'm beyond the point of being able to pretend everything is okay, so don't take this the wrong way.

But Jinks has had 2 full recruiting classes. So the oldest players of his are sophomores... so anyone that's been here longer than that isn't his. It's his responsibility to develop them, but we must remember that they came from Babers' weak classes (7th and 8th in the MAC and 106th and 104th in the nation, respectively).

Jinks is risking his job to build a program the right way. He’s not throwing guys in there before they’re ready. He likes to redshirt guys to get them a year of experience in the system and a year of adding muscle and putting on weight so they’re physically ready for D1 football. It's a very real strategy, and it's used by lots of coaches. The reason it isn't working is because fans are impatient and expect results now from Babers' guys. If he just threw guys out there against Oregon, Maryland, GT, etc., they would get killed.

He’s taking the long approach. It’s VERY risky - especially in the modern age where we live in the moment and expect instant results.

There's a ton of talent that we haven't even seen yet. For example:

We haven’t seen DeAndre Fitz-Henley or Antwaun Jackson yet. They’re red-shirting. They’re both 3-star inside linebackers that have a lot of potential.

We haven’t seen Cameron Stage yet. He’s a 3-star offensive guard. He appears to be red-shirting.

We haven’t seen Jake Papez and Brad Papez. One’s a 3-star tight end, one’s a 3-star tackle. They appear to be red-shirting.

I don't believe we have seen Jevon Henderson yet. He’s a 3-star defensive tackle, and he appears to be red-shirting.

We haven’t seen Jordan Murphy yet. He was a 3-star defensive end in 2017. He redshirted last year.

Again, I'm truly not trying to make excuses. But just imagine the type of guys we have just waiting in the shadows for their opportunity - one that can only come in due time.

A program is not rebuilt overnight.

You make some valid points. FWIW , I believe that Murphy HAS played at least in one game, perhaps more. But hrs been redshirting most of those others. I just hope THEY stay after sitting for a year. I often wondered how redshirted kids deal with it, till my son went to OSU + was on lacrosse team. Played very little as a fresh, but loved game too much to leave, transfer or quit. Eventually became a team captain and top 10 scorer all time so fit DOES work out.