BG/Toledo differences

[Warthog]

I don't like the idea of recruiting kids just to get fans from that area. If you think it was foolish not to go after Opelt hard because he's a stud, fine. Saying it's foolish to not go after him to create a fan attachment to a particular area -- I'm not so sure. I want to recruit the most talented kids we can bring in here regardless of where they're from.
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I am not tryin to say that we should recruit people based solely of of where they are from....we should not. But it seems like Opelt was a legitimate recruit and on our fringe. I would hope his locale and his position would bump him up a bit.

I'm satisfied with our QB recruits, but yeah it might play a very small role in who to go after.

Perhaps it did bump him up a bit and he still did not make it above the two we got.

Getting that commitment from Kevin Leady (Eastwood) sure worked out well attendance and otherwise.

That example is very bad considering he never played.

That's sort of my point. Recruiting local kids, just because they are local, doesn't seem to work out all that well. Matt Emans is still third on the depth chart as another example. I don't think any locals are buying tickets just because they hope to see Emans play.

[1987alum]

Which was Brandons first recruiting class. Our Junior class is weak and little in number....

5 Dan Macon ** RB 6-1 210 SR/JR Sagamore Hills, Ohio/Nordonia
9 Loren Hargrove ** DB 5-11 204 SR/JR Berea, Ohio/Berea
24 Deaudre Perry ** DB 6-1 212 SR/JR River Rouge, Mich./River Rouge
27 Michael Woods DB 5-11 190 SR/JR Columbus, Ohio/Franklin
54 Kyle Cutler ** LB 6-1 225 SR/JR Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder
57 Devon Parks *** DE 6-3 252 SR/SR Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville
65 Pat Watson ** OL 6-5 297 SR/JR Naperville, Ill./Central
71 Drew Nystrom ** OL 6-5 304 SR/JR Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge
72 Andrew Stanford * OL 6-3 308 SR/JR Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis
73 Kevin Huelsman ** OL 6-5 284 SR/JR St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry
78 Kory Lichtensteiger OL 6-3 305 SR/JR Van Wert, Ohio/Crestview
81 Matt Emans ** WR 6-2 191 SR/JR Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green
82 Benjy Kennedy ** WR 6-1 181 SR/JR Morris, Ill./Morris
88 Sean O'Drobinak ** TE 6-4 262 SR/JR Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point

I wrote the top portion of this post and then did the research. I want to take back what I said. Any class with both Parks and Lichtensteiger has to be labeled good. Add two more starting offensive lineman, our two safeties and a RB and TE and that is not too bad. 8 of our 22 starters are from this class and our best two players.

Who the heck is Michael Woods?

To put this in context, remember that Brandon had a very compressed window on his first recruiting class and, I believe, has publicly admitted that he took a lot of chances on many kids that he and his (new) staff didn't have ample time to research.

Click here for my humble analysis of Brandon's recruiting history

[Flipper]

I know I'm in the minority here, but MAC titles are not the be all, end all. In 2004 UT won the MAC and got drilled in the MCB. We lost to UT and NIU but we won a higher profile bowl game than either of them and finished with a higher national ranking.

I'll take a season with greater national recogniton over a season with a MAC (is that the Midwest Athletic Conference?) title.

So far as Brandon's recruiting goes...his first year was hampered by the timeline. His second year yielded some guys who have already contributed and more of them look to be ready now. His third year brought some athletes and depth to both lines. Last year's class added some size and a ton of speed on both sides of the ball.

Recruiting is not a problem...saying otherwise is silly...nutty...outlandish...farfetched...looney..not something a rational person would do....so far as coaching goes, Coach B choked against UT. Not going for two on the final TD we scored in OT was nutso...crazy...silly..well, you understand.

That he has more or less admitted this publicly is a good sign. It shows that he's learning and that he isn't nutso...crazy...silly...yadda yadda yadda

[hammb]

Brandon didn't inherit a clunker. Meyer had the program in very good shape and on the way up. It's hard to say that now.

J4H pretty much echoes my thought's on this to a letter. My first thought was Meyer inherited a clunker, and Brandon inherited a program that was definitely on the rise with a TON of young talent.

Warthog, sorry I left you out buddy, you're also on the dark side with me! Just be careful what you say around here or you'll be accused of being on crack (or other drugs), hating all that is associated with BG, and be told to move to a different part of the state!


To go a little further on some of the stuff that has been said in this thread, I must say that I agree with '87 in some regards. First of all, I expect us to be lousy this year. He said he thinks we may be worse than many expect, and I'd wager that my expectations are among the lowest on this site. I really don't expect more than 5-6 wins, anything more than that is gravy.

That said, as J4H eluded to, I do expect to see some of the signs that we are a well coached football team. There are ways to guage that beyond simple wins and losses, and that's one of the things that has always infuriated me about Brandon. Whenever criticisms have been mentioned in his public interviews he always got this, "Aw shucks, we won, so I must've done something right," type reaction. I think it undermines a coach's authority to say things like that publicly then try to actually make the corrections with the team. What keeps them from having the same attitude?

I will not be pulling out the Fire Brandon card based on our wins and losses this year. I've been playing NCAA and it's remarkable how young we are. We have very few seniors that will be filling key roles, and when you have that kind of youth you cannot expect to be a big winner. However, you can expect to show signs of being well coached. How about some leadership in the face of adversity for a change? How about playing some sound, fundamental football for a change of pace? How about showing some freaking toughness on the field? Those things may not equate to wins when you lack the experience that our guys do, but they'll go a long way towards proving what kind of coach you are & laying the foundationf or a winning program in the near future.

I want to sit here and say that Brandon will grow into being the next great head coach of the college football landscape. It's a great thought, and it is true that he's only been in the head coach driver's seat for 3 years; however, I cannot help but remember what I like to say whenever a coaching search comes up with my favorite teams, "A good coach is a good coach." I hate to go to an example that is so hated, but in his 4th year as a head coach Mr. Meyer was taking his team undefeated and into a BCS bowl game. It sure didn't take him that long to learn this new position did it? And he did it without having ever been a coordinator & moving to new surroundings. Brandon inherited a team that he had been the OC for the previous two seasons. Another hated example would be Jim Tressel. Everyone screamed he couldn't make the jump to 1A, and he won a national title shortly thereafter. Bob Stoops only spent 2 years as an OC before taking over an Oklahoma team that hadn't been good in years. He won a national title in year two. Joe Paterno went from an assistant coach to head coach very quickly, and had undefeated seasons within the next couple years.

Now obviously I don't expect to be winning national titles, or anything like that. And certainly guys like these are rare and difficult to find. My point is just that it is not unprecedented for someone to step into the HC role and flourish immediately. As such, I don't think it's being unreasonable to believe that we should start to see some solid signs that Brandon has what it takes to become a good head coach in the very near future. I'm not asking for wins. I'm asking to see a well coached football team. In the past 3 years we've gotten wins without the things that I associated with a well coached team. If we could get a well coached team this year, I'd be willing to wait a year or two for the wins to start coming.

[duckunder53]

That's sort of my point. Recruiting local kids, just because they are local, doesn't seem to work out all that well. Matt Emans is still third on the depth chart as another example. I don't think any locals are buying tickets just because they hope to see Emans play.

I don't think Emans was ever really recruited too heavily, I think he was/is even a walk-on (may have been given a scholarship by now). There are a few local kids that would do well for BG. There is a lot of focus on those guys that failed BG when there should be more focus on those guys that BG has had from the area that have helped. If BG can routinely get one or two local kids a year, that can do nothing but help the fan base in the area. Sure, it would help if the kid was a star and/or played quite a bit, but every team is taking a chance with every kid that they get that he may not be that star player. BG had a safety from Clyde a few years back, Chad Long I think, that did very well for the Falcons. Also, the TE from Bellevue who was a walk-on and ended up being a captain by his senior year did well. I'm more than sure there are more, but I do not have a wealth of knowledge about the past of the program. I like what BG is getting with their recruiting efforts, but I'd also like to see a local kid or two in each class. It would help the marketing of the program just by doing that. If you take a look at some of the other programs like ours around the nation, I'm sure they recruit locally to help naturally affect the marketing of the program.

How about these guys that are enrolled at BG from the area
36 Kyle Wright P 5-11 185 SO/FR Pemberville, Ohio/Eastwood
41 Josh Schwind DB 5-7 190 SO/FR Maumee, Ohio/Maumee
48 Terrel White *** LB 5-10 224 5/SR Wooster, Ohio/Wooster
64 Scott Albert OL 6-7 257 SO/FR Kenton, Ohio/Hardin Northern
73 Kevin Huelsman ** OL 6-5 284 SR/JR St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry
78 Kory Lichtensteiger OL 6-3 305 SR/JR Van Wert, Ohio/Crestview
81 Matt Emans ** WR 6-2 191 SR/JR Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green
90 Michael Ream DL 6-3 235 SO/FR Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton
91 Garth Hartung DE 6-1 230 JR/SO Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins
95 Jon Jakubowski *** LB 6-1 221 5/SR Rossford, Ohio/Rossford

If I had to take a guess (and I'd bet that I am right), only four of those guys were offered scholarships to come to BG at the beginning.

With four of the six state titles coming from the NW Ohio area, you would think that there are plenty of talented players around. But...none of the guys from this year's recruiting class are from the area. Again, I think the rectuiting effort is there, but a local kid every now and then wouldn't kill the program.

Basically, my arguement is that there is talent in the area, but BG is not getting it. Quite a few local kids are going to Miami and Cincinnati (or even OSU, although we can't expect to get too many of those kids) and skipping out on BG. Why is that? Not eveyone is looking to get away from home, look at Almanson, he didn't mind sticking around and he did a great job for the B-ball team. So to say that recruiting locally doesn't work out is a broad statement, there are kids in the area that are good, BG just isn't getting them.

[anthony e]

I don't mean to sound negative, but except for possibly the Wisconsin
and Miami games, even with Omar we looked lackluster at best. I hope we win numerous games this year. However, it is my hope that we don't begin
to see the forthcoming of Gary B's last six seasons. I have often wondered
if his success didn't have something to do with Moe's teams. Just a
thought. Maybe the same is true with Brandon. I am still not sold
on him as our coach for the future. I hope I am wrong in this assumption.

[Warthog]

Recruiting local kids, just because they are local, doesn't seem to work out all that well.

So to say that recruiting locally doesn't work out is a broad statement, there are kids in the area that are good, BG just isn't getting them.

Check my words: Recruiting local kids, just because they are local, doesn't seem to work out all that well. I agree that there are some talented kids in the area, but the key is having talent. I want us to recruit kids that can play. If they happen to be "local" all the better. You can't do it the other way where you get local kids and hope they can play.

[Dayons_Den]

Hammb I may be below the mason/dixon line now, but you can certainly put me in the club as well. From the start I have said 'great coordinator, not sure if he is ready to be a hc' and I have felt that way during his entire tenure. You can second guess play calls with even the best coaches, but it is the little things you tend to notice, some of which hammb points out, that really make it appearent something isn't right here. . .


The fundamental stuff that hammb mentioned annoys me and it must really dig at those who played football at any level. Last year it was like every ball carrier for an opponnent was lubed up in crisco at the line cause we rarely filled gaps and made stops and sometimes our linebackers looked like middle school kids bouncing off the ball carriers and sometimes if they wrapped them up they would just slide off of them.

Despite my feelings I still think we should give him more time and see how it plays out, but if we start the slippery slope of the mid to late 90s I hope we cut it off before it is too late.

[TG1996]

Despite my feelings I still think we should give him more time and see how it plays out, but if we start the slippery slope of the mid to late 90s I hope we cut it off before it is too late.

This about sums it up for me, too. I honestly don't think it's heading that way, but I'm sure I/we all thought the same thing about Blackney in '96 as well...

I just wish there was as much energy burned on the positives of BG athletics as there is on the perceived negatives sometimes...

[Falconfreak90]

Despite my feelings I still think we should give him more time and see how it plays out, but if we start the slippery slope of the mid to late 90s I hope we cut it off before it is too late.

I just wish there was as much energy burned on the positives of BG athletics as there is on the perceived negatives sometimes...

I like that statement, TG. While Coach Brandon is far from perfect, I don't think he is an inept HC, either. The man has had 3 years and is 26-11 with a couple Bowl wins and national rankings. Not winning the MAC Title has driven me freakin crazy and I want that trophy. He's made mistakes and, it appears, he's learning from those mistakes and publicly admitted he could have done things better in certain areas. The man is human.

Just out of curiosity, those of you that would like to see someone else as Head Coach, who would you like to see? Is there any other coach in the MAC you'd rather have? TA? Novak? Solich? Montgomery? Brookhart? Martin? How about outside the MAC?

2005 was a HUGE disappointment when we expected so much. Why can't 2006 be a big success when some expect so little?

39 days....let's get it on.

[hammb]

Just out of curiosity, those of you that would like to see someone else as Head Coach, who would you like to see? Is there any other coach in the MAC you'd rather have? TA? Novak? Solich? Montgomery? Brookhart? Martin? How about outside the MAC?

2005 was a HUGE disappointment when we expected so much. Why can't 2006 be a big success when some expect so little?

39 days....let's get it on.

I'm not ready to run Brandon out of town, to be sure. Quite frankly, I'd like him to be the head coach, IF he improves. I've talked to him in the past and he seems like a pretty nice, approachable guy. He was very cordial when I was taking pictures for the H4H website a few years back as well.

That being said, him being a nice guy alone will not cut it. The steps back this team has taken over the course of the last 3 years are remarkable, and I don't want to see us fall into complacency and return to the Blackney era. Certainly Brandon has a chance to prove a lot of things this season by putting together a good season. Still, as I said earlier, I'm not looking for just wins & losses. His record is already quite good, but that doesn't make him a good coach, IMO. We need to see the groundwork being laid to build a championship caliber program.

As for who I'd rather have, I have no idea. The only coach in the MAC that I'd rather have right off the bat is Amstutz. There are a lot of coaches in the MAC that are mediocre, which is pretty much where I think Brandon is. What I want is excellence, and I'm quite happy to be a stepping stone to bring it here. The Urban years were shortlived, and he never stuck around to build a program, but they were the most exciting years of football we've had in a long time. IMO, 2003 rode that wave and the past 2 years have paled in comparison.

In short, I'm quite happy to give Brandon another year to prove himself. Expectations are low this season, we've got a pretty fresh block of clay, mold it into something nice. If we see improvements then wonderful. If not, I think we should look elsewhere.

[Dayons_Den]

With the change of the avatar Hammb, what is Brandon going to refer to you as now?

"There are some people who think I coach like a glass of fine ale."

[hammb]

With the change of the avatar Hammb, what is Brandon going to refer to you as now?

"There are some people who think I coach like a glass of fine ale."

LOL. His comments notwithstanding my previous avatar was never meant to be in reference to him or anyone else. I just found that picture hilarious, and have yet to be able to find it anymore since the great AZZ crash of '05.

[1987alum]

I just found that picture hilarious, and have yet to be able to find it anymore since the great AZZ crash of '05.

[JoeFalcon]

I don't think MAC titles are an accurate barometer for comparison in this case. Meyer and Brandon inherited a clunker and built it up while "Toledo Tom" took the reigns of a healthy program from Gary Pinkel and simply tried not to screw it up.

Let's not discount the role coordinators play into this equation as well as neither coach regularly calls plays and formations on offense or defense.

Brandon didn't inherit a clunker. Meyer had the program in very good shape and on the way up. It's hard to say that now.

Coordinators do factor in, but it all falls on the head coach to pull it together. Brandon could have had Stud run the ball more when it was very effective @ Toledo in 2004 when we had the huge lead. Brandon could have gone for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter last year and put Toledo away. Brandon could have rallied the troops after Omar went down last year instead of watching as the team fell into disarray. That lack of leadership cost us the MAC championship we all so badly crave. All of these important decisions (and many more) fall on to the head coach to make, and I believe Brandon has missed more than he's made....and it ain't close.

The head coach's mentality almost always can be seen in a football team. As much as I hate to reference the Meyer Era...because he's a douchebag....that team was tough. They didn't back down from anyone and were mentally and fundamentally strong.

Brandon's teams are style over substance. Brandon himself said he neglected special teams play because he thought we'd outscore everybody. How'd that work out for us on coverage and FG and XP kicking last year? Brandon's teams are soft, leaderless, and fundamentally poor. They fold when the pressure is on and, except for the Miami game, lose big games when the chips are down. I would love to see all of this change, but unless GB has a serious epiphany, I don't see it happening while he's here. The man shifts blame to his players and staff, and makes excuses all over the place during public interviews. That's not the stuff of leaders.

Like I always say, I would love nothing more than for GB and the team to come out this year and prove me wrong. I want to see fire, grit, and good fundamentals. I want to love GB, and have him be the guy that takes us where we want to go. He's a likeable and by all accounts good guy, and I hope he figures it out. I'm just not optimistic I'm going to consistently see a good football team while he's in charge.

1) I guess I don't seperate Brandon from Meyer given the fact Urbie hand-picked him to help design and ultimately run the offense with full play calling autonomy during those first two years. Sentiments about the program being on the rise were based primarily on the record setting offensive production engineered by Gregg Brandon. I refuse to attribute all credit to Meyer and all blame to Brandon. Meyer gave the team a needed kick in the butt but has yet to call plays as a HC to this day. And the program wasn't exactly without holes upon his departure based on the travesty I witnessed in the A** Bowl against Toledo in 2002.

2) Of course the HC gameplans and makes timely "suggestions" to his coordinators, but he also isn't breathing down their neck and micro-managing the game or Stud would've left a long time ago. You can take the chain-of-command-ultimately-responsible argument all the way up...should Krebs have been on the hot seat since he hired Brandon? Should Ribeau be on the hot seat for hiring Krebs? Should the Board of Trustees be on the hot seat for hiring Ribeau.... You've got to trust people to do their jobs.

3) MAC titles are fantastic, but you can't compare apples and oranges. I don't think comparing Doug Martin to Shane Montgomery (second year head coaches at Kent and Miami, respectively) is accurate because of the state of their respective programs.

I also agree completely with Flipper that the national recognition BG has been able to achieve has arguably more value than championships, particularly in terms of prestige and awareness. Few people will remeber the conference champion in X year, but everyone will remeber College GameDay coming to a MAC venue for the first time and seeing BG destroy an undefeated Northern Illinois team.

4) I've been a critic of Brandon as well, but you can't say he hasn't won big games. Aside from Miami last year, Northern 2003, Purdue 2003, Toledo 2003, GMAC Bowl 2004 are just some that come to mind. I'm also with Freak on moving forward and being pleasantly surprised with the 2006 group.