Shots fired.

[Schadenfreude]

I can't remember ever seeing a Bowling Green head coach more fired up than Scot Loeffler was in today's press conference.

https://youtu.be/e9_peyMMzDc" target="_blank

Among other things, he said: "I'm not going to use Bowling Green and quick fix it overnight and leave like other people have in the past here. We're going to get this thing that is sustained. We're going to get this thing right. And the fact of the matter is, that's going to take time. If I was walking into something that was right, all right, There's no excuses. But this thing isn't right and it hasn't been right. And we're going to get it right. Plain and simple."

(Shots fired!)

He also quotes Dave Clawson telling him the situation he faces now is much tougher than the one Clawson faced in 2009.

I love this passion.

[roguewarrior]

Good stuff. Maybe Guest found his email! Ha!

[MarkL]

I was about to post the press conference too. I've seen BG coaches fired up before, Brandon and Jinks specifically. I've never seen that.

Loeffler threw Babers and Jinks under the bus. You can call it unprofessional. But given the program in state it is, I say go for it.

He laid out that the 2017 and 2018 classes are basically gone. I pointed that out on a post here recently - 9 / 24 remain from 2017 and something similar from 2018. JPfalcon pointed out that there is no base of leadership in the program. I would call it the "level headed crowd of AZZ" is pointing out correctly how devastatingly awful of a situation Loeffler inherited and how nobody would win quickly. I'm glad to see Loeffler clearly stating that, stating his approach, and defending it by name dropping Clawson telling him the situation is so much worse than a decade ago.

The situation is tough. Worse than I've ever seen at BG. I just hope his vision works. And I can see players running through a wall for a coach that passionate.

[TommyG]

Still doesn’t change the fact the team isn’t showing signs of improvement on the field. That is a big part of coaching. Great at zoom calls though....

[Rollo83]

Not the type of press conference I want from my head coach...no matter the situation. Okay, so you got dealt a bad hand. Don't make excuses. That's what you tell your players. How should the current players feel after you just threw them under the bus and alluded that they aren't good enough?

I keep thinking of the advice Lou Holtz gave Urban Meyer when he was considering the BG job. Meyer told Holtz it wasn't a very good job. To which Holtz replied, "If it was a good job they wouldn't be considering you."

Sorry, but his team is playing like one that isn't very well coached. I don't expect wins right now. I don't expect us to be able to play with the top half of the league right now. But I do expect us to be lined-up correctly at the line of scrimmage. I do expect us to have some semblance of discipline and not commit a penalty ever other play. I do expect us to play hard. I do expect the coaching staff to put them in the best position to be competitive. Unfortunately, I don't see any of that right now.

The rest of the season will be telling. Do they seniors quit on the coach? Do all the younger players get better with playing time? Do the juniors start to look at transfer options for 2021?

I understand he's in only his second year and we're in the middle of a pandemic. He has a five year contract. I am willing to give him a couple more years to put this thing in the right direction. That's only fair. But so far, its been a near total disaster. Hopefully he can turn it around. But today's press conference didn't help in my opinion. Its not what winners do.

[Schadenfreude]

Loeffler threw Babers and Jinks under the bus. You can call it unprofessional. But given the program in state it is, I say go for it.

I'm okay with it. Expectations are just too high right now. A good coach manages them.

(For me, this was a big red flag with Jinks. Before his first season, he talked of keeping the winning tradition going and continuing to play Falcon Fast. There was no way to square that with going down to Memphis and losing 77-3 before conference play had even started.)

[FalconTurf]

He walks a fine line with any interview. If tough questions are avoided he will be criticized but if he is too honest he can, and might have today, look bad. I can accept that things went down hill fast with Jinks, we all saw it and in a very un-BG act he was bought out of his contract. It seems very obvious the program hit rock bottom when a traditionally tight-budgeted athletic department buys a coach out mid-season in the middle of a contract. Right now Loeffler is in a no-win situation and needs to fight to maintain the ability to get his current players to work while maintaining commitments for the future.

[guest44]

Loeffler threw Babers and Jinks under the bus. You can call it unprofessional. But given the program in state it is, I say go for it.

I'm okay with it. Expectations are just too high right now. A good coach manages them.

(For me, this was a big red flag with Jinks. Before his first season, he talked of keeping the winning tradition going and continuing to play Falcon Fast. There was no way to square that with going down to Memphis and losing 77-3 before conference play had even started.)

Expectations are too high. LOL I forgot the expectation was that Bowling Green should be the worst team in the country, yet many of you thought they would go 3-3. I bet he didn't tell the team this was the expectation prior the realization that this is what they are. That rant was fueled by 36 hours of stats showing how historically bad the past 5 games have been. Many of those stats caused by in game decisions as much as roster issues. Maybe some of his disdain for Dino Babers comes from going 1-2 against him head to head at BC. It's also comical that the guy who most recently dropped 60 on BGSU for the second straight season, was calling plays for Babers. Scot has the person to talk to, in the same building, in regards to the past six seasons of BGSU Football. He is right down the hallway. He can explain hiring Falcon Fast, to the logic of hiring Mike Jinks, to Carl Pelini, and right on up to today. He was taking selfies with Kingston at Ford Field when Babers won a MAC Championship. He should talk to him directly.

[TommyG]

Fast forward to next week...

“Coach another blowout loss...”

Loeffler- “Let me stop you right there...how can we expect to go out and win when the temperature of the Gatorade isn’t right? Old coaches here liked Gatorade at 47 degrees. We need that Gatorade at 45 degrees. Until we get that right we can’t even talk about winning.”

[Schadenfreude]

Expectations are too high. LOL I forgot the expectation was that Bowling Green should be the worst team in the country,

My expectation is that we start winning our division and beating Big Ten schools again. But this isn't going to happen magically overnight.

[jpfalcon09]

He walks a fine line with any interview. If tough questions are avoided he will be criticized but if he is too honest he can, and might have today, look bad. I can accept that things went down hill fast with Jinks, we all saw it and in a very un-BG act he was bought out of his contract. It seems very obvious the program hit rock bottom when a traditionally tight-budgeted athletic department buys a coach out mid-season in the middle of a contract. Right now Loeffler is in a no-win situation and needs to fight to maintain the ability to get his current players to work while maintaining commitments for the future.

Loeffler cares. He knows it's a tough gig. Probably more difficult than he imagined coming in. This program has been gutted down to bare earth. He's gotta rebuild the house from the concrete foundation.

I knew people who worked under the Jinks' staff and heard the horror stories. Players laughing and joking on the bus rides home after getting blown out in games. Lack of accountability from the staff. Players being out of shape, not sticking to their diets. Whole bunch of stuff. Loeffler is trying to fix this and it's going to take time. Anyone who has ever come into a business as a manager where the culture sucks knows it doesn't change overnight.

[hammb]

He walks a fine line with any interview. If tough questions are avoided he will be criticized but if he is too honest he can, and might have today, look bad. I can accept that things went down hill fast with Jinks, we all saw it and in a very un-BG act he was bought out of his contract. It seems very obvious the program hit rock bottom when a traditionally tight-budgeted athletic department buys a coach out mid-season in the middle of a contract. Right now Loeffler is in a no-win situation and needs to fight to maintain the ability to get his current players to work while maintaining commitments for the future.

Loeffler cares. He knows it's a tough gig. Probably more difficult than he imagined coming in. This program has been gutted down to bare earth. He's gotta rebuild the house from the concrete foundation.

I knew people who worked under the Jinks' staff and heard the horror stories. Players laughing and joking on the bus rides home after getting blown out in games. Lack of accountability from the staff. Players being out of shape, not sticking to their diets. Whole bunch of stuff. Loeffler is trying to fix this and it's going to take time. Anyone who has ever come into a business as a manager where the culture sucks knows it doesn't change overnight.

Only thing I'll say (again) is that culture issue that Jinks created is the EXACT same thing that Urban Meyer inherited. Same s**t work ethic, same s**t culture. Like Loeffler his hands were tied once he ran off the bad apples they were drastically under the scholarship limit (I think his 01 team was in the 50s for scholarship players). Yet still, he won.

Now I don't expect Loeffler to be another Urban. Nobody should, Urban is and was one of the greatest coaches of all time. Still, though, I don't think it's unfair to expect to start seeing SOME improvements on gamedays. IT will take years to rebuild the roster to one that can compete for titles, but signs of good coaching should not take years. It doesn't take years to get the team lined up properly. It doesn't take years to instill the discipline to avoid other pre-snap penalties.

IMO, Loeffler has his heart in the right place to rebuild this program the right way. I'm very concerned that he's incapable of leading a championship caliber team even if he DOES get the roster in a good place.

[Schadenfreude]

Only thing I'll say (again) is that culture issue that Jinks created is the EXACT same thing that Urban Meyer inherited. Same s**t work ethic, same s**t culture. Like Loeffler his hands were tied once he ran off the bad apples they were drastically under the scholarship limit (I think his 01 team was in the 50s for scholarship players). Yet still, he won.

According to today's Blade, close to two-thirds of the current roster consists of freshmen. This leads FBS.

Perhaps the situation Urban Meyer faced was that bad. But is everyone else sure?

I'm not. This seems worse to me.

Gary Blackney's teams never got consistently blasted the way Mike Jinks-led teams did. Sure, Blackney went 2-9 in his last season. But I don't remember anybody hanging 77 points on a Gary Blackney team. His worst game in 2000 was a 42-7 loss at Michigan, but that was a Top 10 team.

Still, though, I don't think it's unfair to expect to start seeing SOME improvements on gamedays. IT will take years to rebuild the roster to one that can compete for titles, but signs of good coaching should not take years.

Honestly? I sense some improvement. The score this week was ugly, but Matt McDonald looked more capable than he did in the opener. Loeffler has his offense in there now, and it seems like it has potential. The Falcons aren't getting much done on the ground right now, but don't they have three or four true freshmen starting on the O-line right now?

Also, the defense has had breakdowns at times -- and the offsides penalties were maddening -- but players have also made big plays more often than I remember last year or the year before.

We will see. I love the guy's passion, and his recruiting so far has been strong according to the experts who watch that stuff.

I'm prepared to be patient.

[MarkL]

We can compare dumpster fires all we want between the 2001 situation and 2019. I think I've made my thoughts clear on how terrible a situation Loeffler inherited and it seems every week we hear something new we didn't know before. But there's a big piece missing.

Meyer didn't just bring a new attitude. He also brought an exciting new offense. The spread was new in 2001. He tilted the game in BG's favor in terms of scheme. Nobody knew how to defend the spread and it took advantage of big slow defenses. And this is why I remember suggesting during the coaching search to hire somebody who would make BG a total pain in the ass to play. Like triple option offense, or the spread option Georgia Southern ran against us in 2015. Make it so everyone's week prepping for BG is total hell because they have to shift gears starkly, just for one week.

That's the same reason Joe Tiller was so successful at Purdue. The time Purdue finally started to nosedive was around 2005 when everyone played enough spread teams that prepping for Purdue was nothing new so Purdue's generally low talent level was exposed. But early in Tiller's years it was different, just as it was in 2001 at BG.

[Falconwriter]

We can compare dumpster fires all we want between the 2001 situation and 2019. I think I've made my thoughts clear on how terrible a situation Loeffler inherited and it seems every week we hear something new we didn't know before. But there's a big piece missing.

Meyer didn't just bring a new attitude. He also brought an exciting new offense. The spread was new in 2001. He tilted the game in BG's favor in terms of scheme. Nobody knew how to defend the spread and it took advantage of big slow defenses. And this is why I remember suggesting during the coaching search to hire somebody who would make BG a total pain in the ass to play. Like triple option offense, or the spread option Georgia Southern ran against us in 2015. Make it so everyone's week prepping for BG is total hell because they have to shift gears starkly, just for one week.

That's the same reason Joe Tiller was so successful at Purdue. The time Purdue finally started to nosedive was around 2005 when everyone played enough spread teams that prepping for Purdue was nothing new so Purdue's generally low talent level was exposed. But early in Tiller's years it was different, just as it was in 2001 at BG.

I get the idea of going with something a bit gimmicky to help give the team an advantage -- but the problem with this type of offense, generally, is that defenses catch up pretty fast and unless you have truly outstanding talent, you're going to end up being pretty mediocre again. I'd prefer to have a solid offensive scheme (and defense) and keep building it from the ground up.

Urban did have a big advantage with that new offensive system, but I don't think he inherited the complete dearth of talent we saw happen with BG over the last two seasons.

I expect them to go winless this season. But I do hope we start seeing very clear improvement in the fundamentals of play on both sides of the ball. As for him talking openly about all of this at the press conference...I have no problem with it. It's not making excuses; it's laying out what the reality was and is, so people can comprehend how bad it was. People like us already knew; his explanations are for the more casual fans who don't pay attention to things like roster sizes and how badly recruiting classes were depleted.