BG/Toledo differences

[1987alum]

I hate to admmit it, but I think Toledo Tom is a much better coach
than Greg Brandon.

Your perception does not follow statistical information.

Winning percentage.
GB, 702
TA, 714

TA has two years and 3 chins experience on GB.

MAC titles?

[Rightupinthere]

I hate to admmit it, but I think Toledo Tom is a much better coach
than Greg Brandon.

Your perception does not follow statistical information.

Winning percentage.
GB, 702
TA, 714

TA has two years and 3 chins experience on GB.

MAC titles?

Suddenly your glass is half empty, Karl? Interesting turn of events since it was you who quelled my desire to can the GB.

[hammb]

I hate to admmit it, but I think Toledo Tom is a much better coach
than Greg Brandon.

It would be tough for anyone to make a case against it at this point. Amstutz has a lot more experience in his favor, so Brandon might be a good coach in time. However, right now, I have not seen much to make me think Brandon is capable of taking our team to the next level, or even sustaining or current one. I would love to be proved wrong.

Anthony, welcome to the dark side.

I believe I am the leader, J4H is with me for the most part, and we had some followers coming through at the end of last season. Many of those guys have reconverted to thinking Brandon is the greatest coach since Rockne in the optimism that is the offseason, but I suspect they'll likely be back.

I have yet to see anything from Gregg Brandon to make me believe that he's a coach that can take us to the next level. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see the team getting better at the things that make for a successful team/program. In fact we're gradually getting worse in most of those areas.

[Globetrotter]

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.
.

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.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

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.
.

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.

[Globetrotter]

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.
.

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.

[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.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

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.

[Warthog]

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.

Umm, isn't winning a championship how a coach is evaluated? I don't care what the state of the program was when they take over.

And, yes, coordinators play a role, but who is responsible for hiring the coordinators? The head coach. The head coach should get most of the credit and most of the blame for the success/failure of a program. Do you think Brandon isn't looking over Stud's shoulder making any suggestions for the upcoming game plan?

[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.
.

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.

[Warthog]

I hate to admmit it, but I think Toledo Tom is a much better coach
than Greg Brandon.

It would be tough for anyone to make a case against it at this point. Amstutz has a lot more experience in his favor, so Brandon might be a good coach in time. However, right now, I have not seen much to make me think Brandon is capable of taking our team to the next level, or even sustaining or current one. I would love to be proved wrong.

Anthony, welcome to the dark side.

I believe I am the leader, J4H is with me for the most part,

How'd you forget about me?

[Globetrotter]

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.
.

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.

[duckunder53]

Leady was a verbal committment, kids back out on those all of the time. I don't think he would have ever seen the field at QB for BG anyways.

[1987alum]

Suddenly your glass is half empty, Karl? Interesting turn of events since it was you who quelled my desire to can the GB.

Not at all. I still like Brandon and I still think he's capable of being an excellent coach. But comparing him to Amstutz isn't to his advantage.

I will continue to defend Brandon because I believe he deserves it. Book it now, we're going to struggle this season - a lot ... and a lot more than most people think - and there's no doubt the "Brandon Must Go" threads are going to be immensely popular. But unless I see a total meltdown, I'll still be in his corner.

[Globetrotter]

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?