Did anyone see who won MAC Coach of the Year?

[guest44]

It was the guy the search firm said would be interested in the Bowling Green job. But, BGSU did not interview him. If only he had some ties to Boston.

[mbenecke]

The situation at CMU was a lot better than here at BG. They haven't faced the number issues we are facing. He's a good coach and would have been nice to have here, for sure. But Loeffler is a program builder - and THAT is what we needed at the time, and still need today.

44, I love your enthusiasm to be around these boards often. I wish there were more active users like yourself. I don't mean to argue, I just think feeling like Loeffler is a failure after 1 season is silly. I hope we can at least agree to disagree here.

[MarkL]

To think that McElwain would have done the same here is just silly.
- CMU had one bad year. One. We had three straight culture killing bad years
- CMU had been bowl eligible almost every year since 2012. They had a winning culture
- We had a culture marred by not working hard, kicking girls in the face to get drugs, and getting in fights during spring break
- CMU had no senior class in 2018 due to a messy coaching transition. That aside they had a talented roster. McElwain inherited a good situation
- Loeffler inherited a senior, junior, and sophomore class all plagued by attrition

Not even close. Had McElwain come here, I predict our record as 3-9 (2-6).

[roguewarrior]

Heard that one of that bar brawls last year with the Jinks krew included some of the coaches participating in the melee. Somehow I can’t see Coach Malone breaking a bud light bottle over some kids head. This program devolved into a Low level JC, from the culture side by the time this staff arrived. Knowing first hand what I know with a player.... I can’t imagine Belichek doing a whole lot better, during this season. Time will tell over long haul, but 24 commits mostly 3 star, captains... in December, following a 3-9 record, is pretty darn impressive.

[guest44]

Central was so bad last year they lost to Carl Pelini and this BG team at home. This is literally the same stuff that was said after year 1 of Jinks. The big difference being the ridiculous blaming of Babers for being the reason Jinks stunk. No offense, it’s the same people that were convinced Jinks was going to turn it around. Loeffler a program builder? He is a first time head coach and his previous stop just got house cleaned. The idea that McElwain inherited a even decent program is just false. He came in, found a QB, and out coached an entire division of mediocre MAC coaches. It’s coaching.

[Globetrotter]

Central was so bad last year they lost to Carl Pelini and this BG team at home. This is literally the same stuff that was said after year 1 of Jinks. The big difference being the ridiculous blaming of Babers for being the reason Jinks stunk. No offense, it’s the same people that were convinced Jinks was going to turn it around. Loeffler a program builder? He is a first time head coach and his previous stop just got house cleaned. The idea that McElwain inherited a even decent program is just false. He came in, found a QB, and out coached an entire division of mediocre MAC coaches. It’s coaching.

X100. Now we suddenly don't even want the MAC coach of the year. Not good enough for us. Who cares if he went 3-9. There is a lot more evidence on his record that he will be successful.

[mbenecke]

Believe me, I'm not saying McElwain isn't a good coach. I just think he wasn't coming in here and winning the MAC immediately.

[Schadenfreude]

It was the guy the search firm said would be interested in the Bowling Green job. But, BGSU did not interview him. If only he had some ties to Boston.

This sad song is going to get old fast.

I don't see a comparison between these situations. The program was lower than ever when we chose Scot Loeffler.

I doubt McElwain would have done appreciably better this season. In fact, I doubt Urban Meyer would have done much better. (Meyer had a whole lot more talent to work with in 2001 than Loeffler did this year.)

[BillyLP]

Anyone who thinks that CMU and BG were the exact same situation doesn't know anything about college football. CMU had veterans on both sides of the line and at all of the skill positions. They weren't short on scholarship players, and had depth across the board. McElwain did a tremendous job at CMU, but he wasn't going to do any better than Loeffler here, and if you look at their commits for next year, they don't exactly have recruits clamoring to get up to Mount Pleasant.

Also, I still maintain that Babers deserves some of the blame. It was a fun two years and he won, but he won with Clawson recruits. He took a huge step back this year at Syracuse in the first year that he was playing with all of his own recruits because teams have figured out his offense, and his defenses are terrible. Jinks drove it all into the ground, but Babers helped out on the defensive side.

[MarkL]

The idea that McElwain inherited a even decent program is just false. He came in, found a QB, and out coached an entire division of mediocre MAC coaches. It’s coaching.

Central Michigan football records:
2012: 7-6
2013: 6-6
2014: 7-6
2015: 7-6
2016: 6-7
2017: 8-5
2018: 1-11

That's 5 bowl games in 7 years until the floor fell out. And why did it fall out? Lack of senior class due to messy coach transition.

Strong program. Far stronger than most else in the MAC and incomparable to our program in recent years, just with one down year.

[guest44]

It was such a strong program they fired the coach. Hadn’t been to a MAC Championship game since 2009. Wow, they got to play in multiple Potato bowls and never even threatened a division title. Hell, even Akron has done that in 10 years. If going to a bowl game is a mark of success, than that’s an even bigger indictment on the status of BGSU Football. It’s just so Bowling Green that when the other teams coach wins immediately it’s the players. But, if it weren’t for Dino Babers MAC Championship, Mike Jinks would have been successful. It’s all the same people that were believing in Mike Jinks going right into year 3. Central made the better hire, that’s all.

Central over under on wins this season was 4 and the under was bet heavy. Central was picked dead last in the MAC West. Clearly, the people on this board knew the depth and talent of Central Michigan more than anyone.

[BillyLP]

This argument is as pointless as a political debate. Regardless of tangible facts, it's just going to be people yelling "I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG" in the end.

[jpfalcon09]

So tired of the incessant whining by the same people on here. Quit supporting the program if you don't like the decisions made.

[Flipper]

CMU's QB was a former **** recruit who xferred in after transferring from Tennessee to Houston (he redshirted there). I'm sure having a healthy guy like that with some SEC level game experience running the show helped.

[TommyG]

I think there is truth to both sides. Our situation was worse than CMUs, but Loeffler didn’t show much in year 1 in my opinion. BG basically gave up the second half of the year, especially on Defense. Maybe Loeffler needs to restock the entire roster...I certainly didn’t see much from on field performance to be excited about the future.