Possible coaching candidates in the future

[jpfalcon09]

We’re not in a position to fire an 8-5 or 9-4 coach. Lol

He’ll be here next year at 6-7 or better. If we miss a bowl, maybe there is a conversation. Other than that, he’ll be here.

Everything that makes him a bad coach remains regardless of his record. Offense is boring and outdated, hasn't had a good QB in his time here, most penalized team in the MAC, can't recruit OL, inconsistent from week to week.

If he somehow goes 9-5 and every game is a mess then he could still be gone. If he goes 8-4 I would assume some of that is changed. at 6-6 or 7-5 maybe not with this schedule.

DVDM would have a helluva time convincing the program's biggest donor, who is a supporter of Scot's, to terminate him after a winning season. I'd consider it malpractice. SL isn't the best coach, obviously, but the kids do play for him (more times than not). The bottom of the league sucks, but the MAC is like the NFL where it's week to week and anything can happen. He got the ship righted after a tough Miami loss. He gets four games to show if he can at least push this to a 7-win regular season. And he'll be back if he does.

Malpractice to fire a bad 6-6 coach or malpractice to go against the teams biggest donor?

You said if he goes 9-5 but every game is a mess, he could still be gone. That's what my post alludes to.

[Globetrotter]

Brutal schedule?

What in the world?

[TommyG]

Six wins on the year and he definitely stays. Extra revenue for the department with a bowl game. SL becoming the next Chris Creighton.

Extra revenue that doesn’t turn into profit, but actually increases expenses.

You play in Detroit for the bowl game, you have a slim chance to maybe finish a little under even. Anywhere else and you are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars playing in these games. Travel, inability to sell ticket allotments, and all the added costs of keeping the team on campus over break all adds up. It all adds up to way more than the bowl payouts are. Detroit you have a chance to be close to even, because you’re probably going to be close to selling your tickets.

[TommyG]

I have no doubt he’s coming back. Just remember the last 2 wins the opposition couldn’t throw the ball. UB because of the weather, Akron because the QB couldn’t push the ball more than 5yds past the line of scrimmage.
Ball State may be more of the same, but it’s all a farce. As soon as the defense can’t dominate, the offense will go out the window because there will actually be some pressure. Right now it’s just no fear…bringing a ton of aggressiveness on defense and offense is finally just giving the ball to Stewart.
If this team had a good playcaller they’d have had a shot at the MAC Championship game.

[mbenecke]

Brutal schedule?

What in the world?

Liberty is 7-0. Michigan is 8-0. Toledo is 7-1. Miami is 6-2. Ohio is 6-2. We also played another P5 team in Georgia Tech in there, as well.

That’s a really tough schedule for a MAC team to deal with. The rest of the MAC is pretty trash, but the non-conference was tough (2 undefeated teams, and 3 of the 4 on the road) and then we also play all 3 of the 3 best teams in the conference. 5 of the first 7 games were on the road.

That’s absolutely a brutal schedule, and it was why I had us at 1-6 after Buffalo before the season started.

[guest44]

Six wins on the year and he definitely stays. Extra revenue for the department with a bowl game. SL becoming the next Chris Creighton.

Extra revenue that doesn’t turn into profit, but actually increases expenses.

You play in Detroit for the bowl game, you have a slim chance to maybe finish a little under even. Anywhere else and you are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars playing in these games. Travel, inability to sell ticket allotments, and all the added costs of keeping the team on campus over break all adds up. It all adds up to way more than the bowl payouts are. Detroit you have a chance to be close to even, because you’re probably going to be close to selling your tickets.

All bowl games are a money pit as MAC football is in general. The earlier the game is played the better unless it's the Bahamas. Loeffler is back as he was always going to be. Bowling Green plays in a division that has no football tradition outside of Miami (OH). Ohio has been good since Solich and has established the tradition with consistency while BGSU hires and keeps incompetent administration over and over. Kent, Buffalo, and Akron are traditionally college football's smelly dumpster. Functional should do no worse than third in this division over and over. An upset of Toledo and we have to fear the real problem, another extension. An extension that gives us more boring football with blowouts whenever the game has true meaning toward a championship.

[Globetrotter]

It seems like we have short memories. He won 2 games in a row he should have won. We can't be this polar. A bad coach can have a good record.

[Flipper]

You don't get to site your peers as proof of a brutal schedule. It's year 5 of the Loeffler era...According to Scot..WE'RE supposed to be the top of the food chain this year in the MAC.

We had an FCS cupcake, a decent mid major a mediocre P5 team and possibly the best team in college football on the OOC. Tough..but brutal?

If Sebo likes him...I doubt we'll move on from him unless the team completely collapses...even then I would be surprised.

[Globetrotter]

I remember that Marvin Lewis won NFL coach of the year and every fan new he needed to be replaced. A part of that is fans being fans, but for most of us it was obvious that even if he could go from bad to mediocre he wasn't going any further. There was context to the wins. This is what that feels like. Its very possible if not likely we go 7-5 and then either win or lose in the bowl. At best we are probably 8-5.

And on paper that looks good. It's a steady improvement.

2019 Bowling Green 3–9 2–6 5th (East)
2020 Bowling Green 0–5 0–5 6th (East)
2021 Bowling Green 4–8 2–6 T–4th (East)
2022 Bowling Green 6–7 5–3 T–2nd (East) L Quick Lane
2023 Bowling Green 8–5 5–3

But anyone watching knows it's
-A boring offense
-Lackluster QB play
-An inability to recruit OL
-The third most penalty yards in all of the NCAA
-Big embarrassing losses to our rivals

I'm not seeing anything from that list that's changing. We do seem to be playing smarter but we just aren't throwing the ball. We have 17 completions in the last 2 games total. Not each game, but that's 8.5 completions a game. He should get some credit for simplifying things to win. But that's probably not a style that wins without a dynamic running QB.

[jpfalcon09]

I remember that Marvin Lewis won NFL coach of the year and every fan new he needed to be replaced. A part of that is fans being fans, but for most of us it was obvious that even if he could go from bad to mediocre he wasn't going any further. There was context to the wins. This is what that feels like. Its very possible if not likely we go 7-5 and then either win or lose in the bowl. At best we are probably 8-5.

And on paper that looks good. It's a steady improvement.

2019 Bowling Green 3–9 2–6 5th (East)
2020 Bowling Green 0–5 0–5 6th (East)
2021 Bowling Green 4–8 2–6 T–4th (East)
2022 Bowling Green 6–7 5–3 T–2nd (East) L Quick Lane
2023 Bowling Green 8–5 5–3

But anyone watching knows it's
-A boring offense
-Lackluster QB play
-An inability to recruit OL
-The third most penalty yards in all of the NCAA
-Big embarrassing losses to our rivals

I'm not seeing anything from that list that's changing. We do seem to be playing smarter but we just aren't throwing the ball. We have 17 completions in the last 2 games total. Not each game, but that's 8.5 completions a game. He should get some credit for simplifying things to win. But that's probably not a style that wins without a dynamic running QB.

Last two games have been played in rain & wind. Throwing the ball probably not a wise idea. Staff leaned on the run game and defense to win. They appear to be the strengths of this year's team, so it makes sense. You have a likely all-MAC guy in Terion coupled with TK for a formidable attack. SL did say BG would run the ball better this year and the W's have come when the run game has worked. He needs to stick with it down the stretch. It's how Toledo can be beaten.

[hammb]

This schedule wasn't "brutal" by any stretch that Loeffler wants to claim. IF this program was worth a s**t Liberty was a winnable game. The UM game was a cash grab, always was. Don't expect to compete in that one so whatever.

As Flip said, I don't care if Miami(OH) and OU are national title contenders, you don't get to claim them as "Brutal" components to a schedule, they're your conference/division members. Those powerhouses, in FPI, rank 61st (Liberty), 73rd (Miami), and 87th (OU). If that is going to constitute a "brutal" schedule then why are we even still fielding a football team? C'mon...

Scot Loeffler Cannot coach. He has been a s**t coach everywhere he's ever been. His teams lack discipline with regards to penalties and he coordinates and calls one of the most boring god awful offenses in Div1. He recruited a fine RB and if he remembers to just give him the ball every play it will trick know-nothings into thinking it's competent largely because the MAC as a whole flat cannot play football.

Loeffler will be back next year. The GT win, and the near guaranteed conference wins pretty much cemented that in my mind. I don't disagree with Globe on iota that he should be gone, but he won't be, because this is BG where we do not care to win and the MAC is so bad that you accidentally get enough wins to look half competent. MAC football is so bad, remotely competent coaching should have you 1-2 in your division every year. UT currently leads the conference ranking 65th in FPI, the conference currently has a stranglehold on 7 of the bottom 20 rankings.

GIven the state of the MAC, I'd say Scot Loeffler is EXACTLY where he belongs; the bowels of college football. I just wish it weren't BG.

[mbenecke]

Playing 5 of 7 on the road to start the year, including a stretch of 3 in a row, is wild. On any level of football, that is an extremely difficult task.

I don't think Loeffler is some elite coach, but I do know BGSU isn't in the business of firing coaches that take you to back to back bowl games, regardless of how "boring" their offense is.

I'd like to return to winning the MAC at some point, but for right now, I'm gonna take a 6 or 7 win season and a bowl trip, because it sure beats anything we put on the field from 2016-2021.

6-7 (6-6 + bowl loss) or better and he's back. The conversation starts if we miss a bowl at 5-7 or worse.

[Flipper]

If you set your standards low enough...it makes you easier to please. In today's environment just "making a bowl" is synonymous with mediocre.

The distance between us and the top of the conference is pretty wide. The conference itself is a shadow of what it once was. Winning six and going to the BFE Bowl does not captivate me as a fan.

Either make the commitment to move forward towards excellence or shut it down. Embracing mediocrity is not acceptable

[BillyLP]

I don't think Loeffler is some elite coach, but I do know BGSU isn't in the business of firing coaches that take you to back to back bowl games, regardless of how "boring" their offense is.

Well, we kinda did that with Gregg Brandon. Granted, he didn't go to a bowl after his last season, but it was an 8-5 then 6-6 campaign. Expectations were higher, so he got the axe and we brought in Dave Clawson. If this team goes 6-7, I hope they let him go. Let DVDM show the fanbase they are ready to seriously invest in success. Do I think that would be the case? No, but it's what I'd push for.

[mbenecke]

I don't think Loeffler is some elite coach, but I do know BGSU isn't in the business of firing coaches that take you to back to back bowl games, regardless of how "boring" their offense is.

Well, we kinda did that with Gregg Brandon. Granted, he didn't go to a bowl after his last season, but it was an 8-5 then 6-6 campaign. Expectations were higher, so he got the axe and we brought in Dave Clawson. If this team goes 6-7, I hope they let him go. Let DVDM show the fanbase they are ready to seriously invest in success. Do I think that would be the case? No, but it's what I'd push for.

I mostly agree with you. I don't wanna be 6-7, 7-6, etc. forever. But Brandon's program trajectory was clearly in decline when he was let go - it still feels like Loeffler is going up (more likely peaking) at this point. We'll see what happens. It wouldn't be hard to cut ties if we bottom out at some point and have a 3 or 4 win season. And I would like to aim higher. I also just don't expect to do that, with our mediocre budget and with how bad the MAC is as a whole. We don't have the ability to aim much higher than hoping for like 8 wins and a bowl in the current college football landscape.