FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

What is it with Reusse and his love affair with Jackson?  Do Strib columnists take pleasure in infuriating readers?

[retagent]

What say we start a movement to have John send Jimmy G to the Boise vs State TCU(?) Bowl Game in San Diego? Is there a more aggressive, entertaining and effective offense than the Broncos in college football? Those were qualities that seemed to be lacking in this year's edition of SJU football. l will start a collection if that is what is necessary.

[tmerton]

Received an email from SJU saying that Gags is again a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.  What?  Does he own stock in Liberty Mutual or something?

Here are the D-III finalists:

Greg Debeljak
Case Western Reserve University 

John Gagliardi
Saint John's University 

Larry Kehres
Mount Union College 

Dan MacNeill
SUNY Cortland 

Mark Speckman
Willamette University 

No Ramler?   Of the above, I think I'll vote for Speckman.

Voting reopens on Dec. 12.  http://www.coachoftheyear.com/

[DustySJU]

What say we start a movement to have John send Jimmy G to the Boise vs State TCU(?) Bowl Game in San Diego? Is there a more aggressive, entertaining and effective offense than the Broncos in college football? Those were qualities that seemed to be lacking in this year's edition of SJU football. l will start a collection if that is what is necessary.

I couldn't agree with you more retagent!  Nothing ever changed: the rhythm, plays or execution seldom differed.  After going up 7 - 0 against UWW there's no way the Johnnies could have imagined playing the entire game the way it started.  Attack the UWW defense and put 'em back on their heels. Hell, even throw in a little Brownie no-huddle hurry-up spread just to change the speed of the game. 

Please Jimmy, make somebody guess next season.

Add Texas Tech, OU and Florida to your list Retagent and it's complete.

Developing....

[janesvilleflash]

Bailouts, jobs, gas, football, all of it, we got BIG problems now.

MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin District Attorneys Association wants to raise the state's beer and liquor taxes — something that hasn't happened in nearly 40 years — to pay for more prosecutors.

Wisconsin's beer tax, third lowest in the nation, hasn't gone up since 1969. The liquor tax, which is among the lowest nationwide, hasn't increased since 1981 other than when a new tax on hard cider was added in 1997.

To increase prosecutors' salaries and hire 121 new assistant district attorneys, the combined beer and liquor tax would have to go up 20 percent.

Good grief!

[OzJohnnie]

The obvious solution: Wisconsin needs to drink significantly more alcohol so that gov't revenues can increase without increasing the rate of taxes.  As Homer Simpson put it, "Beer: the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."

[retagent]

I'll second your emotions on Florida, Texas Tech and OU, but look at each of their QB situations - Heisman candidates all -  in comparison with the Johnnies. Also, I figured since I was willing to put up $$, a ticket to the Boise State/TCU game would be cheaper and easier to get

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

I'll second your emotions on Florida, Texas Tech and OU, but look at each of their QB situations - Heisman candidates all -  in comparison with the Johnnies. Also, I figured since I was willing to put up $$, a ticket to the Boise State/TCU game would be cheaper and easier to get

are you talking round trip or one way?

[Redtooth]

What say we start a movement to have John send Jimmy G to the Boise vs State TCU(?) Bowl Game in San Diego? Is there a more aggressive, entertaining and effective offense than the Broncos in college football? Those were qualities that seemed to be lacking in this year's edition of SJU football. l will start a collection if that is what is necessary.

I couldn't agree with you more retagent!  Nothing ever changed: the rhythm, plays or execution seldom differed.  After going up 7 - 0 against UWW there's no way the Johnnies could have imagined playing the entire game the way it started.  Attack the UWW defense and put 'em back on their heels. Hell, even throw in a little Brownie no-huddle hurry-up spread just to change the speed of the game. 

Please Jimmy, make somebody guess next season.

Add Texas Tech, OU and Florida to your list Retagent and it's complete.

Developing....

Ahh...the annual Jimmy G is the problem and needs to change everything post.  I am amazed that it took three weeks to get posted...in years past Collegeville Magic would have had it posted within 5 minutes following the SJU playoff loss.  At least this year's post comes from someone that intelligently watches the games and cares.

Having read through this board during the season, watched a couple of games and discussed the season with people in the know; one common theme was a lack of talent similar to years past.  The SJU offense is predicated on having great talent at the skill positions to put maximum pressure on the defense.  Most plays in the system have 4-5 player options to force a defense into making mistakes.  Less talent means less pressure on a defense; therefore they can double or over cover the left over options.  The other predominant theme was the lack of quality offensive line play.  Without blocking, everything else is irrelevant.  

Play calling while important is far less important than what I highlighted above; EXECUTION.  A good offensive team that executes flawlessly can virtually announce to the defense what play they are running.  This year's team did not execute the offense very well.  As a result, Mike Leach, Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops could have called any play in their playbooks and would have been no more successful than Jimmy.

[OzJohnnie]

Play calling while important is far less important than what I highlighted above; EXECUTION.  A good offensive team that executes flawlessly can virtually announce to the defense what play they are running.  This year's team did not execute the offense very well.

Redtooth, you make a good argument that tends to persuade me.  So, being persuaded that the best (and the best wasn't too shoddy, imho) was done with what was available, the next question is: are the correct steps being taken to get the best available?

Many arguments here during the year were also made that the best that could be done in recruiting was not being done.  Argued to the point that I would say as far as these boards are concerned it is the consensus opinion.  A reader not familiar with the inner workings of SJU, a potential recruit for instance, could certainly be left with that impression visiting these pages.  Poaching institutions, USTD for instance, would be able to direct potential recruits to these very boards in order to inject some uncertainty and doubt about SJU into the young lad.

So, in the interest of correcting unjust opinions (if they be unjust), let me ask: does SJU take the correct recruiting steps?

[DustySJU]

Play calling while important is far less important than what I highlighted above; EXECUTION.  A good offensive team that executes flawlessly can virtually announce to the defense what play they are running.  This year's team did not execute the offense very well.

Redtooth, you make a good argument that tends to persuade me.  So, being persuaded that the best (and the best wasn't too shoddy, imho) was done with what was available, the next question is: are the correct steps being taken to get the best available?

Many arguments here during the year were also made that the best that could be done in recruiting was not being done.  Argued to the point that I would say as far as these boards are concerned it is the consensus opinion.  A reader not familiar with the inner workings of SJU, a potential recruit for instance, could certainly be left with that impression visiting these pages.  Poaching institutions, USTD for instance, would be able to direct potential recruits to these very boards in order to inject some uncertainty and doubt about SJU into the young lad.

So, in the interest of correcting unjust opinions (if they be unjust), let me ask: does SJU take the correct recruiting steps?

I doubt whether coaches of the MIAC use this board as a negative recruiting tool and even if they did it'd prolly work in SJU's favor.  Aside from a few random posts from the Bethel crowd, an occassional outburst from an angry GAC grad or a long suffering Carl or Auggie, this board is manned primarily by Collegeville fans.

As far as play calling is concerned a good example of tempo change was the final Johnnie drive versus the Carls where QB Joe Boyle helped his team to victory via the hurry-up no-huddle.  Another creative display by the Johnnies in that game was when they were shifting in and out of the diamond and racked up good yardage.  We didn't see it again after the second quarter and had just a glimpse versus UWW.  Obviously situation dictates all however these were a few times the J's did put added pressure on the D.

If the Johnnies had the offense to match all the great defenses that are fielded would they be atop the DIII heap along with MTU? 

How 'bout moving Jerry to offense, Gary to head defense and Jimmy to full-time recruiting coordinator working along side Institutional Advancement?  Just some hot-stove chat on the coldest day of the season.  You know I love you guys and appreciate what you do.

[AO]

Haugen over Brownie

[johnnie_esq]

I only watched all or part of four games this year, and I don't hang all the problems on Jimmy G, but there were some common themes-- just to keep discussion going here:

1.)  Lack of talent: Who is responsible for the lack of talent?  Unlike in pro leagues, where you can buy talent, or in high schools, where you must develop it from the younger levels, colleges must recruit it or maximize talent from the younger levels-- but that all falls on the coaching staff itself.  They alone are responsible for recruiting it and utilizing it. 

But in the framework of SJU, that has several relatively disconcerting issues: (a.) With a squad of 175+ kids, and you are telling me that the top end talent at SJU isn't very good, and we don't have much more in the pipeline?  What a waste of uniform space!  (b.) recruiting problems take a few years to manifest themselves-- if the problem is recruiting, the kids who were seniors this year would have been high school seniors in 2003, when SJU won the national title-- the exposure and fame itself should have kept SJU's recruiting dominance way ahead, as the tradition would have sustained in the following years-- yet this is what we got out of it? (c.) the traditional hotbeds of where we got our kids at SJU are drying up, as Melrose isn't the power it once was, and the best kids from Albany are playing baseball for the U.  So we are left with a few kids from St. Cloud Tech and the rest of the MIAC is taking home the kids from Eden Prairie and Wayzata.  How long can we keep that up?

2.) Execution:  Execution certainly has a component that falls on the players themselves-- if the players fail to catch a ball that they should, you cannot blame a coach for that.  However, when, over the course of 10 games, players are making the same mistakes-- that type of execution falls on a coach for not getting the execution done correctly in practice, or for sitting the kid who won't execute.  You have 175+ kids on the team-- are you telling me that there isn't another kid who won't consistently catch that ball on the depth chart?  Or some other kid (who may be smaller) can't move and block at the same time?  And if not, doesn't that also fall on the coaches' shoulders (see lack of talent, above)?

An illustration is the quarterback-go-round this year.  You have kids that are just not executing, yet they continue to see the field-- at the same time, you sit a kid who doesn't execute once and he never sees the field again.  That type of execution mistake falls on the coaches-- not the players-- who perpetrate these mistakes over and over again.  Whatever happened to Crees, anyway?  He threw the ball away once in game four I think it was and he was anathema since. 

3.)  Playcalling:  The problem with the playcalling is that it has become too predictable-- everybody knows that in short yardage we are running the option to the short side of the field.    I'm not saying we need to install the fun 'n gun, but if the offense doesn't have the talent or won't execute the way it needs to in order to run the plays you want to run, you need to change the plays.  That is the playcalling mistake.  In years past, with talent advantages, you could hide playcalling errors because superior talent would make it work.  But on even ground, those weaknesses were exposed.  Watching the Johnnie offense was like watching someone play super tecmo bowl-- the Johnnies had about eight plays they could run with any mode of success and then the QB scramble.  When you are on even keel talent-wise with an opponent, you actually have to create some deception in the offense to force them to make mistakes.  As in the Whitewater game, SJU scored early, UWW adjusted early, and we didn't so much as threaten the rest of the game.  Part of that was mistakes-- but the other was playcalling for putting us into 3rd and long so much the rest of the way.

4.) General Thoughts: I think the coaching staff seems to have been doing a bit of coasting since 2003, while the rest of the MIAC has been gunning to take the Johnnies down.  That is not surprising in the effect-- but the difference between SJU and Mount Union is that, when MUC got ahead in the early 1990s, they have never stopped to sit and enjoy their success-- while SJU seems to be content with their runs up to and including 2003, and expect that we can just show up each fall and do the same thing with the same result.  This year should serve as a major wake up call that such will not work on an annual basis, and- like Mount Union has done- you need to continually adapt your program to adjust with the changing of the game and of the demographics. 

This year, you cannot say the defense, even without Gunderson, was the "problem" of the team.  The offense continually failed this team and almost cost the Johnnies the season-- think St. Olaf game.  So you have to ask what the offense is doing or not doing to make it happen-- and that analysis naturally leads back to Jimmy G.  Combined with off-the-field issues with quarterbacks, the offense was unspeakably bad-- to the point that, if this continues, and we expect success in the MIAC and in the NCAAs, a change may need to be made.

[retagent]

I have not been one to jump on the "Dump Jimmy G" bandwagon. Mainly, because the offense has been fairly dominant, putting up big numbers, and seeming not to be a problem. I subscribed to the if it ain't broke, don't fix it crowd. I only saw one game this year, the UWW fiasco. The thing I noticed above all, was the apparent reluctance to throw to the WR's. When they did on a few occasions, they seemed to have some success, and those same receivers were able to make plays in previous years. Saladin was almost non-existent all year. I know he had some injury problems, but was that the whole reason.

Both esq, and Dusty have well thought out and valid posts, from different perspectives. I suspect that both less than stellar talent, and less aggresive play calling combined to make this a year unlike so many other recent years. I just hope the solutions will not take too  long to make this year an anomoly.

[snoop dawg]

AO.......I don't know anything about Haugen other than the article you posted, I do know Browine, and GAC passed on a very good and deserving man. 

johnnie_esq.     Kudos on a well thought out and very well calculated post.  While I have only listened to johnnie games this year, I would agree with many of your observations.  From what I gather, you are close to the program and +k to you for having the guts to go public with your observations.  Your observations are stated in such a way that no one should be offended but everyone should have to think about what you are saying, constructive criticism if you will.