Fire Holtz

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

As someone who HAS jumped on the "Fire Holtz" bandwagon, I AGREE with you. This team has character.

My concern from last night is that we saw EXACTLY what the USF and ECU fans warned us about: When he wins, Holtz will do just barely enough to win. Even with a decided talent advantage --like last night-- Holtz will NEVER blow another team out. It will always be a nail biter with Holtz at the wheel. UTEP sucks bad. A different coach for LA Tech walks out of the Sun Bowl last night with a 17-24 point win.

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I agree with all of that.

Banks' fumble skewed the margin a bit, IMO. But, you're dead on about playing not to lose.

There is something to be said for playing ball control with a comfortable lead. It would have saved us a few times under the Dykes regime.

I love Louisiana Tech University and want us to be excellent in everything we do. But I am going to state the things that should be obvious. Our coaching staff has turned in a subpar performance so far. Our team is talented, and have had miscues, but each one of those miscues are magnified because of how our game plan keeps the games close throughout. We lost a lot of players yes, but we aren't starting 22 freshman on offense and defense. A lot of these guys have had significant playing time over the years. We still have Dooley recruits playing for Christ's sake. But I am not going to have a bunch of people call me negative or anti-Tech because I choose not to look the other way when the absurd and inept takes place from our coaching staff. I have spent thousands of dollars over the last 20 years supporting my school's athletic programs. Countless hours devoted to this program. So yeah, if somebody is doing a sucky job, I am going to say it. I hope we win out. I hope we win a championship. I hope we get six wins and go to a bowl. That does not change the fact that our coaching has been subpar through this point in the seasonnor the fact that I love Louisiana Tech.

A good job by the coaching staff is utilizing the WHOLE team. Blake Martin had a break-out game (similar to HLee at Idaho). Young stepped in and kept things flowing. Guillot went out with the concussion and his playmaking was missed. Tevin King was his absolutely afterburner fast on that second Tech play from scrimmage. A cut right instead of cut left would have been 6. Instead, we got to see Guillot make his play at the goal.

Yes, this 2013 TEAM is finally gelling, coming together and responding much better.

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

I think everyone on the board will agree with that, including me. Having said that, I saw several "coaching mistakes" last night that are just irritating. Here are just three examples:

1) Why did Holtz continue to run Higgins on run plays after Higgins had already left the game hurt? Higgins ended up getting hurt again. This reminded me of Washington Redskins coach Mike Shannahan doing the same with RGIII in the 2012 playoffs (for which he was severely criticized).

2) When Higgins left the game with an injury, why ask Scotty Young --coming off the bench cold, and having not played in 3 weeks-- to throw A PASS on his very first play, on 3rd down and 4? Of course Young overthrew his receiver and we had to punt. Why not RUN the ball with Dixon or Martin in that situation? (we averaged almost 10 yds per carry last night.)

3) With about 3 min left in the game, why did Tech call a timeout before the play clock (and the game clock) ran down to almost zero? LA Tech could have run another 20 seconds (or so) off the game clock and THEN called time out. IMO, this was a mismanagement of the game clock when time was precious to both teams.

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Just because you don't understand it or even agree with it doesn't mean these were mistakes. Even if Holtz is the worst coach in football history he still knows more than you do, especially about this team and last night's game. I realize this is difficult to hear. I also realize you will disagree with me.

Dogsince65:

If you really think the fans here want Tech to perform poorly so they can ridicule, then you are greatly mistaken.

Most of us just have high expectations, are fanatics about our team, and want them to be the best all the time.

So, you take the good with the bad. Use the ignore feature. It works well.

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Originally Posted by SWarner63

I like how those of us who don't approve of us losing to Tulane, Kansas, and Army are crucified when we FINALLY beat a team we are better than. And now Holtz is vindicated because he beat a team we are better than once in 4 tries. Man!!! How awesome is that?!? With a 25% winning percentage against literally the 4 worst teams in the country is so IMPRESSIVE! We, lowly Louisiana Tech, should PRAISE Skip Holtz for his masterful coaching prowess since he beat a UTEP team that is such a powerhouse. Everybody calm down! Lets just give him 20 more games to prove he can keep providing us such an awesome record with this "young" team of juniors and seniors.....please, keep going all you who still think we need a "culture change", surely Holtz can do it. He really changed it at South Florida. Went from a respectable opponent to the doormat of college football. BOY!! I can't wait!!!

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No one's getting crucified.

You may be entirely right about what Holtz is going to be, but I just don't think his body of work is such that makes the hire as OBVIOUSLY bad as this board is making it out to be.

And we all know he's not getting fired mid-season, so why rush to judgement?

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Originally Posted by dj95

I love Louisiana Tech University and want us to be excellent in everything we do. But I am going to state the things that should be obvious. Our coaching staff has turned in a subpar performance so far. Our team is talented, and have had miscues, but each one of those miscues are magnified because of how our game plan keeps the games close throughout. We lost a lot of players yes, but we aren't starting 22 freshman on offense and defense. A lot of these guys have had significant playing time over the years. We still have Dooley recruits playing for Christ's sake. But I am not going to have a bunch of people call me negative or anti-Tech because I choose not to look the other way when the absurd and inept takes place from our coaching staff. I have spent thousands of dollars over the last 20 years supporting my school's athletic programs. Countless hours devoted to this program. So yeah, if somebody is doing a sucky job, I am going to say it. I hope we win out. I hope we win a championship. I hope we get six wins and go to a bowl. That does not change the fact that our coaching has been subpar through this point in the seasonnor the fact that I love Louisiana Tech.

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That's a really good post. Green for you!

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Originally Posted by kdk008

Just because you don't understand it or even agree with it doesn't mean these were mistakes. Even if Holtz is the worst coach in football history he still knows more than you do, especially about this team and last night's game. I realize this is difficult to hear. I also realize you will disagree with me.

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Yes I do disagree with you. That typically happens when I speak to someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. :) You can't blatantly say (with genuine credibility) to someone on a fan board that Holtz "still knows more than you do"....especially when you know nothing about the person to which you are speaking. Besides being a foolish thing to say --and having absolutely nothing to do with the argument-- you just can't prove it.

In this day and age of modern telecommunications --with access to TV, video, etc....-- it's not at all unreasonable to think someone not "in the business" could actually know just as much --or more-- about football than someone actually in the business like Skip Holtz. We've all witnessed people in the business (e.g., coaches) who we would all agree are clearly in over their head.

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Originally Posted by Dogsince65

for a guy with only 38 posts you do not get it yet . We have about half the folks posting who want us to lose so they can ridicule players, coaches and other posters. The are happy when we lose because they can post their crap. Holtz has been a head coach for 14 yrs and won more than lost. He has won CUSA championships. If he can not win here, not sure any seasoned coach would take his place.your post is 100% correct-- but be careful, should say SOME of you guys are pathetic. I saw us go 0-5 in conference and 3-7 with Maxie- terry b and Mickey. we then had 3 great yrs and then another terrible yr. Kansas state, Tulane and Army are having up yr-- feel if our playmakers had done their job , we would have only lost to Army.

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You are seriously nuts if you really believe this stuff. The people complaining have been around for years and are some of the biggest supporters of TECH. No TECH fans want us to lose. We do however; expect to hire good coaches and expect to get what we pay for. I am not sure how you can get so excited over a win over a terrible team other than it is a start. They actually played with a little heart for the first time yesterday. Hopefully he will be able to turn the season around.

Why do we keep playing receivers that constantly drop the ball? Play the receivers that can catch and don't play the ones that can't catch. Why is this so hard to figure out? I am tried of seeing 10 guys catch 1 or 2 passes a game. Lets get the ball to our playmakers have our leading receivers catch at least 4 to 6 passes a game.

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

As someone who HAS jumped on the "Fire Holtz" bandwagon, I AGREE with you. This team has character.

My concern from last night is that we saw EXACTLY what the USF and ECU fans warned us about: When he wins, Holtz will do just barely enough to win. Even with a decided talent advantage --like last night-- Holtz will NEVER blow another team out. It will always be a nail biter with Holtz at the wheel. UTEP sucks bad. A different coach for LA Tech walks out of the Sun Bowl last night with a 17-24 point win.

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I doubt very seriously he asked Banks to drop that punt so he could keep the score closer. Come on man. We were trying to score as many points as we could and trying to give up as few as possible.

I doubt he sat King and Guillot just to keep the score close too.

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Originally Posted by T1

I doubt very seriously he asked Banks to drop that punt so he could keep the score closer. Come on man. We were trying to score as many points as we could and trying to give up as few as possible.

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So, what are you suggesting?

Yes, it's so difficult to catch a punt without turning it over. It's utterly amazing that they manage to do it at every high school and college game in America each weekend. :laugh:

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Originally Posted by Dogsince65

ankle sprain. Tape it up, tell coach you good to go. One play , take you out. 2 weeks to get better. Kenneth playing on 1 good leg, would playing him be ridiculous??? I am so tired of all this super negative, anti Tech crap. Yeah, it is anti-tech-- this our our team, our coach and too many posters more focused on negative crap than who is playing really well. Learned long time ago, you can never raise yourself by bringing others down.

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That's a ridiculous accusation. Being anti-skip DOES NOT make you Anti TECH. If that's what you think, then JAB, dawgbitten, myself and several other TECH fans that sat through JB3's final season must be anti Tech. We were the guys holding up the JOakes on us, Help Jack Pack and How low will we go Reneau signs. Even with the starters that we lost, are you ok with us being a team that would be ranked in the 100's if the rankings went that far??

As for on the field, on the QB's 2nd play of his return AT OUR GOAL LINE, they call a QB draw... on a sprained ankle. That call alone whether it was Peterson or Holtz, ranks up there with Bicknell's Hawaii screw up. Top 5 boneheaded decisions in TECH recent history. Like it's been said, we were bailed out by Kenneth Dixon just being a freak of nature and carrying out team. TWICE getting 3rd and 25+ yard conversions.... that's just insane!!

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Originally Posted by T1

I doubt he sat King and Guillot just to keep the score close too.

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You're making no sense now. (Not a first for you). King and Guillot --both injured last night-- have nothing to do with this.

You were very vocal last week about your displeasure with Holtz, especially immediately following his weekly press conference. Now you seem to think he's the next Vice Lombardi. We'll proactively put you down in the "indecisive" category. :icon_wink: