HD he is a junior!Originally Posted by HogDawg
What was his momma thinking naming him "Pooka"?
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HD he is a junior!What was his momma thinking naming him "Pooka"?
Oh crap....so there's two of them?HD he is a junior!
Yeah but the name is actually Anthony Williams Jr., Pooka is a nickname I suppose.Oh crap....so there's two of them?
Pooka is so, so talented. He’s good friends with Amik as well from what I can tell on Twitter.
This guy has such a high missed tackle rate. It’s something like 33%. Extremely shifty..the kind you can’t teach or coach. He was born with that “wiggle” that makes for a great return man or spread offense college running back.
I think he gets taken late and ends up with a nice pro career. He’s only 170 but he is tough as nails. I’ll be pulling for him.
I did not see him play any this year, but watched him a couple of times his first two years. His numbers have declined each year under Miles.
He was a beast at Hanhville, man on a mission. My son's high school soccer coach was a brother to Pooka's football coach. The Coach Saltaformaggio I know told me when he was a younger boy Pooka cut the toes of off one of his feet in a law mowing accident. Imagine if he had all of his toes!
Holtz should do the responsible thing and announce his retirement as of the end of this season. At this point he shouldn’t put it on Tech to deal with his failing efforts. Do the honorable thing, step down, don’t ride out your contract and drain Tech of their much needed money and give new AD Wood a fair chance to find a replacement coach in the off season.
Ain’t gonna happen.
And it’s not just about the money.
Holtz has killed pride in the program. It’s one thing to lose. It’s another thing to look inept doing it. Hell, Holtz looks inept even when he wins.
Hopefully he will not control his new boss the way he controlled his former boss. We've got to get a handle on our fan base issues and Holtz has got to be part of that solution and work with our AD to improve things.
I expect Eric Wood will handle Holtz and the other HCs just fine. In fact, I'm thinking with his background as an athlete, his broad based experience and what we've seen of him since he was appointed, he may be the best we've had in dealing with coaches we've had in years...decades. I seriously doubt he'll allow any coach to strong arm him.
Frankly, a strong AD may be what Holtz, Konkol, Stoehr & Burroughs have been needing. We haven't had a strong personality at AD since Dooley.
🙄
This...I have high expectations for our new AD.
Any specifics regarding the bolded statement above?
....my thoughts exactly. What have you seen TD, to be so impressed? Not hate'en on Eric Wood at all, but my understanding is that he's not even in Ruston until January.
I don't mind telling ya, I'm reserving my allegiance about this AD hire until we see more. Oh there's no question that Dr. Eric Wood has a ton of foundational "training" and has worked in all the right places (Arkansas, UCF, etc....) for some of the best people. In fact, one could argue that he has the perfect "up and comer" resume. But as far as I can tell, he's never been "the guy" to hire and fire coaches in any athletic department, and/or other employees for that matter. Can he manage people and coaches? We don't know, because he's never done it before.
All this to say, I have SOME concerns about this AD hire because LA Tech is a G5 school that requires VERY ACTIVE, hands-on, management from its' AD. As we all know, this ain't Texas or Notre Dame, so the athletic department isn't going to manage itself. The org chart in LA Tech's athletic department is not deep, so tough decisions will have to be made at the top by Dr Wood. He is going to have to immerse himself into the day to day decisions and operations --including everything from scheduling to hiring and firing-- and he just doesn't appear to have a lot of experience at that.
I've heard Eric Wood in several different interviews beyond the introduction. And, no, you don't know how someone will handle a position of authority until they are in that chair. But I think I see where he is likely an ENTJ personality type and if he is, I'm excited at the prospects because that's not the kind of person & personality we've had with the last two ADs.
I think Wood will be a planner and a plan executor. And I think he'll have expectations of the coaches and they'll know what those expectations are and where they stand. He'll understand the necessity for the people who work for him to have the tools they need to be successful and he'll do everything he can to get them those tools. He'll be the commander of the athletic programs but not a meddler or micro-manager. But failure to move a program forward and improve won't be something that just slides by. (Like the lost decade in baseball with Wade Simoneaux) In talking about how a lagging coach needs to get on track I expect Wood will have frank discussions with the intent of helping the coach. Those can be difficult but don't have to be confrontational. But if someone wants to have an upfront, straight forward discussion he'll plenty good with going there and won't be intimidated.
As far as the hiring and firing, I have no doubt Wood has had to deal with that. Frankly, if that kind of thing intimidates you or causes you to wring your hands in despair and worry, I don't think you survive very long in management or move up. I just don't see how, with all the people he's worked for and positions he's held at his age, that he didn't have that kind of authority and responsibility a long the line. And if our search committee didn't tag that base in the interview process....shame on them. But I expect they did.
Yes, he'll be neck deep in the athletic organization. Frankly, managing the athletic organization is one thing I thought TMac was particularly weak at doing. Given the kind of person & personality I think he is, even though it's his first time to be "the guy", I'm not going to be surprised if that's not one of his strengths.
If Eric Wood is who I think he is, we made a good choice. I see enough to take the perspective that the glass is half full and filling, not half empty with a leak in the bottom.
But only time will tell.
Yes, I was impressed with the AD hire and his resume. One of the new AD's successful specialties at UCF was organizing and bringing the former athletes back in the fellowship there in Orlando. Bill Cox can only do so much for us. The Administration must be fully onboard in this area.
Wood's set to be on campus to start work late next week in time to be at The Joe for the Rice game, we were told at the old farts Lettermen's Breakfast at the Squire on Thursday.
Coincidentally? There were four athletic administrators and a coach at the breakfast. Other than the coach of the season talking about his/her team, rarely there has been more than the one in development attending the breakfasts I've attended.
One administrator told his tablemates they expect Wood to lay back and observe for a brief while and not mess with the successful things and gradually make his stamp on others. "Successful" was not defined.
Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
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