I call it “Skipperized”. example - well we got Skipperized again last night.
I call it “Skipperized”. example - well we got Skipperized again last night.
I knew it was more than 10 leads blown late without seriously counting. The 6 double-digit leads was about what I expected.
In 103 games, 3-5 blown 4th quarter leads with maybe 1 double-digit blown lead would be the norm. Exactly like Tech has 5 4th quarter comebacks with 1 double-digit comeback.
The Mississippi State game is far too much the norm rather than being a one-off that could be excused.
Recruiting high school players...particularly at the QB spot. It used to be you looked at schools that relied on the junior college pipeline as a little suspect. Now it's "the portal". Tech was never heavy into the junior college pipeline. Now we're getting very heavy into the portal it appears. Holtz is good at managing the portal, but that's not building a strong program in the long run. Holtz can recognize talent that has been developed by other schools/coaching staffs, but he struggles identifying HS talent. Then when they get here he and his staff are weak in developing that raw HS talent. Weak HS recruiting and development (QB spot in particular) and worse than weak leadership and play calling at crunch time. Not a good combination.
I disagree. I have a lot of problems with Skip "the 4th Qtr" Holtz, but how he manages the roster is not one of them.
Holtz only signed 9 HS players in the 2021 recruiting season because he knew he was going heavy on the transfer portal. And thank goodness we did. He ended up signing 19 transfers, but only about 5 (or so) are Graduate Transfers (GT's). The rest of the transfers have multiple years of eligibility remaining. So, in essence, these players are also contributors to our program "in the long run".
BTW, Holtz explained some of this during Tech's "Summer Tour" to Dallas, Houston and Baton Rouge. He said that a proven college player in the transfer portal is exponentially more likely to succeed in FBS football than a high school recruit. He said the transfers have already adjusted to the speed of the game, and are typically bigger and more mature than almost any high school player. And frankly, I think we saw some of that on Saturday in Starkville. Last year's Tech team --without these transfers-- would have been blown out of that stadium by the 2nd quarter. But this 2021 Tech team had just as much speed and size as Mississippi State did.
Isn’t it a shame that Holtz doesn’t do as good a job at letting his coaches coach as he does in finding transfer player talent. We’d probably really be something if Holtz’s impact on the games we play was reduced to almost nill. I’d be willing to have a 5th year transfer first game QB call the plays in crunch time over Holtz.
It’s after the holiday weekend and nothing from the Athletics Department or the Administration, so I guess that means Holtz won’t be fired this week.
I am a teacher and I used to coach HS and club sports. I would take $150,000 from skips salary as my own put the rest back into my assistants pay checks, and sit back and let them coach their positions. I am willing to bet in that scenario, I could attract enough good young assistants, or veteran assistants that my record as head coach would be close to Skippy's. I would still make more base than I have ever made in a given year base salary wise, and we wouldn't be any worse off as a program for sure. I can damn well promise you that when I am playing with house money (underdog) against P5's we would be swinging for the fences until the whistle blows at the end of the 4th.
Throttling down to pace ourselves hasn't turned into 1 single conference title so, might as well put the pedal to the floor and worry about rest when the season is over.
I predicted 7-5 in the poll and might be willing to go 8-4 given the level of talent we have, but here we go again. The very best prospect is a 9-4 finish if we get back to winning bowl games again. Next year...more of the same...the following year, more of the same. Etc...
I could do better. I agree with DallasDog's approach, hire and PAY good assistants and turn them loose to coach the game. I found my most success in my professional life (career) when I hired good people and allowed them to become great thus lifting the organization. I am a believer in "Quality Management," the whole Deming, Juran, etc. approach to quality improvement, you push decision-making down to the lowest possible position and give them ownership of their portion of the process. On a football team that means assistant coaches and captains on the field.
I think at this point he has to realize that his style lends itself to slightly better than average to average and that it will never lead him to a high profile P5 job. That ship has not only sailed, it hit the reef pulling out of harbor and sank. So quit freaking micro managing and playing to not lose/keep it close. Take that $800k+ salary over the next 4 years (I just threw up a little typing that) and become known as the coach who developed awesome coaches and playing talent that went on to amazing heights.
P.S. Skip just in case you have someone reading this for you. Not only be known for developing and paying those amazing assistants, how bout throwing in that gunslinger mentality that TECH has been known for for the last 30 years or more. Anybody, anywhere, at anytime..... instead of at your place, when we are going to try and keep it close, and F' it up at the last minute every time style you seem to have perfected.